Chapter 268: Thinking Ahead
’So, have you figured out anything?’ Auric asked after returning to the room.
"Yes." Lindwurm raised three claws. "The first thing is that they’re reporting to the Director. They mentioned a plan for when you return to the Alps ruins but mentioned nothing about the plan itself.
"The second thing is their number. They consist of two groups. Each group has one rank 4 human as the leader, followed by five rank 3 humans. It’s a formidable group, which will make it hard for us to fight them.
"However, since they’re waiting for us to re-enter the Alps ruins, we might be able to deal with them before that.
"Last but not least, their target is definitely you. Their plan seems to be on a bigger scale this time, to the point where they believe they will be able to catch you. So, there might even be teams hidden inside.
"Remember how many rank 3 humans were hidden in that safe house when that piece of a professor kidnapped you? So, I don’t think these two squads are the only ones coming for you. You need to prepare for more people."
Auric sorted the information for a moment before messaging Arnie.
"Mr. Arnie, I’ve gotten some information that may pique your interest. Are you still in the base?"
"What’s up, kid?"
"It looks like they’re waiting for me to return to the Alps ruins to launch their plan, so they must have been waiting for me in the Unique Valley all this time."
"Well, you have Ellia Stroph Astler. Someone like her will definitely go to the Unique Valley in this event, so it’s the easiest way to locate you."
"Yes. There are two teams here, each with one rank 4 and five rank 3 people. There might be more."
Arnie fell silent for a moment. "As much as I want to help you, General Marcel wouldn’t allow me."
"The same, I guess."
"Yeah. I thought I could use a loophole so that I could ask you to lure them into the nearby ruins, but I couldn’t."
"In that case, we will have to survive alone."
"Fortunately, the Relesha family is much more cooperative than this guy. Apparently, they have a hidden squad consisting of shadow guards. Continue to activate the GPS. I will use your phone to send them your current location."
Auric crossed his arms, contemplating. "Very well. In that case, I will go around the Unique Valley for two days so that they believe I’m doing everything according to what they expected. Then, I will return to the Alps ruins."
"Yes. Fortunately, those two teams will have to pass through the barrier. I don’t know if they have an evolution master in their ranks, but if they don’t, you will have the advantage, kid. Make sure to let your team fight at its peak."
"Yes, sir."
"If you find yourself unable to handle it, shoot a powerful ability into the sky. Even if I have to fight General Marcel later, I’m going to rescue you first. I hope it won’t reach that situation."
Auric raised his eyebrows. He didn’t expect Arnie to be willing to risk it. The moment he clashed with General Marcel, the family behind him wouldn’t remain still. He and Vera might end up having friction after this.
"Don’t think about the consequences. We adults are not so weak that we need the younger generations to worry about us. We’ll deal with the mess, and you youngsters just focus on growing and replacing us in the future."
"Thank you, sir." Auric took a deep breath. Since he had received confirmation from Arnie, he was ready to fight.
There was also the matter of reinforcements. Auric couldn’t help but wonder whether the reinforcement was a good thing or a bad thing.
He might end up owing the Relesha family for this.
"Are you worried about revealing your power in front of them?" Lindwurm misunderstood his frown.
’Not really. The power I intend to use is something that I have already revealed to the rest of the team. That power is what I don’t mind revealing to the rest of the world.’
"So, why frowning?"
’I’m worried that I will owe the Relesha family so much.’
"In that case, you don’t have to worry about it. You already have a way to repay them this time."
’What is that?’
"Your artifacts, of course. You’ve got a lot of artifacts, and you will accumulate even more since we have more than three weeks left here. And if you want to spit on the military’s face, you just have to give the information about the Mysterious Cave ruins to the Relesha family. Of course, you first slap them in the face by showing the artifact from that place during the point calculation.
"This way, the military will realize they’ve made a mistake by putting General Marcel in charge. In addition, the person who pushed General Marcel to be the one in charge of this event will also receive punishment.
"It will create a justification for Arnie to capture him and question him. See? This way, you can repay the Relesha family, slap the military, and capture the guy behind this."
Auric widened his eyes. ’Right? I don’t exactly need what the military provides... The others might think differently.’
"You don’t have to worry about that. If they want, they can just use their portion of the artifacts to get the contribution points to exchange whatever items the military can offer. You are the one who found all the artifacts this group currently has, not to mention the Mysterious Cave, so there’s nothing they can say about you giving this right to the Relesha family."
Auric thought for a moment. ’Still, I might end up clashing with Vera.’
"Which is why you need to talk to Vera right now. Just tell her you may end up doing something that may inconvenience her family. Then, ask Katarina to provide information to her family to steer their anger from you to the organization."
Auric was a bit speechless. This plan would result in him being free from any accusations. ’You are nasty.’
