Help! I don't want to NTR the protagonist!

Chapter 2 02. Lucius Vexx

?"Gasp!"

Marcus lurched forward as he sat up out of his bed.

His body was covered in fine beads of sweat, his mind still clearly left shaken from the god's terrible means of transporting his soul.

Marcus, or more accurately Lucius now, didn't know what to do.

After spending a few seconds adjusting to his surroundings, Lucius realised that this weakness he was feeling was just a mental issue, his actual body was weak and exhausted as his mind was.

Lifting his frail hand Lucius looked at his body in disbelief.

'What the hell happened here?'

From what he remembered about Lucius, although he wasn't a frontline combatant, he wasn't a weakling by any means. It made no sense that his body would be this weak. It was even weaker than his body in the original world!

Lucius wanted to get up out of bed, but after struggling for a while he fell back against the headrest, exhausted.

Just as he was about to wallow in despair he heard the sound of the door opening

-creak.

Lucius looked over to the creaking door to see a refined yet weary looking grey haired man walking inside

"Y-Young Leader..." cried the man in shock.

The tray of food in his hand fell to the floor but the man didn't seem to care and quickly rushed towards Lucius's side.

"Thank the gods! Young Leader, you're awake! How are you feeling, young leader?"

Lucius groaned at the rapid bombardment of words

"I'm not feeling too well" replied Lucius

As Lucius said this, he could see the face of the man twist with both guilt and shame

"Forgive me, Young Leader, it's all my fault due to my negligence."

Looking at the man by his side, Lucius tried to remember the story and guess who this man could possibly be, it was then a word suddenly escaped his mouth.

"Uncle Albert..."

If there was anyone by his side at this moment it could only be the man that Lucius called Uncle Albert, a man who had followed the original Lucius until the end.

Even as Lucius fell into despair and madness and sold his soul to the devil, that man did not hesitate to enter the pits of hell at his side.

Even if the world around him was collapsing, even if the world scorned him as a demonic traitor, there was no way that Albert would ever betray him.

"Young Leader, are you okay?"

Albert's concerned words quickly snapped him out of his stupor.

Looking at Albert, Lucius spoke grimly.

"Things aren't looking too good Albert. I'm sick, weak and my memory is scrambled. I barely even remember much about myself."

"You still managed to remember me? " asked Albert surprised

Hearing this a slightly defeated smile appeared on Lucius's face

"Even if I forget everything else, how could I forget my most loyal helper."

Of course, all this talk about remembering was all utter bullshit. The soul of the original Lucius was long gone, so there was no way Lucius had the memories of the original body. He was just saying these words in an effort to make Albert feel better and erase any suspicion about his missing memories.

But surprisingly, when Albert heard this, he didn't smile, instead, his face contorted into one of extreme guilt

"Young Leader, if you don't mind me asking... just how much can you remember?"

Hearing this, Lucius paused for a while, deliberating on how much he should actually say without completely outing himself. and after taking a fair guess, finally started speaking.

"I remember that I am Lucius Vexx, son of Sirius Vexx and the next leader of the revolutionary rebels but that's just about all I can remember. But don't worry Albert I can still remember the cause and my mission. Even if I can't remember everything, I will see the revolution out until the end!"

But as Albert heard the words that Lucius thought would make him feel better, his expression only got worse.

"Young Leader, you say you must see out the revolution but must... must it be so?"

"Young Leader you have lost your memories so you won't know but the revolutionary forces are in an abysmal state. Our main base was raided by the empire with at least half of our forces scattered and slaughtered! Despite the fact that after your father's assassination, we took extra precautions hiding your identity and location, making you wear a mask when interacting with other members of the revolutionary army, you were still poisoned and ended up in this state. This could only mean that despite our best efforts the force was infiltrated by traitors to a worrying degree."

When Lucius heard all this he was left speechless. He almost couldn't believe his ears!

Although he knew from the novel that the revolutionary forces did suffer some raids from the empire, he never could have expected their state to be this bad.

It has to be known that in the novel after the Demon King and his forces, the second most powerful and recurring villain would have to be the revolutionary forces. They were a major threat that could not be ignored and nearly took the protagonist's life on many occasions, but now Lucius was being told they were hiding like rats that didn't even dare to cross the street!

The story was always told from the perspective of the MC so it was understandable that Lucius wouldn't have a clear view of the internal happenings of the Rebel Forces, it's just that he never expected it to be this bad...

"Young Leader, you've already come close to losing your life at such a young age. Maybe... maybe you should abandon the cause."

"What!"

"Young Leader, I know you have done a lot and worked hard but the risk you can lose your life is only increasing. Remember, even your father, a great man who stood near the world's peak in combat power was still eventually assassinated by the power of the empire. You've tried your best but why don't we just stop here." said Albert showing a resolute expression

"Although you're deeply involved in the revolution it's still not too late to wash your hands clean. You could live your life quietly away from nobles and the hatred and conflict of the rebellion. Despite his urge for change and happily giving his life for it, I'm sure your father wouldn't want you to meet the same fate as him. If abandoning the revolution is what it would take for you to live a safe and happy life then... then I'm sure that this is what your father would have wanted."

'…Ah… this guy… he truly cares about Lucius'

Despite how resolute Albert was sounding, Lucius saw the pain in the man's face.

The decision to abandon the cause and the revolution was one that would have left Albert heartbroken.

He was the first man to join his father and one of the founding members of the Revolutionary Army so his loyalty to the cause was like no other. If it was just him, Albert wouldn't hesitate to fight to his last drop of blood, even if it cost him his life.

But even stronger than his loyalty to the cause and desire for a revolution was his loyalty to Sirius and the only surviving son of the Vexx family, Lucius.

