Chapter 1287 (2/2)

And as she expected, when he stood he smiled and offered a rather easy question. “So what are you doing to prevent such a thing from happening again?”

“The preparations have begun immediately; all state-affiliated facilities will be outfitted with specially designed combat drones stored on the premises so that such a barrier can’t cripple us like it did in the past. Rest assured, we have our best scientists designing AI drones that can learn and grow while fighting, halting aggressors before they even recognize the threat. Without the threat of the barrier-”

“Why don’t you just learn to shatter a barrier, like the Ghosthound can?”

The entire room froze. Theodora Greyman felt something… strange in the air. This was a question that shouldn’t be asked, not so bluntly. Something was suddenly wrong with the press conference.

A young woman standing in the back smiled almost shyly up at Theodora Greyman. Her eyes were a light grey and her shoulder-length hair was black. Although she had a press badge on her chest, Theodora Greyman didn’t recognize the name: Hydie Mordath. Rather than a reporter, her frilly black dress was more suited for a witch.

“You…” President Greyman began confidently to speak. She knew how to answer this. She had practiced how to deal with questions about Randidly Ghosthound before calling this press conference. Her mind quickly ran through several excuses for why they couldn’t do what Randidly could do. Yet as she looked at the young woman’s grey eyes…

Her mouth wouldn’t move as she wished. Her tongue flopped helplessly against her teeth.

“If you can’t do so,” Hydie Mordath said softly. She began to spin her pen across her fingers. “Do you really think you should remain in charge of a Zone? If you can’t-”

The woman abruptly stopped speaking as she lost control of her pen and flung it sideways into an older man’s face. He flinched and Hydie froze. Her face flushed red with embarrassment. Which finally broke the weird tongue-tied stasis in which President Greyman found herself. She gave her guards a pointed look and they quickly strode forward and took Hydie Mordath by the elbow to lead her out.

To regain some credibility, President Greyman smiled out at the crowd. “If Randidly Ghosthound would respond to any sort of the reams of correspondence that I have sent him… I would be glad to talk about the method he used to break the barrier. We all would love to learn. But, unfortunately, whatever he is doing with ogres in the North is too important for him to comment on what happened that day. Are there any other questions?”

Once Hydie Mordath was escorted out of the press conference, the whole event proceeded much more smoothly. Although Theodora left feeling dissatisfied with how things turned out, it was rare for her to feel otherwise after speaking to the press. But she did feel she had redeemed herself after that brief moment where she had completely dropped the ball to that strange girl’s question.

Hydie Mordath… could she have been sent by someone to make me look bad…? Theodora chewed on the inside of her cheek as she strode down the long hallways of the capitol building toward her office. Or worse… a spy sent directly by Randidly Ghosthound. I hadn’t thought that he cared enough to interfere… but perhaps-

When Theodora opened the door to her office, she found her aide Douglas looking with a great deal of concern at an object sitting on her desk. He turned around when he heard her entrance and then bowed. “I’ve checked the security cameras; it seems like… a vine carried it in through the ventilation system.”

“...what…?” Suddenly feeling very cold, Theodora Greyman walked slowly around to look down on her desk. Laying there, very conspicuous against the warm finish of her very expensive desk, there was a black envelope.

Theodora looked at Douglas, then back down at the envelope, then up at Douglas again. She raised her brows. “You… do you really expect me to open that myself?”

Douglas hesitated. “President Greyman, after the attack on the stadium, if another death would happen on your watch… it might create enough of a stir for you to be impeached! So I thought it best not to bring an intern or even a guard in here to open it. But I did have one of our most perceptive people scan the envelope and there doesn’t seem to be any danger-”

“You…” Theodora began, but then she mastered herself and waved him silent. She had wanted to call him an idiot because if she opened that envelop and was dosed with some sort of poison, there would be no administration at all. Everything she had built would collapse to a pile of cards with which she had started.

With a sour expression on her face, Theodora sat down at her desk and considered the envelope. None of her danger detection Skills warned her of anything either. Where did it all go wrong…? I was Chairperson of the World Council, the most powerful woman in the world. So why… why can I now not even find someone to open my mail?!?

By the time she actually mustered up the nerve to reach for the black envelope, her hands were shaking with rage. So she took a breath to steady herself and then picked it up. Her eyebrows rose; the thing was actually quite heavy.

With a smooth gesture, she ripped open the top and a piece of metal about the size of a postcard slid out and thumped onto her desk. The surface was glossy and a grey/blue color. When she leaned closer, Theodora was able to read the elegant writing that had been imprinted onto the piece of metal.

Salutations,

You are cordially invited to the birthday celebration of Randidly Ghosthound, on the 28th of April, held in the Grand Amphitheater of Kharon. Please come hungry, as refreshments and entertainment will be provided.

This invitation entitles the holder to bring along five guests. Festivities will begin at 6 P.M.

Sincerely,

The Randidly Ghosthound Birthday Party Planning Committee