Lyndon had a lump in his throat as Kloss told him what he had already suspected. "Your lady wife seems to have taken a few of the staff and one of the coaches. We haven't found any notes or any kind hinting towards where she was going." The butler reported, a look of pity on his ancient face.

It had been three days since the incident with the assassins that had tried to kill his daughter. All in all, he thanked his lucky stars for how well it had all played out. The one who had fled had managed to escape, but he didn't find that as important as his child's safety, or the safety of his servants. Problems only arose afterwards in the form of his lady wife.

Ava had been unhappy about Nora's continued presence before, but after the incident she became even more insistent that they remove the girl and her baby from the house. She didn't care that Nora had attempted to shield Alice with her own body during the assassination attempt. She was acting in a completely irrational manner, not seeming to care about Alice at all and just demanding that the woman and her baby be gone. After two days of putting up with her screaming and trying to reason with the woman, she slipped away in the night without a word.

Though she had been arranged to marry Lyndon's older brother before the man's untimely death, rather than Lyndon himself, the Lord of Euros had thought that they had a good relationship together and that the seven years spent married had drawn them closer together. Just a year before he had thought that they were truly happy together and that she loved him. Now she ran off in the night, leaving their child behind. It was a bit of a kick in the stomach, and one that would doubtless ruin his reputation as a Lord. Something a man like him could ill afford.

The life of a Lord was not kind. It was something that Kloss had told Lyndon since he was a boy. It had been the reason why Lyndon had never persuade becoming the next head of house. It was the reason why he was the only one lift after his brothers died playing their political games… though he might not be alive either soon.

Lyndon had been seventeen when it had happened. He had been six years into his education as a mage when he received word that his eldest brother was dead, and his second brother was to be executed on charges of collusion and conspiracy and that Lyndon himself was being called home to take up the mantel of Lord Bluewolf. He had no idea how long it would take before someone tried to unseat him. It was widely known that he was not built for lordship.

He was generally liked by the people, since he was an understanding sort and did his best to not hurt anyone, but that didn't really mean much in terms of security. The people's opinions can change fast with just a few baseless claims and rumors. All it took was someone with power wanting him to go down and he would go down quickly, because he wasn't skilled in the cloak and dagger games of the Nobility. He was just lucky that no one had considered him worth undermining.

"Do… you think she'll come back?" Lyndon asked, looking up to Kloss with hopeful eyes. The butler didn't say anything, he didn't need to. His eyes gave all the answer that was necessary. Lyndon's eyes dropped again.

Kloss gave him a moment of silence but the quickly pressed forward. "What do you plan to do about the boy?" The man asked, knowing how hard a question it was.

"You realized it too then?" Lyndon asked, trying to buy himself more time before he would actually have to address the topic.

"Yes. The child is likely a Miko." Kloss said with a curt nod. "Dealing with a Miko… it isn't easy. You have heard of the 'Head Ripping Prince'?"

Lyndon winced, but nodded his head.

The news about the Miko Prince born to the Shirone Kingdom had spread throughout the land, along with the story about how at the age of three, he demonstrated his inhuman strength by ripping the head off of his baby brother, never once showing remorse for what he had done. It was a scary thing to think about. Controlling a normal child is hard enough, but what do you do when you have a three-year-old child with strength equal to that of ten full grown men and with skin like iron? Lyndon had wondered what he would have done if he had been in the King's shoes. Now he was afraid that he might end up finding out. Before he was even born, Uru had already killed a man. An assassin that no one would miss, but still a living person.

"I… have no idea what to do." Lyndon said with a sigh.

"It is a hard question. If you reveal him to the public, the Holy Order of Milis would likely rip itself apart because of the birth of a half demon Miko. Half the Order would declare him to be proof that anti-demon sentiments are an outdated load of horse shite, while the rest would label him a dangerous abomination that must be destroyed." Kloss said, shaking his head. "Regardless what we do, we can't let the fact that he is a Miko get out. I'm afraid the best we can do would be to hand him over to the King and hope that the Royal Court will find some way to handle him. The Empress gave birth to a Princess last year. They would undoubtedly be looking for a future bodyguard."

