Hilbert was definitely a genius in Arcturus’s eyes; he probably was smarter and more talented than the average Laminan. It was shocking to see such a genius locked up in an isolated island of all places. If it was possible to allow more companions by Nova’s side, he’d definitely want to recruit Hilbert.

However, that did not mean that geniuses always behaved intelligently. When Hilbert told him that they were going to Winterfully, he was confused. The name of that place wasn't on any maps; he wonders if it’s a name of one of the smaller specks of an island on the map. They weren’t given names–at least, from what he was told.

I guess it’s another case of being concealed from the truth, like how Eternally is said to be empty, but actually has an isolated city.

“Where is that on the map?” Arcturus asked as he activated a hologram map with his bangle.

The map of the world was three large continents, Ilacier was on the very northernmost area and the largest. Lamina was right at the center, but also the smallest island. Plasma was in the middle in terms of size, but it was in the very southernmost area. Focusing on Ilacier, Eternally was a somewhat oval-shaped white speck on the very right, while there were tinier specks towards the left; Arcturus counted four on the map and noticed that they all varied in size.

Hilbert pointed to the tiniest speck on the map. “Winterfully is right there!”

“What does it contain?”

“Snow. Animals. DUO’s main headquarters.”

Arcturus furrowed his brows. “Main headquarters? Your house isn’t your HQ?”

“Nope! My house is just a safe place just in case we need to escape from soldiers.”

Arcturus just nodded. “That makes sense…” It made total sense why Hilbert built his house the way it was; it was the fastest way to gather a group of people and not have to worry about being surrounded or in a bad situation. It was totally a smart move.

“I’m impressed that you’re able to build such a house and conceptualize extraordinary ideas. You’re a lot smarter than the average Laminan–heck, a lot of them would be jealous of your talents.”

Hilbert started getting shy. “Oh, you flatter me…”

Arcturus found this a good opportunity to butter him up. “So, what made you become an inventor?”

“Well, it started with my father…”

“Your father?”

“He was an inventor.”

“Oh, so you got it from him?”

“I guess? But my father wasn’t that talented. His idea of ‘inventing’ was to slab on different types of machinery together and hoped it worked. Some were successes, but most were failures.”

“But he must’ve had passion if he kept going.”

“I guess you can say that…”

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“What made you start inventing?”

“Well, I was just mimicking my dad for fun by putting slabs of machinery together but everything I had built were successes. My mom thought I had extraordinary talent, so she encouraged me to keep going. That’s how I kept going. I was praised by various tech-savvy people and I even met Nathaniel Hope once. He even sought me out and told me to work for him once I become an adult.” He did not have a happy expression despite mentioning his great achievements.

“The more I kept going…the more jealous my father became. I sort of became aware that he was jealous of me, so I tried to hold back my talents. One of my inventions became a failure and it became a huge reaction in my house. My dad was happy that I had a failure in my long repertoire of successes while my mom got upset and believed that I was a failure. She pressured me to not make anymore failures while my dad insisted on me messing up more, saying that it’s a part of growing up or something like that…”

The more he heard Hilbert’s story, the more upset Arcturus got. While his father was absent for most of his life and his mother passed away when he was twelve, from what little he could remember, parents were supposed to be warm existences towards their children; he remembered his parents had a good relationship before Arthur just up and left them one day.

“This obviously sullied my parents’ relationship. Well, they never really had a good one to begin with. They were mainly together out of obligation rather than love. My mom had me when she was eighteen. Despite Ilacier being a country that focused more on women’s rights, she was still a helpless teenager back then. My father chose to take responsibility for his own motives: one, he wanted a younger wife and two, he wanted a woman he could control.”

“Gross.” Arcturus murmured that word with a disgusted visage.

Hilbert resumed his story, “One day, my father died abruptly. My mom then told me to stop calling her ‘Mom’ as she never thought of me as her son. She needed my talents for inventing for her goals. Eventually, that’s how I joined DUO as the first member.”

It all started connecting in his head. His mother was eighteen when she gave birth. She needed Hilbert’s talents in inventing for her goals. Hilbert had summarized his story, but Arcturus had already figured out a possible theory. All he needed was one more question.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

“I’m turning nineteen at the end of Mid-Winter.”

Arcturus’s eyes widened. “You’re only a year younger than me?”

Hilbert chuckled. “I get that a lot. I’ve been told I look mature for my age even from an Ilacian’s perspective. It’s probably genetic because my dad was like that at my age. My appearance will stop changing once I hit twenty-five and I’ll remain like this until I reach my hundredth birthday or so.”

Nineteen years old…his mother was eighteen…add that up and you get thirty-seven…

He then recalled what Asteria had said about not killing anymore family members after her father. If he died ‘abruptly’, that would mean she killed him. Yet, she said she didn’t kill any more family members. I guess it’s because she only considers those who share her blood family? What about Hilbert? Will she kill him if she has no more use for him?

Arcturus didn’t want that, but realizing that shocked him. I only want him alive for his talents just like his mother…

While he did feel slightly conflicted, it disappeared once the house started shaking, startling him. Hilbert lost his balance and tripped frontward, but Arcturus managed to catch him before he fell flat.

“Careful…”

Hilbert looked at him intensely before standing back up. He looked away as he straightened his clothes. “Thanks for catching me.” Arcturus noticed he sounded nervous.

“You’re welcome…” Arcturus checked outside to see what could be the source for the shaking. It didn’t seem like the wind, so his best bet was the Emerald Ocean’s waves.

They started hearing some frantic voices downstairs. Arcturus wondered what was going on. As he was going to head down, Sophia came to the loft room with a worried expression plastered on her face. “Arcturus, come quick!”

Worried, he asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Nova’s awake, but he’s not feeling so good!”

His motion sickness kicked up. That means he was awake when the house shook due to the waves…

Arcturus rushed down.