Galaxy's First Ruler

'Ah…'

Aldrich let out a relieving grunt in his mind as he took a seat.

As expected, there wasn't a hint of a problem regarding his ID. After Nellie handed it over to him, Aldrich was directed to a bus-like spaceship almost the size of two airplanes attached end to end.

There were two columns of seats running to the end of this spaceship, and each column had two seats in a row. Aldrich took little time to pick a seat by random, leaving behind a few front rows. He was like an old man on his last breath. None could tell if he were to close his eyes, then he would ever open them again.

The moment Aldrich let his butt touch the seat, he became a statue. Completely motionless, with his eyes closed, and his heartbeat slowing down as if he was in hibernation. The Black Mist over his heart had gone stale, like a moldy piece of bread, after Maya's Rank had fallen. Though he didn't need to keep reciting Ancient Sayings anymore, he didn't know how to get rid of this Black Mist.

Not unless he got to know which Law it was based on.

The buzz of the crowd kept ringing in his ears as the other Dreamers kept coming in, taking their seats here and there. If it wasn't for his unusual state, Aldrich had already approached someone to have an idea of his surroundings, even if he had to do some manipulations.

Though Aldrich was odd, and he didn't like to talk unnecessarily, it wasn't as if he didn't like to talk. Even on earth, after closing the shop, Aldrich always used to roam around in the streets, searching for some foreigner to talk with. The locals didn't approach him, anyway, leaving him no choice. There were little things outside the close circle of family and Boomie, which was humane about him, and this was one of those things.

A hint of a small and elusive smile had just come on his tired lips when a shout rang out in his ears.

"Scum! Get up!!"

'Tch!'

Aldrich scoffed in his mind, and cracked his eyes open slightly. A black-haired and black -eyed Dreamer stood over him, glaring with plain disgust. Behind him, there was a brunette whose head was down so low that Aldrich could hardly see her nose. He noticed there was an insignia of a purple dragonfly on the man's right chest pocket, but the girl didn't have any.

There were many seats all around Aldrich that had yet to be occupied. At one glance, Aldrich could tell this man must be one of the Dreamers who was standing around him and Baron Benjamin. For this man to come up to him meant he was purposely creating trouble for Aldrich.

Aldrich cared little about these weak-hearted beings, but he also didn't want to make a scene. He decided to give this man a chance and lifted his right hand to point at his right chest. Although Aldrich didn't have any other insignia, one could see an ID card there.

And on this ID card words were flashing out like trails of comets.

-Name: Tudor

-House: NA

-Attempt: 1st

Simple things, but enough to tell almost all about Aldrich. The lack of a family name was alone sufficient to change the course of many Dreamers' future. Much less needed to be said about the House name being not applicable, too.

Aldrich could also see the name Bolut Rup, written on the ID card attached under the dragonfly's insignia of the man opposite to him. And unlike his, Bolut's House name wasn't vacant. Blood Dragonfly was flashing there in bold letters.

As Aldrich somehow pointed at his ID card, Bolut let out in a feat of laughter.

HAHAHA!!

This laugh made the girl behind him shiver, but not Aldrich. He had heard more sinister laughs, which could make anybody lose their sanity. He shook his head inwardly, seeing the chance he had given getting wasted away. Bolut put an arm around the girl and called out.

"Hey guys, did you see?! This scum wants me to say his name."

A silent laugh passed by all the candidates belonging to the Houses while the one who didn't belong to any House just looked away. No one wanted to get caught up in a mess involving a noble Dreamer.

Bolut knew this, too. He scoffed and spoke with a smirk on his face.

"Very well. Let me amuse myself then. Mr. Tudor, with no family name, leave…"

By the time Bolut completed his sentence, his eyes had squinted, gaining a threatening look. Aldrich stared into those eyes for a moment, before nodding and picking up the cane. He looked behind and saw an empty seat. Aldrich had just taken a step when Bolut again spoke out in a loud voice.

"Mr. Tudor, leave behind your cane. My baby doll has taken a liking to it, right?"

Hahaha!!!

'Such childish things…'

Aldrich thought as he heard the nobles breaking out in another round of laughter. The girl, almost getting choked by the grip of Bolut's arm around her, nodded her head in response to his question. But Aldrich could easily feel the emotions going through all the surrounding beings.

He could see the hidden cowardice in Bolut's heart, and the shivering fear in the girl's. Aldrich stared at Bolut and contemplated if he should just throw the cane at him when suddenly a shadow came over him. This shadow also covered Bolut and the girl under it.

"Hmm?!"

Bolut let out a grunt and turned around, but a white wall had come up in front of him. Aldrich, standing a little away from Bolut, could see that this wasn't a white wall but a man's waist. He and Bolut, almost simultaneously, looked up. Unlike Bolut, whose eyes didn't move up from the empty right part of this man's chest, Aldrich saw the menacing look on his dark face.

The man had brown grizzly hair and brown eyes. His shoulders were wide enough to cover the entire gap between the two columns of seats. And all over his face were scars and wounds, heinous enough to make the girl let out a gasp.

Bolut, now completely furious at this, cried out.

"YOU DARE SCUM…"

But before he could complete his sentence, the over-sized palm of the man lunged at Bolut's face like a serpent.

Yo-glup-llup-you

Ignoring the incomprehensible mumbling voice, Aldrich saw the man lifting Bolut, and then bringing him down on the ship's floor like a hammer.

BOOM!!!