Chapter 2

"I knew it! It's just as I thought. I knew you didn't die, you old bugger! You tricked me for three years!"

Gideon hadn't found a body in the grave, but he had expected as much. Titus had been an enigmatic figure who possessed extraordinary abilities. Why would someone like that abruptly claim to have come to his life's end and decide to bury himself? It was unthinkable.

Nevertheless, Gideon couldn't disobey Titus, his mentor, so he had to do as told and guard the grave for three years.

"If I don't get a treasure that's to my satisfaction, Titus, that means you wasted three years of my youth. I'll make you pay for that at some point," Gideon grumbled.

Alas, even after combing through the entire grave thoroughly, he found nothing other than a letter.

"You old con artist," Gideon ranted before opening the envelope with a scowl on his face. He found two pages of a letter.

After he read the first page, his scowl of dissatisfaction was replaced by a moved expression. According to the letter, Titus had asked him to stand guard at the grave for three years to help him mature and rein in his aggressive nature.

As the three years passed, even Gideon noticed that his present state of mind vastly differed from what it had been three years ago. He'd also honed his abilities and developed a stronger, sturdier foundation.

"Since you went through all that effort just for me, I'll forgive you this once," Gideon remarked with a smile before reading the next page.

Immediately, he started frowning. "You want me to head to Goldspire and marry Elara Seymour, the daughter of the Seymour family?"

In the letter, Titus stated that when he was young, he and Isaac Seymour were war buddies. He owed Isaac a favor, and to repay the debt, he insisted that Gideon marry Elara. Moreover, he even wrote that if Gideon refused to do it, there would be severe consequences.

Gideon was speechless. "You're the one who owes a favor, but you want me to marry Elara to repay it? How cunning!"

He was fairly reluctant to do it, but he had no choice. Titus was like a father figure to him. He owed Titus far too much. Besides, the threat of facing severe consequences made it impossible for him to do anything but comply.

"Ian, come here!"

A silhouette dashed up the mountain at top speed.

"Yes, sir?" Ian asked.

"Give the word for me. Tell everyone to gather here."

"I'm on it!" Ian replied before dashing off again.

Soon, all of the powerful figures in Oasis Vale were standing before Gideon in an orderly fashion.

Over the last few years, Gideon had captured quite a number of people, but he'd released many of them, too. And now, only 49 of them remained.

"Listen carefully now. I'm leaving Oasis Vale to settle some matters. While I'm away, you people had better continue to do as you're told and carry on with your farm work. I'm sure you all know very well what will happen to you if you try to escape or cause any kind of trouble."

The crowd shuddered. They wouldn't even dare to think of escaping.

"Rest assured, sir, for we will definitely fulfill our responsibilities and work hard until you return."

"Good," Gideon said with a nod.

Just then, an old man stepped forward with a ring and a letter in hand. He asked beseechingly, "Sir, since you're leaving Oasis Vale, I was wondering if you could help me with something on account of my dutiful performance the past two years."

He even got on his knees and looked at Gideon with a pleading expression.

The old man was Simon Avila, the richest man in all of Verdura.

Gideon still remembered how Simon ended up joining them here. Everyone else who had been captured and brought to Oasis Vale had committed crimes of varying degrees of severity. However, Simon had entered the group voluntarily.

As Simon also hadn't done anything wrong in the last two years, Gideon asked, "What is it?"

Overjoyed, Simon said, "Sir, please pay a visit to the Avilas of Goldspire. When you do, please pass this letter and ring to my granddaughter. When the time comes, you'll see why."

"Goldspire, you say?"

Gideon was heading there anyway, so he didn't refuse the request. After pocketing the letter and ring, he reminded the crowd not to cause any trouble before packing his things and setting off.

Soon, he arrived at the nearest city and headed for the airport. He'd only just taken a seat at the departure hall when he heard a sharp screech.

"Gideon Snow? How dare you tail us?"

"Huh?"

