The Almighty Ring

“What did he say?”

“Did he just reject a return order?”

“That was an order to return to the Carldish Fort, right?”

…

The entire room gasped in shock and had surprised outbursts.

“Just who has his back?”

“Who knows. Whoever has that kid’s back must have been powerful enough to recall him!”

“Hold that thought! No one’s going to discuss the fact that he’s been given a chance to leave this damn place?!”

…

“Aino must be at his limits,” Jiang Fei thought to himself. That outcome was only one of his guesses.

Theon the Plunderer had “publicly” made himself known to Aino, and Jiang Fei was but a hitchhiker on that publicity.

The truth was more embarrassing than Aino would like to admit. No matter how powerful and terrifying Jiang Fei’s support was, Aino had to punish Jiang Fei for his crimes as a means to save face.

Jiang Fei was akin to those sons of famous powerful politicians. He had been caught committing a crime, and to enforce justice, Jiang Fei needed to be punished. However, after a certain period of time, once the heat died down, the father or powerful individual of power would secretly remove the son from said punishment. As such, the public would not know what happened to Jiang Fei and thought that he was serving time for his crime. That way, the figure of power would be able to maintain the favor of the masses and avoid wronging the wrong person. In this case, Aino did not want to wrong Theon.

Any civilization with an advanced enough social construct would tend to resort to such methods to handle wrongdoers. Jiang Fei just happened to be one enjoying the benefits. Sarila was able to ride the wave of excitement, probably because of Trakus’ plea.

“0541, what do you think of this?” Jiang Fei asked.

“The return order should be genuine since Aino would not want you to die in the middle of an Ultralisk uprising. He is desperate to do something for you lest his treasures get looted away by Theon,” 0541 said.

“I’m not hearing an answer,” Jiang Fei added. 0541’s had reached a point where his behavioral pattern was completely human. He could even avoid revealing his answer and mask it over with wisecracks.

“Alright, I do not think that you should leave so soon,” 0541 finally caved in and answered.

“Your reason being?”

“To be fair, fighting against a wave of Ultralisks will prove to be challenging training for you. With Theon behind you at all times, what is there to worry about in terms of inserting yourself in dangerous situations? Should you remain, you could develop your own army and reap the benefits after a certain period of time. Should you fail and lethal threats are looming close, Theon would surely help you go through such a threat. From where I stand, I see no reason to leave,” 0541 explained.

“That was what I was thinking actually,” Jiang Fei said. However, instead of worrying about his own wellbeing, Jiang Fei was taking the remaining soldiers of the 13th Division into consideration.

If he left, all of his soldiers, those who had claimed to pledge their fealty to him, would surely die during the Ultralisk uprising. Theon did not care about the rest of the army besides Jiang Fei. As safe as he was right then, Jiang Fei wanted to leave a surviving route for his troops. Basically, Jiang Fei did not face any risk of dying. He could reap the benefits of the cloak of protection he had been wearing and do whatever he wanted.

“There’s one more thing,” 0541 added.

“What?”

“Remember Meteor?”

“The Federation Hypercruiser that we took over during the war?” Jiang Fei asked.

“Correct. That ship is currently approaching this system! It is being dispatched to pick you up!”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I recall asking you to seize control of the ship,” Jiang Fei said.

“Indeed I have!” 0541 replied happily. The ship was originally too far for 0541 to even establish a stable connection, but now, as it approached the system, 0541 was not only able to secure a stable connection, he was in complete control of the ship.

“Do you have control right now?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Good. Seize the ship at once and bring it into teleportation range. Should we ever fail to hold off the Ultralisk uprising, use the ship and teleport us away!” Jiang Fei ordered. Meteor was a Hypercruiser so powerful and large that instantly teleporting soldiers in the tens of thousands was only child’s play.

“Aye, Captain!” 0541 acknowledged the order and instantly shut the ship down. All manner of communication that was not permitted by 0541 was turned off.

“Sarila, what do you think about this? Do you want to leave this place?” Jiang Fei turned to Sarila and whispered.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Sarila answered simply.

“Well, what if I told you that I wasn’t leaving?” Jiang Fei declared. Even though his voice was very soft, everyone in the room heard him and reacted accordingly.

“He’s rejecting the return order?!”

“He must be crazy! Hey, if you don’t want to leave, let me! Tell them to let me go!”

“What a spoiled brat. Does he really think he can survive the Ultralisk uprising?”

…

Seeing how Jiang Fei had intentionally given up on a lifeline that had been so graciously offered to him, the leaders in the room could not help but feel contempt for Jiang Fei. Even Bargh was inclined to think negatively of Jiang Fei.

“Well, that makes things easier. I shall remain here as well,” Sarila declared quickly. She had already planted herself in the decision to remain by Jiang Fei’s side, even in the face of death.

Caitians were a species that picked their life partners carefully, and once they decided on one, they would not change their life partner for as long as they lived. Even though Jiang Fei had not verbally or non-verbally expressed his intention to take Sarila for himself, the catgirl had already decided on her own to be Jiang Fei’s partner. Henceforth, if Jiang Fei decided to remain in Tallgeese to fight the lethal force of Ultralisks, she would remain by his side.

“Argh… Two fools!”

“Have they lost their minds?”

“What good is Tallgeese when one can even enjoy being in prison somewhere else?!”

…

Some time later, the room fell into dead silence.

“Why are you so willing to stay with me?” Jiang Fei asked, feeling a little touched.

“You don’t need to ask me again for I am more than willing to stay by your side,” Sarila stuck her tongue out and made a funny face at Jiang Fei as she gave him a decisive answer. No matter how competent she was in dealing with matters about military affairs, she was still, by her age, an adolescent who was yet to be considered an adult of her species.

“F*ck,” Jiang Fei hummed to himself. Judging from the nature of her responses, Jiang Fei immediately recognized that he had picked up another female to join his harem “fleet”. Instead of being happy about it, he had grown annoyed with the number of girls who had been falling for him! No matter how frustrated he felt about it, there was always another girl who was willing to put her life before his. As a man, he had to take responsibility to protect her.

“Alright, then. Tell Lord Aino that we reject the return order,” Jiang Fei declared to the hologram before he crushed the box with his bare hands. To be honest, the person in the hologram was but a mere electronic generated image. There was no one operating it on the other side because when 0541 took over the ship and all manner of communication ceased to function, a state of panic erupted on board and no one was free enough to talk to Jiang Fei.

“With that, I shall leave with a parting wish. I hope that all of us will work together to face the upcoming Judgement Day!”

After that, Jiang Fei excused himself, leaving the meeting room with Sarila and Kaa’lna. Everyone, even the good-hearted Bargh could not help but look at Jiang Fei as if they were looking at a psycho. Everything he did was out of nature and considered… stupid as well as crazy!