Chapter 17 : A Talk with Ara

Meanwhile, back in Meteor City, now it is Argo alone in the house, waiting for the children to wake up from their beds. The sun is still peeking at the horizon, so he didn't need to wake them up this early. However, to his surprise, he could hear the sound of the door opening, indicating some of them had already woken up from their sleep.

"Ara? Lami? You both wake up early. It is still dawn outside." He offered a glass of water to both kids.

"Thank you, big brother." Lami accepted the glass. "I am still having a nightmare and afraid that it is just a dream and we will wake up to scrap the food from trashcan to trashcan again." She answered meekly, her head hung in embarrassment. Argo nodded, could understand the girl's feeling right now.

"What about you, Ara?" The boy just shrugged at his question.

"I have already used to wake up this morning. I have to stay alert all night to protect Vera, you know?"

Once again, Argo nodded in understanding at his reasoning. He wouldn't give the boy pity though, because it was an insult for a survivor like him.

"Well, since you don't have to protect Vera in this house, how do you feel about starting your training now?"

What he said piqued the boy's interest as he snapped his head at him immediately.

"You are really serious about training us? Is there any reason for you to do that?"

Argo chuckled at the suspicious tone he caught from Ara.

"Well.. You can say that.." He sighed and leaned his body back to his seat. "Do you know that I grew up in this city as well?"

"Really?!" Now, not only Ara, but Lami also showed a curious face at his story.

"Yeah.. I grew up watching this place fall from a lively city to become this kind of hellhole." He chuckled more at the disbelief expressions on Ara and Lami's faces. "This city is not always this bad, you know? I remember how a lot of merchants come to open their businesses and started new lives here. But it changed eighty years ago when the Musia Kingdom, the Jade Forest, and the Hell Kingdom made a pact to turn this city into the worst place to live just like now.."

His gaze wandered far away, reminiscing the past that seemed to be yesterday for him. However, his thought was snapped by the surprised tone from Lami.

"Wait, big brother! You said eighty years ago?! Does that mean you are older than that?!"

"Yeah." He nodded his head. "Even though I look very young, I am eighty-eight years old right now. The only reason I can maintain my young appearance is because of my magic. If you are capable of using your mana, I would teach you about it. What do you think?"

He just let out a chuckle as he saw the dumbfounded nod from Lami. However, before they could say anything, Ara changed the direction of the conversation back to the main topic.

"You haven't said anything about your reason, Old Man." There, he could see the smirk formed on the corner of the boy's mouth. "You only tell us your background story, but not the reason why are you willing to train us. So, you tell us or not?"

There is a silence as Ara and Argo stare at each other before the latter sighed out loud.

"Cheeky little brat." He muttered lowly. "Well, I guess I can tell you my reason. It has always been my dream to make this city rise again to the top, and I cannot do it alone. I need people to do it, so why not train them since the beginning so they would have some sort of attachment to this city rather than gather a lot of incompetent people just to backstab you in the future?"

Once again, both kids in front of him have dumbfounded looks on their faces, completely speechless at what they just heard.

"You are nuts, Old Man.." Ara muttered after a few seconds of silence. "You think you can make this shit hole rise again? You will have a better chance to destroy the entire Musia Kingdom rather than to make your dream comes true."

Argo chuckled amusedly at the kids' ridiculous expressions. Of course, he knows it would be easier to flatten the Musia Kingdom and take it over than rebuild Meteor City. However, it would not be the same, as Meteor City, no matter how bad it is, still his hometown. The feeling of accomplishment would be different in the future.

"So, what?" Ara's voice snapped his thought again. "You want to manipulate us to think we would be willing to help you?"

"Sharp as always, boy. Yeah, that is basically the plan." He shrugged nonchalantly, finding no reason to lie. "But I wouldn't say manipulating, though. The better term is investing in your future. Admit it, if you don't meet me or stumbled upon my house, you would be dead right now, and if not, you would still find yourself and your sister scrapping through the trashcan just to eat, right? With me here, not only do you have my protection, but you also don't have to worry about food anymore. You have all the freedom to do what you can. The only thing I require is your loyalty. Do you think it would be better like that?"

Ara has no answer to his question. Even though he doesn't like to get manipulated like this, the benefit of staying here far outweighs the damage that could be done. And the most important thing is, Vera doesn't have to live in the street again.

"What if we betrayed you in the future?" That is one of the so many questions that linger through his mind since the beginning. "What would you do?"

He only received a single snort as the answer.

"Trust me, kid. The last thing you want is to betray our trust here. You know I have Vanda and Gavin as my companions, right?" Seeing the nod from the boy, he continued, "What you don't know is the fact that Vanda is the strongest elf in the century, and Gavin is the last remaining shadow demon in the world. You saw their capability. If you betray me, Gavin would find you in a second without you being able to hide. As long as there is shadow, there would be no place he couldn't infiltrate."

Ara gulped nervously at the image of Gavin chasing him down. He still remembers the feeling of his killing intent when they first met, and it left quite an impression on him. If anything, he wouldn't want to be on his bad side now. But to think he is just the subordinate of the man in front of him is quite unnerving. How strong is he?

"I am strong enough to march down to the Musia Kingdom right now and flattened it down to earth, kid," Argo answered his unasked question, startling Ara for a moment. "And no, I am not reading your mind. You are being quite predictable here."

Ara scowled at the smirk that could be seen on Argo's face.

"Then, why don't you just do that instead of rebuilding this city? It would be easier, right?"

"Because, if I do that, I would have to rule over the Musia Kingdom. No, what I want is to bring this city to the top again, to create a lively environment where everybody wants to live here. I don't expect you to understand me, because all your experience during your stay in this city is terrible. But I have experienced a lot of things here, from its good to its worse. And there is nothing I wouldn't do to make it happens."

Now, there is a completely dead silence in the room as Ara tried to digest what Argo just said. When both of them turned around, they all could see Lami falling asleep again in her seat, causing a chuckle from Argo.

"Well, think about it, boy. You have far more benefits from training with me now. You can tell me later when you have already decided what you wanted."

Argo stood up and raised Lami from her seat, leaving Ara alone, pondering about what he just said before.