Edited by: Kuro and Lille
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"Ran away because General Silas is too strong?! No refunds?!" Norton Hanover stared at the message that Captain Aylward had sent him and almost crushed his desk to pieces.
"Damn it! What's so good about that asshole?!"
He wasn't sure about the conditions for the pirates to ignore a target. He didn't put two and two together at all.
"Once again you failed." A voice from the hologram gave a sigh of annoyance. It was Caspian's.
"We failed. Don't put the blame on me!"
They both had to spend a fortune to hire these damn pirates and they got nothing in return!
"Don't make any further moves. I have a plan for when he comes back."
"What's the plan?"
"If we weren't teaming up I wouldn't be telling you anything, but you need to listen to everything that I am saying."
The two talked in low voices in fear of someone walking by.
******
It took a few more days before Silas, Grey, and their men were able to make it back to the Capital Star of the Fedrana Empire. Ylesey was a relatively large planet that held 2 billion people.
The First Legion's headquarters was on Ebunox territory. That was the first place they stopped at. Silas dropped off his men and headed toward the palace with Grey.
The one who was shocked to see this was Norton Hanover who knew Grey. When he saw Grey walking hand in hand with Silas into the palace, he almost ran over and grabbed Grey. Since General Silas was alive, he thought the spy he paid for was dead, but who knew the spy would not only live, but he even seduced General Silas!
Grey could feel a pair of eyes on him, but he ignored it. He already knew who it was that was staring at him. It was a good thing he had asked Silas to help hide his parents. After this encounter, Norton would probably kill his family in retaliation.
He suddenly heard System 225's voice, [Norton's face is priceless. I took a screenshot of it so I can show it to you. Would you like to see it?]
'Sure. I didn't know you could do this.'
[I have a lot of screenshots, but this one is top-tier.]
No one else could see it, but a picture of Norton's face showed up in front of Grey's face. The blonde-haired man's blue eyes looked like it was going to pop out of his socket. He looked terrified and also shocked. His face was slightly distorted so his originally conventionally handsome face looked strange.
Grey almost choked on his own saliva seeing the image. No one else could see it so he looked a little strange.
"Grey, are you alright?" Silas looked over at Grey a bit worried.
He thought maybe Grey aggravated one of his old wounds.
"I'm alright, I just remembered something really funny and almost choked on my own saliva."
"What was so funny?"
Grey had to think of something on the spot.
"Do you remember that one time in the second world we met when…"
It was story time from Grey until they got to the audience room. They waited at the large doors while one of the guards knocked on the door and requested access. After the Emperor confirmed their arrival, the guards opened up the large doors.
Inside the audience room, there was a man sitting on a throne near the back. Since the Emperor was Silas' uncle, they looked quite similar, especially in facial structure. Emperor Joel Fedrana had silver hair and purple eyes. His wife was to his right. Her name was Empress Miria Fedrana. Her son didn't look like her, but her daughter did. They both had blonde hair and green eyes. She was a tall woman, not much shorter than the Emperor. Even so, they looked good standing next to each other.
Crown Prince Amory Fedrana was sitting to the left of the Emperor. He looked at Grey with curious eyes, but they were not malicious. There were no negative emotions toward them. Grey could see that the Crown Prince was not someone who would plot against Silas.
It was definitely the other two who teamed up with one another…
Emperor Joel smiled genuinely. He was quite fond of Silas, especially because this was his sister's child. "Silas, it's good to see that you are alive and well."
Silas replied after saluting the Emperor, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I have completed the task of taking down the Zerg Queen."
Grey did the same salute and stepped back to let the two talk.
"I expected that much of you. I heard you were injured and crashed on a remote planet."
"That's right. Something happened to my mecha. Luckily, Grey was there to make sure I survived." He motioned Grey to move to his side.
"Greetings, Your Majesties and Your Highness the Crown Prince." He gave the obligatory bow.
"I heard a lot about you. Someone who, for hours on end, defended the injured Silas from a large army of Zergs without a mecha or suitable weapon. You even resorted to using the Zergs' scythes. That is quite amazing. It's rare for young people to have that kind of resolve…"
He paused before giving a sigh of relief. "You have my thanks for bringing Silas here safe and sound."
"It was what should have been done, Your Majesty."
"Even so, for the both of you to make it out alive, it goes to show how strong you are as an individual. A perfect match for Silas."
Apparently, the Emperor already knew of their relationship.
"Thank you for your kind words, Your Majesty."
"Alright, enough with the formalities. Let's start giving out rewards and then have dinner together."
Silas was rewarded with more military funding, key players like Grey got a boost in rank, and funds for creating new mechas as Silas' original one got destroyed.
Grey became a lieutenant for his contribution in not only the war, but in Silas' rescue.
After the rewards, Silas and Grey followed the Emperor and his family to dinner.
*****
Caspian gritted his teeth. "Are you sure you saw him?"
Norton was pacing back and forth in his office while he responded, "Of course. He was alive and holding Silas' hand. They were walking hand in hand to see the Emperor!"
"I tried to call Grey plenty of times, but it was out of service, so it probably broke while on the remote planet. I contacted my men to find his parents only to find that they were gone."
"It seems Silas knows that Grey was being used and took matters into his own hands. Are you sure Grey didn't see your face?"
"I am positive. The person I used to communicate with him and his family was already killed. I made sure everyone involved died so the evidence wouldn't leak."
"At least you did something right."
"You are one to talk! None of your plans have worked so far."
"This is why I don't like working with muscle heads."
"What did you just say!?"
The two began to bicker like children, not only were they insulting each other's appearances and intelligence, they insulted the other's families and ancestors. This was a normal occurrence for both of them.
Caspian rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, let's stop. We aren't going to get anywhere with you picking a fight all the time."
"I'm picking fights?!" Norton shouted as he slammed his feet on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum.
"That's what I mean!"
"Gah! I'm only working with you to get rid of Silas. If not, I would've killed you a long time ago!"
"I dare you to say that again. Who is the one funding you?"
Even though they were working together, they couldn't wait to back-stab each other after this whole ordeal was done and over with.
Caspian rolled his eyes. "Either way, since we can't contact Grey or his family, it's best to just eliminate Grey and Silas. No need to have them around, especially when Grey is a traitor."
"Good idea. I was going to do that anyway." Norton gave a mocking tone as though he was saying that Caspian was stupid and he already thought of that.
"If you die after this ordeal, just know it wasn't me." Caspian scuffed.
"If you die after this ordeal, just know it was definitely me." Norton rolled his eyes.
The two glared at each other before hanging up at the same time. They couldn't stand the other person, but they needed to use each other for a common goal!
Caspian gritted his teeth in frustration. Nothing was going as he planned. He thought he was more intelligent than Silas but every time he tried to kill his half-brother, nothing ever went his way.
He knew his older half-brother was coming back, but he could not be impatient. He had to ease it in and find out their schedule before he could kill them. He already had the poison in his hands and all he needed to do was administer it.
He had to succeed. If not, he would have nothing to call his own.