Seed of Titan-Chapter 215: Cards on the Table

"What else? You go back and be a good soldier, while I do my personal investigation. Like you said, you can’t do much to help. I just wanted you to be aware of that guy coming for us, though it’s unlikely that he’ll go for you while you’re in the base," Max said before gulping from Drai’s cup again and returning it two-thirds empty.

Finishing the rest of his coffee, Drai pondered, ’If that guy is acting under his group’s orders, he won’t go as far as killing me. But I’m sure the Order wouldn’t have given him such a meaningless mission like the one he did in the Velles estate, so does that mean the infiltration was his own initiative? Wait, maybe they’ve caught wind of me staying there and sent him to confirm that or even abduct me. If that’s the case, surely he’ll be punished for failing the mission, right?’

Before Drai could settle his thoughts, a voice he knew pulled him back to reality.

"My, what are you doing here, Private Drai?"

Drai turned his head and saw Blaise standing there, along with three other people who Drai didn’t recognize. But after inspecting their uniforms, Drai realized none of them were privates like him.

"So he’s our latest special recruit? He does look shabby like you said, Lieutenant," the young man with a chin scar remarked, prompting the other two unknown men to nod.

"Looks hardly matter though," one of the nodding two added. "I heard he was the one who caught the man behind the recent killings, so he must be more capable than he looks."

"But didn’t he get detained because of that? There must be something fishy about the whole situation," the last one mentioned. "Do you know what exactly happened, Lieutenant?"

"No, the details pertaining to the incidents are strictly confidential. The only thing I know is that the General had to personally come and bail out his new troublemaker," Blaise said while smirking at Drai, clearly vindicated because his words during Drai’s interview had been proven true in just a week.

Drai remained silent. He didn’t want to create trouble for Max, who was trying hard to conceal his presence despite being annoyed by these rude newcomers.

Yet, trouble seemed to find its way regardless, as Blaise had just approached Max and rested an elbow on his wide shoulder.

"And who are you? Aren’t you too old to play with kids? You’re not Drai’s father, are you? His parents should still be missing," Blaise said with a hint of mockery.

"Piss off," Max simply gruffed.

"Whoa, chill, I was just asking since you look really suspicious with those sunglasses. Wait—is that a fake beard too?"

Upon Blaise’s signal, his men immediately came and surrounded Max.

Drai hurriedly interjected, "Wait, Lieutenant, I can explain—"

"No need," Blaise cut off. "Your friend here is shady enough for us to bring back and interrogate. And you’ll be coming with us too, Private."

"Do you know who you’re messing with?" Max suddenly said.

"If I knew, I wouldn’t have to interrogate you, would I?" Blaise replied sarcastically, unfazed by the stranger’s cold and threatening tone.

In response, Max rummaged his suit’s pocket, causing the officers to ready themselves for a fight. However, he soon pulled out a small, shiny card that instantly caught their attention.

"Is that what I think it is?" one of them muttered.

"I’ve only seen one in real life twice, but I think it’s real," another one chimed in.

While the others merely eyed the card, Blaise decided to snatch it from Max and inspected it closely. It only took a few seconds for him to gasp before stammering, "I-It’s real... W-Why does this guy have Sugar Garden’s platinum card? There’s supposed to be fewer than a hundred people who possess one in the whole country..."

Hearing the lieutenant’s confirmation, his three subordinates naturally slid back, attempting to keep a reasonable distance away from the disguised man.

Noticing their retreat, Blaise blurted, "What are you doing?! He could’ve simply picked it up on a street or something! It doesn’t change anything!"

The three men found Blaise’s reasoning questionable, but they still complied and walked back to their target, albeit slowly.

Without a word, Max rummaged his pocket again, this time pulling out a black card with gold lettering.

"That too!?" Blaise exclaimed before unceremoniously snatching it too. Despite his best efforts to find any flaws, he came up empty.

"I-Is that really Bank of Atria’s Onyx card, Lieutenant?" the young man with a chin scar nervously asked.

