Chapter 14: Admiral Robert's plan
Kayn's thoughts was immediately interrupted as Admiral Robert continued with his speech.
Seemingly like Admiral Robert realized that he had probably given enough time for everyone to take in what they had just seen, he then carried on with what he was about to say, "As you have seen, the 201st floor of the 'Tower' has already been cleared by the Robinhood Army of my Kraken Beast Republic,"
"As the world continues to burn down and invaded by the countless different monsters with varying levels of strengths from the 'Tower' in every passing minute of the day, I instead saw the Heroes wasting their time having pleasantries and holding useless and unnecessary events with each other. It's as if they hold their public image and what benefits and profits they could get from this dangerous and troubling times with more regards compared to the devastating situation currently on hand,"
"So, I took it upon myself the responsibility to change the current system of the world and break it down into a much more effective method,"
All of a sudden, the air around Admiral Robert changed from the untamed nature of a wild wolf into a suppressed state but exaggerating pressure felt from a predator trying to hunt down a prey. It was like the calm before the storm.
Although everyone was watching from the screens behind the television in front of them or the big screens mounted on top of the tall buildings nearby them just like Kayn and Natas' situation, a minority of the people still weren't spared from the mercy of the chocking feeling and atmosphere of what they were watching.
Some really weak and fragile regular people can't even help themselves but kneel on the ground while having trouble breathing. Seeing this, the Heroes nearby who could withstand the pressure coming from Admiral Robert quickly stood in front of them as a shield. But despite that, those people still need emergency treatment to prevent them from potentially incurring internal injuries.
"At a time where the world was pointlessly announcing the opening of the 201st floor of the 'Tower', one of my strongest army was already able to clear the requirements to enter another floor. And as I am speaking right now," Admiral Robert paused as if already expecting that something was about to go down.
To the surprise of everyone, the number '202nd floor' on top of the gates all over the world suddenly went up one floor after another. From 203rd floor, it instantaneously went up to 204th floor, then in short moment after that it went to 205th floor, and finally it reached the 206th floor before finally deciding to stop.
In just a span of less than an hour, or even half an hour, four floors inside the 'Tower' were cleared consecutively and almost without any delay.
It was a scene that would undoubtedly go down into the history of the world.
"One floor after another is being cleared in the 'Tower'," Admiral Robert wickedly smiled at the camera in front of him as if he was trying to pass a message to a certain someone.
Even without the need to mention anything, the entire world was able to easily guess who exactly Admiral Robert was trying to point out.
Who else was there to compete with Admiral Robert other than World President Nicholas?
"All I am saying is, I am not against you people holding festivities before entering another milestone. However, it's seriously slowing us down from finally reaching the top of the 'Tower' and stopping all the destructions it brought onto our world," Admiral Robert continued.
"How about we cut all the unnecessary things short so that the process of clearing would similarly become much more direct than what it is now? Like for example, if a group of Heroes or a guild could clear a floor in the 'Tower', then why bother holding them back from doing it just because they don't have enough money or items to exchange so that they can afford the contract to clear it, right?"
Finally, Admiral Robert revealed his true intention behind his action.
"Instead of having the World Leader Alliance control the territories in each floors of the 'Tower', why not let the guilds or Heroes who found and can clear it have all the rights for it? Because at the end of the day, we all know that all the profits and benefits the World Leader Alliance earned from it, would all just go straight into the pockets of the world leaders instead of the world that we are living in,"
"Although I am also one of those world leaders, I just beg to differ from the majority since I believe that we can't afford having only ten organizations to become the Heroes of the world when there are also others out there somewhere we probably don't or know about who can also pull the same stunt as us,"
"Right here, right now, I am proposing these changes in front of the masses to see. I have already presented the likely outcome of these changes. Now it's up to the other world leaders to decide whether to apply these changes or not," Admiral Robert concluded his speech.
As the speech of Admiral Robert ended, the camera also turned off and returned back to the scene of World President Nicholas on the podium.
At the moment, World President Nicholas is showing a solemn and ugly look on his face. Even as someone who has undergone a reincarnation, he still wasn't able to expect that Admiral Robert would pull something like this. After all, he had already changed a lot of things in these past ten years or so to the point that he hardly knows the events that would unfold in the future.
Nevertheless, Nicholas somewhat already expected that something unpleasant was about to happen the moment he opened the letter and read its content. He just didn't expect that it would be this worst. He could only grit his teeth and try his best to show a calm look on his face. But no matter how he tried, it was proven futile in the end.
