Chapter 556 (2/2)

All eyes turned to Randidly, even those of the robed individuals. It was a small warning that; Randidly had spoken to Tykes primarily, who looked like he was about to crush Kulwort’s face. Randidly had no doubt the man was capable of it, but it would do more harm than good at this point. Besides, even if he was an ass, Randidly still felt hesitant to strike family.

Even a sadistic asshole like Kulwort.

No, what was shocking was that everyone had heard his whisper meant for Tykes. That meant their Perception was at least 100, likely closer to 150. Still, if they were all looking his way, he might as well play this new card…

“Tier 1 Citizenship is insufficient, you say…” Randidly said slowly. He pressed a button on his watch, and the notification he had just received was displayed for everyone else. It seemed that Henrik had looked at the modifications to the Porpoise, and was impressed. “But what if I, a Tier 2 Citizen, vouch for them?”

There was a tense silence. But what Randidly enjoyed the most was the slack-jawed astonishment from Tatiana. The woman was absolutely floored that he had citizenship. It was honestly quite pleasant to see her left speechless. While Kulwort scrunched up his brows and considered it, Randidly gazed deeply at the man called Kenneth. Then he looked back at the young woman.

...no matter how he looked at it, Randidly would be shocked to find out that the two weren’t related. Why was he acting like he didn’t recognize her? Was it really just a case of mistaken identity-

But while Randidly was looking at Kenneth, he caught a whiff of it. His eyes narrowed.

The silence was broken again by the young woman. “Why…. why….”

Kenneth glared furiously at this young woman. “I don’t have any fam-”

But then he paused. His eyes went blank for a second, and there was an internal struggle without him. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He fucking stunk of the Creature’s Aether. Still nothing pure, but it was about 20 times as condensed as Randidly had seen it in other places so far. Like a delirious man given sight of water, he locked onto it.

It seemed that Kulwort realized something too when Kenneth became confused. “Well, since you vouched for them-”

But Randidly already acted. Lightning quick, he caused a root to shoot upwards, smash the back of Kenneth’s head, and then drop back into the ground. Because he was standing sideways, most of the movement was covered by his body; the robed figures would likely only see a blur. And even if their Perception was 200, they wouldn’t be able to clearly tell what was going on. By the time they saw the movement, Kenneth was collapsing.

Mildly, Randidly said. “It seems the stress of the situation was a bit much for that man. Tykes, why don’t you go fetch him and take him to the first aid hut.”

Then he turned to Kulwort. “I beg your pardon, but it appears this man isn’t in a state to travel. Perhaps he has recently experienced a traumatic event. That might explain his… possible amnesia.”

Luckily, Tykes understood the only way this would work, and he moved fast. With deceptive quickness, he was beside Kenneth and picked the thin teen up. A few of the robed individuals took steps forward, but Kenneth was already in Tykes’ arms, and the black man probably had six inches and 40 pounds on even the biggest of them.

“Don’t you dare-” Kulwort began furiously, but Randidly just smiled at him.

“You’ll understand if we are hesitant to release him into your care,” Randidly said. “After all, he spent only a few seconds under your... protection, and he appears to have suffered for it.”

Kulwort Shaw opened his mouth and tried to speak, but he could find no retort that made sense. Instead, he snorted, and said, “You… I’ll look into you, and this matter. Don’t think that your connections will protect you. If you dare harm a hair on the boy’s head… you will pay.”

Then he retreated with his minions. Randidly chuckled. One thing that he had been able to internalize from his time pretending to be himself is how effective it was sometimes to just do what you want. For Randidly, it was something of a nice change of pace.