Life didn't get easier, even in another world

271 A plan

In the quiet room, sat four people looking at each other. More specifically, three people looking at the one sitting on the bed. Aaron, Claire, and Asa were all staring at Kairen who just finished talking.

“Is that... really your plan?”

Aaron asked hesitantly.

“Yes.”

“....”

“....”

“....”

The three people looked at each other once before turning to Kairen again.

“Are you being serious?”

.....

“Why would I not be?”

“Do you even know what you want us to do?”

“Yes, I am fully aware of it.”

“You want to knowingly send us to our deaths?”

Claire pulled her hair as she screamed.

“Who said you are going to die?”

Kairen retorted with a hurt expression.

“This plan is literal suicide! If we don’t know while we do the things you just said, we will get executed after everything ends!”

Kairen folded his arms as he strongly shook his head.

“The whole point of this plan is that you two don’t get punished or executed by SMF!”

“And why do you think they will let us go if we do the crazy thing that you just said?”

“Ahem!”

Kairen suddenly coughed and sat straight.

“Because you see, I’m really close friends with SMF’s commander of all!”

Kairen had a smug smile on his lips as he babbled nonsense.

“What?”

“Close friends with the commander?”

“I didn’t know that!”

Claire, Aaron, and Asa reacted at the same time. Seeing their faces, Kairen smiled and nodded his head.

“That’s right. This is a secret but we see each other quite a lot.”

“Oh?”

Claire raised an eyebrow.

“Is that why no one has come looking for you in the past ten days?”

“T-that... That’s because they are busy with the war and dealing with Philomns.”

Kairen avoided making eye contact with anyone in the room.

“But I’m sure they are searching for us right now!”

Well, they weren’t really friends and Kairen didn’t want to call that bastard a friend. He wanted to vomit right now.

But there was nothing else he could do. The commander had definitely said that he needed Kairen’s power and he also treated him in special ways. Kairen thought he could use that special treatment to his benefit. Maybe if he could talk to team leader Dains and the commander, and ask the team leader to talk to the commander, and then beg the commander maybe... he could persuade him to let his brother, a strong Philomns member, be free?

Kairen thought that was not impossible. His brother hadn’t done anything that would directly harm people or SMF agents. He didn’t even fight them properly. He also revealed some of their plans and helped them out a lot. Kairen was sure that the commander knew about what Aaron has done so far.

Couldn’t Kairen persuade him not to punish his brother if he could prove that his brother was not working for Philomns?

In order to do that, he needed to show them that Aaron was harmless and also wasn’t cooperating with Philomns.

“And no, you won’t die! We are all strong. Ron was even hiding his power all this time- Wait. Why were you hiding your power?”

Kairen turned to his brother who had been sitting in a similar position to him, folding his arms and leaning on the back of his seat, and asked the thing that he meant to ask for a while now.

Aaron just shrugged.

“I wasn’t hiding anything. There was just no need to use my whole power.”

“...No need?”

Kairen saw a mocking smile form on Aaron’s lips.

“Everyone here is so weak that I could beat the crap out of them by only using 30% of my power. Pfft!”

“....”

“....”

Aaron ignored Asa and Kairen’s cold glares and just chuckled gently.

“Ahem, anyway! That is the plan! We are going to start it now!”

Kairen said that they were going to start the plan, but he was actually too tired he wished he could just go to bed and sleep. He had taken a bunch of painkillers earlier so that he could explain his ‘perfect plan’ to the others without having to struggle with pain, but the pills were making him drowsy as time passed.

“I’m asking for the last time, are you really sure that this will work out?”

Claire was about to stand up from her seat when she halted and sat back down.

“Yes yes yes! I’ve told it so many times already! I’m sure our team is busy fighting with Bordkly in the borders. If not today, they will surely have a mission tomorrow somewhere near the military camps of Bordkly or somewhere similar. You only have to find where they are and then everything will go fine!”

Kairen then turned to Asa.

“And of course, I hope you keep your promise and help us out.”

Asa chuckled.

“I promised to help you out, but you also have to do something for me in return!”

The girl suddenly smiled. It was one of her scary smiles that made Kairen and Aaron shiver.

‘A promise? She didn’t mention such a thing before though?’

Kairen tilted his head.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

“Ahem!”

Asa coughed as if to hold back her excitement and sat up straight. She then sent a glance to Claire who was sitting in front of her. Claire’s eyes widened for a second as if she just realized what was going on and then she too started to smile.

‘What?’

Kairen looked at his brother.

‘I don’t know!’

Aaron said with his eyes.

“Kairen.”

“Y-yes!”

Kairen flinched upon hearing Asa’s voice and turned back to him.

“Ahem! Kairen, don’t you think you are spending too little time with your friends?”

“Y-yes?”

Kairen was struck dumbfounded.

“Your friends, Kairen! You shouldn’t work too much! Spend time with them! I heard that you were friends with Reyan for a long time? Isn’t it a waste not to spend time with your close friend? You are still young Kairen, you should enjoy your life to the fullest!”

Asa said with a smile, her tone gentle all of a sudden. She lowered her gaze and talked with a soft face. She suddenly looked so holy that Kairen thought she would start glowing at any moment.

“Pardon?”

Asa raised her head with a dramatic movement.

“Kairen, don’t forget about what is truly important in life! No. You should never leave your special and close friend because you two have a tight bond with each other, Kairen. Even if there are other rivals, this bond will not loosen! I’m glad that Mr. Hey turned out to be your brother... I was scared about the bond at first but... Now you even have the power of family by your side! I’m sure your brother will support you in this as well!”

“....”

.....

“....”

Kairen and Aaron stared at the girl with similar blank faces. She was talking about something that only she could understand the meaning of. Kairen took his eyes off of Asa and glanced at his brother.

‘What will you support me in...?’

‘...I don’t really know...’

Blink Blink Blink

Aaron and Kairen blinked several times.

“Ahem Ahem! Cough cough!”

Claire let out some fake coughs and buried her face in her palms.

‘What? Are we the only ones who don’t get what is going on?’

Kairen was baffled.

“So, Kairen... Do you promise to do what it?”

Kairen gulped.

“Do what?”

“Spend more time with your friends!”

Looking at the girl’s face, it was obvious that there was something else that she truly desired, but Kairen couldn’t understand it.

Anyway, spending time with your friends is not a bad thing. He would be more than happy to do that thing.

“Sure.”

So he just brushed off all of his iffy feelings and nodded his head. Asa’s face lit up as soon as she got that answer. She seemed to be about to explode with joy.

“Ahem! Anyway! That’s it with the plan.”

Kairen decided to forget that there was someone named Asa in the room and only think about his plan. Yeah. That was for the best.

“Alright, then I will go start searching for them and also the other thing you said.”

Aaron stood up. Seeing him about to leave, Claire and Asa also jumped up from their seats.

“Rest while I’m gone.”

“Yes.”

The three of them left the room after that.

PUFF

Kairen plopped down on the bed.

“I hope they find them soon...”

He wanted to go back home as soon as possible. He thought he would die from guilt if he stayed away from Ariyan for more days. He was also a little bit worried about why unit 5 wasn’t searching for him or Asa. There was also that white-haired man that made Kairen even more worried. What was his deal with him? Who did he mistake Kairen for?

“Mmm...”

Kairen groaned as he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

‘Didn’t I have cockroach powers? Why am I not getting any better? Gah!’

It was really annoying.