Seed of Titan-Chapter 178: The Four Velles Elders

Drai and Max sat comfortably with bulging bellies on the luxurious chairs. On the table before them, all the refreshments had been swept clean. Drai wasn’t usually keen on sweets, but since his sweet tooth had been mostly neglected for weeks, his appetite for the now-demolished cakes and pastries was rather insatiable. And Although Max had gone without such treats for much longer, he held back and ate roughly the same amount as Drai.

At that moment, approaching footsteps echoed across the sitting room. Shortly after, four elderly figures entered, followed by the butler from earlier, Walter, who had hurriedly left to fetch the lords and ladies of the estate after he was woken up by Max from his sudden collapse. His complexion seemed to have improved greatly, as he looked much brighter now.

The four elders, two men and two women, stopped a few meters away from the chairs. They silently stood there with varied and mixed expressions—their gazes fixed on Max, who was just getting up.

Meanwhile, upon scanning these elderly, Drai could summarize his first impression of them with one word: dignified. Despite their ages, Drai found that they all had this aura that he had seldom witnessed throughout his life. If he were to make a comparison, each of them felt like a different version of Zar, minus the mischievous glint usually displayed in the rector’s small eyes.

Just then, the frontmost elder spoke up, his voice deep and coarse. "Max, have you really returned to us?"

With a small grin, Max replied, "Yep. By the way, you look a lot worse than I remember, Freddy."

Suddenly, one of the elderly women lunged forward and hugged Max, who seemed surprised but still patted her back.

"Where have you disappeared to, Maxie? Why didn’t you reach out to us? And why didn’t you return sooner?" she sobbingly asked.

"I-I’m sorry, Penny... It’s complicated..." Max said, his face tinged by guilt.

"Calm yourself, dear. I’m sure Max didn’t have a choice, otherwise he wouldn’t stay missing all this time," the other woman said with a concerned look.

"Reina’s right, Penelope. Let’s hear what he has to say about this before making any conclusions," the last elder added.

Still sobbing faintly, Penelope nodded and finally released her embrace. But before stepping away, she stroked her youngest brother’s rough cheeks and smilingly whispered, "Welcome home, Maxie."

Max simply smiled back. Following this, they all took a seat on the nearby chairs, whereas Walter left, leaving his masters to their shocking reunion.

Surrounded by all these imposing people who were decades older than him, Drai fidgeted awkwardly, wondering if he should just excuse himself and leave the table. However, before he could make up his mind, the elder who had spoken up first earlier, Frederic, turned to him and said, "Drai Varz, right? Walter has informed me about you. You’re the one who defeated all those golems during Auri’s first venture, correct?"

"Uhm, I didn’t really defeat all of them, but yes, I think I played a significant part," Drai replied, still quite restless.

"Oh? Is this the boy Auri always eagerly talks about during her calls, Dear?" Reina cheerfully chimed, her eyes scrutinizing Drai.

"I believe so," Frederic replied before speaking to Drai again. "I hope you can spare some of your time after this, young man. My son and his wife would love to meet you." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Sure, but why would they want to meet me?" Drai questioned.

"They’re Auri’s parents. I think that explains enough," Reina answered, visibly gleeful.

"Oh, okay," Drai said, still not really getting their point. Inwardly, he sighed, regretting not excusing himself earlier. He felt he had missed the proper timing, and now it would be rude to suddenly ask to leave.

On the other hand, Max, who had been eavesdropping the conversation, mentally cheered. Even without his initiation, the gears had been put into motion, and now he just had to make sure nothing went awry.

"Ahem. Can you begin, Max? We may look free, but we actually left a lot of work behind just to welcome you," the other male elder said, causing the rest of the elders to furrow their brows as they eyed him.

Penelope seemed particularly irked by his remark, as she immediately scolded, "Shut it, Luther! How are your business deals and board meetings more important than meeting our long lost brother? Shouldn’t you be ecstatic to see him?"

"Come on, Penelope. I’m happy to see Max, but still, it’s improper for us to neglect the family businesses on a whim—our people’s livelihoods are directly tied to them," Luther replied calmly. "Besides, why the rush for catching up? Our youngest certainly won’t leave the estate again, at least not for a while. Am I right, Max?"

Max nodded. "Yeah, you’re not wrong. I think I have to lay low for some time before appearing in public. You guys might also have to contain the news of my return for now."

Having said this, Max glanced at Drai, who gave him a knowing look. Drai understood this was part of Max’s plan to further widen the time gap between their escape and return, attempting to lower the Organization’s suspicion.

Meanwhile, the elders exchanged glances, clearly intrigued by Max’s words.

"Why is that, Max? Is it related to your disappearance?" Frederic questioned.

"Do you really have to lay low, Maxie?" Penelope also asked. "I think we should hold a big celebration for your return. Some of your old close friends still occasionally visit us from time to time. I’m sure they’ll be delighted to know that you’re alive and well, Maxie."

"These questions can wait. Just start by telling us what happened to you during all these years and how ended up returning with Auri’s friend here," Luther said.

The other elders fell quiet, seemingly agreeing that what Luther mentioned was the most crucial and puzzling matter.

"Alright," Max said before taking a deep breath, recalling the story he had fabricated beforehand. "So, after I ventured into Siyeun Mountains, I was attacked by a bird on a cliff..."

