700: Golden Goose

Golden Goose

Date- 1 April 23211

Time- 08:58

Location- Sky Blossom City, Southern Watch military base

"Old man, are you kidding me right now?" I asked Lorenzo, hearing what he wanted from me if I lost the wager. 

"Nope, I am being serious. The people who sent 30 Card Emperors to assassinate you know they have failed in their mission, and you are still alive. The ring leader behind it has consulted a curse master to curse you to death from afar. Boy, the people after your life are way beyond your current capabilities. Even the royal family cannot afford to underestimate them. You need to start considering your safety and trusting your friends rather than spinning conspiracies about them in your head." Lorenzo lectured me. 

"Old man, you worry too much. Anna gave me this dummy ring. It can protect me from the SSS-Rank curse. So there is nothing to worry about." Saying that, I added, "So, I am giving you another chance to change what you want from me." 

"Kid, once they realize that cruse doesn't work on you, they will return to assassinating you using the old fashion way. And last time, it almost killed you. 

So, no, thank you. I will stick with my wager. Being your elder, I have to be wiser than you." Lorenzo did not change his stance. 

"..." I did not know how to respond to Lorenzo's words. Honestly, I don't understand why he is doing this?

This wager was a golden opportunity. He could ask anything from me, my shares of silver milk powder, my shares in the recently acquired array formation copyrights. Out of all the things he could ask me, he went ahead and asked something so cheezy. I didn't know what to make of it. 

I couldn't tell whether he was being genuine. Was there an angle here that I couldn't see? What is he up to? This had me on edge. I would have felt better if he had asked me to be the slave of the southern royal family if I lost the bet. That I could understand, but this old fossil acted out of character and proposed to increase my safety if he won the wager. Fuck this! 

"Boy, don't overthink it. You are the southern royal family's goose that lays golden eggs. We don't want to see you die young. We were hoping you could live a long life and keep laying golden eggs for us. That is all." Lorenzo elaborated on his reasons. Hearing them, I realized that the southern royal family planned to nurture me. Hoping that I will be their stairs to climb to prosperity. 

"That sounds more like you." This reason I was okay with. You use me. I use you. We mutually benefit from each other. That is something I can put my trust in. 

"Haha! Boy, I have never seen a kid as cautious about his feelings as you. I cannot help but wonder what led to such a change in your mentality." Lorenzo laughed. 

"Then you have not been to the slums of the Sky Blossom city," I said, defending my response earlier. 

"Nope, I have seen more orphans than you can count, but none of them were like you. You are different. The way you see the world is very different from how they see it. It may be because you are too mature for your age." Lorenzo's impression of me seems to have changed ever since yesterday night. He never showed this much care towards his relationship with me. He seems to have started valuing me as a human, no more than that, as his junior. I didn't know that showing talent in the field of array formation would gain me so much favorability with him. Otherwise, I would have done this much earlier.

"Okay, old man, enough. You said you had tracked the ring leader behind my assassination, and they have consulted a curse master to curse me. That means you know who wants to kill me. When were you going to tell me about this?" Hearing Lorenzo talk about me, I felt like a specimen strapped to a postmortem table. So I switched the topic to my assassination. I asked about the ring leader despite knowing that Sansa Baylor is behind this because I had gained this information through questionable methods, which I prefer to keep to myself. 

And also, if I don't ask them, they will get suspicious, seeing that I wasn't the slightest bit curious about people trying to kill me. This question was not only to stop Lorenzo from analyzing me but also to show him that I had no clue about who tried to assassinate me. 

"About that, it is top-secret. We cannot disclose any further information to you." Lorenzo clamped up as I expected him to. 

"Fine, I have my way to get the information." I did not bother to argue with Lorenzo and just left it there, leaving him wondering if I had the capability to get the information they knew. 

"Kid, no matter how reckless Anna is, even she will not share this information with you," Lorenzo said, thinking that Anna was my source. 

"When did I say that Anna is my source? Old man, don't underestimate me. I have my ways. What? You don't believe me. Like I care." Saying that, I couldn't help but snicker, imaging Lorenzo's face when he knows how much I know. 

 "Yeah, whatever. Boy, you only know to talk big. First the wager and now this. I am starting to wonder if you are a phony genius." Lorenzo spoke in disband. 

"Hahaha! I would love to watch you eat these words later. Ms. Ann, please be the judge of our wager." I asked Ann to judge the wager between Lorenzo and me. Who better than her? After all, she knew the entire context to how we got here. 

" My pleasure." Ann agreed to my request and asked, " Do you require anything to help you with the creation process of the cleansing array formation recipe?" 

"Nope, I don't need any." 

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