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Chapter 176 – Return (2)

Jonathan\'s answer to the protests was similar to that of a dictator and not a monarch. The protesters were beaten up like mad dogs till they \'willing\' went into \'correction centres\', where they were tortured endlessly by the royal guards till then either died or swore allegiance to Jonathan\'s tyrannical rule.

Even the nobles who dared stood up against Jonathan were silenced either through wealth or… mysterious accidents in which their family members ended up dead or paralysed. The public\'s view of the king drastically changed, yet none of them dared to open their mouths anymore.

Things were stable… immoral, but stable. As for the conundrum folks, they were still missing and Jonathan had ordered to drop the search. It was pretty clear they had already escaped the kingdom to head to some other place and Jonathan had the idea exactly where… The kingdom of Aryania.

It was the nearest vampire kingdom and also the kingdom that was once in charge of the Island of Doom. The conundrum\'s unwillingness to allow Jonathan to enter the island and their escape to Aryania signalled at one thing. 

The conundrum was already working for the vampires longer than Jonathan could have anticipated. Mike had successfully blindsided and outsmarted Jonathan. There was no denying that and he seemed to be taking out that bitterness on the people of his kingdom. 

Although no one knew how Jonathan knew who had betrayed him, there was one thing they were sure of… not to ask him any questions. Since Devon was gone, no one had enough balls to stand up against Jonathan, therefore, his tyrannical rule over Lycania went ahead without any problems. 

As for the mistress… even she seemed to have taken a back seat when it came to royal affairs and was simply keeping an eye on the situation. But that wasn\'t all. Since the director was still missing, Mera had occupied herself in finding clues to locate her. 

She had been pretty sure the conundrum had captured her, but with them gone… who knows what they could have done if the director was indeed kidnapped by them. 

Meanwhile, Ashton was having a hard time forgetting about Mike. His face resembled Rose\'s, meaning they could be related… which would then also crack the reason behind Mike\'s closeness to vampires. Considering Rose was half vampire and was even a part of royalty.

But Ashton wanted to confirm the facts and for that, he needed to get back into the Academy. But he couldn\'t let Jonathan know the reason behind his visit, or else he might even try to capture Rose and have her executed. Just like every other relative of Mike\'s.

Also, Ashton wanted to have a chat with Lucifer, so he would kill two birds with one stone. Also, he had the perfect guise to go back to the academy without raising suspicion on himself. 

Still, it was better he actually informed Jonathan of his decision before leaving and that\'s exactly where he was headed.

But before that, he went ahead to the guild and look if there were any quests available around Contingent so that he could progress towards getting that gold rank. And as he thought, there was… a quest available.

In the absence of the Director, the professors must have advanced the schedule for the field trip Ashton would have been a part of had he been a student there. They were looking for a few silver and bronze rank adventurers to aid them and Ashton just happened to meet the qualifications.

\'Yet another reason to visit Contingent. I don\'t think Jonathan would deny me. Considering he wants me to reach Gold rank as soon as possible.\'

With that in mind, Ashton took the quest and informed his team about it. Since it was a subjugation quest in one of the weakest dungeons, and the pay was good, none of them had any complaints either. With the quest in hand, Ashton finally headed back to the palace. 

After a brief security check, Ashton was led to the throne where Jonathan was having a meeting with his ministers. Despite appearing to be busy, he acknowledged Ashton\'s presence with a nod and signalled him to wait. The meeting was wrapped up in a couple of minutes then, it was Ashton\'s turn. 

"What is it?" Jonathan asked Ashton nonchalantly. 

"Nothing much, your highness. Just wanted to inform you that my team and I, would be heading to Contingent for a quest." Ashton politely replied. 

"Contingent huh… why there? I believe there are lots of other quests you can take part in."

"The pay is good and the task is easy. Also, I was hoping to investigate more about the director\'s disappearance while I am there."

"Hm… that makes sense. You must want to know about your parents from her. Am I correct?"

While that was one of the reasons, the main reason was to know more about his own existence… About him being a weapon. Ashton had already tried asking Mera about it but she refused to give him a concrete answer. The only thing she did was to confirm his suspicions. 

She knew about him being a weapon and that\'s the reason she decided to mark him to be taken away once he got to the \'age\'. Since neither Jonathan nor Mera was interested in giving him an answer, Ashton decided to find the only person he knew who could. 

"While it is one of the reasons, I was hoping she would know where those conundrum bastards are hiding." Ashton replied calmly, "They tried to kill me, for that reason I want to help you to get back at them. Then there\'s Donovan… I have some personal grudge to settle with him as well." 

"Fine… you have my permission to leave. But before you go, answer this." Jonathan got up from the throne and walked up to Ashton, "Do you think the Conundrum would have left such a valuable witness alive?"

"Whether she is alive or not, it\'s worth a try." Confidence was brimming from Ashton\'s words.

Ashton was confident likely because he knew that even if she was dead, he could raise her as an undead soldier later when he had high enough intelligence and then ask her something.. That is if she actually retained her memories.