There was one thing that Master Takeshiba understood though, this would totally change the whole situation they were in.
In fact, even now Master Takeshiba didn't truly believe the whole story about the looming catastrophe, but that conviction changed a bit as he heard what he heard.
He would never believe that someone would do anything without having some form of interest in it. After all, there were no perfect human beings in existence, and there would never be.
But what was the reason that this guy was doing whatever he was doing!? Was it truly possible for that big catastrophe to be real?
Most importantly though, what was his interest in all this. Why was he doing something like this!?
The only thing that could run through his mind at the moment was that Eric's master was trying to replenish his forces and create an army.
At the same time, if he was truly as strong as Eric made him be then they wouldn't be able to resist him either.
It was a really tricky action, as all of them would have the same thought in mind, and most probably nobody would send their real geniuses there.
In other words, each and every one of the big families would send 4 idiots, and at least a spy. While they wouldn't want to give him wings, they would certainly want to know his training method.
The biggest problem for Master Takeshiba, as he saw it was the fact that he had decided to take even his daughter, Takeshiba Aika amidst them.
Coupling that with the challenge, it was like Eric was warning him to not have any weird ideas of messing around with the challenge, otherwise, he would have to face his Master.
Things just got more and more complicated with each day passing. Even a spider's web would be easier to solve than this shitty complex situation.
But he didn't have time to think much about this, as the more important time right now was to ask the important questions, as Master Takeshiba didn't lose time to do so,
"Son-in-law are you saying the truth!?"
"Yes, Master contacted me just recently!"
"Then when…"
We are going to start just when the challenge starts! No matter how strong one is in this world, if you can't fight against the whole world, you need money to buy resources!
For that reason, we will use the money of the challenge as capital to buy resources, and at the same time, all the families involved will be sent an invite to send their geniuses.
Like this, we will be able to do what we want to do without raising too much attention, or risk."
"What if news of this spreads towards the foreign countries!?"
"If that happens then we are going to expand our activity! As I said, Master is not concerned with the secular world, he cares only about protecting Earth.
In that regard, he will do whatever he can to give Earth one last chance!"
Master Takeshiba had to say that whoever was behind Eric had certainly done a good plan, after all, he was trying to raise an army with the help of every country on Earth.
There was no way to keep this under wraps once it happened, and then every other country would try their best to send people for training there.
Who would want to lose the opportunity of having a few more High Heaven Realm powerhouses in their forces?
But certainly, there were a few more important questions to be asked,
"Son-in-law don't you think you should be more careful with what you say!? After all, you are still in Japan, and if word of this spreads out, then…"
As he said that he looked towards Tatsuya Minami, and Inuhara Hina, his meaning was clear, the Council of Five would never allow something like this to happen.
But then Eric said with a confident, and strong gaze,
"It doesn't matter father-in-law, I am but a small figure on my Master's side. I am but a mediator of conditions, the true person they had to take into consideration is my Master!
No matter how much they try they will be unable to find his location, and even if they do, it wouldn't be their good luck, but their bad luck that sent them there.
If I die Master can easily negotiate with the other countries, and make them an enemy of the whole World! I am sure they wouldn't want something like that to happen.
The only thing they would earn with my capture, or death would be my Master's wrath!"
Eric's words were truly reasonable, even though he was strong, and looked like a genius he was still unable to come across people like his father-in-law, and even less the Council.
But the Master behind him was mysterious and had a mysterious strength that perfectly covered his back.
While most of them didn't believe that and thought that it was nothing more than a smokescreen bomb, there was nonetheless doubt.
Like for example, where did he gained the knowledge of the systems or all the information he had in his hands. Certainly, that information didn't fall on his hands from the sky!
Master Takeshiba could understand all this from his words, while Eric felt more than happy to finally push forwards with his plans.
In fact, he had thought about this plan for a long time now, but he didn't have the capital to start it up.
It was only when Young Master Yuzuriha said what he said, that Eric thought that this was a perfect time to continue with his plan.
This was just the first step though, as he knew that in order to make this plan move forward he needed to give everyone a glimpse of his Master's strength.
In this world, money, strength, and connections were the three main components of power, since Eric didn't have the money, or the connections his only left option of power was strength.
He had to show to the whole world that he had the strength or to be more precise his Master had the needed strength to propose such a deal.
He still had a lot of preparations he needed to take care of, but he was more than certain that he would be able to make it.
After all, even though he didn't have his strength right now, he had something that could help him create the impression he had it.
It wouldn't be easy, but he was confident in himself that he would be able to pull it off!
With that said, he looked towards the deeply thoughtful face of his father-in-law, as he said,
"Well, father-in-law I have already said more than I should have said. Now I need to go and take care of a few things, as I am sure that you need too.
With those words, he just turned around and started walking outside without even looking back, as the moment that they passed the door, he heard Tatsuya Minami's solemn voice,
"Is what you said true!?"
"Do you think I have to lie to him!? Right now, he is my father-in-law, and my deepest known background and protector!"
Hearing his confirmation Tatsuya Minami immediately fell into her own deep thinking, as the only one who seemed to be rather okay with whatever happened was Hilda.
After witnessing what had just happened, her conviction to work under Eric grew deeper, and stronger, as, in fact, she was really happy to have already decided.
In fact, Eric's plan was quite simple, seeing that this situation was immensely complicated, and he would be unable to solve it no matter how much he tried, he decided to use it to his benefit.
He would do his best in order to complicate everything even more, not only here, but on the whole Earth!
After that, he would remove himself from the center, and wait for it to explode with a big boom, destroy the complications, muddle the waters, as he would then be like a fish in troubled water.
Certainly, this approach would bring a lot of casualties to the different sides, and camps. A massive number of people would die that was for sure.
Many more would show their true colors and would do anything they could to survive, even if it included, rapping, violence, killing, trafficking.
According to his estimations, more than 10% of Earth's population would be lost even before the S-day, and less than 40% would survive more than one month after it.
But he didn't care!
It was true that he was a human, but no human was totally innocent. And even those that were, were in really low numbers.
This was a dog eats dog world, and this fake peace, and democracy was just an illusion they were forcing themselves to believe.
Eric had no reason to care about them. After all, even if he were to die in front of them, or be tortured in front of them, only a little few of them would dare to come forwards and help him.
The rest would either blame him for doing something he hadn't to make themselves feel better or would just watch his suffering.
If the world was like this, then why would Eric need to care about them?
He wasn't some kind of hero, he had never acclaimed that, but he wasn't a villain either! He was just some guy who would do his best just like everybody else, in order to fly higher than everybody else.
If one had to think about his ideology, he would say that he was more of a capitalist. He would do anything and everything in his power to reach the top.
Everything was based on merit, as long as he was able to best everyone, then he should take that place at the top…
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