"If I did that, they would turn him into a killer for sure." Lyndon said with a heavy heart.

"He's a Miko. Death will always follow him." Kloss countered.

It was the truth. Even those Miko who's powers weren't combat focused were followed by death. People who coveted their power would kill each other over them or kill the Miko in order to prevent any enemy from keeping it. Having a Miko in your corner was the ultimate proof that your reign was preordained by the gods. They were so objectified that, in the Holy Kingdom of Milis, Mikos were not even given names, they are simply called Miko.

"…I will take my time to consider the best course of action. It would not do to make a rash decision." Lyndon finally said.

Kloss perked up an eyebrow. "Normally when someone says something like that, what they really mean is that they have chosen to do nothing, because all of the choices are shit." Kloss pointed out. Lyndon tried his best not to look guilty. "Well, it might not be the worst choice to make. Far better than some."

"Then inform Nora that she is to continue to take care of Alice, as well as her own child, and return to her cooking duties as soon as she is feeling well enough." Lyndon said, glad that the butler agreed with him.

Kloss smiled and said in an almost longing tone of voice. "Oh yes, her cooking duties. It has been far too long since we last had her cooking."

It was after all, the entire reason he had scouted her in the first place.

The next few months past in a similar manner to those before for Uru. The only differences being that now he had to eat and regularly soiled himself, as his body still refused to listen to him when he told it to not poop itself. Yes, life was shit when you were a baby.

He was around six months old and had officially 'learned' how to crawl. He had waited on it because he was using Alice's progress as a measuring stick for how far he was supposed to be along, as she was three months older than he was. It seemed like six or seven months was a good time for crawling and that he was supposed to wait another two months or so before starting to walk. Alice had already started making more or less constant baby noises in preparation for learning how to speak, but the Archer felt like that was beneath him and chose to instead keep his silence.

However, even though he was now a crawler, he rarely did it for more than just stretching. The maids commented that he was a bit of a lethargic baby, which he supposed he was, but he never really had anything he needed to crawl too. What was the point of going anywhere within that small room when he could 'see' everything that was going on within half a mile just by turning his head around. It wasn't as though he could go pull a book off the shelf. People would doubtlessly raise an eyebrow if they saw a six-month-old baby trying to teach himself to read.

He realized that he creeped the various servants out. He was too quiet, he never laughed at their 'baby games', his eyes were too sharp and always seemed to be staring straight through them. Which was true, but he really didn't care. None of the servants could hold his interest, actually, he found them to be an annoying bunch. Not so annoying that he would personally kill them all, but if they just happened to drop die themselves, he wouldn't complain. The sole exception being his own mother, Nora.

She might have been a simple and young human girl with short cut sandy brown hair, but there was something about the way she smiled at him that filled Uru with a sense of wonder. The pure happiness of it was dazzling and… confusing. Uru didn't understand. He didn't understand why she was so happy. How anyone could be that happy? It filled him with a sense of nostalgic longing, though he couldn't say why.

He even felt of little bitter when she would leave him alone in order to take care of Alice's needs. There was always the temptation to make noise and try to regain her attention, but he usually conceded and let her go. She had her duties to attend to and he neither needed nor… desired her constant attention.

Uru rolled his head away and closed his eyes, willing himself to ignore the mirthful laughter coming from Alice as his mother tickled her stomach. He curled inwards upon himself, reciting lists of various weapons and magics in order to try to keep him occupied.

From what the former Servant could tell, the magic style of this world, or at least the elemental magic commonly used in combat, seemed to derive its power from a foundation similar to those of the old Shamans and Druids that lived in the Age of the Gods, or at least, towards the end of it. Before ever even trying a single spell of it, Uru already knew he would never be able to use such a system.

Druidic magic stems from using ones own Od to form contracts with the Elementals in order to help guide the worlds own natural power to perform the desired spells, and if there was one thing that Elementals and other Magic Beings connected to Gaia were famous for hating, it was Cold Iron, or as the more modern humans would call it, meteorites. Iron that originated from another world.

