NOVEL NEXT B2 | Chapter 20 - Reunion
Cassandra
Year 820 | Month 5 | Day 5
There sure are a lot of surprises in this cave.
I frown slightly at the sight of the projection above the little coin Thrix 2 gave me.
“Yeah, I returned,” I respond with a slight nod of my head. “Thank you for helping him.”
The man in the projection looks the same as when I saw him before. Elderly and slightly gruff looking.
But judging by the message he gave me after leaving, this isn’t his real appearance.
“Of course,” he says with a kind, elderly smile in return. “You care a lot about that little one, don’t you, child? I would never abandon it after finding it alone in the Dark Forest.”
That has me raising a brow.
Just what is it about this man… that has me raising my guard? I’m not entirely sure what it is. Just that something about him has me feeling cautious. Despite the fact that I can also tell that he means me no harm.
All of this based off of pure instinct.
My frown grows slightly deeper as I ask, “Why don’t you show me your real face?”
He purses his lips for a second before eventually letting out a sigh and showing a slight smirk on his face. An expression rather far removed from the kind and elderly gentleman façade he was putting up before.
Then his entire appearance blurs and he turns into a young looking man with black hair and black eyes wearing some sort of uniform. One that looks vaguely like the ones from the New Earth Alliance’s higher ups, but also not.
The uniform is using a similar material to the New Earth Alliance uniforms, but with different colors and a slightly different design. Although the design it does have is a bit more similar to the design the guy I just recently killed for my crystal was wearing with his uniform. Meaning he’s likely a higher up in whatever organization Leo is in.
“Happy?” the man says, sounding quite a bit different. More mischievous and youthful than his previous persona.
“Yes,” I tell him with a nod, glad to finally have the real him in front of me. Or what I’m assuming is the real him.
There isn’t too much of a reason to not believe him, but he is still an invader. Even if he helped me and Thrix 2.
Better safe than sorry.
He looks me up and down from the projection before commenting, “You’ve certainly grown into your role as Wrath since we last met. Already Tier 3 and almost at Tier 4.” His smirk grows slightly. “And if what I heard is true, you even got your crystal back.”
I raise a brow at that statement. One that implies he knows information from the New Earth Alliance.
“You have my thanks for that by the way,” he adds. “We got word from our spies soon after that old necromancer returned half dead about what went down.” He bows his head slightly. “Your killing of the general has saved us quite the trouble.”
“Oh?” I utter while crossing my arms, only for the hockathrix whose head is in my lap to nuzzle my arms, making me pet him. “And why would that help you?”
He grins. “Because with both of those generals out of Midgard, we can now move in ourselves.”
I blink at that.
Wait, what?
“I’ll tell you this now, we do not mean Midgard any harm,” Leo says, his face finally growing sincere instead of that mischievous grin he’s had till now. “We will merely be building diplomatic ties with the nations on Midgard. Nothing more.”
“And what about your plane’s Protector?” I ask, raising a single brow. “Won’t he have something to say about this?”
If I’m understanding this correctly, the ‘God’ they have serving as their Protector doesn’t want the protection of the World Tree to be under the Ancestor. Although mostly he just wants the tree itself. Because while the World Tree is Fafnir, it is also a source of strength. Ironically through Fafnir as well.
And I honestly can’t see him giving up the tree so easily. Not from what the Ancestor explained to me about this ‘God’s’ personality.
“My organization does not serve under our Protector,” Leo states, his voice growing slightly cold out of the blue as he frowns at me. “The only organization on our planet that directly serves his bidding is the New Earth Alliance. But they’re too big for most of the organizations on Earth to compete against, leading to what you’ve already seen of our forces on Midgard ending up as the only ones there.”
Huh.
That’s… unexpected.
Does the Protector of Earth not have as much influence there as I thought?
I frown as I consider the possibility, only to focus on Leo again when he adds, “I’ll be seeing you soon. When the negotiations begin with your father.”
Wait, he knows… actually, it’s probably not hard to figure out who I am at this point.
“Alright,” I tell him with a nod, following which the coin stops glowing and the projection vanishes.
Silence fills the cave with the only noise being the odd sounds of a certain duck-like creature making happy sounding quacks while resting his head on my lap. Which still has me confused, considering how I treated him before.
Makes me wonder if something happened to Thrix 2 during my time away.
Either way though, he’s adorable. So I just keep petting him as I consider my plans moving forward.
My first plan should be pretty obvious.
To figure out how to control my Wrath Sin energy directly.
I’ve gotten my crystal now, so I just need to figure out how to use it. Because this skill… doesn’t feel the same as my other skills.
It doesn’t just activate when I try to say its name in my head or will it to activate.
So… this might take a while to figure out.