“So, you learnt enough about my history to finally trust me?” Ram asked him with a small smile.
Lakshman was surprised and asked, “What do you mean? I’ve trusted you since you saved me and all even though you didn’t know who I was at the time.”
To this, the other person shook his head and replied, “No. You truly didn’t trust me, that’s why you had been a little cautious around me until you know full well about my past to really trust me.”
His deduction skills amazed the king from another world, because the leader of the Raven’s Guild was indeed correct. Even though the man had saved him, Lakshman had been cautious of him the entire time and was prepared to make his escape just in case things did not work out between them. However, after witnessing his gentle behaviour with the people there and learning about his past, Lakshman finally felt that he could trust this man.
The Solaris Hero finally smiled and asked, “How did you know?”
“I don’t know,” replied Ram, spreading his arms out in front of him in an exasperated gesture, causing Lakshman to look at him in surprise. “Well, I don’t really know how to state it, but I just… know that you aren’t trusting me.”
Lakshman nodded in understanding and said, “Yes. That’s definitely an ability of yours,” and he thought to himself, “and maybe close to being related to my Elemental Sense.”
“An ability?” Ram asked, looking amazed before nodding in understanding. “It makes sense now.”
As he smiled at the king from another world, Lakshman winked and said, “Well, I know someone who possess the All-Seeing-Eyes, which basically gives the user the ability to have foresight visions of the future and know the true identity of someone.”
“Wow! Interesting,” said Ram, nodding in acceptance and looking amazed.
“Who is that person, Lucky?” Aimi asked curiously.
He pondered at her question, weighing whether it was safe to reveal Alestor’s ability without knowing whether it was well known or not. Judging from their surprise, it was obvious the wiseman of the modern century had kept that piece of information to himself and rose through the ranks with his skills supported by his ability. As such, the Solaris Hero decided it was not worth revealing until the person himself does so willingly.
“Sorry,” he said apologetically to her, “but I don’t think he would want his secret to be revealed.”
“Oh,” said Aimi, momentarily looking disappointed before looking up and smiling again. “I get it. It was rather rude of me to even ask considering a person possessing such a great ability would want to avoid attention.”
Lakshman nodded with a smile and said, “Yes, but he’s a good man, and is very close to the king, although,” and he smiled wryly, “the king is taking away his authority day by day.”
While Aimi looked alarmed, Ram chuckled and asked, “So, such a man still exists in the government, but it looks like even he is not safe from the government’s corrupt agenda. It’s actually a miracle he could retain his position despite the pressure he must’ve been receiving from the king himself.”
Then he suddenly came to realise something and tapped his forehead in a thoughtful gesture before looking at Lakshman.
“Wait,” he said to Lakshman, and four eyes turned to face him. “Those two that left a while ago informed me all about this plan you’re working on, and I think you mentioned about someone with a powerful ability that is your ally. Do you mean this person?” When the Solaris Hero nodded with a smile, Ram nodded and smiled in satisfaction as he said, “Good. At least, we know we have one supporter in that ruthless government.”
Lakshman nodded, but he became curious about Ram and asked, “Yes, but what about you? How have you been able to perform your illegal activities when you seem like you lack any kind of high financial support?”
Ram chuckled and said, “Well, we tend to wing it all the time.”
“Excuse me?”
“Wing it. Basically, doing stuff on the go matching the circumstances,” explained Ram patiently when he saw that Lakshman did not understand.
“Okay, but that doesn’t—?” Lakshman began, but he stopped when Ram raised a hand in a gesture to stop him.
“It doesn’t answer your question,” said Ram, stating the obvious with a smile, “because that’s what we do. There is no choice, but we can’t just sit idly by and do nothing about the government’s problematic control over us. That’s why, we pool our finances together by working extra hours at our jobs, putting aside some money for the family expenses and using the rest on operations to cause the government some grief.”
“Oh,” said Lakshman, looking impressed, “that is a good plan.”
Ram nodded, but his expression suddenly grew darker as he looked down at the floor and went on saying, “Yes. We perform sabotages of government facilities while avoiding any harm to the public. However, when that bombing was done, all blame was shoved onto us even though we were never involved, and we’d never do such a thing!” This was when he looked to Lakshman and said, “That’s why I dispatched my people to search for what really happened, and send those two from before to meet the heroes and possibly come to terms with them.”
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“That,” began Lakshman with a small smile, “was a dumb plan, having those two come and meet us.”
Ram accepted the statement and said, “It was, but I had hoped to try and get there to openly admit that we didn’t do it, but… things didn’t go according to plan. The fault is also in me for not properly telling them to not cause issues when they meet your group, but…” and he sighed wearily. Then he smiled at Lakshman and said, “Still, I don’t think it was a waste considering it got your attention, and like as if it was predestined, we’re here right now discussing about it.”
“It does feel that way,” agreed Lakshman with a nod of his head. “Have you been able to find anything of how the alien had conducted such actions, and even made that person from your group to try and harm us later on?”
His question made the leader of the Raven’s Guild chuckle and say, “No. There’s been no headway, but seriously, I could not believe it when those two told me the mastermind was an alien, especially the one that your group fought before he escaped from you.”
