Eternal Thief

As Archie disembarked the carriage, his henchmen quickly appeared one after another and circle around him with concern in their eyes.

There were six demons, and all of them were from the life demon tribe's different branches.

It was one of the rules of any grand demon duke tribe. The servants of the dominant clan must be from the tribe, no outsider was allowed.

Archie has personally chosen these six by rejecting the servants his father chose for him because he didn't like being spied on by him, and these six were also loyal only to him, and he treated them very well.

"Young Lord, are you already?" The black face demon was also among them as he asked with concern.

Ace looked at them, especially at the blackface demon. His name was Blacky, or that's what Archie used to call him.

This guy was one of the earliest demons who followed Archie, and he considered him like a friend and treated him generously.

Furthermore, Blacky was also the one who first took Archie to the pleasure palace, and from then on, he became his closest aide, and Archie let him handle almost everything.

However, Ace wasn't carefree and idiot like Archie, and he could tell when someone was being deceitful when he saw one.

He had long annexed these six memories and wasn't surprised when he found Blacky was a spy planted by Archie's side by another demon duke's hire of the Soul Life Demon Clan.

Blacky only had one goal: to make sure Archie would never enter the Royal Demon Institute and even compel him to run away from the Life Grand Demon Region.

The Runic Demon Family was placed second between the three duke families, and Archie has the potential to make them number one. His older brother and younger sister didn't have his talent, and they were mediocre at best in comparison.

It naturally made the number one duke family, the Soul Pill Family felt threaten for their resources and position.

However, Archie was completely ambitionless and never tried to fight with anyone for their position or show any signs of interest in politics.

In the end, Archie's threat faded away with time, and it left now only this chance of entering the Royal Demon Institute, which could turn everything around.

This heir of the Soul Pill Family was the same age as Archie, and his talent was only a little bit inferior, and he was going to partake in the upcoming entrance test this year.

He always looked down on Archie and considered him a fool. He was even jealous of his talent, which was completely wasted on Archie.

So, he planted Blacky under him to destroy the little bit of reputation Archie has, and he succeeded.

However, now, Archie wasn't in this world anymore, and someone who he couldn't even dream of messing with changed him.

Archie lampooned with a dangerous smile. "What? Do I need your permission to decide for myself?"

The other henchmen and Blacky were shocked, since Archie never spoke with them, especially Blacky like this.

Blacky felt his heart tremble under Archie's piercing gaze and quickly lowered his head, "I-I don't dare."

"Good. Now gentlemen, if you excuse me, I have something to discuss with my old man." Done saying, he left toward the mansion.

"Do you think something happened?" Another burly demon whispered in Blacky's ears. He was long bought by Blacky, so he naturally knew where Blacky's loyalty lies.

Blacky coldly looked at Archie's back and frowned, "I need to rest!"

As Ace entered the lavish runic duke mansion, he was greeted by a blue skin middle-aged demon with a scholarly demeanor. He was clad in black butler clothes, and when he looked at Archie; he bowed slightly.

He was clearly waiting for him. Furthermore, he spoke impassively, "Young Lord, Duke summon you for a chat."

"Very well, I was about to go look for him. It's more convenient this way." Archie merely chuckled and kept moving.

A hint of bewilderment appeared in the butler's impassive yellow eyes, 'He seems… different.' However, there were no emotions on his face as he followed behind Archie.

Soon, they reached a spacious hallway and at the end of this hallway were silver doors filled with beautiful patterns.

As they closed in, the silver doors suddenly opened, and an imposing voice sounded, "I want to have a moment alone with my son."

The butler naturally stopped hearing this and, without showing any expressions, he left while Archie entered the silver doors.

The interior was quite spacious, and it was filled with bookshelves and rows of books in them. It was the Runic Soul Family's Library, and the Duke spent most of the time here researching runes.

Archie always hated this place, since he hated studying the runes.

In the center of this room was a round table filled with many runic patterns and rune-crafting tools.

A demon who could be said to be the exact copy of Archie or the other way around, but he had a more mature face, and his sharp eyes were filled with sophistication, unlike Archie's callowness.

He was the current Runic Demon Duke of the Runic Soul Demon Family and Archie's father, Harvey.

However, he wasn't alone. Beside Harvey was an enticing demoness with a gentle demeanor. Her amber eyes were filled with anxiety and gentleness as they darted between Archie and Harvey. She was Archie's mother who spoiled him rotten, Ellie.

"Have fun?" Harvey coldly uttered as he sharply looked at Archie with exasperation.

He really had lost all hope for Archie because of his past transgressions and his recent exploit of his noble title. It would be another story if Archie didn't have any talent, but this was the exact problem.

It hurt even more when he thought about how his debaucher son could've changed their family position, but he turned out to be a wastrel. He even blamed himself for giving too much freedom to Archie, and now it was too late.

This time, he had grounded Archie and told him to break through, or he won't be allowed to go outside, hoping things might change. But Archie snuck out with someone's help and this made him furious to no end.

He was going to go after him if hadn't received the report that Archie didn't go to the pleasure place and returned from their doors.

That was why he still didn't go straight there and beat Archie's ass, and will listen to his reason first.

Furthermore, his loving wife was the one who gave him the biggest headache, since she would always get in the way with teary eyes whenever he was going to beat this bastard up. He just loved her too much and couldn't see tears in her eyes, so Archie would also escape.

The biggest reason for Archie's current mindset was none other than Ellie, who never stopped him from doing anything and supported him. Although she treated her other two children the same, Archie turned out to be different from his siblings.

Ace knew Archie's relationship with his parents and they were the biggest hurdle to cross if he wanted to enter the Royal Demon Institute. Because they might sense something amiss if the change was too great, so he had to be convenient.

Harvey was a Soul Embryo Manifestation Realm, as well as a Grade-6 Rune Crafter!

He might be even stronger than any Demon Kings in the eight provinces.

As for Ellie, despite her gentle demeanor, she was a peak platinum soul embryo realm cultivator and only a step away from being in the same rank as Harvey.

This was the biggest difference between the outer continent and the royal zone.

The Title Demon Duke can only be earned after entering the Manifestation Realm!

Archie didn't speak, but instead released his aura, which filled the entire library!

Harvey's sharp eyes suddenly went wide when he sensed the aura Archie had just released. While Ellie's beautiful eyes also shimmered with happiness.

She exclaimed in surprise, "My baby boy, break into Platinum Soul River Core before the age of 100!"

Ace quickly retracted the aura he released with the Thousand-Face Mask he wore under the Demonic Eater Mask.

Archie said with an ashamed smile, "I'm willing to go to the Royal Demon Institute."

Ace wanted to keep this conversation as short as possible. He knew the more he spoke, the more chances he'll expose some loophole in front of Archie's parents. Especially his mother. There's no way she won't notice any change in her own pampered son.

Although he was confident in his acting skill, he still wasn't completely sure if he could fool a caring mother like Ellie.

Harvey suddenly laughed out loud when he heard Archie's words. He even thought he was dreaming. He always wanted to listen to those exact same words for a long time.

However, he still had to make sure Archie wasn't doing this just to escape punishment.

Harvey's eyes suddenly turned as sharp as blades as he questioned, "Forget about me, brat, but not only did you hide your true cultivation from your mother, but you wasted god knows how many years hiding it. I want to know what changed it?"