In a usually restricted floor of a high-class restaurant in Nagazora City, the faint scent of agarwood permeated a room decorated in a traditional style.
As the head of the prestigious Raiden family and former president of ME Corp, Raiden Ryoma, despite a considerable stint in prison, still had a large number of people willing to serve him.
Therefore, finding a secluded place suitable for a gathering of some Anti-Entropy members was, for him, as simple as drinking water or eating a meal.
The man, whose hair color and features bore a striking resemblance to Raiden Mei's, sat before the tatami mats, clutching a sword, his expression far from calm.
It was an exquisitely crafted nodachi. The hilt was a deep, dark purple, and its ice-blue blade, mostly concealed within the scabbard, still emanated an intense chill from the exposed section.
Plasma Kagehide. A masterpiece designed by the Anti-Entropy agent Raiden Ryoma, conceived when he embedded the Gem of Conquest into Raiden Mei's body to seal her rampaging Stigmata.
If, one day, Raiden Mei were to transform into a Herrscher due to the Gem embedded within her, he would take up this weapon, declare war on the Herrscher of Thunder, and help his daughter reclaim control of her body.
Without a doubt, this was a super-weapon designed from its inception with a Herrscher as its hypothetical foe, its output potentially no less than that of a Divine Key in its standard state.
Not long ago, this weapon had been hidden in an unknown location by Raiden Ryoma's staunchest loyalists; now, it had been retrieved by its designer.
"Ryoma, what do you think you're doing?" The lobster-headed scientist, who had come to rendezvous with Raiden Ryoma after his successful prison break, shivered as she felt the surrounding temperature plummet due to Plasma Kagehide.
"Chicken-coop head, you try to talk some sense into him too!"
She felt that Raiden Ryoma didn't look like he'd broken out of prison, but more like he was preparing to plunder.
To kill and pillage.
"Though I don't know what you've been through, I think you should calm down." The chicken-coop-headed lady, almost inseparable from her lobster-headed companion, also looked somewhat alarmed. Raiden Ryoma was acting very strangely.
"There's nothing wrong with my condition." After parting ways with Li Zihan, the man, who had immediately bombarded his daughter with questions—so many, in fact, that he was met with considerable disdain—spoke in a heavy voice.
"I'm merely contemplating some issues."
"Then put the sword away while you contemplate!" Tesla, the one with the lobster-head, sounded anxious.
She had a feeling Raiden Ryoma was about to toss the scabbard aside and carve a path from the city center to the suburbs, and then all the way back again.
"Hey, don't tell me you're furious because that kid hooked up with your daughter without your permission!" Tesla, who had chatted quite enthusiastically with a certain someone who addressed Raiden Ryoma as "Esteemed Father-in-Law" during their communications, now looked apprehensive.
Raiden Ryoma's face stiffened, his grip on the sword hilt involuntarily tightening.
After a long moment, he recalled the scene when he asked his daughter, "Did you two stay in the same room last night?" His expression became tinged with a slight desolation.
The answer he received was: "We did stay in the same room, but we slept separately on the bed and the sofa. He took the bed, I slept on the sofa."
Damn it!
A virile young man lures a beautiful girl into his room, and then makes her sleep on the sofa?
Even if you're going to lie, at least make it somewhat believable!
At this thought, the desolation on Raiden Ryoma's face deepened, to the point where Tesla and Einstein, watching him, began to feel a twinge of pity.
"Why would you bring up his daughter being 'spirited away' in front of a man with a daughter-complex?" Einstein, whose emotional intelligence had once been rated in the negatives but who still understood one shouldn't say such things to a doting father, questioned Tesla in a low voice.
"I just blurted it out! How was I supposed to know Ryoma would react so strongly!" Tesla, with her typically boisterous personality—she'd even refer to herself as "Laozi" when drunk—muttered guiltily.
"While I am indeed thinking about related matters, the reason has nothing to do with him 'hooking up' with my daughter." Raiden Ryoma, whose daughter had been 'stolen' after he'd spent a mere two and a half months in prison, forcefully suppressed the grief and indignation in his heart and brought up another matter.
"I'm thinking about Li Zihan's own situation."
"Are you thinking about the information that boy—the one who contacted us on your behalf—mentioned?" Tesla frowned, speaking.
During their communications, the person speaking for Raiden Ryoma had said that the situation in Nagazora City was quite peculiar and suggested that Welt Yang, who was currently undercover at Saint Freya Academy, should be called to Nagazora City, just in case.
Such a statement felt distinctly off.
"Mm." Raiden Ryoma, vexed by issues on two fronts, nodded.
When he met with Einstein and Tesla to discuss the events of the past two and a half months, he had heard Tesla mention that a certain 'pig suspected of rooting up the prize cabbage' had mentioned Welt.
"I don't recall ever telling him the Sovereign's whereabouts."
Back in prison, the term "Esteemed Father-in-Law" had muddled his mind so thoroughly that his IQ had temporarily regressed to Theresa's level, causing him to overlook the boy's peculiarities.
Now that he had calmed down somewhat and replayed the events in his mind, that fellow seemed suspicious from head to toe.
"Welt's movements have been exposed to outsiders? That truly is troublesome." Hearing Raiden Ryoma's words, Tesla's expression changed abruptly.
Welt's whereabouts had always been a top Anti-Entropy secret, known only to a handful of agents; not even Cocolia, who controlled a large portion of Anti-Entropy, was privy to it.
And now, someone who was clearly not a member of Anti-Entropy had revealed Welt's hiding place.
The mere thought was enough to send shivers down one's spine.
"Though I don't know which faction that fellow who's close to your daughter belongs to..."
"...I think it's highly unlikely he's from Schicksal." Einstein, possibly the most level-headed person in all of Anti-Entropy, stated calmly.
Schicksal was undoubtedly Anti-Entropy's mortal enemy, or perhaps, their natural predator.
As far back as 2005, Schicksal had attempted to activate the Fourth Divine Key—a satellite stationed in outer space—in an effort to annihilate all Anti-Entropy members in one fell swoop.
If not for a man named Murata Ryusuke betraying Schicksal and transmitting intelligence about the Fourth Divine Key to Anti-Entropy, their situation would not be as optimistic as it was now.
If Schicksal knew Welt's location, they could easily arrange an ambush, capture Welt—whose health was already failing—and then launch an encirclement operation to wipe out Anti-Entropy.
"Regardless, we absolutely need to question him thoroughly." Raiden Ryoma exhaled a turbid breath and said.
He was immensely grateful to Li Zihan for protecting his daughter and for rescuing him.
However, the boy knew far too much.
And sometimes, information could be more dangerous than nuclear weapons.
If they didn't get to the bottom of this, the entirety of Anti-Entropy could be plunged into crisis.
"That fellow you mentioned, where is he now?" Tesla, now fully aware of the precariousness of the situation, looked at Raiden Ryoma and asked.
"He went to welcome Theresa." Raiden Ryoma, who had been keeping tabs on Li Zihan's movements, replied.