System vs Rebirth

'That easy?' He never thought that the hermit would agree so easily. After all, he came here not invited. They had never met and their races were even different.

"Why are you so shocked? You don't think I will teach you?" Old Ru smirked, teasing him.

"To be honest, yes." Noel chose to be honest here, considering he wanted to make Old Ru trust him.

"Haha. I like an honest person." Old Ru pointed at his house. "In that case, let's enter first. I'll explain it to you after this."

"I understand. Thank you for inviting us." Noel nodded gently. Noel couldn't help but glance back, worried about Dimitri and the others. "But, Sir. Is it fine if all of us enter your house?"

"The more the merrier." Old Ru chuckled.

Noel didn't know what to say. Old Ru looked like a human. He didn't even see anything that made him look otherwise. Yet, the way he conducted himself was so different from a normal human, especially with how he was so open in teaching them.

However, there was no sign of him trying to lie to him. Of course, Old Ru might pretend to accept all of them and do something later, but he was so strong that he could kill them if he wanted. Even if they used their True Spirit Body, the area was filled with demons. They would end up dying no matter what.

When they were about to reach the house, the door was opened.

"Welcome back, Grandpa." A young man, who seemed to be no older than Noel, emerged from the house to greet him. He soon noticed the presence of Noel and the others and looked at them for a moment.

His eyes seemed to be fixated on Noel, who walked together with his grandfather.

Noel could see the young man's identity as well as his affection.

Name: Lupin

Affection: Vague (5/100)

Description: Someone who doesn't like you but doesn't hate you.

Just like the affection, the description was also vague and confusing. It seemed that the young man didn't want him to be here, but because Old Ru brought them here, he ended up accepting them.

Noel couldn't really describe the feeling, but at the very least, he wouldn't be a threat.

At the same time, Noel couldn't help but remember what Anna told him previously. Lupin was actually suitable to become the Sword Saint's disciple.

He didn't know if this was possible, but somehow, he realized that after knowing the future, there was a repulsive feeling as if he had over-analyzed him or something.

If Noel knew that Anna wanted to tell him about the betrayal of the Third Prince and her teacher back then, he would have told her to stop because he wanted to judge them with his own eyes.

Noel took a deep breath, trying to forget what Anna had said. Then, he carefully took a look at this Lupin.

Lupin was a young man who seemed to be of the same age as him. His eyes were fixated on his ears. Instead of a pair of ears that looked like Old Ru or him, Lupin had no ears on the side. It was fixed with a pair of ears on top of his head.

The ears were pointy and hairy, looking like a wolf's ears. His blue hair looked like it was long because it was sticking out of his back, but when he took another look at it, the one on the back seemed to be another thing.

He soon realized that the guy only had short blue hair and the one sticking out earlier was his tail.

In addition, his eyes were sharp and slanted. Other than these three features, Noel couldn't really find anything that made him look different from a normal human. Then again, those three features were enough for people to realize he was not a human.

"Can you guess his name?" Old Ru asked with a gentle smile.

Noel fell silent for a moment before saying, "Lupin."

Lupin was slightly surprised that his name was being called. However, he soon snorted. "My name is not something you can call!"

"Oh my." Old Ru chuckled. "I hope that you don't feel offended by his remark. He has a rough childhood, you see."

"I understand." Noel nodded with a serious expression.

"Can you prepare the seats for the guest?" Old Ru waved his hand.

Since it was his grandfather's request, Lupin could only agree. He entered hurriedly and prepared things as quickly as possible as if he didn't want to meet them.

Old Ru was chuckling the whole time as if Lupin's action was cute. Meanwhile, the others didn't know what to say because this was the first time they saw someone with fox ears.

Anna had heard about Lupin, but she never encountered him in the past.

So, she couldn't help but be curious.

Noel said, "I should be the one to apologize for our rudeness."

It seemed that Noel understood what happened and the reason why Old Ru only apologized once at the start, not the rest.

Because this was the first time they saw someone like him, they couldn't help but stare at him so intensely as if trying to learn about him. That was rude like what Lupin did.

Hence, Noel had to apologize.

As soon as they heard Noel's words, their bodies shook. Dimitri and Damian looked at each other while Nicole and Anna scratched the back of their heads, feeling embarrassed.

"Hahaha!" Old Ru chuckled and patted Noel's shoulder a few times as though he was satisfied with him. After that, he pointed at the door and said, "Please."

Noel nodded and followed Old Ru entering the house. He thought that the hermit's house would be magical, especially since he showed such power.

But the moment he entered, there was nothing extraordinary about it. The interior was made of wood and the decoration only gave a warm feeling.

However, there was one thing that piqued Noel's interest.

It was the white sword hanging on the wall.