Chapter 291: Ch 291: Sit back down and talk

"What do we do now? Shuu is not here. It seems like someone else managed to clean this place up before we got here."

Caelis asked as he looked around the destroyed base of the people who kidnapped Shuu. It had not been in such a bad condition before Kaiden arrived, but now there was no trace left.

Kaiden’s expression was filled with unseen fury and he seemed to be barely holding himself back. His eyes flashed as he looked around before deciding that he was going to go after Shuu.

His lack of answer made Caelis sigh and instead of following him, he walked to stand beside Rin and give him support.

"Looks like father has made up his mind. I hope the person who took Shuu is ready to endure our wrath."

Rin did not add anything to Caelis’s words, but his flashing eyes told Caelis that he was ready to tear the person who grabbed Shuu apart as well.

Kaiden used his powers to form an array that would take them to Shuu. Within seconds, he had Shuu located. But before they could leave, the door to the warehouse was opened by a familiar pair.

Caelis and Rin looked at Secretary Ann and Kris, who had just entered, and both sides were wary of each other.

"What are you all doing here? Are you part of this auction as well?"

Secretary Ann asked in a careful voice. He had likely guessed why Kaiden was here, but they were pretending as if they had no idea.

It was good acting, but unfortunately, completely useless. Since their side already knew what happened, no one was going to forgive Secretary Ann for trying to sweep it all under the rug.

"Secretary Ann, I have a question for you. Why did your side not tell us that Shuu got kidnapped? Do you have any idea what I was thinking this whole time? And what do I want to do to you now?"

Kaiden’s hard voice caused Secretary Ann to flinch and curse. There was a lot he wanted to say, but no words escaped his mouth at the moment.

’Darn it-! How did this man know? What should I do now? Should I make an excuse and tell him that deceiving him was not my intention?’

Somehow, Secretary Ann had a feeling that Kaiden would not appreciate it. So he decided to extend an olive branch from his side.

"I know that things look bleak right now, Esper Kaiden. But I can assure you that none of this was our intention. In fact, all we wanted to do was help Shuu as soon as we got to know what happened."

This was not working. The more Secretary Ann spoke, the harder Kaiden’s eyes became. In the end, it was Kris who decided to step forward and his tone changed.

"So what if we kept it from you? This was something that happened in our guild and under our watch. It is our duty to save Shuu as well. You might be his future boss, but he’s also-"

"Be careful what you say here. Shuu is not my future employee but my partner. I could not care less what use he has because that is not why I like him."

Kaiden declared and the other side looked stunned. Kris looked especially stunned.

"You are his lover? Then, do you know about these guiding capabilities? Is that why you chose him-"

"Don’t be mistaken. Guiding or not, I would have still chosen Shuu. I chose him at a time when he had nothing to his name. Don’t try and think you can understand our bond."

Kaiden made it clear that he had no intention of letting these people talk him out of saving Shuu.

Since Shuu was not here, he was going to go as well. But before that, he had one last thing to say to these guild members.

"Since your side allowed Shuu to be kidnapped, it violates the contract he signed with your guild. As of this moment, that contract is void. I hope you realize that you no longer have legal ground against Shuu."

Kaiden reminded these people before he left.

"Darn it-!"

He heard a loud curse, but he was out of the room before he could hear more.

"Kaiden-"

"I know. There is no need to worry. We will find Shuu soon and then we can go back to our normal lives in our world."

Kaiden promised as he followed his magic. It was going to lead him to where Shuu was.

__________

"Would you like to have more tea?"

Loki did not wait for Shuu to answer his question before he poured more into Shuu’s cup. Shuu decided to do the same with the tea cup as he had been doing before.

He poured it into the plant when Loki was not looking.

Both sides seemed to know what he was doing, but neither showed their knowledge. Shuu waited for Loki to say something, but Loki seemed busy working on his project.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Loki finished and sat back down.

"Did these humans not even feed you properly? You ended up drinking a lot of tea. I will have to brew some more for you."

Shuu was not amused by this change of pace and he gave Loki an unamused look. That forced Loki to become serious as well and he put the cup he was holding down.

"Fine, since you are being such a slouch, we can talk about our important business now. So, where should we start?"

Loki asked and Shuu had an important question he wanted to get answered.

"Since you are not human, are you a monster? Just what are you?"

Loki looked disappointed at the question. His disappointment made Shuu worried. He had a feeling Loki was trying to assess his worth when he looked at Shuu.

Finally, after a whole minute of staring, Loki sighed and looked away.

"It seems like your memory was wiped clean after you fell. That’s why you cannot even sense the familiar feelings about my aura. Even when I am making my presence this obvious, all I see is confusion in your eyes."

Loki sighed and with a disappointed look on his face, he sat back down.

"Alright, take a guess. What do you think I am?"

Loki gave the authority of thinking over to Shuu. His smile looked dangerous and dared Shuu to make the right decision.

There was a lot Shuu could have said, but at this moment, only one thing came to his mind.

"You are a god. But I am not sure if you are someone like Goddess Astoria or some other kind of god."

Loki clapped his hands to show that he was impressed with Shuu’s deduction.

"Wow-! That was faster than I expected. It seems like you are not completely broken and useless, which is a miracle after all you went through. But you are right. I am a god. More specifically, I am one of the gods. There are a lot more gods out there other than me and Astoria. But I have a feeling you already knew that."

A part of Shuu was telling him that he knew all of this already. He did not have to be worried about Loki either.

Shuu did not trust Loki, but he also felt like there was no point in being afraid of him.

"Anyway, the reason I saved you and brought you here is because I wanted to have an alliance with you as well as that guy who sticks with you. I guess he will be here any second."

No sooner had Loki said that, Shuu felt Kaiden’s familiar presence nearby. His partner was wasting no time in getting to him.

"Oh! That was even faster than I expected. But seeing how he found me, I know I made the right choice."

Loki muttered and his eyes sparked with relief and curiosity. There were a lot of emotions he was feeling, but fear was not one of them.

Shuu moved a little when he felt the wall crashing around him, but Loki did not move an inch. He put the cup he was drinking from down and frowned at Kaiden.

"Did you have to behave like a brute and break my wall? You should have knocked on my door and I would have opened it for you like a gentleman."

Loki commented, only for Kaiden to ignore him and walk toward Shuu’s side. The first thing he did was check if Shuu was uninjured or not. Only once he was sure that Shuu was fine did he turn to look at Loki with burning eyes.

"How do you expect me to show you mercy after you kidnapped Shuu? You should be thankful I did not burn the place down. I only showed this mercy because Shuu was here, but you won’t be as lucky next time."

Kaiden assured, and Loki sighed before he answered Kaiden’s threat.

"Well, that’s all well and good, but I am afraid I cannot let you leave right now. Sit down. We need to talk."