Gideon turned his head around and saw two fully armed soldiers marching up to him—they looked like Lavinia's guards, Benny and Derek.

"Why am I bumping into them of all people?" Gideon grumbled. Pursing his lips, he replied, "I'm not interested in tailing any of you. Are you telling me that I'm not allowed to come to the airport to take a flight?"

Benny roared, "Haven't you been holing yourself up in Oasis Vale the whole time? Why did you come out, huh? How dare you cancel the engagement, you bastard? Such insolence!

"If Ms. Mosley hadn't stopped me, I would've arrested you and had you shipped off to prison!"

Just then, Lavinia piped up, "Come back here. Watch what you say. We should keep a low profile!"

Hence, her guards had to drop the matter. They cast baleful glares at Gideon before heading back to Lavinia.

All of a sudden, the sound of a gunshot rang out.

Three men in black barged into the departure hall. Two of them were wielding guns, while the third had a bomb strapped to him.

"Don't move, or else, you're all going to die!" shouted the man with a C4 bomb tied to him.

Then, he fixed his eyes on Lavinia and smirked sinisterly. "Ms. Mosley, if you don't want to cause the death of these innocent civilians, you're going to have to come quietly with us without putting up any sort of resistance."

"You recognize me? Who are you people?" Lavinia questioned.

"We're suicide operatives from Tylland. It is rumored that you will be launching a military campaign against Tylland in the coming days, Ms. Mosley.

"Well, our king is extremely infuriated. Please come with us, for he would like to have a chat with you," the man with the bomb said.

"I know you're an expert fighter who can kill me, but allow me to inform you that the bomb is connected to my heart. If my heart stops beating, the bomb will explode.

"Therefore, I'd advise you not to try anything funny, unless you want these poor innocent civilians to die a horrific death. I'm sure that as the war hero of Dasovia, you'd want to protect them, right?"

Lavinia's expression was grim.

Benny and Derek were panicking hard, too. If Lavinia went to Tylland, she would never be returning. What could they do now?

All of a sudden, they realized that Gideon's seat was tucked out of sight of the suicide operatives. If he could subdue the bomb-strapped operative from behind, they could easily tackle the two other armed suicide operatives and defuse the situation.

Thus, they started giving him looks—which he saw. However, Lavinia's fate was of no consequence to him.

When Benny and Derek saw the way Gideon merely turned to the side, they fumed with rage and inwardly cursed him for being a cowardly bastard. Even Lavinia's eyes were filled with disappointment. He was indeed nothing more than a farmer who didn't feel a sense of duty to his country.

At the same time, there was a loud commotion outside as the airport police surrounded the area. Nevertheless, no one dared to make any rash moves. If they killed the suicide operative, the bomb would explode, and at least 300 people at the airport would be caught in the explosion.

An incident on such a scale would surely be a national crisis, and no one dared to shoulder the responsibility for the fallout.

"Hey, Ms. Mosley. Have you made up your mind yet? There are limits to my patience, you know. Either come with us, or we'll all die here together!" the suicide operative declared with a manic expression, leaving Lavinia in a bind.

She would've taken down the suicide operative by now if it hadn't been for the possibility of setting off the bomb due to it being connected to his heart.

She, a three-star general and the only female war hero of Dasovia, was undoubtedly exceptional in combat, but the situation didn't look too good.

Lavinia's eyes fell on Gideon. The only way out of this situation was for Gideon to sneak up on the suicide operative, but… he calmly took his phone out and started playing a game.

In her rage, she nearly popped her vein.

All of the passengers who were being held hostage were kneeling on the floor, trembling in fear.

"I'm scared, Mommy," a three-year-old girl said tearfully as she cowered in her mother's arms. Her eyes were filled with terror.

Gideon's heart tightened.

Just then, the suicide operative abruptly went mad. "Looks like you don't plan on coming with us. In that case, let's all die together!"

While speaking, he slammed his thumb down on the red button…