Demon Lord Shapeshifting System

"I'm really sorry, Hark. I should have given you a heads-up about this." Roland apologized as they ate some good ravioli from an Italian restaurant called Cesar's.

Harker shook his head. "No, I understand. And this must be a pretty big deal for you."

During the ceremony, Roland was given a chance to be an associate attorney for a case involving a theft case accusing a Brazilian maid from a household of an affluent family with a sportswear business. It's nothing major, but the maid would likely get deported and be fined, even worse serve time in jail, if she wasn't represented well.

The details of the theft were also sketchy. Many of the evidence doesn't line up as well as testimonies from the family filing the lawsuit against her.

"The problem was that she doesn't have money, and not many lawyers speak Portuguese so there's a language barrier to boot. The chief of the public defense office here in Manhattan thought it might be a good idea to have me there. It will be a learning experience for me, and I'd be helping someone innocent with my skills."

Harker was happy for him, of course. But he was also disappointed because that means they won't be able to go to Virginia together.

Still, he gave him a smile. "Yeah, I'm really proud that you get to work on something like that so soon, buddy."

"I promise I'll meet up with you as soon as the trials are over and I got the greenlight from the big boss. Alejandro and the others will be accompanying you in the meantime. We can also give each other a few calls just to check up on each other." Roland said.

"Yeah, that's true. I'm also worried about my family too. I told them it's another research thing, and that it won't be long, but I really have no idea when this thing is over."

Harker sighed. "I never do ever since the whole monster thing started."

"They'll be fine, Harker. You can also have them stay in New Orleans again once all of them have their summer vacation. Chloe's will be a little later than the rest, right?"

"Mn. She has to catch up on classes she missed. She's pretty stubborn too, she won't take any special treatment just because of her illness."

As they continued talking about everyday small issues like this, he can't help but think about how smooth-sailing life would be if he didn't become a Demon Lord and got involved in this whole monster business. But then again, he wouldn't have met Mina, and he wouldn't have learned the things he does now.

These issues only seem small when in comparison to what he experienced so far. Having a limited worldview really does make you feel like a fish in a small pond, unaware of all the other dangers out there.

Now he felt that they were easier to deal with and that he'd rather have 99 small, human problems than 13 supernatural ones.

But instead, he had to deal with both, and he had to accept that fact.

Besides…..

Seeing G.G. Faust and the whole An Xin thing. all the monsters existing around him in plain sight…. It made him realize that his life wasn't really 100% normal before all this. Well, there's of course the fact that his family had the slim chance of having all those misfortunes come to them, but this was different. Maybe Yan was right after all.

It was fate that these things happened to him.

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After dinner, Harker and Roland headed for the Jones house to celebrate. The adults had a few wine to drink, and a few games like scrabble and chess. They watched television, jammed to the songs on the radio, and did all sorts of random things until it's past midnight and they collapsed from exhaustion.

Roland slept in for the night. It wasn't the first time he had a sleepover with this family, and he honestly preferred sleeping here than in his quiet house.

Even at the dead of the night, there's so many interesting things going on. Like how he could hear Samson's snore, or Samuel groaning and then a loud thud coming as he seemed to kick his own brother. In another room, he could hear Chloe muttering in her sleep.

Harker was a combination of all three. He snores, he kicks people, and he occasionally talks in his sleep.

And Roland was sleeping beside him. It was already the eight time he tried to yank the blanket back. When he did manage to get it though, Harker rolled around to hug Roland from behind like a pillow and even buried his face on his neck. He murmured something like "Smells like sweet corn.....".

Because of this ruckus, Roland couldn't sleep and got out of the bed. Maybe he'll get something to drink in the kitchen since his throat feels a little dry.

As he went downstairs to the kitchen, he heard some more small sounds. It was a shhhk! shhk! shhhk! kind of sound, like metal scraping against wood.

He saw Mr. Jones sitting all alone in front of the dining table, whittling in the dark. Roland raised an eyebrow and turned on the light switch.

"Mr. Jones? Is everything alright?"

The man jolted from his wheelchair when the lights went on. Since his legs got amputated, Mr. Jones resolved to sleep downstairs on the couch. He said he preferred it that way and was pretty used to sleeping while sitting upright.

It felt like he was sleeping the whole time when he responded while slurring his words. "Oh…. Roland. Why are you here?"

"I was just going to get some water. You shouldn't whittle in the dark, Mr. Jones." Roland said. "It's too dangerous even though you are quite skilled with the knife."

"I….. know. Don't worry about me." He gave that forced smile that was just like his son's.

Roland nodded. He pondered over something as he filled his glass with water, and took a sip. Then, he sat in front of Mr. Jones who was still looking a bit frazzled.

"Mr. Jones…. Could I ask a personal question?"

The man couldn't look him in the eye for a moment, as if distracted. He snapped out of it and asked. "What is it?"

"My uncle…. I don't know much about him. I was aware that I have one and he passed away. But recently, Harker brought him up because Chloe found a picture of him in Mrs. Jones' diary." Roland explained. "I was just wondering if you could tell me more about him and your friendship."

Howard Jones blinked. "You're asking about G.G.. Well... he's a good friend."

"In what way, Mr. Jones?"

When the man looked surprised by the question, Roland rephrased it. "I just wanted to know more about his personality. But I don't mean to pry on anything too personal, Mr. Jones. Just some things you can say about him."

Roland didn't want to make Howard feel like he's being interrogated, but his curiosity was getting the best of him.

"How did you two meet? That's what I'm most curious about." Roland said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"How we met…."

Howard Jones' eyes became wide and unblinking, as if he was seeing something that's not there. Seeing a whole scene different from the one in front of him.

"It all started when I got lost on the streets of New York. I got lost, beaten up by punks and had my money stolen from me. Just a country bumpkin with absolutely no idea how to survive in this urban jungle."

"And then….. I saw people throwing stones at a man who did nothing wrong."