Chapter 202 - Episode 202: Ophiuchus.
Chapter 202 - Episode 202: Ophiuchus.
Kingstar and the others are looking at me with confusion. Ivonna puts her hand on my shoulder.
"Maybe you can take a seat first then we can hear what you need from us."
I nod and then walk toward them and sit in front of them. Kingstar, Boschwell, Diamond, Lothair, Ken, Sigryd, Aeris, Edmondo, Madhan, Cho Ahn, Jade Liu, and Alessandro. They're the clan leaders that I saw in the conference before the invasion happened. They're still looking at me with confusion, then Kingstar nods up.
"Help? What kind of help? If you're asking us to help you with the problem you're having right now, I don't think we want to help you. We still need to keep our image good in the community."
I smile and shake my head.
."I know that, and I don't ask you guys to help with that. I'm asking all of your help for something else."
Kingstar looks at the others and then Diamond scratching his head.
"So, what do you need from us?"
I look at them one by one and then I look at Kingstar.
"How close are you with the emperor, Kingstar?"
Kingstar raises his eyebrows.
"With the emperor? Our relation is quite close ever since I became a hero and of course, because the Supremacist Clan is the strongest from the Aarus Empire, they're keeping us close and sometimes needed our help to clean up the problem in the Aarus territory. Why do you ask?"
I'm humming with understanding and then look at Diamond and Lothair.
"How about you guys? Are you both close with the emperor?"
Diamond and Lothair are looking at each other and then they look at me while nodding.
"Lothair and I are in good relation with the emperor. The reasons are the same with Kingstar and we often received a request from the emperor to subjugate monsters that are threatening the empire."
I'm humming with understanding and then look at Sigryd and Alessandro.
"What about you guys?"
Alessandro is pointing his finger at Ivonna.
"We are also the same, but the Kings of the Alliance Kingdoms are close with Ivonna rather than us since Sigryd and I barely go around the kingdoms and we stayed in our own kingdoms to help the kings that we served. So if you need our help, we can only help you out in the kingdoms that we served."
I'm nodding with understanding and then look at Ivonna.
"So you're still their favorite, Ivonna?"
Ivonna is crossing her arms while nodding.
"Unfortunately yes because I'm the Hero from the Alliance Kingdoms."
Kingstar is leaning on the chair while sighing.
"Can you just tell us what this is all about?"
I'm putting my hands together and put them in front of my lips.
"You all know that the three sovereignties are currently in a cold war, right? But sooner or later, the peace will break, and the three sovereignties will be at war."
Diamond raises his eyebrows.
"I think the peace between Aarus Empire and the Alliance Kingdoms is about to break. I heard it was all because of Kingstar during the invasion, he punched the grand general from the Alliance Kingdoms and now the Alliance Kingdoms are about to go to war because of that."
I furrow my forehead and look at Sigryd and Alessandro.
"Is that true?"
Sigryd is nodding slowly.
"Yeah, that's what I heard, but I don't think it will take a while for the Alliance Kingdoms to prepare the war against the Aarus Empire. I heard they lost quite a lot of power because of the invasion, but I don't think the power that they meant is the manpower, but it's something else."
I kind of understand what he means. I think what they were talking about is the black powder that they used during the invasion. To collect and gather that much black powder will take a lot of time and even if they can collect them, they need to do it secretly since I heard that the Eluna Empires sends quite a lot of people to help the Alliance Kingdoms rebuild their kingdoms, and a few of them could be a spy and can use this opportunity to observe the Alliance Kingdoms openly.
I look at Kingstar.
"What about on your side?"
Kingstar scoffs and shakes his head.
"My side? Why would I share the secret of the empire I served? I don't want to let them know what they're planning about this situation."
Sigryd is immediately covering his mouth and regret everything he said. Ivonna is looking at Sigryd and just shakes her head. I'm nodding with understanding.
"Well, that's not a problem at all if we can stop the war from happening."
Kingstar is fixing his sitting and then leans forward.
"I know that you need our help in this matter, but I personally think that this job is too hard to do even for us, and I don't think I would waste my time for this."
I scoff and look at him.
"I know you, Kingstar. That's why I think it's time for all of you to know the information I got. What if I told you that there's a mastermind behind this situation between the three sovereignties? Someone is pulling the string to gain power for himself from the three sovereignties."
I grab the document that Jariel showed me about the subject and the [Heart of Alucard]. I put the document on the table and they're all looking at it, and Kingstar will be the first one to read the document. Queenstar is sitting next to him and reads the document together. Their eyes are widened and read it so thoroughly because they can't believe what they're reading. Kingstar passes the document to Diamond.
