Godfather's System

"… And then, after calling Jertann a Hero, he departed after sending Zolast his regards," Karak finished explaining. To be fair, it was the third time he had explained, giving every single detail he could remember. He spoke that much without prompting, showing how much he had been affected by the kidnapping. "Boss, we need to find him!"

"And, we will," I said, sounding far more confident than I was actually feeling. "The battle at the Wall is already over, and Zolast is on the way. Once he arrives, he will go through the spells that had been used, and track him. Don't worry," I said. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure that it would actually work.

He closed his eyes, and I looked around the room, hoping for a distraction. Unfortunately, there was none. We were in a silent room where Karak had been resting after he was found.

"Were you able to discover anything in the area?" he asked. If the situation was any less serious, I would have teased him about speaking. It was rare for Karak to be the one to break the silence.

"Nothing. I have already gone through the area, but there's nothing."

"Maybe I should check as well —" Karak started, but I cut him off.

"No point. Too many spells have been used there, and destruction mana left nothing. No one but Zolast could have a hope of tracking things," I said. I didn't go out to handle the aftermath … and that was not just to accompany Karak.

This was their last test to see if the younglings could handle the aftermath of the battle as well as the battle itself.

Then, I received a message from Zolast. He had already arrived and checked Bertnam's path, but there were clear signs of him leaving the border region.

I sighed. "Why don't you rest a bit more while I go and talk with Zolast," I said.

"I want to listen," Karak said as he stood up, ignoring the effects of the spell, which was more impressive than I expected considering the time that had passed.

"As you wish," I said. It was easier than the alternative. He followed me as we left the room. Outside, Silas and Terma joined us, looking equally distressed. "Follow us. Zolast has found some stuff," I said. It was easier to allow them in than letting them run around.

The last thing we needed was Terma to start running around to find his brother and make things more complicated than they already were.

We climbed the stairs until we reached the office, and Zolast was already there, playing with a stone in his hand. One with some magic.

A clue. And, considering just how arrogant Bertnam had been during every single encounter, my guess was that it was an intentional one.

He was the kind that wouldn't let a victory go without openly bragging.

"Were you able to find his location? Can we go save my brother —" Terma started before Silas slapped the back of his head in a familiar manner.

"Let them talk," she said. She wasn't any less concerned, but she knew that the fact that neither I nor Zolast was rushing meant there was nothing that could be done.

Before saying anything, Zolast cast a dozen privacy spells, and that was on top of the already existing wards surrounding his office. "First, the good news. Jertann is alive, well, and his kidnappers are going to keep him safe for a while. So, we can still save him without any accident." That made younglings relax considerably.

I still had a bad feeling.

"And, what's the bad news?" Karak asked.

"We don't know exactly which organization kidnapped him, so we don't have any direction. The only thing we know for certain is that he's still on this planet."

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I couldn't help but look at him in surprise, as that was an interesting thing to be confident about considering that leaving the planet wasn't an impossible challenge for many forces. Still, I let him handle it.

Terma looked ready to intervene, but Silas kept him silent before asking. "Why kidnap him?" Silas asked. At that point, Zolast used the connection to tell me an interesting piece of news. He had discovered a way to obscure the connection between the Divine Patron and a target, based on the books the princess passed us in payment.

It was bad timing, but I gave Zolast the sign he needed.

"That's my fault," Zolast said. There, I expected the younglings to start blaming him angrily, but they stayed calm.

"How so?" Terma asked.

"Do you remember the ability stone that Jertann had used, back when we were still moving with the camp? I had thought that to be a valuable, but otherwise ordinary Ability stone. It was not."

Terma and Silas looked shocked, but Karak's expression was more calculating. "You weren't able to identify it?" he asked.contemporary romance

"No," Zolast said.

"But, it doesn't make sense," Terma interfered. "Why risk my brother's life when you can't identify it. You two didn't need the assistance of my brother, did you?"

Zolast looked too guilty, so I decided to intervene. "Actually, we did," I said. "At that time, neither of us were strong enough to properly fight."

"But, that doesn't make sense. Even before establishing the dungeon, you two were extremely powerful," Terma said, though even now, he wasn't actually trying to blame us. It was more about trying to process the situation.

"Actually, not really. Remember, Zolast had never fought until recently," I reminded them. "He had been cursed by his old divine patron, so despite being level hundred, he wasn't able to use most of his powers."

"Level hundred," Terma gasped, shocked, but also too young not to be fascinated by that trivia. Then, he looked at me.

Meanwhile, Karak's eyes widened at the mention of an old divine patron, however, Silas was the one that talked. "Old patron? Does that mean the sun god is actually real?"

I sighed. It was a fair question. With all the smoke screens we created to distract our enemies, it was a reasonable direction for them to reach. "No, that part is still a lie. It's just to cover up our growth," I said.

"Then, who took over as his divine patron?" Silas asked, confused.

This time, Karak was the one to intervene. "Were you the one to take over?" he asked bluntly. From his expression, I could see that he had already connected the dots. Clever boy.

"Don't be ridiculous, Karak. Only demigods and gods can be divine patrons, and they can't leave the heavens," Silas commented, not even thinking about that possibility. To be fair, it wasn't exactly a well-known fact about heroes. Karak only connected it because of Bertnam's pointless bragging.

"Were you cursed as well?" Terma asked.

"No, but at that time, I didn't have the necessary levels. I was barely level fifteen," I said, slightly fibbing the numbers to make myself appear weaker at that time. A little white lie was better than explaining I had been holding myself back too much.

"But, you are old," Terma said bluntly. Any other time, I would have teased him relentlessly about that. "How's that possible that you're just level fifteen then. And, if you're level fifteen then, how are you this strong? And, you can fight so well—" he asked rapidly.

Karak was the one to interrupt, stress making him unusually chatty. "Because he never had the System until a few months ago. Right, boss?"

"Don't be silly, Karak. Everyone has the System," Silas replied.

"No, not everyone," Karak said. "There's one famous legendary exception."

Silas was a smart girl, and didn't miss that clue. "Impossible," she gasped.

"What's impossible," Terma said, still looking confused.

I chuckled again. "Let me introduce myself again, properly this time. Euon was just a fake name I had to adapt to hide my origin. My real name is Edward, and until a few months ago, I was merely a … businessman. Then, I was summoned as a Hero."

The silence filled the room. Even Karak looked surprised despite guessing it earlier. After all, there was a difference between guessing something and hearing it directly.

After that, I gave them a brief summary of the events of my summoning, as well as some of the events that were happening in the background. Now that they were about to join my Heroic Party, the less thing they were mistaken about, the better.

"Why lie about it, boss? Didn't you trust us?" Terma said halfway in. I sighed. He was still a teenager, after all.

I reached to mess with his hair. "Stupid boy. Do you really think I would have revealed the secret dungeon and other secrets to you if I didn't trust you? What did I teach you about compartmentalizing information?"

"Need to know basis," he answered, almost automatic.

"Exactly," I said and I continued to explain, though I left the Heroic Party and how it worked to the last. And, how Zolast just discovered a way to make it viable thanks to the information he was able to receive from the princess.

When the explanation ended, we were looking at the faces of three shocked youngsters.

Karak spoke first. "That's why you revealed your identity to us right now," he said. "You want us to join the Heroic Party."

"As long as you are willing," I said. "We're going to do our best to save Jertann nonetheless, but the advantages of being a part of the Heroic Party is too significant to be neglected."

"We are willing," they answered simultaneously.

"Excellent," I said, then looked at Zolast. "Now what?"

"To the dungeon," he completed. "We need to use it to block detection as much as possible."

done.co