"This bastard seriously never fails to get in my nerves time and time again!" Nicholas muttered to himself with his head lowered down to hide the look on his face. Though deep inside, he knows that Admiral Robert and those in cahoots with him are probably laughing out loud right now after seeing his reaction. After all, they aren't fools not to see what he's truly feeling. Rather, he just doesn't want the public to see him.
However, as someone who has dealt with numerous difficult situations throughout his entire life as a Hero in both the first life and in this current life, Nicholas is naturally able to quickly pull himself together.
In the next moment, Nicholas raised his head with a confident look of someone who is unbothered and nonchalant on his face from the sudden and unexpected turn for the worse.
"I honestly didn't expect that Admiral Robert would further enliven the atmosphere of this joyous day with such an overwhelming proposal that can surely give benefits to all Heroes of our world," World President Nicholas sang praises to Admiral Robert without feeling any sort of shame and embarrassment.
"Now that Admiral Robert have mentioned it, I also can't help but agree to make changes with our system. I have been thinking of doing this for a long time now, but the only problem is I always encounter obstruction every single time I try to propose this within the world leader alliance. But now that Admiral Robert have the same thoughts as me, there's no doubt that we would be able to implement changes to the system. What do you say, Admiral Robert, should we join hands for the sake of the world?"
As easy and simple as that, World President Nicholas was able to instantly pass the blame to someone else, while simultaneously clearing his name and poor performance just now in the process, and also improve his image to the public. By making himself agree with Admiral the Robert, majority of the Heroes would no doubt believe that he is on the same side as them and someone who thinks of their wellbeing.
"With everyone as my witness, right here, and right now, I will also make an announcement that I will be holding a meeting between all the ten world leaders on this month or as soon as possible to discuss and implement some new changes to our system. Hopefully, we could reach a satisfying conclusion that will benefit the entire world," World Leader Nicholas ended his speech before stepping down from the podium.
Although it seems like World Leader Nicholas agreed with Admiral Robert, but in truth, he actually only agreed with holding a meeting to make changes, not accept the changes that the latter spoke about. In other words, it's not for certain nor definite yet, that everything would go as what Admiral Robert planned on doing. And deep inside, he swore to do everything in his power to prevent Admiral Robert from getting everything that he wanted.
Except, there's actually someone who know exactly what is going to happen during the meeting…
"In the end, Nicholas would lose, and Admiral Robert would win and get what he wants. After that, the event knowned to be as 'The Great Liberation' would go down in history along with the process of how it all happened," Kayn spoke with certainty of the future.
As for how exactly World President Nicholas lost against Admiral Robert, Kayn didn't know since the content of the meeting wasn't released to the public nor records were even made. The only thing that was made known to everyone was the conclusion and the result of the discussion. And because of how good the end was, no one bothered to question the process.
"Don't look at me. Even I don't know what happened. I only saw that the Kraken Beast Republic, Genesis, Pandora, and Mercenary Nation worked together to clear all those four floors one after another," Natas quickly clarified after noticing Kayn's look on his face and understanding what he wanted to know.
"It seems like there was an unknown variable during that meeting that might or might not affect the future," Kayn muttered as he finally decided to continue on his way towards the Starlight Hero Academy.
"No need to worry about it, as we could try to investigate that later on. As of now, we need to find your comrade quickly and redirect his path," Natas prompted Kayn.
"Why the rush? It's not like the birth of one of the greatest Villains in the future is going to take place today,"
"That's exactly the reason why I am in a rush,"
"Eh… Don't tell me it's going to happen today?" Kayn felt something strange after noticing Natas' look on his face.
"I am afraid to say, but yes. It's my bad, and I am sorry since I just remembered that exactly 6 hours from now, that comrade of yours would commit a huge mistake that will become one of the dark secrets of the Starlight Hero Academy. If my memory serves me correctly, as of this moment, he should be in the process of deciding whether to do it or not," Natas didn't hold any information back from Kayn as he is well aware that it would be much better to have the latter as well informed as possible of the event that's about to unfold.
Hearing about this, Kayn could only click his tongue in frustration and annoyance. If only Natas had informed him about this a while ago, then he wouldn't have decided to stay and waste his time watching again the scene of World President Nicholas and Admiral Robert bantering with each other. Although the show was one of the unforgettable moments written in the history of Earth, it still isn't as important as their current goal of taking down the 'Tower'.
"Next time, make sure that you recollect all useful information from your memories so that we wouldn't be pressed on time like this moment," Kayn reminded Natas before starting to hasten his footsteps.