Ours

Caliga didn't react too much. He knew who Eleanor was, but he didn't know how come a woman like her would know a familiar. Even if the familiar was a level zero like this one, she would still need to be connected to a demon through a contract.

At this, Caliga didn't ask anymore. It wouldn't make a difference to him.

The dog only huffed and left Long Neck to do what it liked. He wanted to continue watching Noah alongside his siblings that were all cramped up on the floor.

When he returned, Luca was not there anymore, but Mephisto was still standing next to Noah. Even when the demon was stroking at Noah's face, the young man continued to be asleep.

"There's no use touching him if you can't wake him up." Caliga lied down next to the rolling bed. "You should go and do your work instead."

"Are you mad at me, Caliga?" Mephisto chuckled.

"Lord Master said I shouldn't trust you." Caliga placed his chin on the floor and closed his eyes. "I shouldn't probably try to listen to you as well. However, Master didn't have anyone else to talk to when he needed someone. Even that boy Luca is lacking."

Mephisto had already thrown his gaze at Caliga when he mentioned 'Lord Master', but he only huffed after Caliga finished. "Not trust me, huh. Wouldn't that mean that I wouldn't be able to double-check what Belphegor is doing to Noah?"

The dog didn't answer, but Caseus lifted his head. "This isn't Prince Belphegor… this is us…"

"What? How could you damage your own Master?"

"We didn't mean to. We just have no control over it," one older sister answered, "Big Brother is connected to us more than normal familiars are connected to their masters. Whatever happens to us will have an effect on him.

"It just happened to be so strong this time. If we could keep the pain away from Master, we will suffer in his stead."

"I don't understand…"

"That woman in white killed a demon and destroyed its essence." Caliga sighed. "The demon's accumulation of souls had remained. Pane snuck in and took all of them; souls from a strong demon like that would be very beneficial to us.

"It's just that… Master's body is too weak to handle it on his own."

Mephisto frowned and looked at one of the hellhounds, the one named Pane folding its ears in apology. These hellhounds had very high regard for Noah, and so they probably think he could handle everything that they did. Who knew he would collapse like this?

The demon shook his head before sighing with a smile. "You're holding Noah in a position he couldn't stand in. Don't do this again without consulting with your father first."

He got to his feet and walked to disappear into thin air. Now that he knew what was happening, he could only wish Noah could recover as fast as he could. Digesting the power of a level seven was too much for him for now…

And Mephisto was pissed that there's nothing he could do about it.

…

Luca got back into the room and saw nothing had changed. He sat on the stool for visitors and stared at the man bound to his bed. The nurses had already redressed his deepest wounds while the rest were left uncovered to breathe. These wounds seemed to be contributing to his fever.

Since someone else was watching over Thomas Connor, he felt free to sit down and carefully wait. The silence and the lulling beeps of the machine had made Luca fall asleep after three more hours. Caliga only dragged him to the ground so he wouldn't fall down from his chair.

Just like that, the morning sun had come again.

Luca stirred in his sleep and found himself lying on the bench outside the ICU. He must have crashed last night and have some nurses and Mr. Strongmans get him out to sleep on the bench.

Luca patted wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand as he sat up. By then, he saw a man standing inside the ICU talking to the attending nurse.

Luca's eyes flickered. He seemed to recognize the man standing inside, but he couldn't match a name to that face. Soon, the man looked over his shoulder to see Luca looking back at him. The mystery man then seemed to say goodbye to the nurse and left without regarding Luca again.

That suit was surely custom-made, and ordinary salarymen wouldn't be able to afford that. With that kind of posture and straight-edge face, that man wasn't just an ordinary person.

However, Luca didn't feel an inch of magic; neither did he see a brand on him. It was a human… but not one that he could just shake off easily.

"Mr. Allsworth, you're awake." The nurse had come out and smiled awkwardly. The man before him was funny-looking; more when he was lying on the floor, sleeping. "Did you feel any pains? The floor was a bad place to sleep."

"I, uh…" Luca blushed a little before clearing it and making a serious face. "That man… who was that?"

"Uhm, he said his name is Richard Connor. He's a relative of Mr. Rocco." The nurse remembered the very short introduction of the man before he asked for the condition of the patient. Though the nurse didn't discuss a lot, she still told him that Noah had been suffering from hyperthermia since last night.

"Connor?" Luca frowned before getting to his feet and not keeping the nurse any longer. When she walked out of the corridor, Luca went to the glass and looked at Noah who seemed to be doing a bit much better than last night.

His brows weren't knitted anymore, and he wasn't twitching in pain. He just looked like he was sleeping. The best next thing was that his temperature had gone down to just a hundred and four, eleven degrees off from last night.

Luca sighed, but he still didn't know why the Connors would be making contact with him now. Did they find out about SCC's mission with Thomas Connor?

Instead of remaining in the corridor, Luca decided to come see Thomas Connor. After a few minutes, he arrived at the door and saw an old lady and the same man from earlier inside the room. Just nice he managed to overhear their conversation.

"…wake up. I doubt they'd have him trying to worm his way out of this. This hospital is full of their agents sneaking around." Richard only hummed as he continued to speak with the old lady. "Mother, SCC doesn't take lightly of situations like this. You should know that."

"I just don't know what your father is doing…" Mrs. Connor slowly blinked while staring at the man on the bed. "He didn't use to be so into money."

"Mother… Father died a year ago." Richard glanced at the man on the bed. "I wish you'd start believing me. Hm, moreover, I found Montana in the ICU. Do you want to see him?"

The mother shuddered as she lifted her head. She got to her feet and averted her gaze from her son's eyes. "I think I did see him yesterday. I didn't recognize him fast enough though."

Richard frowned at the words she answered him with; however, he just shook his head. "He's in a bad state right now. Do you want to see him?"

"What's the use of meeting him if he couldn't speak? How about his hospital fees? Have you arranged to pay for it? Did someone send him here?"

"Apparently, his bill… is sent to SCC. He seemed to be an agent of theirs now."

"Did they look into Montana before accepting him? I doubt SCC wouldn't double-check anything." The mother then looked at the man on the bed. "I remember Montana keeping an eye on your father. Could it be that… he was making sure your father was…?"

Richard shook his head. "Mother, don't overthink too much. We'll just see him before he gets discharged. I've already talked to the director of the hospital through the phone. They'll be holding him until I release him."

Mrs. Connor nodded and noticed that someone's shadow was peeking from the slit of the door from the hinges. She stared at the direction before setting down to sit. This time, she didn't gaze at the man on the bed.

Richard then walked out of the room and spotted Luca leaving the corridor. "You!"

Luca paused and turned around to meet Richard's gaze. The man approached the hunter, his domineering aura not affecting Luca at all. "You were with Mon—what was his name again? Noah Rocco?"

"What's your relationship with Noah?" Luca glared back at the man. Richard might be taller than him, he didn't really care. Height didn't mean much to a hunter who had achievements in saving lives already.

"Hmph, you're an SCC agent, and yet you don't seem to know me."

"I may be one, but it doesn't mean I should bow down to you."

"No matter." Richard only snorted, but his words started not to match with his tone. "What happened to him? What kind of disease did he contract?"

Luca flinched a little. The man just sounded a little worried for Noah, but his ever-intimidating tone was surely in the way.

The nurse probably didn't say much to him, and so he was asking Luca. The mother asked about the hospitalization fees, and she also reminded Richard to pay for it. They might as well be really related to Noah. However…

The hunter answered after a while, "I only know Randy Connor as Noah's old big boss. Why is his family concerned about Noah?"

Richard frowned and then shook his head. "It's hard to explain, but Father bought him. He's ours."