Edited by: Kuro and Lille
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"I thought you said that he would be killed on the remote planet!" Caspian shouted at Norton on the hologram. Fortunately, no one could listen in on their conversation through the interweb.
Norton was pacing back and forth in his office, holding his hologram. He was also stressed, so he didn't understand why Caspian was yelling at him. "I tried to contact the paid killer, but his hologram had been destroyed. If we say something to him now, we would be suspected. Luckily, I killed the middle man."
"You 'tried', 'luckily' my ass!" He cursed as he clenched his fists. The snack in his hands crumpled in his fists.
"Hey, at least I did something! All you did was get someone to input that virus into his mecha. Everything else was arranged by me. You could have had his mecha explode during the battle, but no, you wanted to make sure the Zerg Queen was dead."
"Of course, I wanted to do that! Do you think you and your men are capable enough to fight against the Zerg Queen?! If you were strong enough, your legion would have been sent instead."
"Excuse me? Now you are blaming this on me?!"
The two bickered back and forth, not sparing one another as they cursed each other out.
In the end, the two yelled so much that they were out of breath.
Caspian collapsed on the chair in his office. "We need to get rid of him soon."
"Why is the little Lord in such a rush to get rid of his half-brother?" Norton finally asked the question that was on his mind.
"If he had died a hero, I would have been able to inherit all of his wealth and his glory!" His eyes were red with anger, and he felt his body tense. "If only he had died like he was supposed to!"
Norton could hear the grievances in his voice, but he didn't care about Caspian. He already had plans to kill the man anyway.
"Don't worry. I have a plan. I also don't want him around."
Who would want to have someone who would always be better than him? Who was richer? More handsome? Yeah, no. He hated how perfect Silas was. An eyesore!
After he got rid of Silas, it would be a matter of time before he also got rid of Caspian too. And when Caspian disappeared, so would the Ebunox family.
******
After a few days in the med bay, Grey and Silas fully recovered. Silas was the first to recover, but he didn't want to leave without Grey.
Everyone knew that they were basically together. After their life-and-death situation on a remote planet, the two were inseparable. No one questioned it. Well, even if they wanted to, they didn't have the face to do so.
When Silas recovered, he contacted the Empire about his safe return. He mentioned some mishaps they had gone through, but he and his soldiers were able to come back with minimum casualties.
As the Empire was waiting to celebrate General Silas' triumphal return, General Silas and his troops were slowly going to the Empire's capital, Ylesey. Silas didn't want to return so quickly. Plus, he was contacting his intelligence force that was stationed in Ylesey. They were figuring out what had happened to his mecha and who had access to it.
They were also trying to find the masterminds behind Grey being hired to kill Silas. Luckily, Grey quickly confessed and even protected Silas with his life. No one could be mad at him.
"You are telling me that there's no evidence of my mecha being tampered with?" Silas spoke to the leader of his intel force through the hologram.
The hologram was a device that the interstellar folk used to communicate, connect to the interweb, and things like that.
The intel force leader gave an exhausted sigh. "It's not that there isn't any evidence, but they are really good at hiding it. Whoever did it either has direct access to your mecha, or the person they hired is so good that even we can't find a trace of them."
"Keep looking. There has to be something."
"Understood."
"How's the progress on searching for the person who hired Grey."
"That… with the description we got, the person was just a middleman. They were also murdered after informing Grey of his task. As for how they were communicating, it wasn't through the holograms so we don't have any traces of that. One thing we do have is that your half-brother, Lord Caspian, and Lord Norton have been in frequent contact. They have been contacting each other more than usual ever since you reported your safety."
"Those two are definitely suspicious. Keep an eye on them."
"Yes, General!"
"Inform me when you have any other information. Hopefully, we can get to the bottom of all of this."
"Yes, General!"
Silas hung up the hologram and sighed. He wouldn't be surprised if his half-brother and Norton teamed up with one another to kill him. They both harbored immense hatred for him. As the saying goes, "The enemy of an enemy is your friend."
But in the end, after getting rid of their common enemy, it wouldn't be surprising if the two turned against each other. The Hanover family, for generations, despised the Ebunox family which had been around since the founding of the Fedrana Empire. If the Ebunox family was eliminated, the Hanover family would be the most powerful noble family. It was an understatement to call them enemies. Archenemies or nemesis were better terms to describe their constant turmoil with each other.
Silas didn't care about them, but the Hanover family was constantly causing him problems, making him annoyed with them.
"Everything alright?" Grey pushed the door open. He had refreshments.
Silas' mood brightened when he saw Grey and got up to help with the drinks. After setting it on Silas' desk, Grey found himself sitting on Silas' lap. He didn't mind it and grabbed his drink. There was nothing he could do about the hands that found their way to his waist and rested comfortably there.
Silas sighed in exhaustion. "The intel force hasn't found any concrete evidence. They only noticed Caspian and Norton's increase in contact over the hologram."
He went through hell and back with his soldiers to battle against the Zerg Queen, then he had to worry about dying on a remote planet, and now he had to find out who wanted him dead. It was no wonder he was so tired.
"They probably teamed up," He took a sip of milk tea. "I wouldn't be surprised."
Actually, System 225 had told him about those two, so he wasn't surprised at all.
"I wouldn't be either. They both hate me."
"There will always be people who hate others. But don't worry, I like you very much."
"What a coincidence. I feel the same way."
And this was when System 225 signed out of the world. He would come back when Grey and God System were done flirting!
As the two were flirting, there was a knock on the door.
"General Silas? There's something that I need to report." It was Lieutenant General Christoph.
"Come in," Silas answered.
Grey wanted to get off of his lap, but Silas had him stay. Grey could only sigh and relax on the man's lap. He opened up his hologram and began to search for all the current news of the capital.
The original Grey's family was poor and he didn't like to use the interweb. He had a hologram, but it was given to him by the military. It was also destroyed during the crash, so the one he was using was a new one from the military. Grey, the Host, though he was a newbie, had a blast using the hologram. He learned how to use it in just a few hours. He used it like he had been using the hologram his whole life.
When Christoph opened the door, he was shocked to see Grey sitting on the General's lap. He was stunned, didn't know what to say, and felt like he entered the wrong room!
"It… it seems I am interrupting something. Let me just…"
"It's fine. Just tell me what you need to say."
Christoph looked over at Grey who was playing a game on the hologram. Grey looked over at Christoph, waved, and then went back to his game.
"I just got some news from our scouts. There are space pirates following us. The scouts ran into theirs, but they didn't engage in battle. They haven't approached us yet, but there's no telling what they are going to do."
"I wonder what they want… Should we get in contact with them?"
Spacecrafts were able to call any spacecraft nearby. Of course, they could be rejected, but as long as the other person picked up, they could talk with one another.
"I tried but they didn't pick up."
"Can you identify who they are?"
"Yes. They are the Silver-Tongued Snakes."
"This is a notorious group…"
The Silver-Tongued Snakes were known not for their plundering, but for their attacks on influential individuals. The more influential the person, the more money it costs. They were also extremely difficult to find. The only way people knew of their existence was by the flag they placed at the scene of the crime.
"I wonder how much money someone had to pay for the Silver-Tongued Snakes to target me."
Silas looked a bit amused.
Christoph didn't know why, but after saving General Silas, he was a lot more expressive but not in a good way. Why did he feel a lot more… sinister?