Entering Apocalypse in Easy-Mode

Maethion let out a chuckle that seemed to indicate amusement when he heard Clyde\'s words.

"I see you don\'t really like chatting with strangers. Do you have a problem with getting close to strangers?" Maethion said.

"Well, I don\'t know. The last time I remember, as soon as I trusted a stranger I received a stab in the chest and almost died," Clyde replied in a calm tone while looking ahead.

Maethion shrugged his shoulders. "You know, not everyone is that bad. You have to start opening up to other people or you will feel lonely."

Clyde snorted. "You don\'t need to worry about that. I\'m used to loneliness."

Maethion stared at Clyde for a long time. His eyes behind the glasses seemed to want to examine more about Clyde. There was a curious glint that had always been there when Maethion looked at him.

All of that is of course because of the precognition he got. Maethion saw the faintest glimpses of what would happen in the future and of course, he wanted to see for himself the characters who played a key role in that event.

"Are you going to carry on such pleasantries?" Clyde doesn\'t seem comfortable here anymore.

"Ah, why are you in such a hurry? You don\'t really want to do anything, do you?" Maethion said accompanied by a smile.

"I want to practice. I\'d better do that if you still don\'t have anything important to say."

Clyde was about to get up from the chair but Maethion stopped him.

"Alright," Maethion said as he spread his arms towards Clyde. "Sit down. Let\'s talk."

So Clyde complied. He sat back in his seat and looked at Mathion with demanding eyes.

"So, you want your sword back, right?"

Clyde didn\'t answer because he was sure Maethion already knew the answer to that question.

"I can help you get it but I need time."

"What do you want for that?" Clyde asked.

"What do you mean?"

"What\'s the price?"

"Nothing. Let\'s just say I did it because I wanted to be your friend," Mathion said with a smile on his face.

What he saw in the Elf made Clyde wince in disgust.

Maethion laughed at Clyde\'s reaction. He looked genuine as if Clyde\'s expression really amused him.

Yet Clyde didn\'t care about that and kept focusing on what topic they were talking about now.

"I can\'t believe you would do it for free. That sounds even fishier to me," said Clyde in a tone that he kept as even as possible even though he held back a bit of annoyance in his chest.

After all, Maethion is a Senior Council and he doesn\'t want to upset him. Even though his words might not sound very friendly.

"Alright. I\'ll ask for your help later. But for now, I still don\'t need anything," Maethion said.

Clyde was still looking at him with a look of suspicion. But Clyde chose not to demand too loud an answer.

Clyde knew Maethion must have an agenda of his own. But for now, the time is still not suitable for him to do anything. 

He must have planned everything accordingly, he won\'t tell anyone about his thoroughly planned agenda to minimize risk.

Clyde, who knew that he would face some kind of tribulation from that debt in the future could only sigh. It can\'t be helped, Clyde knew he must continue to experience problems to reach his goals.

"I will retrieve your sword from the special storage room. I have seen it. It is a good sword," said Mathion. "There is another power there. How did you get it?"

Clyde shrugged his shoulders. "I got it at the Selection Stage. You should know the rest of the explanation about that."

Clyde tried to look as calm as possible like it was nothing big. 

While in fact, he knew that Maethion must be talking about the Demonic power in the Elderglass Sword. A power that he got from a special deal with a Demon Duchess. But Maethion didn\'t need to know about that. 

Maethion stared at Clyde for a few moments. His eyes were sharp as if he wanted to break open Clyde\'s head and see with his own eyes what he thinking right now. Or what secret does he hold? 

But then Mathion only sighed. He decided to believe in Clyde because his explanation did make sense. 

He can get everything at the Selection Stage. Even though the kind of power he felt from that sword was something too strong to be in the Selection Stage, it was possible.

"Oh and one more thing," Clyde said. "I heard that this entire place is overseen by the Senior Council. Is that true?"

"Yeah." Maethion nodded briefly, confirming. "Why? You feel nervous because we are always watching you?"

"Of course," answered Clyde.