“Yes,” said Lakshman, looking grim, “and now that alien is close to Santa, the second prince, and is causing quite the nuisance for me.” He gestured at himself and said, “I had no idea the castle’s security surveillance had been upgraded to reveal those appearing to be invisible to the naked eye. The alien used that to his advantage and got me into trouble.”
Lakshman did not bother telling them about that fact that his two familiars were also revealed during what was supposed to be an interrogation before it became a battleground. Still, Ram accepted his statement without question by nodding his head in understanding.
“Yes, but maybe if it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t have known about the troubles that the less fortunate ones are facing?” Ram asked, looking at things with a bright mindset.
His question stunned Lakshman, and made him wonder for a moment, “True. If it weren’t for the alien, and my stubbornness in going along with the flow, Asura wouldn’t have snapped, made us the enemies of the government, and came all the way here to learn the truth. Actually, doesn’t this credit go to Asura because none of this would’ve happened if he didn’t knock me out and taken charge of things?”
At the realisation, he chuckled and replied to Ram, “That’s debatable.”
Ram smiled and asked, “Maybe, but from the look of things, it seems that you’re now viewed as a criminal, just as you accurately prophesied in that plan of yours.”
Lakshman chuckled and replied, “True, but I had this feeling ever since I discovered his identity that he would do something to get rid of me, but he won’t do it directly. I knew he would use the people of this world to fight against me, and as I suspected, it came to happen.”
“Foreshadowing your own demise is not something anyone could just do you know?” Aimi asked with a small smile.
“Maybe not, Aimi,” replied Lakshman with a nod of his head, “but I am confident one can prepare for a lot of things if only they stop looking at the things around them and learn about themselves more. Knowing your strengths, weaknesses, and working from there leads to something really wonderful.”
“Oh…?” Ram asked, looking shrewdly at him. “Is that how you became king by marrying your wife, the queen of that kingdom?”
Lakshman blinked once in surprise before realising that there was something about the way he asked that made him feel put off. Even the expression that Ram had on his face was somewhat disturbing, almost like he was assuming something about him. It only took a moment for Lakshman to realise that the other person was assuming that he had tricked the queen and married her in order to become king.
“No way!” He cried out, raising his hands and waving them defensively at them. “I didn’t trick or do any of that kind of sort of things with her to become king! In fact, my feelings for her were neutral towards until she suddenly came up to me and confessed that she wanted us to get married!”
Ram was taken aback by his words and asked, “What?”
“Seriously?!” Aimi asked in disbelief.
“I swear on my parents,” replied Lakshman, trying to convince them, “that I had no intentions of becoming king, but then she came out of the blue and just straight up asked us to get married.”
There was a moment of silence in the room as both Ram and Aimi slowly digested this piece of information. Then they glanced at each other, and as though an indirect agreement had passed between them, they turning back to face him. Suddenly, they burst into a loud laughter from how hilarious the situation was from their perspective. It was indeed unbelievable that a young girl would skip the loving part and go straight to the marriage part, however, Ram possessed the ability to see the truth. As such, he knew the king from another world was telling the truth, and his wife followed his lead.
“Sorry for doubting you,” apologised Ram with a sheepish grin on his face. “It’s just that I’ve read many novels with a background story similar to yours and had always had the M.C. meet a princess and use his cunning to capture her heard, and finally manipulate everything so that he is throned as the king.”
“Rubbish,” commented Lakshman with a shake of his. “By the way, what’s M.C.? What does it stand for?”
“Main Character,” stated Ram, and Lakshman nodded his head in understanding with a smile.
“So, people are nowadays becoming too lazy to even consider saying the term ‘main character’ fully?” The Solaris Hero asked in an exasperated voice, making the Raven’s Guild leader laugh while causing Aim to giggle.
As they intended to resume their conversation, it was suddenly interrupted when the main door to the home burst open, and they heard footsteps before the tall man from before appeared. He was breathing quickly as if he had run with all his might to reach them as the expression on his face stated that it was for some kind of urgency.
“Boss! There’s trouble!” He stated to Ram.
Ram instantly narrowed his eyes wearily and asked, “Are the supervisors complaining about the slowness? Just tell them we need more time, or they could just bring in some drones to carry the stuff for us to quicken the process.”
“We did that,” the man replied, catching his breath and looking stricken, “but they didn’t take it lightly and began attacking the workers with their magic.”
“What?!” Ram exclaimed, and all three of them rose to their feet while staring at him in disbelief. “They’re using their M.E.D.s on the workers?!”
“Yes, and because of it, there already several people that are badly injured! You have to come, boss!” The man said, looking imploringly at his leader.
Ram nodded and said, “Alright. Let’s go!”
“I’m coming too!” Lakshman said, and Ram smiled at him and nodded wordlessly before all three of them moved towards the exit.
“Be careful,” said Aimi worriedly, accompanying them till the entrance.
“I’ll do my best,” said Ram, and left through the door with a serious expression on his face, heading to the construction place to handle the situation before it got out of control.