Chapter 20 - The orchestration of an evil plot
Once the carriage arrived before their massive, majestic residence, Glade got down and paid the driver. Then he immediately went in before his mom would arrive from the meeting she went for with his dad.
Immediately he opened the door to the sitting room that could however be likened for a large hall that was fully, expertly lined, weaved in, and furnished with lots of beautifully glittering, shining lustrous metals—like lenteren, hyderron, gold, silver, and the likes, he saw his mother seated on a chair, reading a large book that would surely be a business book, or a compilation of finance articles. Then by her side—on a small, exotically-crafted table, was an aesthetic-looking, six-gems-adorned golden cup that she used to drink Phandalwood tea.
As soon as Glade got in and saw her, his heart escaped a beat and immediately felt like turning totally invisible.
Villaria didn't even need to look up to know that someone was there.
She simply asked while reading the book in her hand, "Where are you coming from, son?"
"Mom, you didn't even let me greet you first." Glade said with a smile on his face, looking for a way to make his mom beam a smile as she wasn't smiling. She was serious-faced at the moment.
Then he quickly walked over to where she was seated to kiss her at the right side of her face.
Once he did that, he sat beside her and asked with a curious look on his face, "Mom, what book are you reading?"
"Just a record of locations of industrial sites, and the numerous activities they actually carry out. It also mentions their individual worths, their owners and current directors." Villaria answered, while Glade nodded his head, pretending to be interested.
Once she was done answering him, she looked at him and said, "Glade, you still haven't responded to my question. I will ask again for the last time, where were you coming from?"
"I went to the wilderness to train my Blessings, mom." Glade said, unable to lie to his mom. Even though he would want to do so, he was totally incapable of it. His mom had instilled the ability in him to always tell her the truth, no matter how angry it was going to make her.
"Okay. That's a good thing. Well done, son." Villaria said, nodding her head.
She then said further, "But you didn't deem it fit to tell me, right?"
"Mom, it is not like that. I thought you were going to stop me." Glade said, while Villaria shook her head at him.
"What have I told you about assuming things that concerns you?" She asked.
"Sorry, mom. I won't do it again." Glade said.
"It's okay, honey." Villaria said.
She then suddenly said, "Your sister told me about what happened today at your school. What really happened? Why did they get you expelled? And, is it true that your Blessings are now above six?"
Once she asked those, without reprimanding him for it, Glade smiled and said in his heart, 'Thank you, sis.'
He then proceeded to answer, "Mom, more than five Blessings revealed themselves to me today at school. Coupled with the two I already have—the ones I discovered when I was five, made it seven."
"So, a particular one—one that transformed my body into something I can't really explain, possibly released an invisible wave of gaze-based power that shattered the large mirror in the restroom once I looked at it. And since I had caused destruction to school property, they had to get me expelled. I was made an example so that the trend of wilfully or inadvertently damaging school property wouldn't start." Glade said, recounting everything to his mom who simply stared at him with awe on her face.
"So, you mean you have more than seven Blessings at the moment?" Villaria asked.
"Yes, mom. In fact, my discovered Blessings should be above ten now." Glade said while Villaria who immediately developed a tremendously shocked look on her face, immediately told him to keep quiet. And she demonstrated this by reaching out for him, covering his mouth tight with her two hands and warily looking around.
With wildly and fearfully thumping heart as she stared around, trying to listen for the slightest strange sound that might have suddenly surfaced above them, she looked at Glade and slowly removed her hands away from his mouth.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Glade asked with immense surprise in his tone. This was the first time seeing his mother full of dread and horror.
"You can't blurt that out just like that. Though, we are the only ones here with no third party around to listen to your statement. We still have to be careful, or it could lead to series of disastrous problems. There are really powerful people watching everyone and everything. So, we have to be cautious with the way we mention things, both in public and private. Okay?" Villaria said while Glade nodded his head in understanding.
"And that's only today? I mean the Blessings you discovered?" Villaria asked, fully astonished.
"Yes, mom. Just today. I wonder what will happen tomorrow." Glade said while Villaria nodded her head, her heart and being near-endlessly overflowing with awe.
She had a monstrously Blessed human in her house. But above ten? And just today? What would happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and other days? Before the month ends, he could have possibly gained twenty to thirty more Blessings. This caused her great happiness and excitement that she blessed the day that she picked Aeden up to train him as her totally-adored and loved son.