"In that case, I will stop monitoring you. There\'s a device that allows us to monitor everyone in this Fortress so when I enter the settings into the device, it will immediately stop monitoring you."

"Rather than me," Clyde said. "I need you to drop the surveillance on Hammer."

Hearing that, Maethion frowned in puzzlement. "The Dwarf Blacksmith? Why?"

"I have my reasons," said Clyde. "How about it? Can you do it?"

Maethion didn\'t answer right away because he was still thinking about why Clyde would ask such a thing. It\'s not a big thing so there\'s no reason to reject it. He was only confused about the reason behind the request.

"I can do it," Maethion said. "And don\'t worry. I\'m not going to put it on the list of favors you ask of me. It\'s not something big."

Maethion smiled at him. If Clyde didn\'t know any better he would have believed that Maethion wanted to be friends with him. But he knew that this bespectacled Elf was a cunning one, so Clyde just snorted.

"Thanks. At least I should," said Clyde. "That\'s all I wanted to talk to you about."

Clyde immediately stood up from the chair without waiting for a reply from Maethion.

"You don\'t want to talk a little bit. longer?" Maethion asked.

"No."

After giving that short, cold-sounding reply, Clyde walked away without turning around once. He didn\'t even turn his head or glance at Maethion anymore.

"Haha," Maethion let out a bitter chuckle. "That brat is interesting. He doesn\'t look scared even after knowing I\'m the Senior Council."

Maethion is increasingly convinced that in the future Clyde will indeed become a figure with great influence.

~~~

"Wake up."

A voice forced Asqa to open her eyes. She knew that voice by heart because no other voice had that much power in this place.

Asqa immediately pushed her body to get up. But the stinging pain from the wounds all over her body forced Asqa to fall back on the bed.

"Argh..."

Asqa let out a groan full of pain. She also grimaced adding to the impression of pain getting worse.

Uriel who saw her said. "Just lie down. It\'s okay."

"I\'m sorry, Your Majesty," Asqa said. "We failed. And... and... they all died."

Asqa tried to put on an expression as sad as possible. She even started to shed tears and looked quite natural with it.

"It\'s not your fault," said Uriel. She gritted her teeth, holding back the anger that was boiling in her heart. "Tell me, what exactly happened there?"

So Asqa began to tell about what happened in the Ruin. 

She didn\'t need to lie too much because basically, she couldn\'t do anything meaningful apart from observing. 

So Asqa just tells what she saw and adds some small details to strengthen her lie. 

She had thought about all of that since returning from Ruin so Asqa could deliver an almost perfect lie.

"That man took me away from the rest of the party. He almost killed me if Alessio didn\'t come on time," said Asqa.

Uriel gritted his teeth tighter. Even now her fists tightened until the veins in her hands bulged.

"And then?" Uriel asked as if with great difficulty after trying so hard to quell her anger.

Asqa proceeds to tell everything about how the rest of her party members were annihilated by a mysterious group that suddenly came.

Asqa didn\'t say anything about Clyde doing it himself. At least for now. 

Asqa knew the Archangel had a special interest in Clyde just as she and Sonya came out of the temple-like building. Archangel Uriel immediately put on a confused face when he didn\'t see Clyde with them back then. 

Asqa knew that this Archangel could do something dangerous to Clyde so she decided to hide anything about him for now. Until she knows what is the reason that makes Uriel interested in him.

After telling it Asqa saw Uriel turn her face to the other side. Asqa saw that there was a fire burning in her eyes and seemed to burn anything she looked at.

That sight made her swallow hard and feel scared because she had lied. If the Archangel knew she had lied to her... Asqa didn\'t even want to imagine what kind of sentence she would receive.

"Are you aware of anything to identify them?" Uriel asked.

Ashka shook her head. "I only saw how they fought, Your Majesty. There are six of them and they are very strong."

She decided not to completely cover it up. Or it will look suspicious.

"Who exactly are they?" Uriel muttered to herself. Then suddenly her eyes narrowed as if remembering something. "Could it be... It was them?"

Asqa gulped upon hearing that. \'Does she know about them?\'

~~~