"I am home!" Argo barged into his home again fifteen minutes later, this time with the three kids behind him. "Have the children woken up?"
There, he could see Vanda, Gavin, Vera, and Ara looking at him simultaneously after they heard their voice. He decided to ignore the flinch from Vanda and the suspicious gaze from Ara for now.
"Good! You are awake. I bring you friends." Argo smiles, taking a step aside to show the three kids behind him. To his surprise, Ara seems to notice the kids behind him.
"Deron?"
The eldest of the three siblings frowned, wondering if they have met before.
"Do you know me?"
Ara nodded slightly.
"Yeah. We went to search for food near the Musia Kingdom gate together last month. We separated because you insisted on going back to the West if I remember correctly. I never thought that you would also end up in this house."
He took a glance at Argo, trying to find out if he was offended or not. However, the spiky-haired man just showed a bright smile as he spoke,
"You know each other?" He exclaimed happily. Before anyone could say anything, he clapped his hand, continued talking. "Good! It would be less awkward for you kids. Get used to each other because you will live together here from now on." He could see the curiosity grow in both little girls' eyes as they saw each other.
"Hey, we haven't agreed at living here yet!" Ara tried to protest, however Atgo just raised his eyebrows slightly.
"You have my protection and free meals every day, and you tell m3 you wanted to consider living in that hell again?"
What he said was enough to shut Ara's mouth as indeed, living with him would be more benefitable for him and his sister rather than going back to Meteor City. And seeing the drool on the corner of his sister's mouth when Argo mentioned free meals seals any doubt he has about the man in front of him.
"I told you so." Argo grinned smugly as he also saw Vera's face. "Anyway, get familiar with each other first. I need to talk with the adults first. Don't create too much trouble, okay?"
"Hey, we are good kids! We never created trouble before!" Alex tried to protest, but it only elicited a chuckle from Argo.
"I am sure, you are." Argo ruffled Alex's hair fondly before he turned around. "Anyway, we adults have to talk first. Vanda, Gavin, if you can follow me?"
"Yes, My Lord!"
They left the room full of children and entered the other room in silence. Argo let out a sigh as he saw Vanda flinch a moment when their eyes meet each other before she avoided his eyes.
"Okay, sit down, you two." He summoned three seats in front of them, letting the other two sit down first before he talked. "First and foremost, I apologize, Vanda." He bowed a little, surprising the elf. "I know how much you love your race, no matter how undeserved they are. I should have seen your irrational thought would kick in and not lose my control earlier. For that, I am really sorry. But you know you are on the wrong side too, right?"
"Yes, Big Brother." She nodded meekly, her eyes still avoiding his gaze. Ara just sighed tiredly before he stood up from his seat and hugged his little sister.
"I am sorry. It must be traumatic to experience my killing intent."
He could feel Vanda's shoulder drop as she hugged him back, showing that she is okay. Argo let out a small relieved sigh as he felt the tension between him and his little sister vanish with this huge.
"I am sorry too, big brother. I got a little too carried away with this situation. I would not do that again, I promise."
Argo smiles at the soft voice of his little sister as he ruffled her hair.
"Don't worry about it. If there is a dire problem inside the Jade Forest, I wouldn't mind lending out my hand again, just like the old time."
She let out a small giggle at the mention of old times.
"Your definition of helping us is bullying our elder into submission, big brother."
Argo just shrugged.
"Well, you cannot tell they didn't deserve it. Asshole, all of them."
They talked more about their past in the Jade Forest before they were interrupted by the presence of the third person in the room.
"Excuse me, My Lord." Gavin's voice suddenly snapped them from their little nostalgia. "If you don't mind me changing the topic, why would you call me too?"
His question makes Argo straighten his back; his expression turned into the serious one.
"Right, I haven't told you both why I vanished fifty years ago and how I appeared again yesterday, right?"
Now, this got the full attention of his companions. They leaned their bodies forward; their face couldn't hide their curiosity.
And in the next thirty minutes, Argo spends his time explaining his adventure, from how he messed up the experimental space magic, stranded in a new and completely different world, surviving and learning everything the new world could offer, to the point where he experimented his space magic again to go back to this world.
It left his companions speechless as they both didn't know what is the best way to express their feeling right now.
"Wow…" Vanda finally speaks, still having a flabbergasted expression on her face. "I don't know what is more amazing, the existence of a completely different world or you managed to find a way to come back even after fifty years there."
Gavin chuckled as he added,
"Only you would go something crazy like that accidentally, My Lord." And it elicited chuckles from the other two as it also melted down the atmosphere inside the room.
"So, what is your plan now?" Vanda asked with a serious face. Argo pondered for a moment before he spoke,
"Well, you still remember my original plan, right?"
They both nodded simultaneously before Vanda asked,
"You still wanted to change Meteor City?"
Argo nodded as he replied,
"Yeah, my goal is still the same. But after experiencing how it feels to live in the world without mana, I would like to make a change to my approach. Instead of beating the rest of the world into submission, I wanted to make this city the center of the world, a place that every people want to go to and a place that every kingdom cannot live without it. And with that, no matter how big the threat we will face, everyone would go and defend this city without a single question."
"How would you do that?" Vanda asked with doubt on her face.
"Well, it would be my long-term goal. But the main goal is to make this city the center of the economy around the world. If I think about it right now, I don't know how the other kingdoms could turn this city into some sort of heaven for criminals, considering how strategic our position is. Think about it. We are surrounded by the Jade Forest, the Musia Kingdom, and the Hell Kingdom. Every merchant who wants to go to the other kingdom needs to cross this city at one point. This place basically is perfect to create a market where every merchant could gather and sell the products from their respective kingdoms. And it would be beneficial for the merchants as it would reduce their transportation and protection costs. What do you think?"
Argo took inspiration based on the story of Constantinople and how it became a superpower Kingdom after it started as the meeting point between Europe and Asia.
"I can see where you come from." Gavin nodded after pondering for a few seconds. Growing up as the heir of the shadow demon tribe, he knows a bit of how the world works for the mana-less people, so he could get the image of what his lord said. However, Vanda still has the dubious expression on her face.
"I don't want to burst your excitement, but you know this plan has a lot of flaws in it, right?"
Argo nodded, clearly seeing that coming.
"Yeah. In order to do that, we need the merchant to trust their safety inside this city. So, first, we need to clean up this shit hole first. Then, we need a reputation, so we have to build something that could boost the economy for our people first before we could invite them here. It would be no use if the market was only run by the merchants from the outside. And the most important thing is we need to create a strong military too or the other kingdoms would demolish us when they see how big the threat from us is when we are growing too fast. Just as I said, it is a very long term, and we will need a lot of patience to do that."
Vanda pondered for a moment before she let out a deep sigh.
"I cannot promise any help from the Elven race. But I would help you here after I stabilize the situation inside the Elven race first."
"Thank you." Argo nodded gratefully at his sister. "I will need every trustworthy people I can get in the future, and you two are the people who would jump to the death door in a heartbeat just for me. I promise I would do the same for you two."
They all turned silent as everyone is pondering about the future. It was broken a minute later by the sound of the crack from the door.
"Big Brother Atgo?"
They turned around to the source of the little voice that they just heard. There, they could see two little girls clinging to the door, looking inside with curious faces.
"What can I do for you both, girls?" Argo asked with a kind smile plastered on his face. Lami's face brightened as she asked,
"Big brother, do you still have the bread we ate earlier? Vera has never eaten something like that before!"
Argo let out a small chuckle before he carried both girls into his arms.
"Sure! Let's go to the kitchen first!"