When the captain was discussing the battleship, he suddenly remembered Alaric. Panic surged through him, and he rushed to the sick bay. To his shock, there sat Alaric, as if nothing had happened. He couldn't believe his eyes. When the soldiers had searched the room earlier, Alaric was nowhere to be found.
After recovering from the initial shock, the captain asked, "What is your relationship with the Aryan Kingdom?" Alaric, seeing no other choice, decided to tell the captain everything about his past.
Listening intently, the captain, Vladimir Zolo, nodded understandingly. When Alaric finished, Vladimir said, "Come with me. I understand your feelings. I am also an arm like you. I am not the real captain of this ship. My name is Vladimir Zolo, son of General Zolo. My father was a general in our country. But, like you, my country and continent are puppets of the supreme countries—a modern colonization, if you will. My father was the only one who protested against this. Because of that, the kingdom authorities threw him into the army as punishment. But he didn't fear them and rose to the rank of general. When they saw he was becoming powerful, they tried to banish him from the army, but they failed."
He continued, "My father became a king because our people knew he was the only one who could release us from being a puppet state. But one day, some infiltrators killed my father and blamed it on me. People believed this because my father was not my real father; the previous puppet king was. But when General Zolo saw me, he understood that I had feelings for my country's people. He promised me that when I was older, he would make me king. When my real father died, I didn't cry because he always beat me and my mother, even though she was a queen. From that day, I always sought revenge."
"I joined the army under a false identity and eventually escaped prison. I became a colonel but realized that even if I became the new king, I couldn't change anything. The army itself had become a puppet. So, I left and joined the underworld, becoming an assassin and completing many missions. I built a team named Nightwalkers from people who had also been betrayed by the supreme countries. Together, we gathered money and resources, and eventually, I took my revenge by killing a council member."
Vladimir looked at Alaric with a sense of camaraderie. "We are both survivors, seeking justice in a world that has wronged us. We must be careful and strategic in our next moves."
After sharing his story, Captain Vladimir Zolo looked
intently at Alaric and said, "I don't know what my
father saw in me, but I don't see it. We both have left
everything behind. Do you want to take revenge?"
Alaric, hearing this, thought for a moment and said
firmly, "Yes." The captain smiled, a hint of understanding in his eyes. "If you want revenge, then come with us."Alaric nodded but added, "I will come with you, but first you have to come with me."
The captain looked confused and asked, "What do
you mean?"
Alaric took a deep breath, his eyes burning with
determination. "I don't know what you think about
this, butI want to become the world's strongest
emperor, stronger than my grandfather. I will destroy
the entire kingdom that killed my brother. Even though my country is the world's strongest, they dared to kill my brother and blame it on me. They took everything from me. I will take everything from them. I will kill every one of them without any regret. I will give them a painful death. I will kill them slowly, making surethey feel every moment of the pain I felt, the pain lI saw in my brother's eyes."
Captain Zolo listened intently, his expression serious.
He could see the burning resolve in Alaric's eyes, a
that mirrored his own. He nodded slowy,
acknowledging the depth of Alaric's pain
determination. "Alright," Zolo said. "If that's your path, then we'llwalk it together. But remember, revenge isa heavy burden. It can consume you if you're not careful."Alaric met the captain's gaze steadily. "I understand.But this is something I have to do. For my brother. For myself."The captain placed a hand on Alaric's shoulder, a gesture of solidarity. "Then let's begin. We'll need to prepare. You have to train, to grow stronger. And we'll need allies."
Alaric nodded, feeling a sense of purpose and
direction he hadn't felt in a long time. Together, they can take what is there.
"But first, we have to get out of these dangerous
waters," Captain Zolo said, his voice steady. "Once we cross all the borders, we'll be safer. Sir, we have
entered our waters, and within hours, we'l enter the
exclusive economic zone of our kingdom. No one can
hurt us there," a crew member reported.
The captain remained silent for a moment, then broke
the stillness. "The ship cannot ensure our safety.
Remember, our country is a puppet. The Supreme
Maritime Force can easily enter our exclusive
economic zone under the guise of maintaining peace.
They can frame us in many ways to justify their
presence, and our country will help them because of
this modern colonization. We have to get rid of this
ship."
"But how can we get rid of such a massive ship?"
another crew member asked, anxiety evident in his
voice.
"With a bold action," the captain replied. "I will sink
this ship."
The crew erupted in protest. "Why? We spent all our
funds on buying this ship and arming it. It took us two
hundred million to buy this ship. If we destroy it, we'll
be finished. All our savings will be gone. We could
easily sell this ship on the black market."
Captain Zolo stood fim. "Are our lives not worth
more? We can earn money again, but we cannot
replace our lives. I will blast this ship."
The crew fell silent, the gravity of the situation sinking
in. They understood the captain's reasoning. but the
loss of the ship and the funds they had poured into it
weighed heavily on them.
Alaric watched the exchange, his mind racing with
thoughts of his own mission and the alliances he
needed to forge. If they were to succeed, they
would need to be bold, resourceful, and unyielding in
their determination.
"But how can we get rid of this ship, which is full of evidence?" one of the crew members asked, his voice tinged with worry.
Captain Zolo replied, "Remember the shipment we got earlier? Yes, those materials aren't just for daily use. They're high explosive materials in a refined form. We can extract the explosive elements and use them to blast the ship."
"Even if we blast this ship, won't they still search the wreckage? And if they don't find any bodies, won't they suspect it was man-made?" another crew member countered.
"I've thought about that," Captain Zolo said, his voice calm and confident. "Remember when I told you to preserve some artificial humanoid bodies? Yes, those were for experiments, but now they'll come in handy. We'll place them here and make it look like those are our bodies. They won't suspect a thing. Now, plant the high explosive material everywhere. Do we still have some dynamites?"
"Yes, sir, we have two dynamites left," a crew member confirmed.
"That will be enough," Zolo nodded. "After setting up everything, we'll get on a small boat and head out to sea. We have only two minutes to get at least one kilometer away. Turn on the boat and go full speed. The blast radius will be at least one kilometer."
Alaric watched as the crew swiftly executed the plan. He could see the tension in their movements but also the determination. As they sped away in the small boat, Alaric looked back at the ship. After a short while, there was a loud bang. "Boom!" The ship exploded, dividing into three burning pieces. The shockwave from the blast reached their speedboat, causing the waves to rise high.
The smoke and shockwave from the explosion could be seen from twenty to thirty kilometers away. Alaric instantly knew this would be big news. They would have to hide for a few days until the situation settled down.