Weapons forged from meteorites held properties that were poisonous to Magic Beasts and Elementals. It was widely considered to be the very antithesis of an Elemental's magic. An Elemental would never consider entering any kind of contract with a human who possessed such a material. And considering how many examples of these weapons existed inside of the Unlimited Blade Works, Uru's body, mind and soul were practically made of Cold Iron, at least partially.

Probably another reason why him and Cu Chulainn had hated each other from the moment their paths crossed. If the two of them had actually had Masters, rather than working solely from the megger prana reserves they had been summoned with, they would have likely ripped the entire city to pieces and burned the remains to the ground in the battle between them. Or perhaps not, Caster had shown an unusual amount of compassion for the humans, never once resorting to stealing souls in order to supplement his weakening powers. Archer hadn't preyed upon the humans either, but that was more because he would have had to leave his guard post to find them, rather than any kind of moral rejection of the idea.

Well, too late to have regrets now.

There were footsteps outside of the room, calling Uru back to attention. His eyes snapped open and he began to trace a sword for the ready. Through the wall, he looked the possible enemy over from head to toe, checking them for any sort of weapon or substance that could be classified as a threat. They were clean, but Uru still kept a stern eye on it and kept his ears open for any whispered spells. Any sign of aggression, and they would be dead before they could realize their mistake.

The older woman knocked on the door, something that seemed to be a cultural rule in such places and asked to be allowed entrance. Nora answered in kind and the portly woman who normally performed gardening duties entered the room. "The Master is calling everyone to the living room. He's got an announcement to be making." The woman said solemnly.

Uru scrunched up his baby's face at the mention of the Master.

It had become a popular theory among the servants that Uru was the bastard child of the Lord and that his wife left him because of it. The theory became even more popular when Uru's hair started to grow in more thickly, showing that he would have the same dark red hair that the Master and Alice had. The fact that he was to be raised right beside the Master's own daughter also led to talk. No one really cared that much about the morality of it, as the Kingdom of Asura was pretty free about sex and fetishes. Polygamy, pedophilia, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, sadism and masochism, none of it was considered taboo or even odd, save for by the followers of Milis, and even then, it was just polygamy that their religion openly frowned on. Uru's originals just provided a drama story for them to share around the staff hall.

Even so, Nora had admittedly defended the Master's honor, saying that he had never touched her, which Uru was prepared to believe. The Master was not his father, but he was still the Master, which in itself might mean more to a Servant than a father.

"I'm not supposed to leave the children alone." Nora said as she put Alice back down in the large crib, next to Uru himself.

"I'll look after them. I'm fairly sure I already know what is going on… To be honest, I don't want to hear it." The woman said with a long sigh. "Why is it that bad things always have to happen to good people?"

Nora's worries were peaked, and she became more keen to go and see what was happening. She finally relented and left the children with the older woman.

Uru adjusted his armory, choosing weapons that could piece through the walls, and continued to observe.

Lyndon felt tired. The last six months had felt like they had drained twenty years off of his life. He was only into his mid-twenties, and yet his hair was starting to go gray at the roots. He waited for his staff to finish showing up before speaking to them. He felt guilty, knowing that they would all be affected by his misfortune.

"As I am certain you are aware, there have been multiple reports of criminal activity within my lands over these last few months. The palace is displeased with my inability to combat the rising crime and has sent me a… warning of sorts. If I cannot get things under control, then they while forcibly remove me from my position and transfer things over to my cousin, Benjamin, including my title, my lands, the family's treasury… and my heir." Lyndon said, unable to surprise his instinct to swallow at the thought. Many of the servants gasped.

"Damn Ava. Damn her to hell." The stableman said through clenched teeth. They had all heard of how Ava had left their Lord and had remarried to his cousin within days of her disappearance. It was shortly after this remarriage that odd crimes and disagreements between the minor nobles kept being reported. Each case seemed unsolvable, as if there wasn't any true crime or disagreement at all, and it was just a plot to ruin Lyndon's reputation as a Lord.

