Chapter 33: Why Do I Want To Rule The World?
"You don’t have to worry needlessly. The prime suspects for his disappearance must be Ronnie and Denis because they were with him even after you left," Klaus consoled Trina after dropping her off at her parents’ house.
The place looked modest and wasn’t eye-catching in any manner. He was sure he could find multiple similar houses with different paint jobs throughout the Golden City, but that was far from the point.
"I know. You don’t have to tell me the same thing over and over," Trina muttered with a tired expression.
Klaus smiled and examined her; she was wearing a slightly oversized light blue t-shirt, though it still couldn’t hide her curvy figure. She had it tucked under her black jeans, which traced her curves like a layer of wax on fruit, and to complete her look, she wore black sneakers.
Even though she wore it as university attire, it gave more of a homely vibe to him.
Feeling his gaze, the corners of her lips lifted upward, and she mumbled, "Looked enough?"
"Nah," he replied the very next instant and moved his eyes to her flushed face.
"Shameless," she whispered and turned around to leave.
However, before she could, he asked, "When can you start?"
She frowned and turned back to him. "Start what?"
"Moving toward your dream."
Her eyes shone for a brief moment and returned to their previous dullness.
"In about two months, I will be competing in the taekwondo group of my university’s annual event... if I win there, I will get enough money to get better treatment for my mother."
Klaus nodded.
"Knowing you, you will win it without any problems, but will your parents allow you to spend the prize money on them? I can already hear them saying you should focus on your career; we will take care of ourselves on our own."
Trina’s expression grimmed. Still, she forced a smile and said, "I have to try at least."
"Alright then. If you win, I’ll pay for your mother’s treatment and find coaches for you to start training in other combat sports."
A confused smile creased her lips, and she asked, "What’s the hurry?"
His hands shifted to the accelerator of his bike, and he said, "Once you master them, I want you to create a combat art superior to all and each."
"Huh?"
"Why should the future king of the world stop at anything below the best? Haha!"
He drove the bike, smoke trailing behind him.
Trina watched him leave with wide eyes and jaw, and she mumbled slowly, "Is he really okay in the head...?"
Klaus’s demand was simply too absurd. A combat art superior to ones which had been refined for decades, if not centuries, sounded no different than an impossible dream, but then again weren’t their dreams already absurd?
She clenched her fist and a stray thought took root in her mind.
She remembered how easily Klaus understood everything that she wanted him to.
"Maybe if it’s with him..."
After about fifteen minutes, Klaus’s bike stopped at the construction site of Maker Finance’s building.
Whatever had been here before was already demolished. He could have purchased land from someone else, but he didn’t want any stranger to become a central part of Maker Finance.
Sophia was trusted by Martin, and he trusted Martin’s judgment enough to trust her.
Even if he couldn’t entirely trust her, her future now depended on the company’s success, making it nearly impossible for her to betray them in any way.
He crossed his arms across his chest and watched the workers push their bodies to construct the first fort of his dream.
’System, did Dustin Elten die or disappear before the apocalypse?’
[Negative. Dustin Elten was one of the countless casualties on the first day of the apocalypse. As per the data, it is highly suspected that he had been killed by Trina Frost.]
"Hmm?" Klaus furrowed his brows and asked further, "What do you mean?"
[About five years before the apocalypse, Dustin Elten got into an altercation with Trina Frost and ended up heavily injured by her. This caused Trina Frost to be placed in disciplinary prison for a long time.]
A look of understanding appeared on his face, and he mumbled under his breath, "Then she would’ve been unable to take part in the annual event, which meant she never got the prize money to provide better treatment for her mother."
[Correct.]
"It makes perfect sense for her to take revenge during the apocalypse."
[Indeed. That would have happened if I had not appeared to help you become a great hero. Even without awakening, you have already changed Trina Frost from what it originally would have been. My creator would have been proud.]
’Isn’t being emotionless and all that your whole game?’ Klaus sneered.
[I have adapted to your methods.]
’Oh? Then you are going to stop pushing me to get laid, right?’
[Host, my grand task matters far more than your methods and beliefs.]
"Tch," he clicked his tongue, and right then a familiar voice called out to him.
"Kal."
Klaus turned to look at Martin and muttered, "You don’t look very good. Is something the matter?"
Martin stopped beside him and watched the ongoing construction with a calm gaze.
"No. I went to meet with Darlan."
"So you finally quit the job, huh?" Klaus mumbled.
"I did," Martin nodded, and then he turned his head to Klaus. "What do you really plan to do?"
Klaus glanced at him and chuckled.
"Would you cringe if I said that I want to rule the world?"
Martin showed no change in his expression and asked further, "Why do you want to rule the world?"
"I don’t like how it is currently. People say the world isn’t rainbows and sunshine, but why isn’t it? Why do we have to struggle just to live?"
Martin’s expression hardened. "Do you believe that you can change that?"
"Heh," Klaus smirked. "I’d be the stupidest person alive if I did."
A confused look appeared on Martin’s face. "Then why...?"
"We have long since accepted suffering, hate, sorrow, and despair as part of our lives. I just want to be the first to ask whether we have to accept it."
"Would that change anything?"
Klaus shrugged.
"We won’t know until we get there."