Date- 27 Mar 2321
Time- 18:48
Location- Sky Blossom City, Card stadium
Having concluded how the enemy was able to breach the array and how Luna could rectify it, Anna asked, ” Oldman, I left that Grinch with you right, did you weasel some information out of him yet?”
“No, before I could do that, he went into some kind of vegetative state. I need some time to check what happened.” Oldman went on to describe the event that transpired.
“Forget it.” Anna did not press Lorenzo for allowing his suspect to end up vegetative. She seemed to know something but was hesitant to talk about it. Was it because of the presence of two unknown card emperors… No, I don’t think so. She did not seem to mind talking about something as crucial as Array designs for the Heatsend royal family and Southern Watch military facilities in front of them. Or maybe because what she knew was more important than the military Array designs.
“Our end was a bust. What about you? Did you get any helpful information from your end?” Oldman Lorenzo asked Anna if she could get any information from the card emperors trapped in her fusion field card Damned Raining Arena. Lorenzo was a sly old fox seeing that Anna, who would be waiting to yell at him whenever the opportunity presented itself this time, chose not to despite this particular opportunity being a juicy one. So Lorenzo figured that Anna must have hit the motherload on her end and could not help but ask despite knowing Anna was hesitant to talk about it.
“Yes, I did get some information. Whether it is useful, I can only tell after checking the authenticity of the information I got from those assassins.” Anna seemed to have successfully interrogated the assassins but was unsure if the information she got was accurate.
Her words made it clear that she did hit the motherboard. The information that Anna must have received must be very critical and involve some bigwigs seeing how even someone as reckless as Anna chose to do her homework before pointing fingers.
“Great. Your highness, then who was it that sent the assassins?” The unknown younger card emperor asked Anna excitedly. I don’t know if this younger card emperor is acting dumb or very bold. Oldman Lorenzo’s action and Anna’s response proved that she was not willing to answer that question, yet he asked it with a naive enthusiasm plastered over his face.
“Didn’t you hear me earlier? I can not tell you until I have verified the authenticity of the information.” Anna spoke in a stern and cold voice. Making it clear that she did not want to talk further on this topic. But to assure us that these matters will not be left as it is, she added, “I have to verify some things before I can take definite action. But know that perpetrators will be prosecuted.”
“Great, then what next?” Being the initiator, Lorenzo took it upon himself to change the topic.
“For now, we should focus on Wyatt’s safety. The recent assassination attempt has proven that the enemy is well versed in terms of assassination and has no problem getting by unnoticed. And also, it is clear that Wyatt’s life is no longer safe in this small city. I am planning on moving him to Southern watch headquarters.” Anna started to narrate how she wanted to move me to a secure location so that something like the previous assassination would not happen.
“Yeah, I agree with your idea. And I also think that for his safety, Wyatt should be declared dead to the rest of the world.” Lorenzo agreed with Anna and proposed that they hold a grand funeral for me so that the whole world knows that the creator of the silver milk powder was assassinated by a bunch of shameless card emperors who did not mind ganging up and killing a single Card soldier.
“That should be easy as Wyatt has successfully faked his death in front of his assassins. Meanwhile, he can stay at my lab and help me with research on prevention against attacks from Empty space. And once the research is done, he can assume a fake identity and reenter the society. Finally, when he is capable of protecting himself, we can reveal the truth to the world.” Luna backed up her grandfather’s proposal to announce my death to the world.
“You guys make an interesting proposal. I like it. This way, we no longer have to be worried about assassination attacks on him.” Anna complimented the grandfather and granddaughter duo for their input.
“Your highness, this…” The older unknown card emperor, who was observing till now, finally spoke up.
“What? Do you have a problem?” Anna snapped at the older card emperor for interrupting her train of thoughts.
“No, your Highness. I just wanted to inform you that our family was planning on volunteering to become the distributor of silver milk powder in the central region with appropriate compensation, of course.” The older one suddenly spoke about something unrelated, which intrigued me.
“You are a wise man. I like to speak with wise people. But you sure your family can swallow the entire central region. Don’t you think you are being a bit greedy?” Anna seemed to understand what the older card emperor was hinting towards. And she seemed to warn him for being too greedy.
“Your highness, with your blessing, I think my family can achieve the task splendidly.” The older card emperor did not seem to back down despite Anna’s warning.
“Give up on your dreams of becoming the sole distributor of silver milk powder in the Central region. But you can be one of the distributors in the capital city. This is already my limit. Considering the current state of your family, you guys are not qualified for this task. But generosity runs deep in my family, so you’re in luck.” Anna did not give in to the older card emperors’ demand and instead gave him a counteroffer of becoming one of the distributors of the silver milk powder in Capital city.
“Thank you for your generosity, your highness. Now that everything is settled, can I speak with the boy?” The older card emperor was indeed wise. He seemed to know when to back down while he was at it. He did not forget to ask Anna permission to speak with me.
The two unknown card emperors have not hidden their interest to talk with me from the beginning. First, I thought it had something to do with the silver milk powder, but now that they already had a deal with Anna, they still proposed to speak with me. This confused me because what do two Card emperors have to do with a small city Card soldier.
“Umm… Good, it’s decided that we will announce that the discoverer of the Silver milk powder Dalton Wyatt was killed today in an assassination. And then, he will be moved to a secure lab where he can help Luna in the research. You guys talk what you want and make it quick; we have to move him to a secure location.” Anna finally permitted the two unknown card emperors to speak with me and also hurried them under the pretense of driving me to the safe area.
“Thank you, your highness. We will try to keep it short.” The older card emperor thanked Anna and turned to me to finally speak his objective, but I interrupted him
“Wait. Did you guys have fun planning my life for me? Anna, what gives you the right to make decisions for me? Who told you that you can plan my life for me?” I was holding it in for a while now, so I could not help but yell at Anna.
Was I not worried about enraging Anna, the only soul-bound person to look after my safety? No, I was not because right now, I was enraged seeing how these people planned the rest of my life within a few minutes without even asking my opinion on it. Fook, who do they think they are? In a rage, I did not watch my words, tone and did not care whom I offended.
“No, Wyatt, this is for your safety.” Anna tried to defend her actions by blaming it all on me being weak and not capable of protecting myself.
“Anna, I thought you were different. And had started to believe that you cared about me.” I acted like the time I spent with Anna did not affect me, but in some corner of my heart, I started to trust her and depend on her.
“Wyatt, you misunderstand my intentions. I do care about you. This is for your good. You have to understand where I am coming from.”
