Chapter 65: Time to collect the bet
Unedited*
"Class C still doesn’t seem interested in taking up our challenge." Clara walked through the door of Lucius’s office at the Workshop to fill him in on a few things.
Lucius wasn’t working; instead, he was reading the news in that day’s newspaper.
It was already nighttime, so the only light coming in through the window behind him was moonlight and the glow of an extraordinary—yet artificial—city.
"It’s been more than 24 hours," Clara said. "Should we cancel it and issue a new one?"
"That’s not necessary," Lucius shook his head. "They think a class coming up from Rank F isn’t worthy of facing them, so they’ll wait until the last day to accept it."
"But that’ll waste our time," Clara protested.
"Overall, it doesn’t matter. Reaching Class C will be enough anyway."
"Don’t you want to reach Class B? At the rate we’re going..."
"They aren’t capable of creating Level 3 tools, Clara. Trying to take on Class B with only three months of preparation is asking for certain defeat. At best, they’re capable of creating Level 2 tools—as long as I’m there to fix everything," Lucius replied simply, without looking up from the newspaper.
Clara was stunned.
For a moment, she’d forgotten that they really were just a simple Class F. If it weren’t for Lucius investing so much time and resources into teaching them, they’d still be a Class F.
If they can dream now... it’s solely because of him.
"I’d forgotten..." Clara lowered her head. "I remembered that you were planning to move up to Class A, and I thought you’d do it right away."
"Hahaha. Class A is still a dream. We’ll try for it at the end of the year."
Lucius set the newspaper on the table; it was open to one of this week’s trending articles.
"Did you see that? Apparently, a group of Fake Rankers is lurking around the city. It’s estimated there are three of them, and they’re using Level 4 and 5 tools. It seems they’re after a Level 6 tool... or a person."
Clara frowned. "You get your news from newspapers? I thought people were paying more and more attention to The Wall—there’s more news there."
Lucius shrugged. "Sometimes it’s better to get your news from a newspaper, Clara. When everything runs on the same system, you become more vulnerable."
"Well... I don’t know what you mean. But fake Rankers in the city? That must be a real pain."
"Especially when they’re looking for something or someone. Fake Rankers are pretty sinister, you know."
"Who could they be looking for?"
"Or what could they be looking for." Lucius smiled and stood up. "I’m going out for a while; take care of things here. If Class C responds, send me a message."
"All right, be careful," Clara said. "I’ll step up security."
Lucius said goodbye to her and headed out into the city, wearing black clothes and a hood to conceal his identity.
But he didn’t stay in the Iron Suburbs. He crossed several streets and then hailed a taxi that took him to Central City.
"As always, the air here is exquisite."
Just as he got out of the taxi, someone in a hood approached from behind and motioned to him.
Lucius followed him.
The two walked past several buildings in the city, which let them pass, even though they were clearly high-ranking figures.
Both of them were high enough on the ranking that none of these buildings would turn them away.
After a long night walk, they arrived at a building under construction.
"Wow, you guys must have a lot of money. So you’re building the biggest building in New Asturias City, huh... What are you up to?" Lucius looked around curiously.
The man walking ahead of him stopped as soon as he saw that no one else was around. Finally, they were alone.
He turned around and took a step forward, raising a hand to grab Lucius by the neck.
Lucius didn’t dodge. The hand didn’t reach his neck; it simply struck the spot behind him.
"You bastard, what do you want?" Darius’s voice came from the hooded man, and the hood finally fell back.
Lucius shrugged nonchalantly. "I just came to settle the bet, Darius. Why are you giving me such a cold welcome? I already told you, we could have met at the family home.
"You’re not welcome in my mansion, you bastard!" Darius roared immediately. "Tell me what you want."
"Tsk, always so impatient. When will you learn to be more like your older brother?"
"The only one I want to be like is my brother Casius!"
"That will be the death of you," Lucius declared with absolute certainty. "Casius is no good example for you."
"And are you?" Darius snorted derisively. "Lucius, don’t try to fool me. Everyone in the family knows that your rise isn’t due to your own hard work, but to the fortune your mother left you."
Lucius shrugged, seeing that his younger brother wasn’t taking his advice.
"I didn’t come here to talk about myself," Lucius said, pulling out a few pieces of paper. "It’s all on parchment, on my computer, on my cell phone, and as a draft on my The Wall... Everything’s ready to be published. If that were to happen..." Lucius laughed maliciously. "I don’t think you’d have a good time, would you?"
The papers in question were flung at Darius’s chest, and he caught them.
He looked at them one by one. With each new sheet, his heart beat faster.
So much information...
Where did he get it?
Darius clenched his fists and crumpled all the papers.
"If I kill you... nothing will come to light."
"Don’t be naive, Darius." Lucius patted him on the shoulder. "Unless you’ve managed to reach Rank C, you’re not worthy of even thinking about killing me. But even then, I’ve already set it up. It’ll be released next Monday, right after the Department Tournament ends. If you don’t cooperate..."
Darius lowered his head. "What do you want?"
"It’s actually simpler than you think, and it won’t hurt you..." Lucius’s expression softened into a gentle smile. "I wouldn’t dare hurt my younger brother, after all."
"Cut the crap." Darius didn’t look up. "Tell me what you want."
"Lately, I’ve been interested in finding out a few things. About my mother’s death... and about my birth. I think you’ll be able to look into that, right?"
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