Ocean had planned that they would leave from Damon’s residence since it would be easier to reach till the outskirts from where they would teleport to the borders and back home from there. That’s why, presently, Ocean, Sol and Davian were staying at Lancaster residence overnight to depart early morning the next day.

It was way past midnight and Davian couldn’t sleep so he was out for a stroll. It was snowing outside. The snowflakes that drifted off in the wind looked like stars floating down from the skies when the moonlight that streamed through the thick gray clouds fell on them.

Davian huffed watching the smoke cloud blow from his mouth before he looked up to see light coming from Ocean’s balcony. He tilted his head before he decided to go check.

Davian climbed over the wall with the expertise of professional climber and within seconds he was perched upon the balcony of Ocean’s room. He could see Ocean sitting at the desk working on something.

"It’s cold outside, Your Highness. Please come in." Ocean’s calm voice drifted past the doors that opened on their own and Davian chuckled.

He brushed away the snowflakes from his coat and walked inside the room watching as only the lamp near the desk where Ocean was sitting was burning while the rest of the room was quiet and dark. Sol was fast asleep in the bed while Ocean seemed a little tensed.

"Can’t sleep, Master?" Davian asked as he saw the communication device that sat before Ocean.

"No," Ocean said while keeping his eyes on the device.

"Is something wrong with the device?" Davian asked as he leaned his back against the wall near the desk.

"Yes, it seems like it was damaged during the fight and now, I can’t contact back to Ryujin." Ocean said.

He wasn’t worried about the device that much but because he couldn’t contact back home. He had to wish Kai and others Happy New Year but because of the mess that he had to go through he couldn’t even get Roan’s report. It had been two days since he had known anything about the affairs of Sestia and though he believed that everyone would be all right, he had a strange eerie feeling that something wasn’t right. He was hoping that Kai was safe but since he didn’t get any task or a warning through his essence from Kai so, he was thinking that everything was fine.

"Don’t you usually only need to pour your mana into it and it works?" Davian asked as he picked up the mana stone and studied it.

"Yes, but I’ve been trying that since morning and it hasn’t worked. It’s a bad thing, if there were any emergency then Kai and others won’t be able to reach me." Ocean spoke frowning and Davian hummed.

The communication device had a special working technique, the mana poured into the device would allow it to access the mana of the other devices that worked on the same frequency. At first it was only designed for specific devices that’s why making it in bulk was hard. But with the proper calculation, it could be used to connect several devices, there were two devices that could be connected to all the devices and both of them were with Ocean. One, on his person and second, in his office. The ones the others had also were connected to these two.

"Would you like to try using the communication device that you gave me?" Davian said plucking the device from his tunic and handed it to Ocean.

Ocean sighed and took the device, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Davian laughed, "You’re the one who gave it to me, Master. Why are you thanking me?"

Ocean smiled before he realised that it was 3 in the night and the people were probably sleeping on the other side.

"What’s wrong?" Davian asked as he saw Ocean not contacting.

"It’s 3 in the morning, I doubt even Roan would be in my office right now." Ocean sighed and Davian chuckled.

"You should rest too then, Master." Davian said, "we couldn’t even enjoy the New Year party properly."

Ocean looked at him and then shook his head, "Don’t worry we still have the party of my place. You couldn’t enjoy there till your heart’s content."

Davian beamed, "Miss Reina would be there too, right?"

Ocean’s smile froze, "Yes..."

Davian’s smile widened, "I’m looking forward to it."

Davian then walked back to the balcony, "Good night, Master."

With his greetings given, he jumped off the balcony and Ocean sighed wondering how he was going to get out of this. It was then that he realised that he hadn’t returned Davian’s brooch.

"I’ll return it tomorrow." Ocean sighed before he stood up from the chair and walked up to the bed.

He looked at Sol who was curled up on his side before he lay down himself staring at the ceiling wondering if Kai and others were enjoying the New Year. He had bought a lot of souvenirs for them but it was difficult to bring them along so, he had asked Duke Aurelius to bring them along. Ocean had only kept a few gifts with him and was looking forward to the reactions of Kai, Roan and others after they would receive their gifts.

Before long, Ocean had dozed off.

The next morning, the whole Lancaster residence was abuzz as they prepared to bid farewell to Denril’s hero. It was already in the news that Ocean Ryujin had saved the King and Crown Prince of Denril from the assassination attack. The incident was slightly tweaked in a way to hide the existence of the demonic intervention and only focused on the ones who were there to threaten the peace between the two kingdoms. Thanks to this incident, Ocean, Eric and Arian had grown very popular among the Denrilites.

The royal palace itself had received a lot of invitations and gifts for Ocean Ryujin that they had to send some back with the reason that Ocean Ryujin had already left the palace.

