Chapter 838: Richard's request
*Ba-dum*
Robin quickly opened his eyes and looked towards the metal door, his pupils shaking violently, "Richard?!"
If Caesar were here and saw Robin twitching and his heart pounding like that, he would suspect it was someone else... Is this the same person who looked the All-Seeing God in the eye, a mighty figure that brought him back from the brink of death, and told him with confidence that he would never bow to anyone?
What Caesar doesn't know is that he actually got into a verbal fight with the All-Seeing God during the Demon's invasion of Jura, and he also intervened in the Nihari war knowing for sure that he would earn the All-Seeing God's rival's enmity, and yet he didn't care... But now, with all his heart, he really is scared!
He thought that Richard would leave angrily when he saw Alexander and the rest and would go into seclusion for a few decades to calm down, and then he might send Caesar to calm things down with him
Why would he come now while he's angry? Does he want to cut off ties with him?
Robin wanted to open his mouth and order him to leave, or for him to just jump into a space raft and disappear, he wasn't ready to take on this responsibility!! But after hesitating, he opened his mouth with difficulty, "...You may come in."
*squeak*
"Excuse me then... Oh, I didn't expect a room to be this clean in the city." Richard pushed the metal door open and walked in with steady steps, then sat on the floor opposite his father, "We need to talk."
11
"....." When he didn't get any reaction from Robin, Richard snapped his finger a few times in front of his eye, "Hey, is anyone here?"
*Droop*
A teardrop escaped Robin's eye and fell on his thigh, his facial expression at this moment was as if he had seen a ghost!
Richard frowned slightly at this reaction, but he didn't say anything and waited silently. *White hair... My son's hair has become white!!* Robin almost went crazy
What Richard's hair had undergone wasn't just a color change, it had become silky and lifeless, as if it were the hair of someone who had been dead for thousands of years, and it wasn't just his hair that had undergone this kind of change... His eyes were slightly open but his ocean-deep pupils didn't look alive at all, and under his eyes was a dark aura indicating extreme exhaustion, his face itself had become thin and his bones were visible as if he hadn't eaten in ages!
Even his aura had changed... When Robin last saw him, he was full of hatred and vengeance, but now his aura was as calm as the surface of a blameless pond, frighteningly calm.
"... I'm sorry." Robin looked down and clenched his fists tightly, "If I were any mortal father, you would have had a better life. Never mind, say whatever you want and I'll accept your judgment, I just want you to know that I'm really, really sorry."
Even if Robin had prepared a speech to defend himself, it had vanished now.
Every mistake he made in his life, every bad decision he made, every obstacle he fell into... For some reason, his son had to pay for it in one way or another!!
"His Majesty the Great Planetary Emperor Robin Burton apologizes? That doesn't seem befitting of your status." In front of Robin's collapse, Richard showed a faint smile.
Robin wanted to speak, but Richard quickly continued, "Please, Father, let me finish so that we don't get into a pointless discussion... I didn't come today to blame you and exchange accusations. What was destroyed was your homeland too, and those victims were your family members as well. I came to give you a report on the end of the week's events, and to make a personal request of yours."
"A request? Consider it answered, what is it?!" When Robin heard the word Father, life appeared in his eyes again. If Richard told him now to leave the Nihari war, he wouldn't hesitate a second!
"That can wait." Richard waved with a smile, "First you have to hear the report, that way you can understand my request better."
"...Okay, let's hear it." Robin took a deep breath
Richard was silent for a few seconds, before he finally opened his mouth, "Initial investigations from the Shadow Swords Organization say that more than half of the planet's cities have been destroyed beyond redemption, while the rest of the cities and villages have seen battles and received varying degrees of destruction. All the former capitals and major cities have been flattened, not a single city or mountain village has survived the war in the past week. Oh, the Demon City and the Imperial Capital are among them."
"..." Robin was shocked and clenched his fists tightly on his knees.
In just seven days, the entire planet was attacked? How severe and large-scale was that invasion plan exactly? And worse, how many lives were lost?!
"As for the number of casualties," Richard immediately entered the next part, "the initial count says that the dead reached approximately 500 million people, most of whom were killed by air strikes from warships, another portion was killed in battles against the rebels you left them playing in the Ancestral Continent," Richard sneered,
Then continued, "But I think that problem has been solved somewhat, I have taken care of 53 million of them with these two hands. Also, all the Demons in the Central Continent were exterminated and the Imperial Capital has seen a massacre that took the lives of most of its two million inhabitants, I only managed to save 150 thousand of them."
Robin's lips trembled violently... Half a billion people on the planet were killed in a week? The entire planet of Jura barely has a billion and a half humans on its back, does that mean that a third of the population was killed?!
As for the destruction of the Demon City and the Imperial Capital, this is a disaster on par with the first, these two cities are the power centers of the True Beginning Empire!
What would the soldiers do when they learned that the families they left behind had been killed?! According to Richard, all of his soldiers must have lost at least one or two family members, if not their entire families...
But this didn't bother Robin much, he came prepared to hear something like this, he was even happy that 150,000 residents of the Imperial Capital had survived, even if only a few hundred of them were from the Burton family, in a few decades the family would grow again... What really hurt his heart was Richard's words about needing to kill 53 million people in a few days. Robin had to steal another glance at Richard who was sitting strangely calmly as he talked about the death of hundreds of millions... Until this moment he didn't fully understand him, he couldn't comprehend what he had gone through, but one question popped into his mind: Did those events turn his son into a victim or a monster?!
Then Richard continued smoothly, "Well, these are the important things, I think... After Caesar and I expelled the Great Serpent's forces from the Imperial capital, we parted ways. I came to Jura to protect the space portal, while he and the Shadow Swords led a counterattack on the invaders and rebel forces. So far, the battles are raging around the planet. I heard from Caesar that their warships are scouring the planet for escapees. The Shadow Swords say that their movements and the way they are intensifying fire on the villages and cities of the Flame Continent indicate that they want to gather together first and then occupy the Flame Continent, then lead attack on the other Continents from there."
"We are here now, that will not happen." Robin frowned, of course, he would not allow those
thugs to stay inside his home planet for much longer!
"Of course, as long as you're here, everything will be fine!" A big smile appeared on Richard's
face, "Here comes my request."
"... What is it?" Robin's heart pounded after hearing the mocking tone
What would this boy ask? maybe he wants to leave for the mountains and doesn't want
anyone to follow him? Or maybe he would ask him not to take the army out of Planet Jura
again? Or maybe--
"My request is simple," Richard interrupted his train of thought, "...I want to join the army, I want to become strong, strong enough to defend my homeland whether you exist or not."