Everyone is making the same expression and they're giving me back the document. I give it to Ivonna so she and the others can read it as well.
I look at Kingstar and smile.
"Now I will ask you all this. I bet you all and your emperors and kings you served have no ideas about this, right? Of course, except for Emperor Lerst Eogura since he's the mastermind of this. The Eluna Empire always keeps their neutrality but behind it, he's the one who pulls the strings and trying to make the Aarus Empire and the Alliance Kingdoms crumble and fall."
All of them are looking at Diamond and Lothair with disbelief. Diamond and Lothair are shaking their heads. Diamond is raising his hands.
"We really have no idea about this, no, at least I have no idea about this. I swear!"
Lothair is looking at them and also saying the same thing. I chuckle and nod. Everyone immediately looks at me. I look at them and smile.
"I know that you both have no idea about this since it's a top-secret that only Emperor Lerst Eogura knows about this. He wants to rule over the Orion by planting a dangerous weapon on each sovereignty. That's why I need all of your help from stopping him from doing so. The reason I do this is for the sake of the players, not only for my own interest. Also, now you all know why Avriel is sided with me."
Kingstar is rubbing his chin and then he looks at me.
"I'm almost convinced, but that document is too good to be true. It could be fake because of how detailed the information is."
A light-brown-haired guy with yellow eyes is scoffing and shaking his head. He's Jade Liu.
"We were enjoying the game and having fun but he didn't. When a person walks, he leaves traces, and when a bird flies, it leaves feathers. The truth isn't for all men, but only for those who seek it. He found the traces and the feathers. I can do nothing but admire him, and so I believe him."
Jade Liu looks at me and nods.
"You have my support, and I will help you to make the world better for the players."
I look at him and nod.
"Thank you."
Ken is looking at Kingstar.
"Can I utter my opinion? I believe Trevor isn't someone who would lie to us. I know that he's someone that I can trust because he helped us in the Malestrom of Abyss and he gave us information that helped us in the dungeon. I also remember that he was the one who gave you the dungeon location, right, Kingstar? He was also the one who warned us about the invasion. Now that I read that document and watched the video of him on Utube with Avriel, I think we all can agree that it must have connected to this document. If he risked his own reputation for this and didn't try to justify his action, he didn't trust them but now he showed it to us, that means he trusts us, isn't it? So I will help him."
Well, actually I showed this document because of the quest that needed me to do it without bringing chaos to the Orion. If not, I would rather keep it a secret from them since what I'm looking for is the [Heart of Alucard]. Now I feel bad and guilty if he said it like that, but now they all know about it, I guess I have to compete with them now.
Sigryd and Alessandro are looking at each other and then look at me.
"I guess, Alessandro and I are going to leave our decision to Ivonna since she's the boss in the Alliance Kingdoms and we are fine with her decision."
Ivonna nods.
"I will support Trevor, but if you both don't like it, then it's okay and you don't have to."
Sigryd and Alessandro smile and shake their head. Diamond sighs.
"Well, I guess we, as the Eluna Empire's faction take a major responsibility for this, so we are going to help, right, Lothair?"
Lothair looks at Diamond and nods in agreement. Kingstar is looking at the rest of the clan leaders and they're all nodding in agreement to help me. Kingstar turns his head to looks at me for quite a while and then he nods.
"Alright, we are in."
I look at them so seriously.
"If you're going to help me, then I must ask you to keep this document a secret and we are going to do it secretly. I'm afraid that your credibility will be questioned by the factions you served. Not just by the NPCs, but also the players, are you all really okay with that? Because once you make a move, you're no longer going to be serving the emperors or the kings, and there's no going back."
Kingstar scoffs.
"Me? Being questioned for my decision? That's not going to happen."
Lothair is looking at Kingstar and shaking his head.
"I guess your cockiness is infecting me. Hell, let's do it. I guess being rebellious sounds interesting!"
The others are laughing and nodding in agreement. Kingstar is looking at them.
"So, what should we call ourselves? A bunch of rebellious people?"
I'm counting the leaders of the clans and including Ivonna, there are 13 of them. I raise my eyebrows.
"Since there are 13 of you, how about you guys call yourself the 13th constellation, Ophiuchus? The Serpent-bearer who could kill or cure using the venom depends on how you guys used it."
Kingstar smiles and then looks at the others. They're all is humming and nodding in agreement. Kingstar smirks while chuckling.
"Not bad. Then we are the Ophiuchus now."