"As for the reward for saving me…"
She looked at Amelia, who had fallen asleep.
"I can't give it you right now. You should know the reason since you want the weapon."
The replica of Poseidon's Trident was a powerful weapon.
But there were weapons stronger than it.
The reason the trident was special was due to its Immortal Slayer trait.
It could kill Immortals beings like Neo.
He didn't need the weapon because it was powerful.
By taking it himself, he wanted to make sure nobody else got their hands on it.
After all, when the news of him being Hades' kin and an Immortal spreads, the world powers would mark him as a potentially dangerous demigod, and look for methods to contain him in case he went berserk or rouge.
It was not just him.
A counter strategy was created for every powerful demigod and demigods with powerful bloodlines.
It was a necessary practice.
Because it wasn't just once or twice a demigod gave into the temptations of Outer Gods and switched sides.
"Don't worry. I won't break my promise. I'll give the weapon to you.
"It's currently sealed under the Mount Columbus. I need time to break the seal. Since I have to visit the Academy, I'll bring it to you there."
Elizabeth had been prepared for her death.
She made sure to hide a dangerous weapon like the Poseidon's Trident.
It couldn't be allowed to fall in wrong hands or the damage would be catastrophic.
"I understand," Neo said.
He couldn't wait to get it.
They took another day of rest and left for the city.
After arriving on a secluded part of Okahama Beach, Amelia and Neo got off the dragon.
"I'll return after leaving Gerna somewhere safe," Elizabeth told them. "You two go to the Academy. We'll meet there."
She was probably going to collect the trident.
After she left, Neo and Amelia walked down the beach together.
They remained silent.
Neo stopped after an hour long walk.
He was sweating heavily and feeling tired.
The whole event with the Mermaid Country took a lot out of him and training a Tremor-ranked Spell after that broke the camel's back.
"Can we rest…?" He asked while he sat on the roadside bench.
Amelia stared at him and left without speaking anything.
"…?"
Was she going to the Academy alone?
"Maybe I underestimated how angry she was with me," Neo smiled bitterly.
Then again, if he had a chance, he would do everything he did back then and more.
Fifteen minutes later, when he was about to stand, Amelia returned.
She passed him a canned drink.
"It's an energy drink," she told him. "It should help you."
'Did she leave to bring this?'
They were on a secluded road that ran next to the shore.
Amelia must've gone quite far to buy the drink.
Maybe his surprise showed on his face, because she said,
"I'm not angry with you. I don't like what happened in the cave, and that's all. I can never hate you after all what you did for mom. I'm not that stupid."
Her words were nice.
But the way she repeatedly said she wasn't angry with him….
Yeah, he didn't believe her.
Neo decided to watch his back during the nights, lest he got stabbed by her.
"We should move—"
Neo's phone suddenly rang and he couldn't complete his words.
He took it out.
The number was from an unknown caller.
He might've ignored in normal circumstances.
But his phone did not have towers before they reached the Okahama Beach.
There was a slight chance the caller was someone who knew Neo Hargraves.
"Let me pick this up," he told Amelia and answered the call.
The caller spoke,
"Where the fuck are you, you fucking cunt? Do you know—"
Neo cut the call.
"Who was it? Your family?" Amelia asked.
"It was a misdialed number. He seems quite angry at whoever he was calling…."
The call arrived again from the same number.
"Are you sure you don't know the number?" Amelia questioned.
"...I'll check."
He picked the call.
"Hello—"
"Motherfucker, how the fuck did you dare cut the call? Do you have a death wish?"
"Who is this? I'm sorry I don't recognize you."
"…"
Suddenly, the caller went silent.
He took a huge breath and exploded,
"This fucking shit again!? I swear you need to find more excuses, you fucking whore—"
"Wrong number."
Neo hung up.
The call did not come again.
Amelia stared at Neo with a peculiar expression.
The caller was so loud she could hear him even though the call wasn't on speaker.
"There are all sorts of people in the world," she chuckled awkwardly.
They were about to leave when suddenly the call returned.
Neo ignored it.
The call kept arriving.
Once…
Twice…
Ten times….
Neo, irritated, answered the call to tell off the caller.
"Neo, you fucking asshole. First, you apply to the Academy without telling me, then you disappear for weeks, and now you are ignoring my calls?"
He could image the veins exploding on the caller's neck.
"I swear if you hang up on me this time, I'll fucking kill you."
"You know me?"
"…"
"…Don't break the phone again, don't break the phone," the caller muttered some words that were too quiet for Neo to hear.
"Sigh, where are you, Neo?"
Neo didn't answer immediately.
The caller knew his name.
Was he Neo's friend?
However, it was weird the caller's name was not saved on the smartphone.
'Since he knows I'm going to the academy, we are going to meet one way or other,' Neo thought.
'But he sounds dangerous. It's best if I meet him after we've rendezvoused with Elizabeth. She can protect me if something goes wrong.'
Neo was about to hang up when suddenly he heard a second voice from the caller's side.
"Sir, we've traced the call's location."
…!?
Amelia's eyes widened.
She snatched the phone from Neo's hand.
Before she could break it, the caller began to laugh hysterically.
"Neo, did you hear that?"
The caller spoke in a low tone.
"You are fucking dead."