“Why would there be a power that would allow you to endure the hardships and stay silent while others berate you? Is it a special power just for those born in eternal servitude? For me, it’s plenty obvious that the law of Aries is meant to give its user power to prevail and triumph over anything in their way and not fold down to the environment and other people or even the gods.”

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders and scoffed with a mocking smile that looked especially villainous because of the shade that the thick forestation provided on their way.

“What’s the difference?!”

Alan frowned angrily and asked, clenching his fists.

“The difference is that mister Bob doesn’t talk back and just shuts up when he is told to do so.”𝒐𝑣𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t

“!!!”

The black-haired man answered, pointing his finger at the

man in question – and the said man flinched, raising his brows in shock.

“Huh?! But then, that is entirely his fault then, isn’t it?! Why am I getting the puny side villain treatment from you?!”

Alan gasped, stopping in place and angrily confronting Zoemi.

“Because you and the rest of your group are making yourself feel better by putting down someone far superior to your puny selves. Ninth star level in the law of Sagittarius. Who else is even close to that?”

“!!!”

Zoemi and Alan’s talk has changed from exchanging whispers to talking out loud openly, and the words of the black-haired man seemed to resonate with everyone as they all tensed up, lost for words.

“If we’re talking about equivalent, then most of us have a law that they are as proficient at as Bob is with the Law of Sagittarius.”

Someone from the group fidgetted in anger before pointing out in a voice that sounded a lot like an accusation.

“Incredible. Then go and use that law at which you are so proficient to lead us out of this forest. In fact, we can all split up considering that everyone is good at something.”

“…!”

Zoemi graced that particular martial artist with a benevolent smile of a demon as he spread his arms inviting the man to lead the way, which obviously caused the martial artist to take a step back with a scared expression.

“So what, are you telling us that we need to hail Bob as our savior until he will guide us out of this place?!”

Alan frowned and stepped up to Zoemi, taping his index finger on the black-haired man’s chest.

“I am glad that you were the one to ask it, master Alan. No. Instead of making fun of him to keep him in check, YOU be a leader that HE would WANT to follow.”

“?!?!?!?!?!”

Zoemi’s smirk bloomed into the most villainous grin and he returned the tapping notion to the young man who jumped away from him as if the contact with the black-haired man’s index finger has scalded him even through the fabric of the uniform he donned.

“Mister Bob, where did you set our destination to?”

Zoemi turned away from the embarrassed Alan and spoke to the probably most shocked martial artist in the group.

“Wh-wha…? I… Well, as it was… umm… asked of me, we are going towards the closest settlement on the verge of the sea of trees, and from there we would move straight onto the Great Ram sect’s territory. Our first destination is two weeks away and the final one is another week on top of that.”

Bob responded, unsure of how he should act towards the black-haired man who gave off such an intense aura that it was basically impossible to ignore him.

“We are changing plans. Please make sure that we are moving directly towards the west of the lumberjacks village for at least three days.”

“Wh-what?! Why?!”

“Hey! Who gave you the right to give orders?!”

The sudden decision wasn’t met with a warm welcome, but that was only to be expected.

“Master Alan, you were trying to hunt down the seven-limbed bear for a reason but failed. I vaguely know the location of monsters that are of similar strength to that furball, and it is the place where I asked mister Bob to take us… Unless you are okay with not fulfilling whatever goal has pushed you to come here, then just give the order yourself.”

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders and his grin turned back into a mocking smirk as he looked at every single martial artist around him before focusing on the red-faced youngest one.

“As for my right to rule… I am just scheduling things for you in a way that would be most optimal. Since you don’t fire me outright I assumed that it is okay to do. While I remain in your services, if you are not okay with any of my decisions, I can always beat you up once more and drag you along anyway… of course as long as in the end, you will gain more than you lose. “

“!!!”

The black-haired man added, reminding everyone to get caught in the heated moment about who are they talking to.

Everyone present had their laws of Aries active when Zoemi attacked them, although some didn’t want to admit it.

“…I want to join the Heavenly Star Academy, and one of the requirements for it is to defeat a monster that possesses the strength of a martial artist on the fourth star level of the law of Taurus or equal power in the measurement of another law. Alone.”

Alan gritted his teeth and revealed something that Zoemi was already partially aware of thanks to listening in to Zoey’s villain’s speech.

“Great. So the final choice is yours, master Alan. Stay a puny villain, or try to become a bigger man. As you are now, no matter where you go you will be humbled, or worse – humiliated – and return to your dwelling with tail tucked between your legs.”

The black-haired man declared, stepping back and shocking the unprepared youth by pushing him straight into the spotlight as every single person in their group focused on him.

“D-despite being annoying, and unnecessarily scary… I… I agree with your suggestion. We are already here, returning empty-handed while the admissions for the Academy are open for just one more month is unacceptable. Bob, ug… ekhem! Bob. Please incorporate the instruction given by Zoemi into our travel plan.”

Alan straightened his back and spoke after gulping down his saliva, doing his best to act more confident than he actually was.

“A-as you wish! In this case, we should go in this direction.”

The shocked marital artist gasped and immediately turned the other way from which they were moving before.

“With Miriette I wouldn’t have to threaten to actually harm her to do the right thing…”

Zoemi let out a subconscious sigh under his breath

|Hold on… I got way too into this, haven’t I…? I just wanted to learn how the mana potion that Alan had came into his possession. Did I miss my old life THAT much?!|

Zoemi tensed up and groaned internally in realization.

A wrong one at that, but it would still take some time for him to figure out his real feelings.

————

“…”

As the group was walking through the busy town and the black-haired man was looking around curiously, the young martial artist by his side kept glancing at his right hand with a rather bothered expression.

It really did seem as if something just wouldn’t leave his head.

“Master Alan, I did tell you that crushing the monster’s head was my preferred method of dealing with the aggressive ones. What is the big deal?”

Zoemi, who certainly didn’t miss the glances that Alan was sneaking at him, breathed out and asked, lifting his arm up to his chest and opening and closing his fingers.

“Y-yeah, you did but… May I?”

The young man tensed up after being caught on staring, but after realizing that the back-haired man was not angry, he reached out towards the extended hand asking for permission to touch it.

“Sure.”

Zoemi didn’t find anything wrong with the request and soon his plan was being meticulously examined by the surprisingly delicate fingers.

“It’s just that witnessing you crush a Bull-ape’s head as if it was an overripen apple is something completely different than merely hearing you say it.”

Alan revealed, tilting his head to the side while raising Zoemi’s hand to have a better look at the armament of the monster’s demise.

The young martial artist was getting so comfortable with the examination that he ended up putting his own palm to Zoemi’s and comparing their sizes.

“Whoa…! Your hands are so big…! AH…!”

Alan gasped in amazement before looking up and meeting the friendly smile of the black-haired man and suddenly blushing heavily and taking his hands back.

“Sorry. That must have been uncomfortable.”

“Not at all, master Alan. As your employee, I will do my best to fulfill all of your reasonable requests.”

The young martial artist apologized, facing the other way while the black-haired man shook his head and reassured him without the slightest trace of discomfort or annoyance in his voice.

The other martial artist surrounding them didn’t even bother to comment about the exchange – it has been three over three weeks since Zoemi became Alan’s bodyguard and interactions like that were getting more and more common as the young man was getting more comfortable around the black-haired man.

As for Zoemi himself, it didn’t seem as if he changed at all, he was always open and friendly with his interactions, with the occasional strictness and passive aggression used for correcting the improper behavior of his employer.