Chapter 269 269 – A Little Boy
"Okay then." I contacted a high-ranking military official. "Send a lot of troops to search for them. However, if anyone manages to find them, don't do anything. Notify me immediately instead."
I turned off the communication feature, then massaged my forehead while Velvet, Ayre, and Nate sat with me in the meeting room.
"Forgive me, my lord." The dragon woman sighed. "I should have told you right away about this."
I shook my head. "No, I think you did the right thing, persuading Ritor to tell me this in person. With that, he won't feel betrayed."
"But…." Velvet stopped talking as soon as I looked at her. I don't want to argue about that right now.
"What shall we do, my lord?" Ayre asked. "Other than finding the Ritors, of course."
I looked at the two scientists. "You two are the best scientists here. So, I want to ask your opinion. Maybe this sounds unreasonable and strange."
"What is it, my lord?" Nate Gulped. "Lady Ayre is definitely smarter than me. Why am I here too?"
"As I said earlier, apart from Doc, you two are the best. However, this is not Doc's expertise." I fell silent, lost in my own thoughts. "Will we be able to meet the God of this world?"
Ayre leaned toward me. "What do you mean, my lord?"
"The concepts of demon and prophet exist because of the God of this world, right?" I elaborated more. "Could we go to his place and ask him to call it off so Ethan Jr. doesn't become my nemesis?"
Silence again. It took several minutes for Ayre to respond. "Even we don't understand the concept of god yet, my lord."
"We can."
Nate's words drew my attention to him. He looked down, and his hands on the table shook like crazy.
"With a bit of reality-bending giganpoppy powder, I think we can open the 'door' to the god realm." He explained.
I watched his face tense up. "Are you sure?"
"No. I'm not sure." He shook his head. "It's just a theory, my lord."
Ayre commented. "I don't think it will be possible. There are so many variables that prevent that from happening."
"You made that flying bike happen, even though Fergus said it was impossible." I kept looking at his face and could detect the enthusiasm in his expression. "Could you try that thing?"
With a stiff motion, he nodded. "But I can't promise you, my lord."
Ayre also looked at Nate's face with a flat expression like the default shapeshifter.
***
I sat on the edge of the bed, unable to fall asleep. This time none of my women accompanied me. I really want to be alone.
My thoughts drift to Ritor and his family. Why does all this happen? Should I kill Ethan Jr so, he won't become my nemesis in the future? Even if I didn't do that, how would my people respond? Will they think I'm playing favoritism because Ritor betrayed me?
This matter is too confusing.
I stood up, opened the window curtains, and found that the sun had started to rise. Because my brain was too stuffy to think all night, I decided to take a walk.
After changing clothes, I came out of the room and immediately spoke to the guards outside. "I want to be alone. No one follows me."
They bowed to me, and I started walking. The other underlings in the base also bowed every time I crossed them.
Ritor is one of my most loyal subordinates. He's followed my orders since the first time I was here. Should I make him sad and disappointed by killing his son?
Should I betray his loyalty?
To be honest, I consider him more than just a subordinate.
I kept walking, past the outside of the main base, along the still quiet streets. And from a distance, I saw a little boy running.
It's Alain. It seemed he was training his stamina. As soon as that boy was close to me, he bowed with sweat and shortness of breath.
"It's really weird." I raised an eyebrow. "Usually, you cuss at me, never bowed like that."
"I'll give credit where it's due." He spoke while looking the other way, "You made my siblings happy because you will give them a much better place to live."
I chuckled at the shadow organization's former protege. "So, you will no longer intend to kill me in the future?"
He scowled. "To be honest, I don't know. I still hate you for destroying my old home and people. However, after seeing your deeds, I…."
That boy could not continue his words.
"Let's run together." I tapped him on the shoulder and started running. At first, he stared at me silently but eventually ran side by side with me.
"Though I am waiting for our epic battle in the future." I chuckled.
He was silent again.
"Hey, kid," I called him again. "Do you consider this place your home?"
"I guess?" He shrugged.
I smiled. "I know you don't want to fight me anymore, right? Why are you still training? I heard from B. Instead of being lazy, you asked for more intense training. I also heard that you were praising me."
This boy's face immediately turned red.
"So." I chuckled again and repeated my question. "What keeps you training, Alain?"
He stopped running and looked down. I walked over to him and crouched down in front of that boy.
"As a human, can I be one of your trusted men, my lord?" He asked with a timid gesture. "Almost all of the people by your side are not human. They are very powerful."
"There's Velvet, Lexi, Jude, and Karl. They're all human.
"Mrs. Velvet has the power of a dragon, while Sir Karl, sir Jude, and Dr. Lexi have extraordinary intelligence." He continued. "I don't have either of those."
I widened my smile, ruffling his hair. "That depends on you, Alain. Do you have the determination to reach your goal? Do you have the will to be strong?"
The communication icon on my game UI is flashing, and a shapeshifter agent has contacted me. This seems to be related to Ritor's whereabouts.
I got to my feet. "Well, keep practicing until you become the best, Alain."