It wasn't until recently that word had come from the Kingdom of Kingdragon of their King's apparent anger at his sister being replaced by a kitchen girl, putting further pressures on the Bluewolf family through their connections.

To leave one's husband because you believe he is cheating was understandable. To then put forth so much effort into completely and utterly ruining his life was another thing altogether.

"Benjamin has approached me and offered me a deal. If I step down and leave Euros, then he will arrange for me to have a place to go, and I will be permitted to keep Alice. I am planning on accepting the offer." Lyndon announced to them all. Sounds of outrage came from the assembled workers. "Don't be too mad. This was bound to happen eventually. I was never good at dealing with the power games of the high nobility. However, I do understand if some of you are unwilling to remain in the employ of the Bluewolf house…"

"You're damn right we are." The stableman half growled.

"…and while I would encourage you to think of your families and their futures, rather than of my fate, if you wish to leave, I will do everything I can to help you find new work… while it is still within the limits of my power." Lyndon said, holding up a hand for silence before they can give their replies. "You needn't answer me immediately. I free you from your duties for today. Go home to your families and discuss with them as to what is most important. No matter your decisions, I will respect it. You are dismissed."

People looked about, not sure what to do before turning and slowly making their ways towards the door, muttering about how the world was unfair. No matter what they might have thought about what was going on between Lyndon and Nora, they had all understood the fact that it would have been far easier on him to give her the boot. The fact that he didn't and accepted the consequences without lashing out was proof that he was a good man, something that was rare among the nobility, and soon to be even rarer.

Seeing them go, Lyndon turned to Kloss, who was still standing by his side. "So, are you going to stay or leave?"

"Forgive me sir, but just because you're leaving, doesn't mean that my duties are over. As despicable a person as your cousin is, someone will need to be here to make sure that the people's needs are taken care of." Kloss said, looking down at the young man next to him with sad eyes. "I'm sorry it all ended up this way. You were a good boy, Lyndon. Too good."

"It's not so bad. I'm going to be walking away from this with my life and my child. It shouldn't be too hard for me to get an honest job and start a new life." Lyndon said chuckled. "It usually turns out much worse for people like me… My brothers certainly didn't get off this easy." He mumbled towards the end, his mood returning to a melancholy.

"…Master?" Lyndon glanced around to see Nora approaching him, hands clasped, tears in the girl's eyes. "This is all my fault, isn't it."

"No child." Lyndon said, shaking his head sadly. "This was all just a horrible misunderstanding. It is no one's fault, least of all yours. You were a victim in a horrible crime. You have nothing to feel guilty for. If I had turned by back on you, and thrown you out, I would have been unfit to be called a Noble."

"The Master is too good to me." Nora said, her lip trembling.

Lyndon did his best to smile, he really did, but the unpleasantness of the situation was still all around him. "Nora, it should go without saying, but you cannot stay here. Not once my cousin and former wife take control of the manor." Lyndon told the young mother. "I will speak to another one of my cousins on your behalf. She's the wife of one of the Greyrats and should be able to secure you a job at their manor. She has recently had one of her own sons taken away from her due to political games and should be sympathetic to your situation."

Divide in the Time Lines

{Route 1: Path of the Exiled Sword}

Nora bit her lip before shaking her head. "No Master. I'm going to stay with you."

Lyndon looked surprised at the girl's offer but shook his head. "I'm not going to be a Noble anymore, not even a hedge knight. I won't be able to afford to pay you."

"I can find other work to help with money issue. Besides, you will need someone to take care of Alice, won't you?" Nora said before bowing to the man. "Please Master, let me repay my debt for the kindness you have shown me. I don't know how I will be able to live with myself if I don't do this."

Lyndon looked down at the earnest young girl, knowing that there was nothing he could do to change her mind. Finally he simply sighed and nodded his head. "I hope you realize that there is probably no turning back after this."

"I know, Master." Nora said her tone showing just how serious she was about this.

"Fine then. If I can't persuade you otherwise, then I will graciously accept you offer of help." Lyndon said with a short nod.

