CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER 66: SON OF THE PARAGON

Zaen reached the gate, but didn’t turn to look at the two people following him in the car. He was too embarrassed to do that.

They... really wanted to guide me back.

He nervously scratched his cheek before walking inside. Little did he know that the two agents behind him only had a positive impression of him. Through the few words they had exchanged, they knew Zaen was a hardworking person who liked to see things through.

Naturally, it was their misunderstanding, but it wasn’t like they could enter the campus to confirm their theory.

Meanwhile, Zaen was looking around the place. Every now and then, he could see something covered in static textures. Sometimes it was a flower bed, the other times, it was the ground under him.

The place was like a treasure trove of anomalies.

Just as Zaen was about to hunch to take a better look at one such anomaly, a voice interrupted him from behind.

"You must be the new recruit I’ve heard so much about," a woman said alongside her clacking heels.

The woman looked like she was pulled straight out of a style magazine. Her short, wavy, and snow-white hair fell over one eye. Her eyes were golden, quite unlike any other shade any person had seen.

She wore a long black dress that hugged her figure and had a high slit on one side, showing off her leg. She had a huge, fluffy white coat casually thrown over her shoulders. She also wore a long gold earring and Zaen’s eyes were fixed on that, because it was clearly an anomalous entity.

"Killing an endless once in your first encounter, not to mention the cultists known as Hell’s Chef, his attendant, his employees," the woman said, taking a step closer with each word. "Then there was the Malaysian incident of Bus 357, and last night... You were also in New York."

Zaen didn’t say a word, just stood there watching the woman’s silhouette. He finally understood what the real F.O.R.C.E. was like. He didn’t have to reveal anything, and they already had him all figured out.

"Spatial abilities capable of continental travel in the blink of an eye, a strange intel network that gives you access to real-time classified information, and your combat capabilities."

She continued speaking while circling around him. "All that alone will put you down as a special-type. But then again, you’re an Aurelia. It would be peculiar if you weren’t special."

Zaen’s ears perked up instantly. From the way she was speaking, the woman must have known his parents. Forgetting everything, he grabbed her hand, a hint of urgency in his tone.

"Did you know my parents?"

The woman looked at his hand, and then back at him, before nodding along.

"I didn’t just know him," she mumbled. "I was his first recruit, just like you’re going to be mine."

"Wait, what? My father taught here?"

"Not just taught. He was the director right until his disappearance," she said, smiling wanly before patting Zaen’s shoulder. "I can tell you all you want to know later, first introductions are overdue, don’t you think?"

Zaen straightened his back and crossed his left arm across his chest while stomping his right foot on the ground. It was the salute Rhino had taught him and told him he must do the same when coming across any senior officer.

He expected the woman to act surprised or even to praise his etiquette. Instead, she broke down laughing.

"Haha... did Captain Rhino tell you to do it?"

"...yes."

"At ease, soldier boy," the woman said, barely managing to do so between laughs. "He was just messing with you. We don’t have such over-the-top methods to show respect. Still, I didn’t expect Rhino to take revenge on you."

"Revenge? What for? I barely know him..."

"It’s the same stunt your mother pulled on him twenty years ago," the woman said, wiping the tears off the corner of her eyes.

"...my mom was a part of the organization, too?"

Zaen had expected it to be the case, but having it confirmed still came as a surprise to him.

"Of course, she was," the woman said with a hint of reverence in her voice. "She was the last Paragon we had..."

"Paragon?"

"The highest-ranked agent in the organization. Only four people have ever received the rank since the conception of F.O.R.C.E., and she was the only one to get it in the last century."

"..."

It would be an understatement to say Zaen’s mind went blank. He thought his father was special, given how he created a system and predicted Zaen’s future to a tee, but it looked like his mother was no less.

The woman didn’t interrupt him, just watched as he processed the information.

Mentor... looks like your son is as special as you said.

Zaen wasn’t the only one capable of ’seeing’ anomalies. The woman’s golden eyes were the same. Though their methods were different, she could see how decked out Zaen was. She could even peek into his ’inventory’, and that’s when she was taken aback.

The reports suggested he possessed the Walking Stick, but seeing it myself...

The stick was a literal legend among the higher-ups. It was one of the first Slayer Weapons to be ever found that had a lineage system.

Every time a new user held it, it would incorporate the abilities unlocked by the previous owners within itself. Then, it essentially granted the abilities of previous owners to the new wielder as they were unlocked gradually.

The stick’s inherent [Sight] ability was just to ensure the inheritance went to a blind wielder at this point.

Just then, an unsettling thought appeared in the woman’s mind.

She had often seen Zaen’s father talk about the future of his sons. It was like he had planned every little detail about them.

That meant if he had planned for Zaen to possess the Walking Stick, knowing someone had to be blind to use it, then did it mean... he had planned to turn his own son blind?

"He wouldn’t do that... right?"