Drai quietly sipped his drink as he listened to Max’s story that he had fully memorized. Following the bird’s attack, Max told them that he blacked out for who knows how long until he finally woke up in an unknown land without any recollection of his past or identity. In short, Max pretended to have suffered from post-traumatic amnesia.

Max’s "recollection" continued with him befuddledly roaming the unfamiliar land for days before a band of unknown mercenaries picked him up. With his memories gone, Max ended up staying with the band, which turned out to be part of a much larger group, and was put to work in various sites, mostly involving material gathering.

Fast forward to nearly three decades later, Max was still moving around for work but now supervised numerous workers. But despite his years of servitude to the group, Max couldn’t occupy a position of real power due to the lack of required credentials. However, he was still highly regarded by many of the higher-ups due to his character and boisterous personality.

A few months ago, his memory suddenly returned, causing a heated discussion among the higher-ups about whether to release him or keep him under control for confidentiality reasons. The debate never reached a conclusion, and one day, Max was presumably drugged and taken away. And upon waking up, he found himself inside a vast cave system that housed terrifying beasts and plants he had never thought to exist before.

At this point, Penelope and Reina were holding their breath in suspense. Meanwhile, Frederic and Luther merely furrowed their brows in silence. On the other hand, Drai gave Max two thumbs-ups in his mind for the masterful storytelling.

"It was there that I eventually met Drai. Long story short, it took us about two months to escape and return to the surface. We also picked up a beast companion on the way, who we named Horsie because, well, he’s like a horse. You can find him outside—we left him there. Afterward, we trekked through the country and finally arrived here after briefly stopping by Drai’s house. Unfortunately, his parents were gone. That’s why I brought him here."

"Your parents are gone? Is it because of the attack on the academy?" Reina asked as she turned to Drai.

"I think so," Drai replied. "I don’t know why, but I seem to have caught the eyes of the Crimson Order."

"The Crimson Order? Is that their name?" Reina asked again.

Hearing this, Drai and Max looked at each other, perplexed.

"What’s wrong?" Frederic asked upon noticing their expression.

Max was the one who answered. "I thought the perpetrators would’ve long been known by now. Is that not the case?"

Frederic shook his head. "No. We only know that it was done by some kind of criminal group, although I’ve heard some eyewitnesses say that several intruders had mentioned the word ’order’ in multiple occasions. I thought they were just being fanciful in referring to themselves or that the word was actually referring to a ’command’. I didn’t expect that it was actually part of their group’s name."

"But how come you two knew about this?" This time it was Luther who was asking.

"Zar was the one who told me," Drai answered, which surprised the elders.

"If the info was from Zar, then it must be true," Penelope remarked.

Meanwhile, Reina instead asked excitedly, "Are you close to the rector, Drai?"

"Not really. I barely ever saw him before that incident."

Reina’s excitement instantly subsided, but she quickly followed up with a hopeful remark. "But at least he acknowledged your aptitude, otherwise he wouldn’t have entrusted you with that information."

Hearing this, Max chuckled and said, "If Zar didn’t acknowledge the lad, he wouldn’t have shoved him into the wilderness."

Penelope and Reina simultaneously gasped, whereas Luther asked, "Wilderness? You mean that cave system?"

"Yeah. After we got out, we discovered that the caves were actually part of Shadowfen Caverns," Max said.

This time all four of the elders gasped. Their gazes automatically moved toward Drai as they wondered how such a young man was able to survive there before meeting Max.

After a momentary silence, Luther was the first to speak up. "So, regarding the group that you’ve been working for all these years, who are they? And where are their headquarters and activity areas?"

"Sorry, but that’s a secret," Max flatly replied.

Luther and Frederic raised a brow, with the latter reconfirming, "Secret?"

"Yeah, since I’m indebted to them," Max replied. "I don’t know whether I was left to die by the ones who wanted me to stick around or if I was released by those who wished that I could return home, but regardless, I won’t speak a word of their identities or any other compromising details. I hope you all understand."

Max’s firm statement silenced the elders, who didn’t seem too keen to press the issue.

A few moments later, Luther stood up and said, "Since we’re mostly done here, I’m returning to my office. We’ll catch up later, Max." He then left the room without waiting for a reply.

"Sorry for that, Maxie," Penelope said. "Luther hasn’t been quite the same ever since Catherine passed away."

"What?! Cathy is dead?!" Max exclaimed in shock.

"Sshh!" Reina quickly shushed. "Don’t ever bring this up in front of Luther, or he’ll be enraged for hours, if not days. You know how much your brother loves Catherine."

Max silently lowered his head, clearly dejected by the news.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid I have to leave too," Frederic said as he stood up. "As Luther had bluntly pointed out, many lives depend on us. Drai, as our honored guest and a close friend of Auri, please feel free to make yourself at home. Max, we’ll talk more later when I’m free." He then turned to Reina and said with a wink, "Dear, accompany our young guest, would you?"

Shortly after Frederic had left, Reina also stood up and muttered, "Ah, if only a dashing young man were to walk me outside, I’d be utterly pleased and grateful."

Like a deaf man, Drai remained seated, blissfully enjoying his drink.

It took a few fake coughing fits from Reina and a couple of nudges from Penelope’s foot before Drai got the hint and left the room with a giggling Reina, leaving Penelope and Max to their own, with the latter still looking mournful.