"It would seem like you still have some people let willing to follow you." Floss said with a sly smile. "It is your own fault for being too generous a man."

{Route 2: Path of the Beast Tamer}

"Thank you, Master. Yet again, I'm in your debt." Nora said miserably. "I wish you and Alice the best."

"And I wish the same for you." Lyndon nodded his head before getting up from the table and walking back to his study. He had a letter to write.

Hilda Grayrat sat in her armchair, holding her baby daughter to her breast. The girl was already a strong one, sucking on her mother's tit with all the might her tiny body would allow her.

Hilda should have been proud. She should have been happy. But feel of the little girl at her breast only reminded her more of the son that was ripped away from it. Of how her husband did nothing as his brother stole their firstborn son from her.

She didn't give a shit about old family traditions about all sons of the family branch being raised by the Head as if they were his own, so that only the strongest of each generation would become the next Head of the Family. It was idiotic, and she would have gladly just said to hell with the family name if she could have had her son back.

It was that despicable husband of hers that had allowed the man to take their child away, rather than risking his standing. It was all because of his twisted ambition of somehow turning things around on his elder brother. It made Hilda sick. She sometimes hated the man so much, that she even refused to bed with him. Though that only allowed him to seek pleasure from the many Beast Race maids that her father-in-law filled their mansion with.

She hated him. She really hated her husband. And by Milis's tits did she let him know it. It was not uncommon for her to have bitten and kicked at him until he had been forced to seek out a healer. She would scream at him until she head was dizzy. Yet all he did was maintain that same Noble posture and stern face. She wanted to claw his eyes out. He might even get off on that if she did it while hissing like a cat.

"Lady Greyrat, I have a letter for Lord Lyndon Bluewolf for you." A maid said, presenting the woman with a sealed letter.

"From that Lyndon?" Hilda said, snatching the letter from the girl's hands. "You may leave." She instructed the Beast Maid, who bowed before leaving the room, her cat's tail swishing around in the air behind her. "What does that idiot want?" Hilda said, ripping the letter open.

She hadn't really been very close to her cousin Lyndon. He had been a younger, more timid and annoying child when they were all young, and she hadn't seen him in years. She knew that he had become a Lord by sheer mistake, but she honestly hadn't been keeping track of his actions. Whatever it was that he wanted, she wasn't really feeling inclined to give it to him.

However, as she read through his letter and he explained what had transpired between himself and his wife, and how he had lost everything trying to protect his daughter and the young single mother that had been one of his cooks, Hilda felt her heart warming up to the man. Perhaps he hadn't been as much of a sniveling coward as she had thought him.

He was a failure as a Lord, yes, but in his failure, he was at least failing with honor and dignity, and sought to make sure that his incompetence and misfortune didn't hurt anyone else. She read over his request of her assistance in providing a new place to work and live for the young maid and pondered it for a few moments.

She honestly didn't like the idea of someone else's boy running around in her home while her own had been taken away from her, but she could put that behind her in order to help out another woman who was wronged by these damned power games.

She quickly went to write her reply, her baby girl forgotten, though still clinging to her blouse with a grip of iron, determined not to fall. Luckily Hilda did realize her mistake before the baby did fall off.

Little Eris was going to be a strong one, unlike her worthless father.

{Route 3: Path of the Guardian Shadow}

"If that doesn't work, you could also speak to the King and see about that other matter. That would certainly gain the mother and child some asylum." Kloss said, glancing down at Lyndon. The Master gave him a hard look before glancing around the room, as if to see if anyone was listening in. Though they were all alone. "She has the right to know. It is her child. Sooner or later, she would find out anyways."

"Master, what is he talking about?" Nora asked, confused.

Lyndon took a deep breath before responding. "Nora, the two of us believe that Uru is a Miko."

Nora's eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth in shock. It was the reaction that Lyndon had more or less been expecting. Though her next words came as a little bit of a surprise. "The voice."

"Excuse me?" Lyndon said. He had expected her to say something more along the lines of 'the sword', rather than 'the voice'.

