’This mana...’
Jason felt a frown growing on his face when he felt the mana coming from behind the woman. The mana wasn’t anything impressive, and Jason knew that it wouldn’t even be strong enough to register as a B-Rank on Earth, but what had drawn Jason’s attention was the Mana Essence he could feel from that mana. It was so similar to his own.
The young boy hiding behind the woman noticed Jason looking at him and he peeked out from behind the woman’s back and blinked up at Jason. The boy also had dark skin and yellow eyes like the woman, but he was wearing an extremely high-quality outfit that showed that he wasn’t meant to be here. It was almost like something you would expect to see on a royal.
’Hey, what is the meaning of this? Who is that boy?’
Jason directed this question towards the lizardman subordinate that he resurrected, and the lizardman immediately responded.
’The boy is the Prince of a distant world known as Vanta. We were tasked with abducting him and bringing him to a certain place by an unknown man.’
Jason frowned.
’Vanta? Are you sure he isn’t from Avaran?’
’I am positive, my King. He is the only son of Queen Bethsha, the ruler of Vanta.’
The lizardman answered Jason’s questions truthfully, and Jason felt Gina stirring on his shoulder when she sensed the tension in the air. Gina raised her head slightly, and she blinked when she saw the cage of people sitting in front of them. That was unexpected.
’What’s going on?’
’It’s nothing serious, babe. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of something. Do you want to come down?’
Gina nodded to Jason’s question, and Jason let go of her thighs and allowed her to land softly on the ground. Gina wrapped her hands around Jason’s arm, and she just watched as Jason told Evon to come over here and get the cage open. Evon walked over with a wide grin and twirled her spear before she quickly used it to slash across the top of the cage.
Clang!
But Evon was surprised when her spear bounced back once it hit the cage. Jason raised a brow when he saw the cage glow with a strange blue light, and he realised that the cage was a magical artefact that could withstand attacks from low-ranking SSS-Ranks. That must’ve cost a lot.
’The person who asked us to kidnap the Prince gave us the cage as well. It’s an artefact that can only be opened by a special key held by that person.’
The lizardman explained how he got such a powerful artefact, and Jason could only wonder who had asked him to kidnap this kid. They must’ve really wanted the Prince if they were willing to go this far for it. Jason told Evon to put a little more effort into breaking the cage, and Evon grinned as she twirled her spear around before pouring more mana through it and finally bringing it down in a massive slash!
SLASH!
The spear cut through the cage, and Jason stood back and told the people inside to come out and go to the side with Evon. The mother and son were the first to come out, and she bowed her head to Jason in thanks as she walked over to Evon. Evon helped them to get out of their chains and gags as the other victims also joined them. Finally, the dark-skinned woman and child appeared, and Jason stopped them from leaving. The woman glared up at Jason in suspicion, and she stood in front of the boy protectively! Her hands were tied behind her back, and she had a gag in her mouth, but she looked like she was willing to fight despite the odds!
Jason snapped his fingers, and various Phantoms appeared from the shadows and quickly took off the gag and chains holding the two of them. The woman blinked in shock as she rubbed her wrists, and she looked at Jason with a curious gaze before she spoke. But Jason didn’t understand her, and it wasn’t until he had learned the language that he asked her to repeat herself.
"Thank you for rescuing us."
This time, Jason understood just fine, and Jason nodded calmly to tell her that she was welcome. Jason’s gaze finally travelled down to the little boy who was still hiding behind the woman. The boy couldn’t have been any older than six, and he had a round face and wide innocent eyes that could only belong to a child. Jason gave the boy a small smile, and the boy’s face lit up in an excited blush as he moved away from the woman and headed straight for Jason!
"Wait! My Prince! Stop!"
The woman quickly tried to stop the boy, but the boy ignored her as he ran up and grabbed Jason by the leg! Jason raised a brow at the little boy, and he was even more shocked when the boy finally spoke.
"Dad!"
Jason blinked in shock, and Gina stared down at the boy like he had just grown two heads!
"Huh!?"
Gina was the one who exclaimed, but the boy didn’t even glance in her direction, and his eyes were fixed on Jason. Jason could see the sheer innocence on the face of the boy, and he knew without a doubt that the boy wasn’t just trying to play a trick or anything like that.
’My king, what should we do with these ones?’
One of the Phantoms asked Jason about the remaining bandits, and Jason just told the Phantom to kill all the bandits with an absentminded wave of his hand. The sound of knives slashing through skin echoed through the region, but Jason ignored them as he finally crouched to the boy’s level, and he spoke with a small smile.
"What makes you think I’m your dad?"
"You look just like the pictures mummy used to show me! Aren’t you my dad?"
Jason hummed.
"Is that so?"
"My mama said my dad is a great King!"
Jason’s heart rate sped up immediately, and he put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and asked in a serious voice.
"What is your dad’s name?"
The boy shook his head before his face brightened up again!
"I don’t know his name; my mama never told me his full name. But my name is Prince Kai Marc! And I’m the Prince of Vanta! What’s your name!?"
Jason could feel a cold chill go through his entire body when he heard the name Marc. Was this some sort of coincidence? No, that wasn’t possible! If this were a coincidence, then it was just too much! The fact that Kai mistook Jason for his father was already enough to make Jason suspicious, but having the same family name was just too much! Jason was more than aware of how similar he looked to his father. Before Richard vanished from Earth, a lot of people commented on how Jason was going to grow up to have a face and body that was almost a carbon copy of the man! And from what Jason could see right now, Kai had a facial structure and expression that was just far too similar to both Jason and his father! So right now, Jason was nearly a hundred percent sure that the boy standing in front of him was his father’s child. Kai was Jason’s younger brother.
’What the fuck, dad?’