Adam continued to explain to Liu his plan on how to conceal Blanca and the little monster girl's existence.
Liu who was indebted to Adam because he save her life couldn't reject this plan. After all, it was for the sake of everyone, and everything that Adam said made sense.
Adam explained that it would be better to emphasize that they had a traumatizing experience that they didn't want to talk about. He also explained that the Empire wouldn't want the fact that a person could go beyond a portal to be known to the public, thus, saying that it was the monster who was behind all of it, so they would just the victims, would make things easier.
Finally, Liu's role was to show demonstrate her new power to a certain extent, and everything would be settled.
The problem was, of course, Liu and her companions. Adam thought that Timothy and the others had reported what had happened to some extent, and even though he didn't know the relation between Liu and her father, he thought that this plan would, to some extent, preserve her honor and pride.
Adam knew that Liu was prideful and she wouldn't want to take all of the credit for herself, but if she didn't, things would be difficult for everyone.
"Are you alright with that?" Adam asked, looking at Liu in the eyes.
Liu, of course, had a lot of things to worry about once she return to the Empire, and the biggest problem was her father but despite that, she agreed to go along with Adam's plan.
"I will try…" Liu said, "I am not sure if would believe it though…"
Her father always considered her a failure, so it wouldn't surprise her if he didn't believe any words about her awakening.
"Well, I will be attending the Holy Academy so some people would keep an eye on me. Thus, as long as we are playing the victims who are confused and ignorant of everything, things should be settled down after a while," Adam explained.
'A fifteen years old boy who disappeared with two women and came back from another world traumatized.' That was what they need the Empire to need to think about.
And even though Timothy and the others might have said something, he would just act like an overconfident and ignorant boy who took an opportunity to demonstrate his ability, after what happened during his coming of age ceremony. However, the situation was beyond this boy's ability, but even so, he managed to give Liu the opportunity to beat the monster.
With this, everything would make sense, or so Adam thought. Of course, he would need to continue to act like a prideful boy who didn't want to admit his mistake and looked very pitiful.
As long as he did that, he would be able to hide his true objective, but some people would find him pathetic. However, that was something he needed, a mask that he needed to wear while he put his plans into motion.
'I will use this opportunity to build a fake image of myself. That way, things would be easier,' Adam thought.
He realized that overconfidence wasn't a good thing, and if the Empire learned about his true nature, he would be in a very difficult position and it will be hard for him to progress toward the truth.
Nonetheless, it was not like something would happen if he just continued to play the quiet and normal kid.
At least with this fake character, people would still keep an eye on him while expecting nothing, thus, they would be focused on his pathetic character and wouldn't suspect anything, and even if they do, they would only see him working hard, making him look more pathetic.
After all, Adam knew that the so-called platinum generation would be a bunch of haughty people.
*****
After that, the rest of their journey went rather smoothly despite the presence of the gigantic octopus-like monster. There were also a lot of flying monsters on the way, but the ship was faster than most of them.
Even so, the planet was on the verge of breaking apart, and it was just a matter of time before it disappeared.
'This is just the beginning… I can already see where all of this is going,' Adam thought to himself, knowing that this gigantic monster was certainly not the only one of its kind.
When they reached the other end of the planet, they could contact Haozu again. Of course, without Cristal's superior skills, communicating with Liu's ship wasn't even possible, and Adam knew this, but still, he didn't believe that it was necessary to point that out.
"Where are you know?!" Haozu asked in a panicking voice, as soon as Cristal managed to establish the communication.
"We will send you our location," Liu said, "we manages to find a ship, but we still need to be escorted. Some of us are quite traumatized by what happened these last few days.
Liu had already begun to act as Adam instructed. She talked like she was the one who was handling everything.
Of course, Haozu found that more believable than Adam's previous attitude.
"You found a ship? Well, as expected of you, Liu. Okay, we received your location," Haozu said, and he sounded impressed. "We will meet around here, and as soon as we leave this area, the imperial armada would escort us to the Empire."
"About that," Liu said, "the young Kepalta wants to meet with his parents, so is there a way to contact them?"
"Don't worry, they are already waiting for him," Haozu answered. "Your father too is waiting for you."
"I see," Liu said, then Haozu just nodded and terminated the transmission.
During all of that time, Adam and the others didn't say any words and just listened to Liu and Haozu's conversation.
Adam had already explained to Blanca what she had to do and hide her somewhere inside the ship along with the little dragon girl.
He knew what exactly he had to do when he arrived at the Empire to create the perfect image that would be the first phase of his plan.
This incident would certainly create some kind of buzz, but Adam knew exactly how to take advantage of that.
****
After a few hours, Adam and the others finally managed to meet with Haozu.
There was, of course, no time for small talks so they left the area as soon as Haozu made sure that Liu was safe.
After all, they had only a short amount of time to leave the area, because they were trying to bypass the monsters who were present all around the area.
These monsters were different from the ones who were on the planet, and like the gigantic octopus, they could move freely in space.
Haozu explained this and showed them the route that they needed to follow to avoid these monsters.
He said that it was highly probable that those monsters could intercept the ships even if they used hyper-speed, thus avoiding them was the best idea.
Without saying anything, Adam agreed with Haozu, knowing that these monsters evolved and adapted to the situation, making them extremely dangerous for every living being in this universe.
'How did that portal appear here in the first place?' He asked himself.
At that time, he remembered something that Rudeus said about the number of beings who wanted the tree fragments.
'If monsters could evolve and develop a certain level of intelligence, would it be possible for them to look for the tree fragments too?' He wondered, and once again, normal people didn't normally think about such a thing if they were in his situation.
These last few days changed Adam completely. He lost a part of his past self, but he gained something new.
At first glance, it appeared to be something good, but since he could only see things from his perspective, there were things that he missed.
Adam was no God, and he was not omniscient nor omnipotent, so there was no way for him to do everything, nor know the perfect answers to every question.
In the end, he only managed to survive and grow to that point because of luck, or so he believed. Of course, he was grateful for that, but such a thing wouldn't be enough from there.
'I need more knowledge and more power,' Adam reckoned, 'there is no turning back now.'
While he was thinking about that, he glanced at Liu, and he believed that his feelings for Liu, whatever their true nature was, wouldn't bring anything good to her.
He hoped that someday he would be able to just forget everything and talk to her honestly without thinking about monsters, superpowers, or the destruction of the world.
'Great power comes with great sacrifice huh… Well, this isn't even a sacrifice, is it?' Adam reflected on the true nature of his feelings. I was just fantasizing about a wonderful life with her…'
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