ADDICTED

"Look at you, you're still as pale as ever."

Leonel let loose a laugh, sitting opposite Elthor who was caught off guard by his sudden appearance. Toward such words, Elthor could only be speechless. He might have already taken out his saber for anyone else who had said these words to him, but for some reason he found it quite amusing when Leonel said so.

It wasn't much of a surprise that Elthor's pretty face and seemingly sensitive skin was a sore spot. He wanted to be a General, not a male model and gigolo. Yet, he looked like the slightest bit of sunlight might leave him red the next day. It was a sad plight, indeed.

"You're one to talk, have you seen your hair lately? If it wasn't so short, I'd mistake you for a woman."

Elthor's mouth was just as sharp as his blade, though, so he hardly missed a beat.

Leonel grinned. "Oh this? You don't think it makes me look quite Kingly?"

Elthor snorted. "A King of solely women, maybe."

Even as he said the words, Elthor knew that his retort was quite weak. Unfortunately, he just felt that Leonel's hair quite suited him so it was a bit difficult to lie with a straight face. Annoyed by his failure, he just looked away, calling for a waitress to order a large sum of food he had every intention of making Leonel pay for.

Leonel laughed, seemingly seeing through Elthor's thoughts.

Though the two hadn't known each other for long and could really only be considered to have had two real interactions, Leonel felt that he had quite a good read on Elthor.

He was a man who wanted to be seen as a man, first and foremost. But, he still had a lot of childish tendencies.

That said, whether one could make him display these tendencies would both be dependent on how much stronger than him you were and just how close to him that you were. If someone was stronger than him and also not someone he recognized as family or friend, he'd be more likely to lash out than retort like he just had.

At that moment, the two men shared a private room in a top-class restaurant. Leonel hadn't really cared where they met, but Elthor insisted that a King should have some standards.

Of course, Elthor also complained about Leonel's choice in clothing, claiming him to be far too casual. But in the end, he was forced to give up and take it one step at a time. It was already enough of a miracle that he got Leonel to come here, the man wouldn't even touch a drink usually.

Clearly, the irony was lost on Elthor. He wanted to be a General, but he was always so concerned with his clothing.

"So, how are things going?" Leonel asked as he was half way through a beast carcass half the size of his body. ,c`o`m

"The movements of that woman I told you about are quite weird. She keeps attacks and claiming periphery territories of the Guild but has made any real moves toward the Guild itself. It's almost like she's stringing us along."

"Oh?" Leonel blinked. "Show me on a map."

Leonel used the projection ability of the dictionary. Usually, he used it to navigate through the Milky Way. But, this was an excellent use as well.

Elthor reached his hand forward, pinching his fingers before spreading them out wide. The result was the 3D plane of stars zooming in toward a certain location.

"We've attacked here, here and here. In these months, we've fought three major battles. The rest of the time has been spent consolidating territory and securing routes."

Leonel's gaze narrowed when he saw these locations. He had already memorized the map of the Guild's territory that Elthor had sent him previously so he knew exactly where these were and what they represented. But, that was also what made it all so fascinating… None of these territories were very valuable at all.

?? n?? - ? o? ?? , ?`?`m The best asset here was a lower level Disaster World called Planet Eistea. However, it was quite old and had already reached the end of its potential. Other than being a decent place to gather Lightning Element Ores and Herbs, it wasn't very useful.

The other two locations were just normal trade routes, asteroid and moon stations, long with planetary hubs. But, the thing about these trade routes was that they led to Fourth Dimensional world and Folds of Reality. Their use in the grand scheme was miniscule at best. Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

The good news about this was the resistance the Oryx met was minimal while also giving them a chance to learn how to work like a real army instead of a bunch of powerful individuals like they normally did. But, the bad news was that Leonel couldn't see through to the purpose of this woman.

This wasn't a feeling Leonel liked. He was normally able to read people quite well, but he had yet to meet this woman nor did he understand her connection or beef with the Milky Way Guild. At the same time, he couldn't make heads or tails of her actions either.

'Interesting…'

Leonel continued to look at the map, thinking of several possibilities. But, he realized that he was missing too much to see things on as large a scope as this mysterious woman. The more he thought about it, the more curious he became about just who she was, and the more aware he became of just how little information he had.

Though he had a verbal deal with Aphestus and Raylion, there was no telling if they would succeed or, even if they did succeed, just how long would it take them to do so? Unfortunately, that left Leonel flying quite blind.

'I bet Shield Cross Stars has a lot of information…'

This singular thought began to brew some less than savory thoughts in Leonel's mind. It seems that he had become addicted to being a madman.