Soon as he arrived, Roderick had Ares summon all the greatest experts and leaders of Eden to a meeting in the headquarters. On the top floor of the divine guardians headquarters, Several fierce looking people were discussing the reason they were called here.
They were the guild leaders, the headmasters and advisor of several institutes for young elemental masters as well as the entire board of directors and the high council of Eden. Those people had their gazes locked on Ares, who called this whole meeting, while all curious to why Ares would suddenly summon them for an emergency meeting, none of them had the guts to ask him why.
Minutes later, a young man in his early twenties accompanied by a young lady and a middle-aged man in a Butler costume walked into the room.
"Who is this youth?"
"Have I seen him before?"
"He really looks familiar..."
While the greatest powerhouses of Eden wondered who was this youth, Ares stepped forward and saluted him. At this moment, Roderick had removed his mask and returned his dyed blue hair in its natural black. The fiery-eyed chevalier had also put on the lens and clothes given to him making him look like those handsome butlers seen in novels.
"Everyone is ready to start the meeting, take your seat." Leaving the central chair to him, Ares sat on his right while the fiery-eyed butler and Artemis stood behind Roderick.
"I see, then we should start..."
Roderick was about to continue when a rude voice interrupted. "Hey, Ares, why is this rich kid doing here? An Emergency meeting with the entire board like this doesn't need any children."
The man who said this was a middle-aged man with the crest of the Blaze family on his suit. Ares on the other side replied with the same delicacy: "Shut the f*ck up Carl, it is your opinion that is unneeded. And this "Kid" in front of you is none other than the hero of three years ago, the seventh member of the Divine Guardians, Jupiter!"
The moment he said the word Jupiter, even those who thought of agreeing with Carl had to close their mouths. With Ares didn't give them any information about Jupiter, the recording of the battle of that day when he jumped skyward, grabbed the enemy by the head and launched him on an island where he finished the battle and Jupiter still had time to find the real masterminds and apprehend them.
He also had three years to interrogate them and find all their connections which Lisa entrusted to Eden when she arrived with Cassius, it was this list which helped them find all the traitors and location of their research center. Even if you forget his heroic acts, just the profit they gained from it was enough to make a whole country cry.
"Wait, wasn't Jupiter is missing for years?" Just when they were thinking about everything he did, one of them remembered Jupiter hasn't been seen for years.
"I also don't know." Ares replied. The only thing Roderick left was a note saying he was leaving to search for answers and that he would return if he ever finds it. Then Lisa came with a report that more than a dozen kings and a huge army of elemental masters were spotted heading into one of the infamous death zones, he guessed that whatever Roderick had to say was really important.
Roderick took a small device from his pocket. A small square with several sensors on one side, a neural transmitter, It could access and convert memories into data as well as transferring into other's minds. In this case, Roderick converted the memory of what he saw on that blood lake into a video and transferred it into his obelisk device.
Projecting a screen right in the middle of the table, the whole scene Roderick saw back them was projected on that screen. Even Ares turned pale and his burly figure tall as a mountain seemed to shrink at the sight of the blood Golem wiping out the elemental kings and that saint.
Even Roderick's pathetic attempt to resist was projected on the screen, especially when he was hit by the Golem who didn't see him as a threat and he rolled on the sand. Ares, his mother and even the prideful high-ranking figures of Eden held back their laugh by putting a hand on their mouth. Artemis poked his arm while his face was burning hot with shame, he really wanted to bury his head on the ground to not see others react to this.
When the video ended, none of those in the room were able to speak. Clearly this blood golem was on an entirely different level than the black lightning snake three years ago. With he room quiet, Roderick stood up and told them about the origins of that blood lake, before showing them a world map the fiery-eyed chevalier gave him.
Four huge continents were seen as well the many islands and other landmarks unknown to the humans in Eden. While there were some missing pieces of land compared to the old map stored in the files of the guardians.
"This isn't possible!"
"How?!"
Ares and the others couldn't believe when they saw the way the lands were divided. Several countries, with names most of them never heard of were spread all over the world and locations neither the guardians or the explorer's guild had knowledge of.
Roderick, who had visited the Institute Aatryon with that illusory mountain knew that if those countries had figures of that level, then to hide something as big as a country from the eyes of others wasn't that hard. Kogh Toruhm for example, it was located right in the middle of a mountain range in the northeast of Eden.
But of course the reason he did all of this wasn't to cause fear in others, but to prepare in case the worst happened. After three hours of discussion with the members of the board, they decided to initiate a period of isolation. They would have stopped all operations in the area outside of Eden and have those who are in any missions out there to retreat before using the force field generator beneath Eden to cut any connections with the outside world.
When the meeting ended, and the members of the board were chatting at the entrance, Roderick sneakily left as he returned to his room in the buildings. Even after three years, it was as clean as the day he left. As he inspected the room, a silhouette stood by the door.
"Brother Roderick?" Seeing her eyes redden
"Melanie..." Roderick hugged her before reaching out handing a letter to her.
"This..." Artemis, no, Melanie accepted the letter, but Roderick spoke before she could open it. "Don't open it! Wait until everything ends, this letter is the answer I was searching for. The truth about you, about us. However, I must say one thing..."
Roderick muttered in a voice only he and Melanie could hear. "If nothing happens then it is fine, but if something ever happens to me, you must find a safe place for yourself."
"Aye." Melanie meekly nodded as she snuggled closer to him.