"...Yes. But maybe he picked up an entire wallet—then it would make sense that he’s holding all these priceless membership cards! Just look at his calloused hands and rough face! Those are signs of a laborer, not an elite!"

Hearing this, Max shook his head and reached into his pocket again. The four men instantly turned quiet. Amid their apprehension, they also wondered what Max would pull out this time.

Drai also watched curiously despite not really knowing the significance of the items that Max had pulled out.

Eventually, Max revealed his hand to the uninvited guests, showing them a small badge pinched between his fingers.

Drai couldn’t see what the badge looked like, but upon seeing Blaise and his men frantically straightening themselves just from the sight of it, Drai deduced it was probably way more impressive than the last two.

"Please forgive our rudeness, sir," Blaise immediately said while placing Max’s cards on the table. "I would never have expected such a distinguished gentleman would spare his precious time for a lowly private. If I had known—"

"Enough. Leave us," Max curtly gruffed.

After bowing repeatedly in apology, the four officers scurried away through the stairs, probably leaving the coffee shop altogether.

Pocketing his items, Max remarked, "Your days must be really miserable if everyone there is just like those slimy bootlickers."

"It’s been alright actually. Those guys are but a minority, and that lieutenant in particular seems to have a personal beef with special recruits like me."

"That’s good to hear. If that’s not the case, I might just complain to Alancho."

"Eh? Have you two met?"

"Only once and briefly, but after that, I’ve been in contact with him to discuss matters related to the upcoming election."

Drai knew there was no use asking for the details, so he instead asked, "What’s that thing you pulled out last? Those guys didn’t even bother questioning its authenticity like they did with the cards."

"Oh, it’s Alancho’s family emblem. It’s a badge version that he occasionally gives out to his trusted associates."

"Welp, no wonder they reacted like that. They wouldn’t want Uncle Alancho spanking their haughty asses. But how come he gave you that? You’ve really become a trusted associate in such a short time?"

"Not really, I’m more like a future trusted-associate. Him giving me the badge is related to the matters we’re discussing."

Since their conversation hit a wall so quickly, Drai couldn’t help but sigh before saying, "Is there anything else you want to tell me or talk about before I get back? I can’t stay out too long—today’s my turn to cook dinner."

"Dinner, huh? That reminds me of the stuff you made back then. Honestly, I kinda miss it. Hey, how about we camp again in some wilderness once everything’s resolved?" Max eagerly asked.

"Sure. After getting a taste of Siyeun Mountains, I kinda want to see other forbidden wilderness too. I think we should start with Shadowfen Caverns since we used it for our fake story."

"I didn’t actually mean forbidden ones, but I guess we could try. But just so you know, I’ll probably kill you if I actually get stuck there for years again."

After chuckling a bit, Drai mentioned, "If I ever meet Zar again, I’ll ask if he wants to join us so he can portal us out just in case."

"With him, we might as well try exploring the forbidden continent across the ocean," Max suggested.

Recalling the mysterious distant land that no one had ever returned from, Drai smiled wryly. He didn’t think having Zar with them would help a lot with their survival chances there.

"And how’s your progress? Have you leveled up again after evolving?" Max asked.

"Not yet. I feel like my progress has slowed down a lot after leaving Siyeun Mountains, though I’m not sure if that’s because of my current environment, because I haven’t gone through another assimilation, or because the EXP requirement has increased a lot. Right, I’m planning to assimilate some special essence I’ve saved soon—I hope it’ll be enough to level up. My arsenal’s still pretty limited, so a couple of useful new skills would be nice."

"...I really should’ve recorded you saying that for future blackmail material. If anyone hears an teenage second-stager saying that, they’ll definitely look forward to giving you a refreshing beating," Max said while feigning annoyance.

Drai simply replied with a nonchalant shrug, thinking that he never asked for this unreasonable leveling rate.

"Well, I think that’s all for now," Max said. "I hope you get news of your parents and professor soon, lad. I’ll let you know if there’s any notable progress or any major setbacks in Auri’s recovery, also if I find any lead on our vengeful guy."

Soon, the two finally parted, leaving Drai to walk back alone with tonight’s dinner on his mind.

***