Chapter 2231: First meeting
"Father!!"
A girl’s voice was heard from the distance, and then Baaam! the glass door flew open as a feminine figure rushed inside, leaving behind a delightful fragrance with every hurried step she took.
"Zara, my little darling!" The calm, dreamy expression on Robin’s face completely changed the moment he recognized the newcomer, and genuine joy immediately spread across his features.
Poof Zara sat on the bed and hugged Robin tightly without any warning.
"Ow, ow..." Robin groaned quietly. "Alright... easy now... I’m fine."
"Fine?" Zara pulled back slightly and gave him a thorough look from head to toe. "You look worse than yesterday!" Then she quickly asked in a louder voice, "How is it even possible for you to look worse than yesterday?!"
"Oh... such wonderful compliments and beautiful attempts at lifting my spirits..." Robin chuckled. He wanted to raise a hand and pat Zara on the head, but he lacked the strength to do so. The realization dimmed his happiness slightly, though he maintained his smile. "My vitality is no longer focused entirely on recovery. Now that I’m awake, part of it is being diverted elsewhere, and my heartbeat and breathing have increased because I’m conscious. That makes my condition appear worse."
Then he winked at her.
"Girl, am I really the one who has to explain something like this to you?"
"...." Zara hugged him once again, refusing to let go. "I forget everything I’ve learned whenever it comes to you."
"It’s alright, I’ll be fine..." Robin tilted his head slightly until it rested against Zara’s for a brief moment before lifting it again. "But what brought you here? Don’t you have important work involving the Sovereignty Note?"
".....?!" Zara immediately pulled away again, her brows tightening into an expression of reproach.
"...You can stay?" Robin had no idea what to say, so he threw out the first thing that came to mind.
Footstep. Footstep.
"Father."
This time the voice was rough.
It was followed by another.
"Father, you’re finally awake!"
And then a third.
"Father."
Robin turned toward the door with obvious delight.
Caesar, Peon, and Theo entered one after another.
The sight of them made his smile widen for a brief moment before it immediately vanished.
"Did all of you take leave?" he asked with a frown. "Who is running the Empire?"
"....?" Their expressions did not differ much from Zara’s.
"Are you joking right now, old man?" Caesar returned to his usual cave-bear posture. "You were half dead when Lord Blokan dragged you out of the Void. It took activating every support array we possessed, along with every support array money could buy, just to keep you breathing again, and you don’t want us staying by your side to make sure you’re alright?"
"All operations, all wars, and all plans have been paused for three months," Theo said clearly. "Your health is priority number one. Everything else comes afterward."
"...." Robin sighed. "If I died, would you really let the empires we worked so hard to build collapse that easily?"
"Of course not," Peon answered in his rough voice. "We’d burn down the sectors containing those empires first, then we’d let them collapse."
"....?" Robin stared at him in disbelief. He even looked toward Theo and Caesar, expecting at least one strange reaction, but neither seemed surprised. They actually thought the same way?!
"Hey! That’s unacceptable!" Zara shouted at Peon.
"Tell him!" Robin immediately approved of Zara’s sensible outburst. "Tell this unfilial brat!"
Zara stood up and placed a hand on her hip. "When you hear your father talking about dying, you’re supposed to say ’May that never happen to you’ first. You don’t immediately start discussing work and burning down things!"
"...That’s your issue with what he said?!" Robin felt a stab in his heart. "I’m fine now. I’m going to live. Go save my possessions."
"Don’t worry, Father." Theo reassured him calmly. "All plans have been paused, but that doesn’t mean we’re collapsing. You could call it a cold peace. If anyone attacks us, there are planetary generals capable of responding without needing us personally. You built a colossal, multi-layered organization, and it has long since reached the point where even the simultaneous absence of all of us would not bring it down."
"...." Robin slowly nodded. The answer pleased him more than he cared to admit. He had spent centuries building foundations, creating systems, appointing people, and preparing for situations exactly like this. Hearing Theo describe the Empire in such a way reassured him that all that effort had not been wasted.
Then he took another look at the four of them.
Zara.
Caesar.
Pion.
Theo.
For a few moments he simply watched them in silence. Zara was still close enough to grab his sleeve if he tried moving too much, Caesar looked ready to argue with him over anything and everything, Pion stood there like a mountain, and Theo maintained his usual calm expression while observing the room. They had all changed so much over the years, becoming figures capable of shaking planets and leading armies, yet moments like this made them feel strangely similar to the children he remembered.