"Right before the assassins attacked, I heard a voice warning me of danger, though I couldn't react in time to do anything about it." Nora admitted. "Then when the assassins entered the room, it told me that it would protect me, just before the sword appeared."

"Hm… sounds like the little Miko is already conscious of himself and possesses both a magical sight, and deadly power. I don't know if that is comforting or terrifying." Kloss said, scratching at his chin. Lyndon sighed, knowing just how rude Kloss was being. "Regardless, if you revealed to the palace that your son was a Miko, they would give you shelter, in exchange for the use of the boy as a soldier later on in his life, likely as the personal bodyguard of the newly born Princess. Presenting the King with such a child might even win our Lord enough favor to remain the Head of the Bluewolf Family."

"I would still prefer it if she want with Hilda instead, as the boy would then have the chance at a normal life. However, it is your right as the boy's mother to choose. If you wish to become a servant at the palace, with the boy likely becoming the Princess's Guardian Knight, I will help you. Though I fear that they might use the boy as an assassin instead of a mere guard." Lyndon said, trying his best to look calmly on. Nora was still in shock. "I suppose it is unfair to ask you to decide on both the child's future and your own right now. You have time to think it over if you wish."

"Thank you, Master." Nora said, bowing to the man before leaving the room.

"Kloss, you're an asshole, and I should have you whipped." Lyndon said to the butler. He knew what Nora's choice would end up being. The girl felt too guilty for what was happening, and she would do anything to try to return the kindness that her Lord had shown her.

"Like it or not, revealing the Miko might be the only way you can maintain your position as Lord." Kloss said unapologetically. "The people need a man like you too much sir. If I need to play the part of the devil in order to see that they get what they need, then so be it."

Within the void between worlds Hitogami was screaming. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

Everything he had done was supposed to drive the boy into exile, if not kill him outright. Now there was a chance that the boy would become the Princess's future body guard. Where he was flat out given to the Princess or sent to the Greyrats first, both paves would lead to him being at the center of things, right where he would be the biggest eye sore.

The human god couldn't even influence the mother's decision due to how the boy's strange existence drove his magic away. The only thing he could do was pray that everything wasn't about to blow up in his face even more than it already had.

Who exactly was a god supposed to pray too anyways?

Something that has been sitting in my computer for a while, only just finished up the last part of the Beast Tamer line.

I am a little curious though which of the paths would be most popular. (Poll is up.)

{Route 1: Path of the Exiled Sword} - Uru lives in a small village along with his mother, Alice, his Master. Lyndon remarries with a Beast Race woman and has a kid with green hair, sparking conflict and Uru has to protect his family while not really understanding how much force would be considered excessive force, leading to the family having to hide away from civilization all together in the abandoned forest nearby a Labyrinth. He eventual becomes an Adventurer, along with his adoptive siblings, and after the events of the canon teleport their parents away, they have to set out on an adventure to find them... or the remains of them. In this path, his main sort of kind of love interest is a Princess from the Kingdragon Kingdom who is the reincarnation of Mordred, with Mordred gaining a bit of a change of perspective after being reincarnated into a kingdom that is corrupted to the core, with absolutely everyone being a traitor who only desires the throne.

{Route 2: Path of the Beast Tamer} - Uru grows up around Eris, living his early years as a simply child of a kitchen girl, until Eris is kidnapped and he brutally kills the kidnappers. He takes the place of Rudius as Eris's teacher and protector after the disaster from the canon. Main love interests would be Eris as well as the Miko of the Holy Empire and perhaps a few catgirls and doggirls. This is the only path that would likely never eventually involve Rudius in some way.

{Route 3: Path of the Guardian Shadow} Uru grows up in the Silver Palace as the child servant, secretly being the Princess Ariel Anemoi Asura's body guard from the shadows. He kills all assassins who attempt to enter the castle long before they could make their way to the girl. Ariel never finds out until the events of the story when a monsters are teleported into the center of the castle, past the ever vigilant Uru. While Sylphy kills one of the monsters, Uru kills the others, revealing his nature as more than a simple servant. Main love interests of this path would be Princess Ariel and Sylphy.