Lucius looked at the loyal Albert with a conflicted expression.

To be honest Albert's idea wasn't so bad.I think you should take a look at

Hiding away from all the troubles and using the money they have to live as a rich landlord. With his future knowledge, he could avoid hectic wars and live a quiet life.

If only the Evil God that brought him here didn't exist!

He didn't forget that despicable bastard's words

'If you don't capture the hearts of enough heroines you will die a brutal and wretched death.'

Right now Lucius was doing something as ridiculous as living inside a novel. This alone was enough to clearly show the ridiculous powers at the god's disposal so he didn't have the guts to take any chances.

If he was to capture the hearts of the heroines he would inevitably entangle himself in the plot and fight against various powers.

In the midst of all this, the revolutionary army would be a vital arm that he couldn't afford to cut off at this stage.

Even if it was a ticking time bomb filled with crazies and traitors, their benefits still outweighed their negatives

With that Lucius sighed as he spoke.

"Albert, it's reassuring to know that you care for me, but we can't abandon the mission, not after coming so far and losing so many lives. We will see this through to the end, no matter the cost!"

As Lucius spoke, his eyes burned with resolve at the true meaning of words only he would understand.

But Albert clearly mistook his resolve for something else.

Seeing the burning conviction behind Lucius's eyes, showing such resolve you could even guess his very life depended on it, Albert couldn't help but sigh.

But despite this deep down inside his heart, the flame of revolution that had nearly been snuffed out after suffering such a devastating blow, quietly reignited.

Behind those resolute eyes what Albert saw wasn't Lucius, but the man he had sworn to follow, Sirius Vexx a man whose resolve could even shake a mountain

'Ahh Sirius… this boy is truly your son. I can only wonder, would your son also end up suffering the same fate as you?'

shaking these sad thoughts out of his head, Albert quickly got to work

"I had a feeling that you would be like this so even while you were unconscious and sick, we didn't stop preparing

The revolutionary forces are in chaos right now and we've suffered major damage. It's because of this that we decided that if we are to truly succeed in our revolution, we need to be more bold! more daring! more crazy!"

As Albert was speaking a wild light shone in his eyes as if he had been taken back to his days of young revolutionary fervour.

"Our next action is going to be the most daring we will take, and you will be the one to bear the brunt of the risk" Explained Albert

"Lucius, we will need you to infiltrate the heart of the Empire. You will have to infiltrate Sanctuary, the Academy of Heroes."

Lucius already knew this was going to happen, otherwise, how could the original Lucius appear in the story? Because of this Lucius didn't show much of an expression and just nodded.

Albert took this as Lucius's confidence so while was impressed with his boldness, he was also worried that Lucius wasn't taking it seriously enough.

"Lucius, you have to remember that this mission will be extremely dangerous. You will be in the heart of the empire surrounded by nobles and due to the sensitive nature of the mission, contact with the revolutionary army would have to be kept to a minimum. In addition to this, to avoid suspicion, you'll have to enter as a regular commoner and you better than anyone should know how bad discrimination against commoners can be. Without your mana and your damaged body, you won't even have the strength to properly defend yourself. You could very well die."

As Lucius heard this, his heart grew heavy

From the requirements the God gave him, he knew that he would have to enter the Sanctuary and he also knew that his life would be at risk in doing so, but hearing Albert lay it out in front of him in such a straightforward manner unnerved him.

He wanted to say some bold words in front of Albert to reassure him like 'he would gladly risk his life for the cause', but the words wouldn't come out, choking up like a piece of food stuck in his throat.

Lucius knew how brutal the empire's treatment of rebels could be, after all, no matter how strong demons become they could never fracture the empire, only weaken it.

In the long run, demons could actually have the hidden benefit of strengthening the empire. With demons as an overarching threat, the empire could quickly strengthen its control over its subordinate nations with many of them willingly relinquishing some sovereign rights for protection, allowing the empire to centralise its power.

But this was all different with rebels.

Since rebels sought to overthrow society as a whole, they were a threat to the empire's very existence.

If they were allowed to succeed, they could destroy the empire in a way it could never hope to recover from.

Because of this, the Empire's treatment of rebels was even more ruthless than their treatment of demons.

Lucius now wasn't that fanatical revolutionary Lucius of the past. Now he was just an ordinary guy.

Even if he knew he had to do it, infiltrating the base of an enemy that would torture him brutally should they ever find out his identity, still scared him.

But at this point, regardless of Lucius's fears or wishes, he knew that it was impossible for him to back down.

Taking a deep breath, Lucius stared at Albert resolutely before saying,

"I'm ready to do what I have to do."

Looking at Lucius, Albert just sighed.

With you like this, it seems like I don't have much to worry about. Just focus on establishing yourself inside of the Sanctuary. You don't have to worry about the reorganisation and purging of the forces, I will handle it. And I will do it more thoroughly this time."

As Albert spoke, the bloody air around him condensed, nearly becoming visible.

It was clear that Albert was still furious after Lucius's poisoning.

"Well Young Leader, your decision has been made and I will be here to support you every step of the way."

As Alfred spoke he pulled out a pile of letters.

"This is the information on your new identity, common customs and practices in the academy as well as people to watch out for."

As a man from the modern world, Lucius knew the vital importance of having accurate information and quickly began to read through the files given to him.

Seeing this Albert nodded silently before getting up.

"Since you are settled, I won't bother you any longer. I need to start preparations for your entrance into the Sanctuary as soon as possible."

Hearing Albert leave, Lucius looked up from his papers for a brief moment.

"..ah... Thank you, Albert, really."

Hearing this Albert just smiled,

"There's no need for your thanks Young Leader, I was only doing my duty."