The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "In Silence" by Janet Suhh - "It's Okay Not To Be Okay" OST (Instrumental only) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this scene ~ 

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Nedge laughed hard that his voice echoed through the whole silent room. He laughed at the top of his lungs and lifted his chin up towards the ceiling while holding his stomach and his back leaning on the couch. It took him a few minutes before he completely recovered from his laughter.

Bewildered by his sudden laughter, Zeid raised his eyebrows.

"What's so funny? Do you think I'm joking?" he scoffed.

"Haaaahhh … insane, huh?" Nedge ignored him, talking to himself as he stared at the ceiling. "Yes, that's what I need - 'insane people' - people willing to do what it takes no matter the cost".

"What are you mumbling about? Care to share?" Zeid pestered on.

Nedge then lowered his head and looked straight to Zeid, smirking.

"I've decided!" he shouted, "I'm taking you with me!"

Zeid's eyes widened for a few seconds, and turned into a frown. He didn't understand what was going on. He went there to hire Nedge, the greatest assassin of all time, in order to heighten the chance of their survival or at least help them sneak in undetected in the Floating Kingdom. With his unparalleled skills, he should be able to help eliminate immediate threats, and allow them passage until they reach Rania and rescue her. His great intel should be able to help gather vital information they need and - well, there's too many to mention. One Nedge was equivalent to the thousands of assassins and hundreds of information brokers he hired already! He was an army on his own! That's why he wanted him from the very beginning when he planned Rania's rescue. But then … he suddenly said that he's 'taking' him?

"What do you mean you're taking me?" Zeid asked after a moment of silence from all his thoughts.

Nedge stood up and slowly paced towards the blank wall on the far right corner of the room.

"Ever wonder why I left the 'dark world'?" he asked Zeid.

"There are many theories from the higher ups, but none is proven to be true".

"Heh! Of course they won't find evidence for their theories, that's my motto - 'What I've hidden, NO ONE can find'. If I hide information, no one can find it, and if I hide myself, no one can find me".

"I found you, though".

"That's because 'I' let you find me".

"And why is that?"

"Let's just say … I need 'insane' people".

"For what? And why did you leave the dark world?"

At these questions, Nedge sighed. He was now in front of the blank wall.

Turning his head sideways, he answered, "For my daughter …". Then, he pressed his right hand on the wall and suddenly, a blue light appeared, scanning his palm.

Zeid was surprised - first, because of his daughter that he never knew he had, and second, the hidden room beyond the wall!

He knew it was too good of a room to be just a simple office - if it was, there was no need for it to have great sound proofing. Turned out, there was a secret room across the blank wall. A door suddenly opened, with a long stairway leading down. It was amazing how there was no trace of the wall having a hidden room beyond it. Normally, you would see edges, or a hint of spaces in the corners of the hidden door but there was nothing. At the sight of it, Zeid thought that Nedge really did live up to his motto.

"Follow me, kid," Nedge gestured towards Zeid and they both went inside the secret room.

While walking down the stairs, Zeid asked, "So … did your daughter get kidnapped, too? By the Magi?"

"... Unfortunately … yes, she did," there was sadness and anger in his voice.

"... I see. So even the greatest assassin didn't stand a chance with them, huh?"

"The very first time I faced defeat, and it just had to be when my daughter's life was in the line," he gritted his teeth as he spoke. "But I'll get her back … no matter what! Like you, Mr. Loverboy. Heh!"

The stairs led towards a basement which was probably as big as a soccer field. There were lots of sections - some had all sorts of weapons and vehicles in it; some had unreleased technology with their engineers, as what they looked like, working on them; some had a couple of top-tier computers and a group of people, probably hackers, working on whatever they were working on; and some had a group of analysts with many large screens surrounding them, displaying various and top secret information. There were areas for eating, sleeping, relaxing, and other stuff most likely for his 'employees' if that's what he called them. And at the very far end was a large room which looked like his main office.

When Nedge walked in, one personnel per section followed behind his back. He didn't utter any words but they automatically stopped what they were doing and came after him. With a slightly different attire than the rest of their group, Zeid figured that they were probably the head or leaders of their groups. By the time they reached Nedge's 'real' office, there was an engineer, a hacker, an analyst, another assassin, a weapon specialist, with a couple of others that Zeid wasn't familiar with, behind them. And then there was him, a young, handsome, business tycoon and heir, who looked totally out of place amongst the grown ups who had decades of experience in the field despite his years of experience with the Black Organization. Truly, Nedge's personal team was a whole new definition of top notch.

Once inside, Nedge sat at the far end of a long, rectangular table. His team sat on the sides, on their respective places, leaving Zeid to sit at the other end of the table since it was the only vacant place.

"So, what's your plan, kid?" Nedge began, his team, still silent, but they turned their heads toward Zeid.

Still a bit hesitant if it was alright for him to be honest with them, Zeid still answered, "I … created a team of experts who would help us infiltrate the Floating Kingdom. They managed to create a suit that can camouflage, almost close to making a person invisible no matter what the surrounding is. It comes with a booster that can make someone fly high altitudes. So I'm thinking of using those to sneak into the base of the Floating Kingdom where a pile of rocks are. Since they have a barrier that surrounds the whole kingdom from above, we're gonna dig down below until we reach the surface and hide from the shadows. About the equipment for digging, I had them make a tool that can be used that produces the least sound and vibration so we can still dig undetected. I also gathered thousands of assassins as an army who would help us fight any Magi we could encounter and -"

"- Stop," Nedge interrupted him.

Zeid felt offended. He wasn't even done explaining. "I'm not even -"

"Your plan is a mess. You'll get detected in no time and you'll have your army killed in an instant".

"Urgh, and what does the mighty assassin suggest?" Zeid raised his eyebrows.

"First, you need to lose your thousand army".

"What?! But we need -"

"- It is in war that you need thousands of people, kid. And we're not going to war - we're going to 'infiltrate' and 'rescue' people. Big numbers will only merit unwanted attention. True assassins don't need numbers to succeed in their mission. So I suggest you lose them all and only hand pick a few who are willing to die like you".

"And how many are a few?"

"Twenty people should be plenty, depending on their skills".

"Are you insane?! Twenty people only? There's a bunch of Magi in there!"

"I just told you we're not going to war, kid. Are you thinking that once we arrive there, we're gonna kill them all? If that's what it is, then you don't need assassins! What you need is an army!"

Zeid was taken aback. He calmed himself and pondered about the things he said, weighing all other factors. At last, he sighed, seemingly accepting what he suggested but still not fully trusting on the idea.

"Sigh … And how do you plan to get inside?" he asked in a stern tone.

"Heh," Nedge smirked, "Bring him in," he ordered a nearby servant, waiting at the door.

As he commanded, the servants brought in a young man, chained up all over his body, from the neck, down to his feet. He had short and wavy ash grey hair and long eyelashes that were apparent since his eyes were closed. His face had a feminine beauty despite being a boy, and perfect proportions which was uncommon to young men. Zeid couldn't help but be wary of who this young man was.

"Stop pretending to be asleep, boy," Nedge told the young man who must have been just around 12 or 13 years of age. "And stop pretending to be weak as well. I know those chains are useless to you".

At these words, the young man smirked and stood up straight, as he opened his eyes to reveal an unmistakable and genuine grey color.

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