Legend: Season One by Nick Venom (best management books of all time .txt) 📕

“Of course, brat. Come on Catrina, let’s follow the fairest princess of the land.” Ace said, mocking her. 

“You!” She shouted while pointing at Ace. “Just do your job and protect me! And you!” She shouted, this time pointing at Catrina. “Focus on driving or I’ll fire you.”

“Guess you’ll have to fire me as well.” Ace told her. Ariana grew angry at his comments but sat down to calm and compose herself. Catrina looked up at Ace and whispered an apology. He shook her head. “Don’t worry about her, she’s just cranky.” He whispered to her. He then looked up at the green sky and smiled to himself. “This is my new life? I enjoy it.”

TBC…

“I still can’t believe that you’re from another world,” Catrina said.

“Crazy, right? I never expected to live a new life like this. I even met a king, a real king. Where I came from, kings were no longer a thing. Instead, we had presidents and dictators.”

“Pez-it-dents?” Catrina asked while tilting her head.

“If anything, this life is better than my old one. In my world, I was a loser, but in this world, I’m no longer one. I’m a legendary hero.”

“Bodyguard,” Ariana whispered. Ace turned around and shook his head.

“I do wish that the princess was a lot better, though. I would’ve preferred a beautiful princess.”

“Hey! I am the pinnacle of beauty!” Ariana shouted. Ace burst out laughing while holding onto his stomach.

“No, Catrina is. You’re the pinnacle of ugliness.” Ariana turned her back on him. Ace shook his head while grinning. He turned back towards the road. A loud beep sound echoed throughout his mind, alerting him to a threat. The notification appeared in front of him, similar to a game’s display screen. The display screen acted as a radar that told Ace of a demon lord closing onto them. “Catrina! Stop the carriage!” Ace shouted as he stood up. Catrina nodded and stopped the carriage. 

“What’s happening?” shouted Ariana.

“It's close by,” Ace muttered before getting off the carriage and walking towards the direction that the demon lord was in. He walked into the empty clearing and shouted into the wind. “I know that you’re here, demon lord.”

“So, you are truly the summoned hero,” a menacing voice muttered. The demon lord took off its invisibility and revealed itself to Ace. It stood at the height of a one-story house and had rotting skin that bubbled and popped. The demon lord had two horns on his head that form a ‘T’ and his face contained a scar that went diagonally across his face. “I. Am. Demon Lord Taku! I have arrived to take the princess from you.”

“You can take her… only after you kill me.” Ace took out Excalibur and pointed the tip at Taku while Asroth was holstered. 

“I plan to do so.” He responded as he charged towards Ace. Ace held Excalibur close to his chest and waited for Taku to close the distance. Fortunately for Ace, his character learned how to use a sword and gun without much trouble. This factor allowed Ace to use both Holy weapons efficiently with little actual training. 

Taku closed the distance and used his bare hands, which were scarred, and swung at Ace. Ace dodged the punch and pierced Taku with a shallow wound. Taku backed off and began charging towards Ace, but was shot multiple times. Ace managed to pull out Asroth and fired off numerous shots into Taku, hitting the shallow wound and deepening it. The bullets lit Taku on fire---caused by the Holy bullets being plunged into his Hell-soaked body. The bullets pierced his body and shot through his organs, tearing him to pieces. Ace watched as Taku deflated like a balloon. His radar then showed that all demon lords nearby were killed, allowing Ace to return to the carriage. Once in his seat, he wiped off the small bits of blood that splattered onto his clothes. Ariana and Catrina watched the fire and were stunned by the fast duel, declaring a sense of safety aligned with him. Ariana didn’t want to argue with Ace while Catrina became infatuated with him. Ace looked at his hands, slightly covered with blood. 

“Is this right?”

TBC…

“Are you sure you're fine handling the carriage?” Ace asked Catrina as he jumped off the carriage. 

“Of course, don’t worry about me,” Catrina said with a small smile.

“Be safe, I will worry about you.” Ace told her. 

Catrina’s heart skipped a beat as her face began to blush. She lowered her head to avoid eye contact. “I-I-I wi-will.” Ace nodded before being dragged off by Ariana. 

“Can you not drag me, brat!”

“I will when you stop calling me brat!” Ariana shouted. “I want to go to every clothing store in this town.”

“Every store? Do we have enough time for that?”

