Chapter 95 - A Pointless Meeting

Someone knocked on the door.

Stealing his focus away from the finishing touches, Rynold turned around to greet whoever knocked. He was actually kind of surprised that somebody would be up this late into the night.

Opening the door, bright lights greeted him first.

Rynold immediately raised his hands to block his eyes from the sudden change in brightness. In contrast to his workshop, daytime was certainly bright and somewhat blinding to the unprepared. In which case, Rynold definitely didn't expect to see something so bright.

"God, that's bright," Rynold said as he inched ever so slightly back. Well, he still thought that it was the middle of the night, after all. So, it was understandable.

He moved back into the room and motioned to whoever was standing at the door to come in too. Being temporarily blind and all, there certainly wasn't any other choice.

Neana clicked her tongue as she saw what had become of Rynold the last time she had seen him.

"Did you stay up all night again?" she asked with a somewhat angry tone to her voice.

Rubbing his eyes and blinking, Rynold stared into Neana unknowingly and responded, "Isn't it still like the middle of the night? What's up with shining the light in my eyes all of a sudden?"

Raising her volume by a considerable degree, she started fully scolding Rynold, "What do you mean the middle of the night?! IT'S MORNING, GENIUS! I knew I should've kept an eye on you last night and made sure you actually slept. This isn't the first time you've done something like this."

"Alright," Rynold's vision slowly came back, "Alright. Geez, you don't have to yell, you know."

"I HAVE TO YELL!" Neana responded before letting out a deep sigh, "It's because you don't listen to me, you stubborn ass. Come on, let's get going. You don't want to keep people waiting, do you?"

Neana headed out the door without looking back at Rynold. He, on the other hand, had to finish one last thing before leaving. The project required a few more adjustments and additions to complete.

His hands moving swiftly like the wind, Rynold tapped and worked on the last few adjustments before grabbing it and putting it in his inventory. There was no way that he would leave the thing behind. Especially not when he was so eager to test it out.

Running out of the workshop and closing the door behind him, Rynold made sure that he actually locked it this time. He soon caught up with Neana, who was waiting for him on top of his personal floating platform.

Rynold noticed that Neana looked at him with disdain. Too bad, though, he didn't seem to understand what the look meant.

Boarding the platform, Rynold stood in silence while Neana started it up. As the platform whirred to life, the two departed for their destination in which only Neana seemed to know. Rynold didn't seem to mind handing her the reins, though, as he leaned on the railing and dozed off.

"We're here," Neana slightly nudged Rynold awake.

Opening his eyes and looking around, Rynold found himself at the residential area of the Tree. Being the new Lord, Rynold didn't necessarily have to spend time here. Well, not that he ever wanted to.

That was because this place didn't need his attention all that much. The residential district was where people mingled and went about their days. From a general point of view, Rynold didn't need to micro-manage every single person. He would have to be crazy for that to happen.

Parking the floating platform at the side, the two alighted and proceeded to go into the residential district.

With Neana leading the way, Rynold didn't really have to do anything. In fact, he was so calm that it appeared that he was sightseeing. It's nice to go on a stroll once in a while.

Navigating their way deeper and deeper into the residential district, the two soon stopped at a restaurant. The doors were closed, and it didn't seem like there was anybody inside. But, Neana went in, anyway.

Rynold entered the restaurant following Neana. It was then that he felt like he was transported into another world.

Apparently, the restaurant that Neana had booked for the meeting was very high class. It wasn't something that Rynold was used to. In fact, he was awestruck by the sudden change in the environment.

Neana was talking to the hostess, who directed them up to the second floor of the restaurant. From there, Rynold saw Oliver and Chris casually talking.

"You sure took your time," Oliver spoke as he saw Rynold come up from the stairs.

Still speechless, Rynold sat down at the table that they shared and continuously absorbed the environment. It took a full second for him to snap out of it.

"You know how much I hate fancy stuff, right?" Rynold faced Oliver and spoke.

Oliver chuckled and said, "Relax, man. It's just us. There isn't anybody else here. You can thank your secretary over there for setting this whole thing up."

Neana stared daggers at Oliver. And, just when she was about to start going on a rampage, Rynold stepped in and interrupted.

"I appreciate it and everything, but you didn't have to go through all the trouble," he patted Neana on the shoulder, "Besides, how did you even find this place?"

Calming down, Neana turned to Rynold and answered, "I had time to explore this place with Eileen when you were stuck in the workshop. People get bored of waiting for you to come out of the damn thing, so I decided to look around."

"Speaking of Eileen," Oliver continued, "Where is she?"

"Well, she found friends her age, and they've been hanging out ever since," Rynold answered as Neana started ordering food. "Cecil's with her, by the way, Chris."

Chris nodded and laid back in his chair, without a care in the world. Suffice it to say, Chris was able to trust his own brother without any problems. In fact, he encouraged Cecil to go out and venture on his own, mentioning that it was an important step in maturing.

"So, why did you set up a meeting? You could've just shown up in the penthouse whenever. There's no need to go out to a fancy restaurant to talk about business," Rynold got straight to the point. It was his style of getting things done in which Oliver was actually used to by now.

"Believe it or not, we actually just came here to eat," Oliver explained, "We had to come up with the excuse of having a super important meeting just to get you here. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come."

Rynold's face turned to one expressing his disappointment. "And who came up with this brilliant idea?" his voice full of disappointment.

"I did," Neana answered as she had just finished ordering, "You'd be surprised how easy it is to get you to do stuff. It's worth it as long as I can actually get you out of being in the workshop all day. Besides, I won't be able to afford this place if you're not here with me."

"You're kidding, right?" Rynold asked with sheer dumbfoundedness only to find that Neana's expression didn't change in the slightest. With a deep sigh, Rynold continued the conversation.

Seeing as how there wasn't really anything important to talk about, Rynold decided that he would at least mention something that required their attention.

"Leo talked to me last night," Rynold suddenly spoke. Neana gaze sharpened while Oliver was caught by surprise. Chris, well, he didn't seem to care all that much.

Rynold proceeded to explain what Leo had mentioned to him. Not only that, he managed to explain the whole ordeal in excruciating detail. He even added his own thoughts and analysis to the discussion. At that point, it was basically a whole audio report of the situation.

By the end of it, the group had a lot to think about. The situation turned rather serious, so much so, that even Chris paid attention.

"So here's where I'm at basically," Rynold decided to explain his stand on the situation. "On the one hand, I think it would be pretty fun to do something like that. I mean, it's not every day you get to upheave an entire governmental ruling and a royal line all in one go.

But, on the other, it seems risky. Call me crazy, but I don't fully trust Leo yet. Granted, going out of his way and actually explain something personal to me was a big step. However, the risks are still gigantic. It's not like we can abandon the mission as soon as things get hairy either."

"You're right," Chris surprisingly agreed, "I don't really know what you've got against the guy, but we can't abandon something like that once we accept it. And, it isn't something that you can easily finish either. Politics is just the most fickle thing to ever deal with."

"I say we go for it," Oliver spoke, eyes unflinching.