The carriage that would take them to the outskirts of the capital. Damon and his family along with the Lancaster residence personnel had gathered to bid them farewell.

"Please have a safe journey, Marquis Ocean, Your Highness and Young Master." Damon said and Ocean smiled.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Your Grace." Davian beamed.

"It was my honor, Your Highness." Damon spoke.

Ocean then moved to Beatrice who gave him a serene smile. Ocean bowed slightly taking her hand gently in his before resting a fleeting kiss on her knuckles.

"It’s a shame that you couldn’t stay for long, Marquis. We shall await your presence soon." She said and then turned to Davian who also kissed her hand.

"Please visit us again, Your Highness we couldn’t even get to have tea together." She said and Davian chuckled.

"I’ll surely return just to have tea with you, My Lady." Davian said making Ocean give him a side glance.

Ocean was about to move towards Anastasia when they heard the sound of the hooves hitting the ground. They all turned to see a man riding a horse approaching them.

The white stallion came to a stop near the carriage and the man unmounted. He removed the red cloak’s hood that was covering his fiery red hair and looked at Ocean.

"Glad I’m not too late." Arian smiled.

"I didn’t expect you to come all the way here to say goodbye, Your Highness." Ocean smiled back and he walked up to them.

"So, you’re headed back already," Arian said looking at Ocean, then at Davian and finally at Sol.

"I didn’t even get a chance to talk to your son." He spoke and Sol frowned while Ocean laughed.

"He’s not my son, Your Highness." Ocean corrected, "He’s my nephew."

Arian looked at him and then at Sol, "... Is that so?"

Ocean smiled and then turned to Anastasia who was eagerly waiting for him.

"Marquis, please come visit us soon again, and also bring Mr Ace with you next time!" Anastasia said and Ocean smiled taking her hand gently.

"Sure, My Lady." He said before he resting a soft kiss over her knuckles.

"Your Highness, it was a great honor to serve you." She curtsied to Davian before she looked at Sol.

"It’s so sad that I couldn’t play with you, Young Master Sol." She spoke and then stared at him for a moment before looking at Ocean as if asking for some sort of permission.

Ocean smiled noticing what she wanted to do.

"Go ahead," he said and she beamed before she picked Sol up in her arms making the young boy gasp.

"Wha-What?!"

"Aw, you’re so adorable but I couldn’t get any chance to spend time with you!" She spoke as she hugged him and Sol looked uncomfortable but he gave up resisting.

Davian, on the other hand walked over to Arian. Arian noticed him and the two stood in front of each other.

"Please visit Frosthail some time, Your Highness, whenever you are in Sestia. I’d love to have a spar with you." Davian said as his eyes drifted over to the sword at Arian’s hip.

Arian smirked, "Sure, I’d also like to know how strong the future Grand Duke of Sestia is."

Ocean noticed the tension sparking among the two Princes before he cleared his throat.

"We should get going now, Your Highness."

With the farewells done, Ocean, Sol and Davian started getting on the carriage.

"Marquis," Ocean stopped as Arian called him. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Yes, Your Highness?"

Arian’s hand unconsciously brushed over the hilt of his sword before he said, "If I visit... your residence would you show me around your Oasis?"

Ocean smiled, "Sure. And since you’re asking so nicely,"

Arian flinched as he heard Ocean but he simply continued in that same patronizing tone, "I’ll even take you to a special place."

Before Arian could retort, Ocean smiled, "Now, I must leave. I hope you don’t have much trouble taking care of my network business here with Duke Lancaster, Your Highness."

Arian could only watch as Ocean got inside and then waved back at Lancaster family and Arian before the carriage took off.

On their ride back, Ocean watched the town passing by and sighed, Davian who watched Ocean asked.

"Did you contact Kai and wish him New Year, Master?" Davian asked and Ocean’s eyes widened.

"Oh, I forgot." He spoke and Davian laughed even Sol stared at Ocean in disbelief.

"So, Master also forgets things." Davian commented making Ocean chuckle sheepishly as he pulled out Davian’s brooch that was left with him.

It was morning so, Roan and the others would already be in the office. Ocean poured his mana into the brooch and felt the communication establish.

"Roan?" He spoke, "Roan, are you there?"

There was a moment of pause, before Ocean heard his trusted aide’s voice.

"Master?" It was faint at first as if he was speaking from afar but then it grew sharper.

"Master, is it really you?!"

Ocean frowned a bit but then chuckled, "Roan, are you having a hangover or something why are you-"

Ocean was about to ask if he was having a hangover of afterparty of something but the next thing that Roan said made his blood run cold.

"Master, hurry back! There’s been a big problem here!"