Chapter 174 - Ian

"Woah, is that really you Ian? You look so different," said Julius even though Ian had only gotten a little taller and had also grown out his red hair.

"Come on, I'm still the same Ian from the past. Anyway, come on in, we've been waiting for you," said Ian as he led Julius inside the castle.

"Wait are you saying that you seriously built all of this on you own?" Julius asked with a surprised face tp which Ian was left confused.

"What do you mean? You're the reason why all of this exists. If you hadn't sent over Dae and Knight to summon the dead, we would never have all of these things. After all, it was their undead soldiers which were responsible for building all these large and complex buildings all so that you could arrive in a magnificent land to rule over," said Ian as he explained what had caused the construction of the large kingdom in the 10th continent.

"Oh that's right! I nearly forgot about the Dae and Knight. How are they doing?! Did they manage to get integrated with you guys properly?" Julius asked with a concerned face as he didn't want those two to feel alienated since they had arrived after the 5 subjects had already awoken from their slumber. That idea even reminded him of someone else who would be in a worse situation. That person being Stevan.

"Before I forget, how is Stevan doing in here? Is he getting along with everyone as well?" Julius asked with a little concern in his voice.

"Why do you sound worried? And to answer your question, Steven is actually doing pretty good here. Although he has gotten a little too comfortable here," said Ian as he continued to walk Julius up some stairs towards somewhere which Julius didn't even know of but continued to follow Ian as he trusted him.

"Uh- I don't understand what you mean," said Julius as the two finally arrived at the room which they had been walking towards the entire time.

Inside of the room were all of Julius' subjects along with Dae and Knight. Of course Stevan was also present there as they all drank tea and ate biscuits like classical people. At the sight of Julius, though all of them dropped their tea for the utter shock as they hadn't expected Julius to be there.

The only one who knew he was coming was Ian who only found out because he had cast a detection secret art which spread all around the continent. Just as Julius was in range of it to be detected, Ian picked up the signal and prepared to meet Julius and the events which followed took place until Ian brought Julius to the room.

"Julius!" Spike yelled out in an overjoyed tone before quickly changing as he remembered who he was talking to.

"Please forgive me my king, I did not mean to offend you. I was simply too overjoyed at the sight of your face. I hope you can forgive me," said Spike as he kneeled. Seeing Spike do this, all of the other subjects followed suit from utter respect to Julius. Even Dae and Knight kneeled as they had also been rescued by Julius. Of course Steven was the only one who was left standing as he had no reason to bow.

"Kneel!" Spike told Steven with a whisper that sounded clearly angry.

"No, I have no reason to bow to him," Steven replied in a casual tone.

"Yes you do! Our king was the one who had given you a place to stay when you were left on your own so kneel! Or perhaps I should teach you a lesson," said Spike as he had enough of Stevan's arrogant attitude.

"Huh? So you want to start a fight? Have it your way! But don't blame me when I break your skull!" said Stevan as he clenched his fist while Spike prepared to cast a secret art.

*Bonk*

Julius had enough of both their arguing and whacked them both on the head so they would start fighting.

"Spike, I can understand why you would want to maintain the respect which my name has attained in this land and I appreciate that. But seriously, there's no need to go that far. You don't have to kneel to me and neither do you all," said Julius as he helped all of the ones who were kneeling to get back on their feet as Julius had transformed into some sort of motherly figure.

"As for you Stevan, you should learn to be more grateful," said Julius as he rolled his eyes while Stevan did the same.

"Anyway, is it really true that you managed to bring life to the undead of this land so that they would create all of these structures?" Julius asked as he turned to face Dae and Knight.

"Yes it is. I thought you would instantly notice. Specially when you saw the guards. After all, all of the undead in the Continent have eyes which are pitch black. It's something that you can't ignore," said Dae as he looked at Julius with a confused look as he didn't know how Julius didn't notice.

"So that's why I kept feeling that there was something off about those guards! I knew something was off but I just couldn't put my finger on it. However now that you mention it, you're right. Nevertheless, it's still very impressive that you managed to create so many working drones that will create the land for all the people which will be brought into this kingdom.

"It makes us glad that you think so highly of our work. We will continue to do everything in our power to help you succeed in your plan. After all, we're indebted to you for saving us from a life of being in a coma.

"Speaking about your plan king Julius, since you came back to us, it must mean that it's time, right?" Ian asked to which Julius' face turned serious before giving a single nod.