29 Aaron Williams

Thud!

The Paragon Knight Commander's eyes grew wide open upon seeing the enormous body of an Inugamin Winged Ravena lying on the ground in front of him while he stood at the entryway.

His eyes immediately focused on the individual responsible for throwing the hideous beast by his feet.

The yellowish liquid was oozing out from where it was shot, spreading in a spool around its lifeless body.

Its trail was evident along the bridge connecting to the palace.

Sweat trickled down Liam's face as he presented the beast to Theon.

His ragged breaths were only recovering from slaying the monsters and catching up to his squad in the way after the Inugamin Winged Ravenna attacked him and his squad as they neared the <Red Zone>.

"I must apologize, but the search for the Mana Beast's lair was in vain, Sir. Hostile monsters jumped at us on every front. Nonetheless, that one was the most significant of them all."

"This is... You have done well, Ronin."

Liam brandished a smile, masking the sneer that he would have displayed if he weren't in the presence of the Paragon Knight Commander.

"I am only doing my duty as a Captain, Sir."

"You have exceptional skills and talents, Ronin. The title of Captain doesn't seem to be enough."

Liam's brows furrowed as Theon's statement piqued his curiosity.

"What do you mean, Sir?"

"One of the Paragon Knight Commander had gone missing. The position is open and with your outstanding skillset, I think you would be an ideal replacement."

The word 'missing' woke Liam's detective senses, his instincts concluding that the disappearance of this certain Paragon Knight Commander had something to do with the untimely death of the princess.

'Is he the Paragon Knight Commander that I saw using Psychometry?' thought Liam.

"My apologies for asking, but how did he go missing, Sir?"

The Paragon Knight Commander hesitated, Princess Celestia's passing was directly related to his missing comrade's sudden evanescence.

They have prohibited every single detail about her death to be shared with anyone else by the Light King himself.

Considering a safe reply, Theon left his face expressionless.

"I wish I had the answer, Ronin. Unfortunately, I was only notified of his absence. The details regarding it are unknown to me."

'Heh, I think I do,' Liam thought, observing Theon's movement and the brief pause before Theon gave him a response.

Briefly recalling what he had seen when he had used <Psychometry>, Liam did not need Theon's answer.

However, he could note the abrupt break in the Paragon Knight Commander's speech.

That pause gave him away.

Liam was certain that the Paragon Knight Commander carefully thought of the latter's reply.

He was being cautious, or he might end up spilling anything directly related to Princess Celestia's death.

To Liam, it seemed that he and Theon were dancing around each other, both of them taking extra comprehensive measures so as not to reveal each of their secrets.

It was a dance Liam knew he would triumph.

* * * * *

Inside William's home, fourteen-year-old Aaron stealthily sneaked inside his parents' bedroom.

His mother was in the kitchen, washing the dishes while his father was trying to help.

In his estimate, he had twenty minutes to try relieving his insatiable curiosity and find something interesting on his father's laptop.

Leaving the door slightly ajar, Aaron tiptoed towards the bed where his father's work bag laid innocently.

Aaron snickered as he pulled out his father's laptop, the CIA symbol was stuck on its cover.

Tap... tap... tap… click...

At his young age, Aaron knew a few tricks to work around security passwords and hacking as an only child of a CIA agent.

The internet also offered quite an abundance of information to fill in the extensive knowledge he lacked, which Aaron used to his advantage.

Finally, opening his father's laptop, Aaron quickly glanced towards the door and listened intently for footsteps before he proceeded with his self-assigned goal.

Click... click... click...

Grinning, Aaron clicked on the file folder and immediately spotted the classified file.

"Bingo," he muttered, giving the door another glance.

Inside the classified folder was another set of folders named and organized alphabetically.

Aaron eyed each folder hungrily, reading each file's name, and decided to open one that would exceptionally pique his interest.

'XXX CLASSIFIED.'

"Huh," Aaron remarked, the name of the folder sending excitement all over his body.

Tap.. tap… tap…

After typing a certain code to get the file to open, Aaron placed a hand over his mouth, suppressing his gasp at what he was seeing and reading at that moment.

'Aliens? They are real? How come?'

It never crossed Aaron's mind that he would find such things in the classified folder on his father's laptop.

Continuing to read, Aaron felt more aghast!

The more he read, the more he felt that the information contained in the file should be known to the public.

After all, who knows, somewhere in the future, Aliens might invade Earth.

If the majority of the public knew of their existence, that would at least make a difference.

With that in mind, Aaron opened the browser and tried to copy the file to share it on some dark websites he visited often.

However, upon trying to copy, a red warning flashed before his father's laptop and before he could understand what was happening, the device shut itself down, leaving Aaron to stare at the dead screen.

Little did he know, his innocent curiosity led to a tragic ending for his entire family.

Clang!

The sound of metal against metal brought Aaron Williams back to the present.

He watched as the rest of the Paragon Knights shared a cup of ale, clinking the metal chalice as cat-looking humanoid palace maids served it for everyone.

A rowdy chorus of laughter and cheers surrounded Aaron as most of the knights camped outside the palace to have a few drinks and exchange tales.

It was in times like this when Aaron allowed himself to be aloof.

"You okay there, kid?"

Aaron instantly beamed upon seeing Liam, the person he had grown looking up to, second to his father.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Captain."

Liam was used to Aaron Williams' enthusiasm that seeing his somber expression was something he had not anticipated.

'Don't trust, Aaron Williams. He might be a teenager, but he's the first human from our batch for a reason. Have you ever thought about how many humans came here before us? Don't you think the government was hiding something from us?'

Yang Xiaoming's words echoed in Liam's head.

A while back, Liam briefly recalled a tiny piece of information regarding Aaron Williams.

He remembered his father, the CIA Agent he killed after the latter attempted to spread confidential information from the CIA's database.

The government listed Aaron's father to be executed discreetly and Liam didn't bother to dig deeper after the former admitted his wrongdoings.

Taking a sip from the drink, Liam took his time before he spoke up.

"Your mother is doing fine. If that's what you are sulking about."

Aaron's eyes suddenly opened broader.

He had never imagined Liam to know his parents since there were too many CIA Agents all over America.

What happened to his father was something Aaron tried to repent for every second of his life.

His family had gone broke, and they lost his father and everything his father had worked for in a blink of an eye.

At his young age, Aaron honed his hacking skills and coding to somehow earn money for the family.

So when he received the ciphered invitation, he grabbed the once-in-a-lifetime chance he had to slowly put his family's life back to normal.

However, the price to pay wasn't what he hoped for.

"I will elaborate all of it for you later. But now... congratulations on passing your quest on the first floor."

Liam offered his hand and Aaron unreluctantly shook it.

[Psychometry activated]