Robin’s gaze slowly drifted downward toward the blanket covering his legs.
The warmth in his expression faded.
A different thought entered his mind.
One he had been avoiding since opening his eyes.
His voice became quieter.
"...Where is Richard?"
"We didn’t tell him about your condition," Caesar replied. "We reinforced the sound and soul isolation around his residence so he wouldn’t sense what’s happening across the planet."
Theo nodded. "He’s already suffering enough as it is. We didn’t want him to see you like this, and we didn’t want you to see him in his current state."
At that moment, Theo was paying very close attention to Robin’s reaction. For a long time, he had wanted to tell his father about Richard’s condition so that he could help, but his brother had always stopped him from doing so. Since Robin himself had asked, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally bring the matter up.
"Oh... good." Robin nodded, and relief returned to his face. "He still has a long road ahead of him with the Anti-Matter Merged Law. Even with the Sixth Path Technique, he’ll need time before he can use it properly."
"...?" Theo was stunned. His father had known what was happening to Richard all along?
"Father, Richard couldn’t come," Peon interjected with a smile, "but someone else came in their uncle’s place."
"Their uncle’s place?" Robin raised his eyebrows slightly in confusion before a huge smile spread across his face. "You brought your children?"
Robin had learned centuries ago that Pion had married and had children, fulfilling the condition that had been imposed upon him. He had become a grandfather long ago, yet he had never been given the opportunity to meet any of his descendants since then.
"Haha, come on in." Peon turned toward the door and gestured toward the group waiting outside.
The sound of footsteps quickly filled the area, and before long the glass house became crowded with people.
Truly crowded.
"This..." Robin raised his eyebrows in surprise.
There were around Fifty boys and girls, men and women, all wearing different styles of armor and standing with impeccable military discipline. Some wore the uniform of the Shadow Swords, some carried the insignias of the Imperial Guard, others belonged to special forces units, and a few even wore admiral insignias. Looking at them felt as though someone had gathered representatives from every major branch of the Empire and placed them in a single room.
Yet what drew Robin’s attention was not their clothing.
It was their expressions.
Their discipline exceeded ordinary military etiquette. Every single one of them stood as motionless as a statue, swallowing nervously and trying to control their breathing while staring toward Robin with eyes filled with awe, curiosity, nervousness, and excitement. To them, the figure sitting on that bed was not merely a grandfather they had never met.
He was a legend.
The founder of everything they knew.
The man whose stories were taught across planets.
The ruler whose name had become inseparable from the Empire itself.
Their grandfather had been born in a Young Sector, had started with almost nothing, and through sheer will and impossible victories had risen high enough to influence multiple Mid Sectors through the children he had raised, children who themselves had once been little more than abandoned orphans.
This was His Majesty the Emperor.
And this was the first time they had ever seen him with their own eyes.
"Are all of these my grandchildren?" Robin muttered unconsciously, his gaze sweeping across the crowd.
"Unfortunately, no." Zara looked genuinely annoyed. "Only five of them are actually Peon’s children and call me Aunt Zara. The rest are your great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and descendants beyond that. At this point they’ve practically become a small tribe."
The irritation in her voice was unmistakable. Zara herself had become a grandmother long ago, and not merely a grandmother but a great-grandmother as well, a fact she clearly found much less amusing than everyone else seemed to.
"Haha!" Peon laughed loudly. "That’s what happens when centuries pass."
"Don’t laugh!" Zara pointed accusingly at him. "You’re a grandfather too!"
"I’m proud of it."
"You shouldn’t be!"
"I absolutely should."
Robin watched the two argue and found himself smiling despite everything. The sight felt strangely familiar. Even after centuries of growth, power, wars, laws, empires, and responsibilities, some things had remained exactly the same. Zara still found reasons to complain, and Pion still found reasons to enjoy them.
For a brief moment, the exhaustion weighing on Robin’s body seemed a little lighter. The pain, the weakness, the memories of the Void, and even the thoughts of Asir’s death drifted slightly farther away as he looked at the family gathered before him.
"Come on, come on." Peon pushed the nearest one of his children forward. "Go greet your grandfather, kiss his hand, and collect your first-meeting gifts."
