Chapter 839: Happy
"...What?" Opening his eyes wide, Robin muttered in a low voice.
"As I said, I want to join the army. I've thought about it a lot and I couldn't find another way," Richard smiled and closed his eyes slightly, "...I almost died defending the capital. That would have been nice, but I would have died as a loser who couldn't save anyone. Fortunately, my brother Caesar saved us all. At that moment, while fighting side by side with him, I understood that secluding and neglecting myself is no longer an option, not when I still have people to protect. If I wanted to relax and live in Jura I have to become stronger first, much stronger."
"....." Robin maintained eye contact with his son.
Then Richard shook his head, "But I didn't know how... The Life Fire Technique is one of your best works and is truly the pinnacle of power in my eyes. I can't imagine anything else that would make me stronger, so I forgot about it for a moment. This was until during my battle on Jura City Wall when your generals arrived. They all killed their opponents quickly and professionally without wasting any extra effort even though they were using basic law techniques like wind, flame, etc.~"
Then he continued, "I thought, perhaps their strength stems from their experience in fighting different enemies on more than one planet and their discipline as soldiers, experience is the key element... And here I am, selfishly asking to travel with them until the wars are over, and then I want to ask permission to go explore the middle planetary belt if you have the means to do so, Caesar mentioned it to me more than once, I think he also wants to go..."
11 ." Robin kept staring into his son's eyes in stupefaction
"...Father?" Even Richard looked right and left, then waved to attract Robin's attention away but he didn't succeed
Finally, Robin moved, stood up calmly took two steps towards his son, put both his hands on Richard's shoulder then leaned over and kissed his forehead
"Father?" Richard looked up in surprise
Still holding his shoulders, Robin spoke extremely seriously, "You want to be strong? Look into my eyes, your father will make you the strongest."
"I just want to join the army--" Richard muttered quickly when he saw how serious Robin
was
But Robin continued anyway, "I will make you strong enough to roam the Young Planetary Belt as your backyard, so you can snap the necks of the likes of Holak and Pythor for fun, I will make you strong enough to look down into the eyes of all the self-proclaimed Gods and Devils in the Middle Planetary Belt and tell them to fuck themselves!"
"...That seems too much..." Richard laughed awkwardly, but he was excited in his heart.
No one knows the value of strength more than a child who has been tortured for decades and seen one affliction after another.
Robin finally let go and took a few steps to the side, resting his chin on his hand, "Oh, I have a lot of ideas, but where do I start? Maybe I should modify a third major law into the Life Fire Technique? Maybe I should help you gain soul units to exceed the thousand units limit? Or send you to Jabba's Body Strengthening Array first? Maybe I should draw you some divine tattoos? Or maybe I should give you the spirit of Planet Jura-- no, that won't work..."
"Wait, wait..." Richard waved several times, "What did you just say?"
"Actually, I was going to start searching for the spirit of Planet Jura when you arrived," Robin scratched his head and turned to face his son, "Giving you the spirit of a planet will definitely increase your power, but searching for it could take months-that if I find it at all- and you need a silver soul to speed up the process, otherwise it could take tens of thousands of years to refine, so it's not the best option right now..."
"Oh..." Richard nodded twice, then shook his head, "Anyway, I just want to travel with the army so don't worry about me. You need, however, to give some orders to your army because the soldiers outside are going crazy over their families but they can't leave."
"... You're right, I need to solve a few problems first before I can start a second to look for the planet's spirit." Robin put his hand on his chin again, "Go and order a meeting of all the decision-makers, any general or high-ranking officer, and also summon Caesar, wherever he is, he must attend, the meeting will be in an hour from now!"
He then raised his eyes again, looking at Richard, "And you... you will attend, right?"
"Of course." Richard smiled calmly then stood up and took a few steps towards the door, "Excuse me, I'll go arrange the meeting."
*Creak* Then he closed the door behind him after leaving
"...." Robin stared at the door for a few seconds, then slowly looked down at his trembling fists and let out a joyful cry, "Keeee!!!"
"Hahahahaha!!!" Robin put his hands over his head and laughed madly towards the ceiling, "My son is back, thank you, Great Serpent bastards, you should have come sooner!! Hahahahaha"
"Congratulations!" Evergreen's lazy voice interrupted Robin
"Evergreen, did you hear that? The boy finally wants to join me, he wants to be part of my Empire!!" Robin shouted loudly, it had been years since he had been this happy
No... had he ever been this happy?!
The guilt he felt towards Richard and his mother killed everything inside him, killed any passion he had for life, and made him lose any love he had for exploration, even making his previous dream - to immortalize his name in history - seem ridiculous.
Richard's request not only took him out of his worries but gave him a reason to live, gave the little boy inside him a reason to continue his passion that he had failed for too long... his research!
"Yes yes this is indeed a cause for celebration, I suggest you forget about searching for the planet's spirit and start making a proper technique for your kid!" Evergreen looked a little excited
"What? No... There is something I need to use the spirit of Planet Jura for." Robin snapped out of his bout of happiness upon hearing Evergreen's words and went to sit down, "I still have an hour until the meeting, I will use it to practice different methods that will allow me to penetrate the layers of the earth with my soul sense, and after the meeting I will start traveling between cities... I must find the spirit of Planet Jura no matter what!"
"Tsk~ I think you are exaggerating, your entire army is here and you are personally present, what did you need the spirit of such a trivial planet for? Find something that will benefit you and your son better." Evergreen quickly intervened, sweating a little in Robin's Soul Domain "Huuu~ Okay stay quiet now, I will start." Robin ignored Evergreen completely and took a deep breath.
*Vriiiiim*
The silver soul power shook violently and took the form of six extremely fine needles, "Now!" Robin then sent them to the ground.
"Since I can't use the six thousand soul units at once, I will divide them into six epicenters and send them in six different directions, each one containing more soul power than Hoffenheim had when he found the Planet's Spirit Domain!" Robin smiled with his eyes closed, following his soul sense as it was like a six-pointed fork penetrating thousands of kilometers underground in the blink of an eye, "Not bad at all, with this speed and spread, it actually took 3 months to search, in the worst case it took 2 years and then-- Hmm? What's that over
there--?"
*Fall*
Robin's body shook and he fell backward.
"What happened outside? Robin? Owner!!" Evergreen looked around in confusion... Robin's consciousness was no longer in the soul realm!