Jason had told the lizardman he had killed earlier to lead some of his other subordinates towards the meeting place where they were meant to exchange Kai. Jason wanted to know exactly who it was that had been trying to buy his brother. Jason had sent the Sovereign along with some other subordinates, and they just sent back a message that the world they were heading to was five dimensional leaps away, so it would take a while to find who Jason was looking for. Jason just told them to make sure they catch the right person, and he closed down the connection.
"Jason! Jason! Did you know my father!? Tell me about him!"
Kai suddenly hugged Jason’s leg again as he asked him this question, and Jason grimaced slightly before he plastered on a smile and told Kai that he stayed with his father on Earth for a long time.
"He was the protector of Earth for more than ten years, and if not for him, then the entire planet would have been overrun by monsters a long time ago. He sacrificed himself to help save Earth from a Primordial, but I don’t know where he is now."
Kai had literal stars in his eyes when he heard about his father’s actions, and Kai nodded his head like a man who had just learned that all his dreams were turning out to be true!
"My dad is a superhero!"
Jason grinned and ruffled Kai’s hair again as he said.
"Yeah, he sure is."
Doon!
Jason raised a brow when he felt a foreign power source suddenly arrive in this world, and he stood up straighter and looked around as he realised that they had been surrounded. But Jason didn’t need to worry about the people surrounding them since their mana Essence was very similar to the one Jason could feel from Fritz. It was obvious that they were all from the same world. The mana signatures continued to get closer, and it wasn’t until they were just about a hundred meters away that Fritz finally perked up and smiled as she spoke.
"That’s the army. I didn’t think they would come this quickly."
Fritz turned towards the East, where she could feel the stronger mana signature, and they all watched as a man emerged from the trees. The man who appeared was tall and imposing in a way that was almost terrifying. He also had dark skin and bright yellow eyes, just like Fritz and Kai, but he wore a full set of traditional metal armor that covered his chest, knees, and shoulders, as well as a sword at his hip. Once the man appeared, Kai exclaimed in joy and called out!
"General Zod!"
Kai immediately ran towards the General, and the man laughed happily as he picked up the little boy and held him close. General Zod was one of the highest-ranking soldiers on Vanta as well as the head of the Royal Armed Forces. General Zod had been present in the Royal castle right from when Kai was only a little child, so Kai had grown up around Zod, and Kai was very comfortable around him since he saw General Zod as a sort of uncle that he could depend on.
At the side, Jason put his hands in his coat pocket as he watched many other soldiers appear from the trees and into the clearing. The soldiers were all dressed in the same manner as General Zod, and Jason could tell that most of the soldiers here were between S and SS-Rank. General Zod was also an SS-Rank, but with how strong he was, it was more reasonable to say that he was in the early stages of SSS-Rank instead. When the soldiers appeared, they were already prepared for a fight, and many of them had their swords in their hands, but the soldiers realised they didn’t need to fight when they saw that all the bandits had already been killed. A murmur began to go through the army, and Jason couldn’t help but hear some of them.
"Is that the man who killed the bandits? Can you feel any mana from him?"
"Nothing. He has to be using a skill to hide his strength."
"Hey, doesn’t that man look a little like the Prince? Like their faces are similar."
"Don’t say such nonsense. Go gather the dead bodies and take them back to the transport. We’ll need to show them to the Queen."
The soldiers were obviously surprised to see Jason, but Jason was thankful that none of them tried to attack him. He didn’t really want to kill any of Kai’s men. Jason watched as the soldiers dropped their guards slowly after they realised that both the Prince and Fritz were fine, but Jason’s eyes narrowed slightly when General Zod suddenly turned to him with a hard expression on his face. General Zod put Kai down and told Fritz to take care of him before he walked over to Jason and Gina.
General Zod stopped a few feet away from Jason and spoke in a hard voice.
"My name is General Zod, and I am the head of the Vanta Royal Armed Forces. I believe you are the mage responsible for killing the bandits and rescuing the Prince?"
Jason hummed, and he raised a brow as General Zod suddenly smiled and stretched his hand out for a handshake. Jason took the hand in a strong grip, and General Zod nodded to Jason in thanks.
"You have my eternal thanks. Your act has ensured the future of Vanta, and we will never forget your kindness. If it is not too much trouble, we would appreciate you coming back to Vanta along with us. The Queen would also like to extend her thanks if possible."
Jason hummed calmly once more before he nodded. He had already decided to go with them, so he didn’t have any issue accepting the offer.
"I’d be happy to come along. Although I don’t think we can stay for long, since we were already on a journey before this incident."
General Zod nodded, and he thanked Jason for his consideration before he turned to leave. But General Zod stopped as he glanced at Jason again before looking back at Kai with a curious expression on his face. Jason raised a brow, and General Zod finally asked:
"Would you happen to be related to the Avarans? I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between you and Kai."
Jason gave General Zod a knowing smile, and General Zod’s eyes widened in surprise. It was just a split second, but Jason saw something in those eyes that made his smile dim. There was a flash of something like anger that passed over General Zod’s face, but in the next moment, it was suddenly gone, and General Zod nodded to Jason in understanding. General Zod turned to Gina and also gave her a respectful nod before he moved to give orders to the rest of the army!
’Babe, shouldn’t we tell them about the person who hired the bandits? It might be useful for them to find out who tried to kidnap the prince.’
Gina suddenly asked this question while coming up to take Jason’s hand, and Jason narrowed his eyes at Zod for a moment before he shook his head.
’No, not yet. I want to figure out what’s happening here before I tell them anything else. Don’t you think it’s weird?’
’What is...?’
Jason gestured to everyone in front of them with a small movement of his chin before he responded.
’All this is really weird. It’s already strange enough that these bandits were able to capture a prince and take him this far from his home without anyone stopping them, but the fact that the army came so quickly after we rescued Kai is also weird. With the strength of the soldiers here, the bandits shouldn’t have even made two dimensional jumps before being captured.’