Two days had elapsed since Aaron had handed the identified artifacts back to Garry. The tension that had surrounded the incident seemed to have eased, as the Royal families forgave him for his part in the matter. However, a new request emerged
They wished to meet with Aaron and the king himself expressed a desire to see him. Garry assured Aaron that he could choose to decline the request if he didn't feel safe or comfortable meeting the king later.
Honestly, Aaron was itching to leave the country for a while and visit his hometown. It had been nearly a decade since he ran away from his family, seeking independence right after he graduated from school. Since then, he had been living on his own. But, every now and then, he still reached out to his family because he saw no reason not to.
Aaron had decided to ditch the phone provided by the mercenary association. He felt he wouldn't be working with them again anytime soon. In his eyes, he was overqualified to be just a mere mercenary. Even as a highly ranked one, he found the abilities of his peers to be mediocre at best. Garry understood and supported his choice, revealing that he, too, had resigned from the mercenary life.
With his mind made up, Aaron planned to leave the country in a few days. But before he departed, he wanted to meet with Laura. She had expressed her desire to treat him for his past help. However, a concern nagged at the back of his mind as in Laura's father, Edward, was still missing or perhaps even worse, he could be dead.
Aaron doubted the latter, as the fight between the Diabolic Dominion and the Capital had reached a standstill. Both sides seemed to be stuck in their progress. Furthermore, news of Aaron's daring raid on one of the evil organization's hideouts had been carefully concealed, known only to a select few.
Despite the uncertainty, Aaron was determined to see Laura and perhaps, helping her for the last time by solving Edward's disappearance.
Having completed his daily tasks, Aaron had amassed 12 item tokens, but he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't enough. His supposed mission to find Edward was merely an excuse. In reality, he craved an encounter with the members of the Diabolic Dominion, as defeating them and breaking their counterfeit artifacts would yield more tokens from the system.
All his belongings were now safely stored within his newly upgraded spatial ring, which boasted a capacity of 5 cubic meters instead of the previous 3 cubic meters. He had utilized an Upgrade scroll provided by the system to achieve this improvement.
Afterward, with half of his face concealed by a mask and shades covering his eyes, Aaron teleported to the bustling Capital. He yearned to locate Edward swiftly, relying on his trusty tracking watch. The heart of the Capital seemed like the ideal starting point, ensuring the watch could detect any traces of Edward's presence. If he wasn't there, Aaron might have to give up on this search.
As Aaron thought of Edward, the tracking watch sprung to life, signaling the presence of its target. Relief washed over him as he murmured.
"Ah… Edward is still here…" He couldn't contain his joy at finally finding a lead.
With the tracking watch's range limited to 50 kilometers, Aaron set out on foot to locate Edward, guided by the device's signal. He opted for a brisk walk to maintain a low profile, even though he could easily run at a speed comparable to most people's running pace.
It was tempting to go faster but he knew drawing attention to himself would be unwise. So, he controlled his pace and moved steadily, following the tracking watch's lead.
About half an hour later, the signal led him to a shabby-looking 3-star hotel situated in the commercial zone of the Capital. This area was known to be one of the poorest communities, bustling with people despite its gloomy and neglected appearance. The authorities rarely showed any concern for the place and maintenance work was practically non-existent.
Aaron stepped into the hotel, observing that the lobby was deserted except for the lone receptionist behind the counter. Keeping his composure, he approached the receptionist with a slow and steady stride.
"Welcome to Black Rose Hotel, Sir. Currently, we are fully occupied, but if you still wish to stay, we're open for bookings," the young man behind the reception counter said politely, attempting to persuade Aaron to consider staying at the hotel.
However, Aaron politely declined the offer and exited the hotel. His purpose for entering had been fulfilled, the tracking watch had confirmed Edward's presence within.
With his face masked and hooded, Aaron teleported back into the hotel. He couldn't shake the feeling that the place was shady, especially as he noticed numerous vehicles parked outside without any license plates. Some were even heavily tinted, similar to the ones reported by the association before.
When inside the hotel, he swiftly ran towards the location indicated by his watch. However, the building had numerous floors, making him proceed with caution. After exploring at least ten floors, he noticed that most of the rooms were currently empty. Puzzled by this observation, he brushed it off and focused on getting closer to Edward's whereabouts.
"This should be the right floor, right? Floor 69, huh? Nice," muttered Aaron as he emerged from the staircase.
Just like the floors before, this one was also deserted, and he couldn't hear any sounds. Nevertheless, he remained focused and swiftly moved towards Edward's location.
Edward was in a room in the middle of the floor. Aaron skillfully used his magical key to open the door and, after confirming the room was empty with his superhearing, he stepped inside and quickly closed the door. To avoid being tracked, especially when he rescued Edward later, he discreetly disabled any surveillance cameras he spotted.
Edward lay unconscious, tied to a chair as if he had endured torture to extract information. The organization must have tried relentlessly to gain intel from him. Carefully, Aaron removed the ropes and swiftly vanished from the spot. He carried Edward to the training facility's medical room, where he could receive proper treatment. After leaving Edward in the care of the medical robot, Aaron made his way back to the hotel.
Inside the empty room, Aaron wrestled with his conscience. He couldn't simply take Edward and leave without doing something about the situation. Although his initial thought was to set the whole floor on fire as a distraction, he hesitated, feeling uneasy about the idea.
From his spatial ring, Aaron retrieved a few C4 bombs he had taken from the training facility earlier. His plan was to use them in the empty room, carefully placing the remaining C4 in another unoccupied room on a different floor. He had meticulously calculated the impact of the explosions to ensure no one else would be harmed.
A few minutes later, he had set up the C4 at the designated spots, satisfied with his precautions. With his teleportation ring, Aaron left the hotel and positioned himself on the top of the building next to it.
"Alright, let's hope no one else gets hurt by the explosion," Aaron murmured as he pressed the C4 remote, triggering the blast with confidence that it wouldn't harm innocent bystanders.
Booooooom!
As the explosion shook the building, shattering windows within its range, Aaron couldn't help but smile. The detonation went exactly as he had planned. Just as he was about to make his exit...
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!
Another deafening blast erupted, dwarfing the previous one. Aaron's eyes widened as he witnessed a miniature mushroom cloud rise to a height of 20 to 30 meters above the Royal's Mega Mall, a place he had visited before. His expression turned somber as he stared at the massive explosion.
"F*ck.. That looks bad.." Aaron wondered how many people might have been affected by this cataclysm. He knew the evil organization was behind it, but he couldn't help but question why the authorities allowed such a disaster to unfold!
Aaron felt the urge to go to the site of the explosion, but he had already sent a message to Laura about his father's disappearance. He needed to talk to her and explain everything soon. Alternatively, he considered letting Edward handle things on his own. Aaron informed Laura that he would come to see her tonight.
With a swift teleportation, he appeared on top of a nearby petrol station, overlooking the mega mall.
"Damn.. This is actually bad.. They didn't prepare properly for the explosion," Aaron sighed loudly as he observed numerous ambulances rushing toward the site. The scene was filled with people bleeding, crying, and running in fear from the aftermath of the blast.