"Call me the Great Lindwurm!"
’I will call you Chubby Lin Lin instead.’
"This belly is the Great Me! Bow down to the majestic belly that carries the hope of the Night and Day store."
’Yes, dear Lin Lin, I bow down to you.’
Lindwurm puffed his chest proudly while Auric chuckled. Just as Lindwurm suggested, Auric immediately came to Vera and brought her outside to talk about this matter. Of course, he asked for Arnie’s permission so that he could share a bit of this matter with his group. Since they were the ones affected directly, he agreed without hesitation.
"What? So, this incident was caused by my uncle?" Vera was dumbfounded.
"No, no. This wasn’t your uncle’s fault. Your uncle was just following his principles. I had my own principles too." Auric waved his hand.
"Still, if he cooperated, the situation wouldn’t get out of hand. We could have taken down those people right away." Vera frowned.
"We will be on the defensive, but we should be able to take them down. In addition, there will be reinforcements, so you don’t have to worry about it. However, because I will end up being in debt to the Relesha family because of this incident, I will have to let them handle the transaction for the artifacts we’ve found here as well as the Mysterious Cave ruins. It’s just..."
"Because my uncle refused to cooperate, the Relesha family got the Mysterious Cave instead of the military. The military would blame my uncle for being uncooperative, so it would be inconvenient for my family?"
"That’s the gist of the situation that might follow." Auric nodded apologetically.
Vera understood that Auric didn’t want to cause a rift between them. They could be considered friends to some extent. She was also close to his best friend Eric.
Vera contemplated and said, "You don’t have to worry about that. It’s my uncle’s fault. My family can be blamed because they don’t even realize they’ve fallen into their traps. Still, who is orchestrating all this?"
"Hmm..." Auric scratched the back of his head. "I’m not exactly sure whether I can say this or not, but do you know an organization called Apocalypse?"
"Apocalypse?" She looked up, recalling their information. "I think I’ve heard someone mention it before."
"It’s an organization that almost stopped the creation of this country. And the organization we are currently dealing with might be the remnant of this organization. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you more than this. If you want to know more, perhaps you should ask Katarina."
"That’s... true." Vera crossed her arms. "I see. Thank you for telling me all this. Even if you don’t tell me about this, you have the right to do all that, and I have no right to blame you."
"I’m... sorry."
"No, no. Don’t apologize. Thanks to your warning, I can tell my family about this in advance. This way, they will be cooperating with the adjudicators in advance, so they can prepare for what’s about to come. With some preparation, it might feel like a breeze for my family. Fortunately, there was a civil war in the Astler family, so they couldn’t grow.
"Since we’re being compared a lot, it’s fine if we don’t grow as well. At least, both of us will stay at the same level." Vera smiled.
"Still, won’t this weaken your position in the family? You’ve been taking care of Eric, so I just want to repay you a bit." Auric smiled.
"Not really." Vera shook her head. "My uncle may have been the one who taught me about the wind element, but I’ve been taught that mistakes are mistakes, and you have to own up to your mistakes."
"I see." Auric nodded with a serious expression.
Vera patted Auric’s shoulder. "Thank you for telling me."
’Is this good enough?’ Auric asked.
"Yes, it’s good enough. I know you’re worried, but you are underestimating her family too much. At that level, her family will have a few trump cards. This kind of matter wouldn’t exactly harm them. They’ll be forced to use one of their cards. In exchange, they value relationships.
"Right now, your value is so high that people are worried about you. If they can use one of their cards to maintain a friendly relationship with you because of the mistake they’ve made, they will feel relieved.
"As a result, Vera, whom you gave this information to, will become the focal point connecting you and their family. In other words, her value will rise instead of dropping. The only problem would be..."
’Problem?’ Auric was surprised that Lindwurm had thought this far ahead. It looked like his father used to be an old fox, like Mathias in the capital city. Still, he wondered what kind of problem would appear after this?
"Because her value is rising, they might think that Vera might have a chance to be with you and might push her to marry you instead. But you have a plan to increase Eric’s value by using the Artificial Heart Method, so it might work out in the end."
’You mean this success will make me cuckold my best friend? What the—’
Auric wanted to complain, but he could see it happening. In the end, he just let out a long sigh and prepared for the contingency plan, which was to increase Eric’s talent.
Once the plan had been established, Auric could finally focus on their current objective.
For the next two days, they went around the Unique Valley, killing beasts and searching for artifacts. Ellia evolved on the first night, so they slowed down on the second day, allowing Ellia and Katarina to get used to their new powers as much as possible.
That night, Auric warned them about the danger that would come after they returned to the Alps ruins.
As he expected, the people from the organization had entered the ruins first, waiting for him inside.
Prepared for the incoming clash, Auric finally led his team back into the Alps ruins.