Realm Lord
Chapter 174: What May Come

Chapter 174: What May Come

Arthur and Aziel exchanged bewildered glances across the sterile room space, their eyes meeting in shared confusion before slowly turning back toward Cara, who remained hunched over her paperwork. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting harsh shadows across their faces as bewilderment continued to plaster their expressions like a mask they couldn’t remove.

Arthur was the first to break the suffocating silence that had settled over the room like a heavy blanket. His voice carried a genuine note of perplexity as he spoke, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "Famous? Why would we be famous?" He gestured vaguely between himself and Aziel, his hands moving with uncertain motions. "We like to keep a low profile, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that people don’t know who we are."

Aziel nodded vigorously in agreement with Arthur’s statement, his hair catching the artificial light as he bobbed his head. The motion was almost mechanical, as if he were trying to convince himself as much as anyone else in the room. His usual demeanor showed cracks of uncertainty, the confident face he typically wore beginning to crumble at the edges.

Cara released a long, weary sigh that seemed to come from the depths of her soul. The sound filled the room as she finally looked up from the documents that had been consuming her attention. Her eyes, tired and somewhat resigned, met theirs with a mixture of sympathy and something that looked disturbingly like pity.

"Sadly, that’s not usually how it works," she said, her voice carrying a certain type of weight to it. The words hung in the air like a death sentence, heavy with implications that neither Arthur nor Aziel could fully grasp yet.

Both young men raised their eyebrows in perfect synchronization, their confusion deepening at her somber tone and cryptic words. The atmosphere in the room seemed to shift, becoming more oppressive as they waited for her to continue. Arthur could feel his heart beginning to beat faster, a premonition of bad news settling in his chest like a cold stone.

Cara took a moment to collect her thoughts, her fingers drumming against the table surface in a nervous rhythm before she began to speak again. Her voice took on the cadence of someone delivering unwelcome news, each word carefully measured and deliberate.

"You had to give an account of all the events that took place during your first time in the realms to the academy, correct?" The question was more of a statement, delivered with the certainty of someone who already knew the answer but needed confirmation nonetheless.

Arthur felt his throat constrict as he swallowed hard, the simple action suddenly requiring tremendous effort. "Uh... yeah," he managed to croak out, his voice barely above a whisper. The memory of that debriefing session came flooding back – hours of detailed questioning, forms to fill out, every moment of their journey scrutinized and documented.

Cara’s expression grew even more grave as she continued her explanation, her words cutting through the air like a blade. "Well, usually when someone has a rather eventful first trip or seems to have any marketing potential whatsoever, their so-called private files get leaked to the public whether they like it or not." She paused, letting the weight of her words settle before adding, "Granted, many would do it themselves – I mean, most people would kill for that kind of fame. But in any case, the bottom line is that to them, they don’t care whether or not you want it. You’re getting it regardless."

Arthur and Aziel’s eyebrows scrunched together in even deeper confusion than before at her proclamation. The lines on their foreheads deepened as they processed the implications of what she was telling them. Arthur felt as though he were trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing, each new piece of information only making the picture more distorted.

"W-what? Why?" Arthur stammered, his voice cracking slightly under the strain of his mounting anxiety. The question escaped his lips before he could stop it, raw and desperate for understanding.

Cara sighed once more, the sound seeming to echo in the small space around them. When she spoke again, her voice carried a bitter edge that spoke of personal experience with the system’s corruption. "Money," she said simply, as if that single word explained everything. "You’ll learn very soon that the number one priority of most top guilds and the government isn’t the protection of humanity or the completion of all seven realms... it’s money."

She leaned forward slightly, her eyes intense as she continued her explanation. "If they make heroes out of you and make you famous whether you like it or not, somehow or another, you’ll be making them money. Merchandise, sponsorship deals, appearance fees, documentary rights – the list goes on and on. You become a commodity, not a person."

Arthur felt a pit forming in his stomach at her words, a cold, churning sensation that made him feel slightly nauseous. Deep down, he realized, he had always known this truth. It had been lurking in the back of his mind like a shadow, but hearing it spoken aloud made it impossible to ignore any longer.

But suddenly, in the midst of his somber thoughts, he realized something that made his eyes light up with newfound curiosity. His head snapped upward, facing Cara with renewed interest as a question formed in his mind.

"Wait..." he said slowly, his voice gaining strength as he spoke. "If that’s the case, then why aren’t we famous? I don’t mean to sound cocky or anything, but the fact is, like you said, we might have had the most eventful first trip to the second realm in human history. So if what you say is true, our files should have been leaked rather quickly, correct? So why haven’t they been?"

The question hung in the air between them, loaded with implications that none of them fully understood yet. Arthur’s mind was working overtime, trying to piece together the inconsistencies in what he was being told.

Cara chuckled softly, but there was no humor in the sound. It was a hollow laugh that spoke of things left unsaid and secrets kept in shadows. "That’s exactly what I was hoping you would tell me," she said, her voice carrying a note of genuine curiosity mixed with concern.

She leaned back in her chair, the old leather creaking under her weight as she studied both young men with renewed interest. "The only way to make something like this happen – to keep your files from being leaked when they should have been front-page news – is if you had very good friends in very... very high places."

Arthur tilted his head in confusion, his mind racing to try and understand what she was implying. The pieces of the puzzle were still refusing to fit together in any way that made sense. "But sorry to say, neither of us have any such friends," he said, his voice carrying a note of helplessness. "We’re nobody special, As far as anybody should know right now we’re just your average new chosen."

Cara leaned back slightly, her expression growing more serious as she considered the implications of what Arthur had just told her. The silence stretched between them for several long moments before she spoke again, her voice carrying a weight that made both young men shift uncomfortably in their seats.

"Then maybe someone is looking out for you for reasons still unknown," she said carefully, each word chosen with deliberate precision. "Which I’m afraid might be worse than just having your files leaked to the public."

Arthur felt a chill run down his spine at her words, his body coiling slightly as if preparing for some unseen threat. The implications of what she was suggesting were far more terrifying than simple fame or publicity. Aziel, who had been quietly absorbing the conversation, finally spoke up, his voice carrying a note of barely controlled anxiety.

"Uhhh... how?" he asked, the simple question loaded with all the anxeity and confusion that had been building up inside them throughout their conversation.

Cara raised her left eyebrow as she sighed deeply, the expression making her look older than her years. When she spoke again, her voice carried the weight of someone who had seen too much of the world’s darker side, someone who understood how power truly worked in their society.

"Well, it just means that there is someone very high up in the power structure who will be coming to collect something you don’t even know you owe them one day," she explained, her words cutting through the air like a knife. "And chances are, you won’t be allowed to decline when that day comes. Debts to people with that kind of power and influence aren’t the kind you can simply walk away from."

The office fell silent once again, but this time the silence was different – heavier, more oppressive. It was the kind of silence that comes when people realize they’re in far deeper trouble than they ever imagined, the kind that makes you question every decision that led you to that moment.

Arthur and Aziel sat frozen in their chairs, processing the full implications of what Cara had just revealed to them. They started with seeking simple answers about their privacy, but instead, they had stumbled upon something far more dangerous – the realization that their fate might no longer be entirely their own.