THEATRE OF WAR (1)

[A few days earlier…]

"WHAT do you think, Ruto?" Neoma asked Ruto— not as her lover but as the veteran commander of an army. "Is my plan feasible?"

"It's not," Ruto said bluntly. "Asking for other people's permission isn't your style, Neoma."

"Hey, I still have my manners."

"Is my divine father the type of person who deserves your politeness?"

"Well, I still need the owner's permission if I want to use his house, right?"

"I am the successor of the homeowner," Ruto said. His face was blank, but his voice was a bit playful than normal. "You can just ask for my permission."

"You're just a successor for now— you don't own your father's properties yet."

"Except I do. Not everything, but a huge part of it," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I even own a vast, empty land in the "countryside" of the Upper World."

Hmm?

There was only one place like that in the Upper World.