Chapter 164 - Another Progenitor

"You Dare!"

"How impertinent!"

"To refuse the lord!"

The three men's loud voices boomed across the room, carrying a pressure that scared the woman about to pour wine for both Larry and his purple haired Lord shitless.

Noticing this, Larry turned and glared at them.

[Shut the fuck up you brats!]

The sheer amount of magic power placed in his words released a pressure far greater than the three of them combined, forcing them to drop to their knees.

Despite this, the woman remained unaffected, as was Larry's purple haired Lord.

In fact, the man only let out a laugh while waving his hands and dispersing the magic in the air. 

"Forgive them Larry, they are still quite young."

Larry only shook his head and collected a glass of wine before taking a sip; however his Lord's next words made him choke on his wine.

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say that's the 'child of prophecy'."

"Guh!"

Ignoring Larry's obvious shock at deducing Arthur's identity so easily, the man continued speaking and dropped even more shocking information.

"To think that the new progenitor i sensed the birth of 14 years ago would be the 'child of prophecy'."

His words left Larry shocked once again, for a different reason this time.

'As I thought! He really is a progenitor!'

Nevertheless, he acted like he never suspected a thing and questioned his lord.

"Are you saying that he's the new progenitor?"

"Yes, he would most likely be the progenitor of a race with the power to slay the gods. The prophecy of his birth gave us all the hints."

Larry nodded in affirmation while cleaning the mess from when he choked on his drink. He thought for a moment before speaking up.

"So in essence, a god 'slayer' race huh?"

His purple haired Lord nodded before replying.

"If he really is the progenitor of such a race, then the path before him shall not be easy."

This caused Larry to raise an eyebrow in question. Arthur's path not being easy was a given but for his Lord to state it like that, meant there was something more.

"What do you mean?"

"My dear ancient drifter, the gods have existed for far longer than you think. Far before i came into existence. They are beings far older and more powerful than you may think.

Especially 'Her'."

"Her?"

"The progenitor god."

The mention of that title caused both Larry and the three other men in suits behind him to shiver involuntarily. Even so, their lord ignored this and continued speaking.

"She's even older than some of those fogeys who govern the c0^ↄ3 ¶ ⊥."

Looks of surprise flashed on the faces of all who were present to hear that, they could not fathom the thought of anyone being older than 'those' beings.

"Hahahahaha, why so surprised, even that old dragon says he's not sure how long she's been in existence." 

This time Larry could not take it anymore and replied with a loud voice.

"Impossible! The progenitor dragon is one of the oldest and most powerful progenitors and you say even he does not know?!"

"It is exactly as I say. This shows how old and how deep the god race has spread their roots."

Larry's purple haired Lord took a sip from the glass of wine placed on the side stool and spoke once more.

"I was wondering why I sensed a few ancient gods when I was coming over but if he's here then it makes sense.

They are closing in on him, the only reason they have not found him yet is the protective sigil on his body. It's weakening but it's still there."

Larry's eyes widened as he heard this, he never expected that the ancient gods would be so efficient.

They had managed to zero in on Arthur's general location in less than two decades despite there being a protective sigil on him!

This was taking into account that the ancient gods were not searching for the 'child of prophecy' that everyone knew about but the 'progenitor' that very few were aware of.

He then thought about the one who could have placed the sigil and many beings came to mind, however, the most likely;

'...Is King Diablo.'

"Are you going to protect him?"

To Larry's question, his lord gave him a look of pure confusion as if he did not understand why he would ask that.

"Why? There is no benefit in it for me. I have no beef with the gods; in fact, I even do business with them."

He held a hand to his chin and gazed back at Arthur before continuing.

"Hmm, still. Protecting him huh? When the sigil washes off completely, the caster would most likely place it on him once again. But still, he would eventually have to leave this universe and venture into the greater cosmos.

At that time, I could handle protecting him in his early years, might even get him to owe me a few favors."

A calculating glint flashed across his eyes as he began weighing the benefits and consequences of interfering.

It was then, he realized something.

"Oh, his senses are quite sharp, he has noticed me already."

Their lord's words caused Larry and the three other men in black suits to turn their gazes downward and realize that Arthur was staring right at their booth.

With a wave of his hand, their lord disabled the inhibition magic on the booth, for Arthur alone, causing his purple eyes to meet Arthur's red eyes.

◇　◇　◇

Time passed by extremely slowly as Arthur was looking through the display glasses, he then went over to the second floor to see what was there.

It was around that time that he began sensing a gaze on him, he looked around for the source but he could not find it.

As an intermediate stage grandmaster, he was more sensitive than normal so he could easily notice when someone gazed at him for an extended period of time.

'It could be anyone in the hall, there are thousands of people her after all.'

However, even after a few minutes the gaze didn't seem to leave him. He glanced around subtly but still could not find anyone who was looking at him for extended periods of time.

Most people just gave him a casual glance, as they did not expect someone so young to be in a place like this, then again it was not all that rare as there were others as young as Arthur present.

'Unless, it came from above?'

He then looked to the top level of the Auction hall and glanced at the booths before stopping at one particular one.

The next moment something he did not expect happened. The inhibition magic on the booth was disabled and he was able to see the people seated within.

One was someone he was very familiar with, the drifter who brought him here, Larry. He had a look of surprise on his face as he gazed at the man who was beside him.

Beside him was a purple haired man who had a look of amusement on his face, the source of the gaze Arthur felt.

As soon as Arthur turned his head slightly, their gazes instantly collided.

The slow passage of time suddenly came to a standstill.

The man was a considerable distance away, but it felt meaningless.

Arthur could instinctively recognize what that man was.

'A Progenitor!'

He had never met the man before but he was 100% sure of it, that man was a progenitor like him.

And there was another thing he was sure of, the man had noticed he was a progenitor too.

'That explains why he was looking at me earlier.'

Upon seeing the realization flash through Arthur's eyes, the man's lips curved into a smile.

It was then that someone else walked into the room and whispered something into the man's ear.

He nodded and stood up, however, before turning his back, he decided to send a message to Arthur via thought transmission.

[See you another time, young progenitor.

A little advice from your senior, do not stay here for too long. Some things might go down here so try not to get caught up in it.]

The next moment he disappeared in a flash of purple light. 

Larry then stood up and bowed towards Arthur before teleporting away, along with the three men in suits.

However, Arthur was still stunned from what just happened.

He took a seat on a nearby chair and thought about what just transpired.

'That man was a definitely a drifter!

He also realized I was a progenitor with a single glance. Moreover, he is a progenitor himself.

That means…!'

Arthur arrived at a conclusion that was 100% correct.

For an ancient drifter like Larry, there was only one person who he could possibly call his lord.

Take into account the fact that the other three men in black suits were also referred to as ancients then the identity of the purple haired man could not be any more obvious.

The first of the drifter race and the one who held supreme authority over all its members.

Progenitor Drifter.

Nash Finlay Davis.