The Grand General clicked his tongue in annoyance as he heard the report, and he turned towards the Overlord’s disjointed body. The scientists were already starting to put the Overlord back together, and the Grand General knew that it was only a matter of time before the Overlord woke up again. The only thing that was missing for the Augmentation to be complete was the Overlord’s new Heart Core, and the best material they could use right now was the dragonstone found on Radagan. The Machina army had already mobilised, and they were ready to march into Radagan to retrieve what they needed. If the dragonborn refused to give them the dragonstone, then they would take it by force. But now that there was a new issue with Hesabeth, the Grand General realised that they had to deal with this before they could get the dragonstone from Radagan! The Grand General turned and started walking out of the lab while speaking to Navor.
"And what about the Black Enigma, Jason Marc? Was he captured by the Queen?"
The Grand General didn’t really care about the complaint Queen Hesabeth filed against them. At worst, the complaint would lead to a small hearing, and the Machina would be fined for their actions. After all, the men that they used to attack Jason were only criminals, and a few of them dying wouldn’t make much of a difference at all. That was something he would deal with easily. But he needed to know if Jason had been stopped or not. If Jason was captured by Queen Hesabeth, then that would really be the end of all his troubles, and he would only have to look forward to the Overlord’s awakening! But the answer Navor gave him was not what he wanted to hear at all!
"No, sir. It would appear that he managed to escape. Although the sentry also stated that Queen Hesabeth didn’t look very concerned with capturing him, so there is a possibility that she simply allowed him to go."
The Grand General cursed! He really shouldn’t have expected much from someone as whimsical as Hesabeth. The Grand General knew that it was a crime not to capture a Black Enigma if you had a chance to do so, but there was no way he could pin this crime on Hesabeth since Hesabeth could just claim that Jason escaped from her. The Grand General frowned and clicked his tongue. Well, it didn’t matter. Even if Jason manages to get to Riyad, it isn’t like he can find what he’s looking for. Jason isn’t the first person to try to find the sunken city, and he surely won’t be the last. The Grand General was sure that Jason would fail. All they had to do was go to Riyad and capture Jason in the middle of his pointless search.
"Prepare the army at once and send them to Riyad! Their orders are to capture Jason Marc as quickly as possible."
"What? But sir, what about the complaint!?"
"Forget about the complaint and prepare the army."
It was obvious that the Grand General just didn’t care about the complaint that Hesabeth had filed, and General Navor frowned before speaking.
"Sir, the council of Generals will not stand for the orders. I believe it will be more efficient to first focus on clearing our name before trying to capture Jason Marc again—"
"If any general is unhappy with my orders, then tell them to come and tell me directly to my face. The Overlord will be awake soon, so I’m sure they will love to explain to him why his direct orders were overruled by some mere Generals!"
The Grand General turned to Navor with a mad look in his eyes, and Navor took a step back in shock as he saw multiple black lines travelling across the Grand General’s face! The lines made the Grand General look like some sort of twisted monster, and Navor could only wonder what that was! But before Navor could ask anything, the lines vanished, and Navor was left wondering what had gotten into the Grand General! And why was the Grand General so adamant about trying to stop Jason from reaching Riyad? General Navor understood the Grand General wanting to capture Jason in the past since he was a criminal, and that is why he never went against any of the Grand General’s orders, but right now, the Machina were also facing issues, so why was the Grand General still so adamant about Jason!? Why was it so important to make sure he didn’t reach Riyad!?
"Are you still standing there!? Go and do as I said right now!"
The Grand General shouted in anger, and General Navor snapped into attention and saluted respectfully before he took off! General Navor knew that the other generals would definitely complain about what was about to happen, and he could only hope that the Grand General knew what he was doing.
....
[With Jason and Gina]
After making their way through the shadows and away from Vratac, Jason was currently riding on Ragnar as they headed for the next Dimensional Tear location. Gina was sitting in front of Jason and leaning back on his chest silently, and beside them, Stella was riding on Trigon. Jason was still a little surprised by the way things had gone on Vratac with Hesabeth, and Jason couldn’t deny that he never expected things to go that well. Jason honestly thought that Hesabeth would make things very difficult for him, but the fact that she was willing to let him go that easily made him see her in a better light.
’But I don’t know how to feel about the fact that I now owe her a favour. I was trying to avoid this exact situation during the council meeting, but fate somehow forced me into it again. Is everything going to just keep going her way, no matter how much I try to avoid it?’
Jason frowned at this thought, and he thought he would feel annoyed by the situation, but for some reason, he wasn’t annoyed at all since he knew that he had done this for the right reasons. The situation at the Stone Catacombs wasn’t beneficial for Jason since he didn’t see any reason to give Hesabeth leverage over him, but right now, Hesabeth had every right to try and stop him from reaching his goal, so owing her a favour in exchange for her letting him go seemed sensible enough. Jason just hoped that Hesabeth didn’t end up asking for something unreasonable. Jason let out a calm sigh as he got rid of these thoughts and refocused on the journey, and he hummed as he realised that Gina had been very silent up till now. Gina was watching the scenery pass by, but she hadn’t said a word to him since they left Vratac. Jason immediately knew that there was something wrong.
’Is everything okay, Gina?’
Jason spoke through their mental link while looking down at his fiancée, and he felt Gina jolt slightly in his arms as she was pulled out of her thoughts. Gina shook her head and smiled up at him before saying that everything was fine, but Jason’s eyes just narrowed when he saw how strained her smile was. It was obvious that there was something bothering her.
’Come on, tell me what’s on your mind. How long do you think we’ve known each other by now? You’ll have to try a little harder than that if you want to hide something from me.’
Jason smiled playfully as he said this, and he expected Gina to smile as well, but he was surprised when Gina just frowned. There was a dark cloud inside Gina’s eyes that showed how troubled her mind was, and Jason realised that this was more serious than he thought. Jason got serious, and he asked Gina to talk to him once again before Gina finally spoke up.
’That woman, Hesabeth. Have you two known each other for a long time?’