Chapter 718 Aftermath Of The War [Pt 2]
"So… what will you do now?"
Rey finally broke the tense silence between him and Adrien with a smooth tone. The both of them were on opposite sides of each other—the latter still standing—as composure oozed from their respective station.
After allowing the question to marinate in the air for a few seconds, Adrien finally spoke up.
"I have to check something out first. A prior investment, if you will. Afterwards… I guess I'll continue with the original plan."
Rey nodded his head as he heard all of this, not asking any further questions. As curious as he was about this 'investment' that Adrien was referring to, he also understood that he would be putting himself in a rather compromising position by asking.
'If he tells me more of his secrets, he'll want more of mine.' And Rey felt he had revealed more than enough at the moment.
It was even possible that Adrien was baiting him to ask by intentionally mentioning this 'investment' but Rey didn't want to overstep his bounds. To him, this was the safest position to take.
"In the end, the Dragons lost this battle. It's possible that the Empire will send an even more powerful squad… which is why we have to act quickly." He added.
"Don't worry. I won't forget my end of things. I'll be on standby, so you sort out what you need to." Rey responded with folded arms.
"That is all I ask." Adrien's response was humble, and he even went as far as bowing his head, which threw Rey off for a second.
"Right now, most of my assets have been extinguished and I have encountered great loss. This plan has to succeed for me to recoup some kind of benefit… so yeah, forgive my evident desperation."
Rey understood all of this quite well.
Adrien had compromised greatly in order to accommodate him into his plans. In order to follow The Oracle's wishes, the Dragons had to be exterminated. That meant it was inevitable that Adrien's assets would fall to ruin.
'I'd like to believe that he had to go along with this alternative because he recognized I would have destroyed the Dragons anyway. At least, with this, he gets something out of it.' Rey's thoughts further trailed.
Of course, all of this solely hinged on how Adrien would deal with the aftermath.
Rey trusted his capabilities, and he had firsthand experience on how resourceful and manipulative Adrien could be. Still, he had to make sure not to put all his eggs in one basket.
As much as he hoped for his success, he also had to consider other scenarios.
"Well, it seems we are done here, right?" Adrien shrugged as he spoke, taking a few more steps away from Rey.
"Yeah… I suppose."
Somewhere within Rey, he wanted to ask Adrien about what he was discussing with Emil prior to his arrival—satiating his curiosity on how they got so close, but he decided not to at the last minute.
'I can just ask her myself.' Even though Emil was still giving him the silent treatment, she seemed happy to see him return, so that meant she wasn't particularly serious with her oath of silence.
Besides, he could always pry the information from her if he gave a command.
'Either way… it's all under control.'
"I guess I'll see you soon." Adrien interrupted Rey's thoughts with a farewell, followed by a burst of spatial distortion.
Before any response could be made, the boy was long gone.
Spreading his senses as far as he could, given his current state, he couldn't sense Adrien anywhere. That meant he was either on a remote area on the Eastern Continent, or in another Continent entirely.
It was anyone's guess where he was, but if he so happened to teleport to the United Human Alliance's territory—particularly the Capital—Rey was sure Ater would handle things from there.
At the moment, he had much bigger fish to fry.
'Now that I've taken care of the Dragons… it's time to save Esme.'
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[Meanwhile…]
A bright burst of bluish energy tainted the darkness of a rather enclosed space. With the distortion of space came a young man with jet black hair and glowing blue eyes. His surroundings seemed like the entrance of a rather large cave, and the further down the road went, the larger the surrounding space became.
… Almost like a cavern.
This young man—Adrien—stood out quite a bit in this raw and primal setting. His pristine suit and polished appearance did not fit the rough vicinity he found himself in.
Still, it was obvious he wanted to be here. Until…
"Hmmm?" Almost as soon as Adrien appeared in this space, he had a stunned expression on his face; the kind one makes when they are bamboozled by something.
This lasted only a few seconds before he used a hand to cover his face. His palm covered the bloodshot eyes that brightened, and the deep glare that was slowly forming.
This tense atmosphere only grew more intense, until finally—
"Kukuku… kekekeke… kuahahahahahaha!!!"
—All of the climbing intensity dissipated.
"Hahahahahahahaha!!!" Rather than yell in anger, or frustration—which would have been a normal reaction, given the situation—Adrien burst out in a loud laugh.
As he laughed, he took measured steps forward, traversing the barren lands that surrounded him.
This continued until he reached the end of the line, finding a massive space spread out before him—a place meant to be littered with Monsters and Precious Minerals.
Instead, the whole place was barren.
"I should have known he would beat me to it… that Rey." Adrien chuckled even more, shaking his head in the process. "He didn't even leave their corpses for me."
The Dungeon that Adrien had looked forward to plundering for so long was already claimed… and from the looks of it, this had been the case for quite a while.
'What a loss, though…' He sighed in regret, though maintaining his oddly playful smile while observing the area.
'Nice one, Rey.'