“We will because I’m the princess!” She declared.

“This is why I call you a brat.” Ace muttered. Ariana heard him and punched him in his shoulder. “Wow, abuse.” He joked. Ariana shook her head and dashed into the first clothing store with Ace following her heels. Ace was then dragged through every clothing store in town from noon to half an hour before the sunset. 

A man hid in the shadows and waited for the perfect moment to strike. He wore solid black clothing to fit into the shadows. A mask covered the lower part of his face. A marking on the mask was of two swirls facing the opposite sides with a dot between them, and a straight line under each swirl. The man wasn’t a demon or a demon lord, instead he was a human who’s facial features and characteristics were hidden by the clothing and the darkness that the alleyway he stood in provided. Two people appeared behind him, seemingly out of nowhere. They watched Ace as he was being dragged around the town by Ariana with plenty of bags in his arms. One of the shadows pointed out the royal carriage and Catrina sitting in the driver seat. The shadow motioned for the head shadow to attack the carriage first. The head shadow nodded. “Bingo,” he whispered. “Take everything important to him. Send in the demon lord. Carry animosity, skin knives.” 

“Carry animosity, skin knives.” muttered the other two shadows before diverging into the shadows. The head shadow chuckled before fading into the darkness, targeting Catrina. 

TBC…

They began making their way back to the carriage when Ariana came upon a merchant store that caught her attention. The owner of the shop and merchant, Rose, came out of her shop to greet Ariana, detecting that she’s a royal loaded with cash. While Rose is serving Ariana, Ace ventured off on his own through the store, carrying ten bags in his hands. He then noticed a small frail girl with straight long black hair and sorrowful eyes appearing from a side room. She came out to ask if Ace would buy anything. Rose noticed her and ordered her to continue working on her machine, threatening abuse if she didn’t comply. She then turned back to face Ariana. “Sorry, she should be working her machine right now, instead of being out here.” She told Ariana.

“Do you mind telling me what she is to you?” Ace asked while dropping the bags onto the floor.

“The girl? She’s the slave that I bought.” Rose responded.

“Ariana, is slavery legal throughout the kingdom?” Ace asked her.

“Of course, who do you believe built the roads and buildings? The staff that works at the castle are all slaves.” Ariana said.

“Do you treat her properly?”

“Properly? Well, I do feed her once a day and she does get a ten-minute break.”

“How long does she work?”

“Does it matter how long a slave that I bought works for?” Rose asked, clearly irritated. Ace nodded his head, his face slightly turning red.“Ugh, fine, twenty hours.”

“She works for twenty hours with only one ten-minute break?”

“So what? She’s just a slave.”

Ace began balling up his fists. “Do you abuse her?”

“If you’re talking about hitting her, then only when she doesn’t cooperate.”

“And she’s running a dangerous machine?”

“Yeah, so what’s the problem?”

“Okay, how much to buy her from you?”

“You want to buy that pipsqueak who isn’t worth a damn thing?” Rose asked, raising her voice. The little girl peeked her head from the side room. Ace nodded his head, irritating Rose more.

“Ten gold coins then,” Rose demanded. Ace turned towards Ariana and asked if she had the money.

“I’m not paying for a slave that I don’t need.”

“She’s a young girl that shouldn’t be working, especially, if that machine could kill her!” Ace shouted. Ariana shook her head and crossed her arms. “How about this, if you buy her from Rose, then I’ll take full responsibility for the girl’s actions. If she causes trouble, then you can punish me.”

“Tempting, but still no,” Ariana stated. 

“Uh, how about… wait, what do you want from me?”

“Apologize for your earlier actions and tell me that I’m the most beautiful girl in all the land.” She demanded. Ace nearly choked on his laughter, catching a glare from Ariana.

“You promise to buy her?”

“Only if you do it.”

“Fine,” Ace muttered. Unlike the main characters that wouldn’t swallow their pride for anything, Ace did it to save the young girl. He bowed his head while exclaiming: “I apologize for what I said earlier, You are the most beautiful and talented girl in all of the land.” The girl stepped into the main room, her sorrowful eyes becoming hopeful. He then raised his head. “Is that good enough?”

Ariana stifled a laugh and nodded. “Here are the coins,” she said as she handed the coins to Rose. Rose thanked her before turning around and facing the young girl. 

“Teresa, these two will be your new owners. Go with them,” The girl nodded