But then, after the surging elation of Glade possessing a great number of Blessings, she suddenly began to feel a type of way that she couldn't explain. And this was because his existence would definitely not be tolerated!
"Son, never tell anyone that you possess more than six Blessings. And never show it that you even possess more than four Blessings. There are some people who wouldn't like this and will definitely want you dead. They don't want anyone to seem special or outstanding. Okay?" Villaria said while Glade nodded his head, totally understanding her.
"But mom, do I have your permission to go out to train?" Glade asked.
"Yes, dear. You do. Since you want to hone and harness your abilities, of course you can. Who am I to stop you?" Villaria said while Glade happily nodded his head.
Villaria then said further, "Just make sure you are careful out there. Okay?"
"Yes, mom. Definitely." Glade answered.
"Good. Now, your sister told me that you want to become a mercenary and a hired protector. Why choose these dangerous, perilous paths? All these we have is for you and your older siblings. So, why go into that kind of profession that has a high chance of causing your abrupt, tragic demise at a very young age, eh?" Villaria asked with a really concerned look on her face, while Glade simply smiled.
"I know, mom. But I think I like that better. I don't know how to explain it to you, but I like the professions I chose much more than any other great profession that will suggested or recommended to me." Glade answered while Villaria looked at him and sighed.
"When do you plan to start these highly dangerous occupations of yours?" Villaria asked.
"Maybe like a month later, after I have mastered how to use some of my Blessings. But then, I want to help my sis with something. I will work for her for sometime as a chief protector at one of her numerous organizations. After that, I will leave to start what I have planned in mind." Glade answered.
"Hmm. Just be careful out there, son." Villaria said while Glade nodded his head. Of course he was going to be careful. Even if he was a Child of the Universe, he would still need to be careful. There were definitely millions to probably billions of people out there with greater fighting prowess, and decades, if not centuries or millennia of dread-striking combat and Blessing-deploying or harnessing experiences.
So, he needed to be able to fight well and fully master all of his currently-identified Blessings before he could do anything massively wild and crazy out there. Or he could suddenly wind up dead in the hands of extremely dangerous and highly formidable enemy opponents.
Not long, the mother and son duo began to discuss about other things.
...
After school had closed for the day, a boy that was in Glade's class and had come to realize that Glade was actually the second son of the Gaelvenmore family—the current richest family in the nation, told his brother, Vaertha, about it.
"Are you sure of what you are saying?" Vaertha asked with his eyes gleaming.
"Yes, brother." Aphestoles answered.
"Hmm. But this is really shocking. So, a boy from that family actually attends your school, and no one knew about it? They really kept the news of that totally hidden. Anyway, you have been exposed now. Haha!" Vaertha said and cackled. While Aphestoles, who stood behind him nodded his head in bliss.
He could already imagine himself having lots of money on him which he would spend at brothels with blessed ladies—female students from different academies who would accompany him to this kind of places and have the fun of their lives in different beds.
"So, brother, how do we make this guy leave their heavily-protected mansion so he could be captured by us?" Aphestoles asked.
"We will target his sister first. The one called Thorrhia. Though she will have a good number of trusted protectors that will publicly and covertly accompany her wherever she goes, we would still have to go for her." Vaertha said while Aphestoles opened his mouth wide in surprise.
"Will that work? That lady is surrounded and accompanied wherever she goes by more than thirty Blessed guards. Though I don't know the actual number, but they will definitely be above thirty. That lady is frigging rich that she could easily employ above three hundred if she wants, irregardless of the amount they would all charge as protection fee. How do we beat them all to obtain her? That's a dangerous thing to do. It will immediately result in our deaths." Aphestoles said, trying to make his brother change his mind.
"I know. But I have a reason for saying that. There is this secret outlaw group that I once asked for their help in accomplishing something. They are a little above twenty in number. Once I speak to them concerning this, and they greatly like the plan—which they would have to since it would make them tremendously rich, they will speak to other adversarial groups. So, for this mission, lots of different enemy groups will unite together."
"Once they grab hold of the boy's sister and brutally do whatever they want with her, the boy will be forced to appear once we spread news that his sister has been abducted, and that he should come alone to a certain location with the enormous amount of money that we demanded for her to be released alive."
"When he arrives, we capture him too and ask the parents for more money. Like, a really large sum of money. One that for the next ten to twenty years, no matter how extravagant or lavish we are, we would still be capable of painting numerous towns or districts of many nations that we will travel to with our great affluence. Haha."