But both of them shared dark hair prominent noses and sharp eyes that made them striking even if neither was handsome in a traditional sense
Although Ezekiel had only shared a bit of that emotional scar inside of him Hank felt a thin threat of empathy for the man Which made Hank wonder how he would feel to be reunited with his own father had he not died prior to the System Honestly the old man would have thrived in this environment that bastard His lectures would be absolutely insufferable
With his arms wide the son tackled Ezekiel and for a few minutes they lay there exchanging quiet words After 5 minutes passed the two stood quickly brushing themselves off and Hank noticed that the boy wasn’t wearing any shoes
But the closer he looked the easier it was to see how calloused and worn the kid’s feet were Did he always walk around like that
The individuals from both Zones had gathered to witness the reunion between father and son They stood apart Zone 32 near the cottage while the Zone 1 group stayed near the spot where the cooking fire was made But both groups seemed to have small smiles on their faces enjoying the pleasant ambiance
Everyone but the man Tykes who glowered at the two
How how did you survive Ezekiel asked giving his son a once over with his eyes
The young man shrugged Probably the same way that you did I uh I became a potion brewer That’s why I came along with this group they sell my wares
Hank’s eyes narrowed at the hitch in the young man’s voice It smelled like a lie Really I’d love to see the work of a master potion brewer
Belatedly he saw Laurel’s glare and felt her pinch but Hank pressed his lips together stubbornly Sure maybe it was rude of him to call the young man out so directly but Hank wasn’t a man that took being lied to well Besides why would he lie to his father about how he survived
Maybe because he needs to kill a person to keep living a dark part of Hank’s mind whispered He shoved that voice back
The young man turned and regarded Hank a small smile on his face The punk looked fucking amused at Hank’s interruption like he saw through the challenge for what it was and had something prepared to deal with it
We haven’t formally met the young man said extending a hand towards Hank My name is Randidly Ghosthound A pleasure
The pleasure’s mine Hank said reaching out and taking the extended hand while doing his best to ignore the glares from Laurel Ezekiel and Tykes that were burning six holes in his back The handshake was firm and quick
After pulling his hand back the man tipped his hat towards Randidly The name’s Hank Howard You weren’t here for our earlier discussions with your party but I’m the leader of this political expedition I don’t suppose you would be willing to send a message to someone you know back in a Village so we may make contact
Randidly smiled helplessly Of course he could but he believed things were better done in person Besides based on the information that Dinesh was feeding him via message the people from Zone 1 were woefully under equipped against the high level threats they would face Walking into Donnyton would do a lot to help correct their perspective on the System
At least that was what Randidly believed Beyond finding the Creature’s involvement in Zone 1 he couldn’t find it in him to be too concerned with what the individuals from this other Zone did In the end Randidly had supreme confidence in the people of Donnyton regardless of whether he was there or not they weren’t so weak as to be overwhelmed by the petty tricks utilized by politically minded forces
I suspected as much Hank said with a sigh shaking his head
Randidly considered the man Based on his intuition this man was the strongest here but the girl with the cane was a close second He wore a cowboy hat and a pistol at each hip Nathan had already sent him several excited messages about the man’s Class expressing his deep interest in it At the time Randidly was too busy fighting against the ogre to pay much attention but now Randidly couldn’t deny his curiosity was aroused
Randidly’s eyes scanned back and forth taking the rest of them in He tried not to be too obvious about it because he was still feeling warm and jittery after finding his dad here and having the man be almost kind to him
Perhaps it was the emotional baggage but Randidly couldn’t guess much about what his father’s role was The woman standing near Hank he judged to be a support type As for the human looking robot thing A tank of some sort
But then his eyes sharpened He met the gaze of the robot woman Refocusing its cameras the thing began to brazenly scan him Inwardly Randidly snorted It was held together with a thin tether of Mana that was clearly extending off from it back towards its home Zone It was interesting that this was possible but it also confused Randidly
The skill of the tether was childish even though it followed some of the principles of Aether Suddenly it occurred to Randidly that this was similar to Mana Engraving that it created something like an Aether Connection done with Mana as the medium
Randidly didn’t think that the Creature would bother to use such methods as a disguise to gain information on him but wasn’t willing to risk it A wave of Erode Image slid outwards passed the people around him hitting that fragile Mana Tether It twitched and then dissipated
His father began to speak So what were you saying about potions
But all eyes turned as the robot woman collapsed
There was some hubbub as everyone hurried over It quickly became clear to Randidly that no one in the Zone 1 party knew that this was not a true human and they seemed shocked and suspicious towards Randidly’s group when they realized that her body was turning cold Luckily Dinesh knew some healing arts so he went forward and attempted to cast a spell on her
When it failed he frowned This This woman is not alive
You think that fuckin’ helps Hank said his eyes flinty but Dinesh simply made a placating gesture
No you misunderstand She was never alive She is a robot Do you have such cyborgs in your Zone 1
Hank opened his mouth and then closed it Then he closed his eyes Randidly wondered how he would check if a woman were a robot The simplest way would of course just be to cut into her body But desecrating a corpse was never an easy thing for humans and her abrupt death had set everyone on edge Inwardly Randidly sighed wishing he had thought of a more subtle way to handle it
Still he couldn’t risk it And in his mind it simply reaffirmed that he needed to move as quickly as possible towards Zone 1 and begin to search for the Creature or its tendrils It would be difficult especially when Randidly wanted to do his best to keep a low profile but hopefully his father would be helpful in that regard
Knowing that Dinesh would handle this situation far better than Randidly himself could Randidly walked over to his father and pulled him a bit away and began to ask him quietly about what the other Zone was like were there robots there like this what did Ezekiel do there etc
Perhaps Randidly shouldn’t have been surprised but his dad just blinked and then shrugged in a very dismissive way that was very familiar to him Well I don’t think so But I likely wouldn’t know I spent most of my time in jail so
Sighing Randidly just looked helplessly at his father Only this man could seem proud of being placed in jail after the greatest trial humanity had ever faced arrived
Seeing Randidly’s expression Ezekiel said No not for a crime you understand It was more of a holding cell It was for my own protecting I’m an important government asset
Sure dad
Chapter 502
Randidly was a bit troubled by Ezekiel’s explanation of the goings on in Zone 1 but not too much Based on what he said Randidly would require Citizenship in order to proceed into any place with powerful people and gaining that was not easy not without getting a Class from one of the approved villages That made Randidly wonder whether there were “unapproved” Villages out there in Zone 1 but he figured that was an ancillary discussion