socalfunplaces Chapter 376. Follow Me - 2
Chapter 376. Follow Me - 2
Edmund looked at William’s smile without any visible reaction. His expression remained calm and unreadable, as though the confidence and casual arrogance radiating from the young man in front of him had failed to stir even the slightest ripple in his mind.
"So," Edmund said slowly, his voice measured and even, "are you here to prove me wrong?"
William let out a chuckle before shaking his head.
"No."
The smile on his face widened slightly as he spoke again.
"I’m here to make you my subordinate."
Edmund leaned back further into his chair, his posture relaxed despite the dangerous meaning behind those words. He studied William in silence for several long moments, his pale eyes fixed steadily on him, before he finally gave a small nod.
"I see."
He closed his eyes briefly, almost as though organizing his thoughts, then opened them again with the same composed demeanor.
"I have a few conditions," he said calmly, absentmindedly adjusting his glasses while his fingers fidgeted lightly against the frame.
William leaned forward with interest, resting an elbow against his knee. "I know for a fact that you understand your current predicament," he said casually. "Your calm expression alone proves that much."
His gaze drifted upward for a brief moment, toward the distant sky beyond the ceiling.
"You can probably sense that monster floating above this island right now. That thing could devour you without a second thought, and there would be absolutely nothing you could do about it." William laughed softly, amused by the poker face maintained by Edmund.
"And yet, even in this completely non-negotiable situation, you’re talking about conditions." He shook his head with visible fascination. "It’s honestly amusing to me. I’m curious why you think I would bother listening to them."
Edmund remained perfectly composed beneath William’s scrutiny.
"Because you are reasonable," he replied simply.
William’s brows rose in surprise. "Oh? And how exactly did you arrive at that conclusion?" he asked with interest.
"There are several reasons."
Edmund spoke in the same calm tone throughout, neither flattering nor fearful, as though he were merely explaining an obvious observation.
"The first is the way you handled the aftermath of your conflict with the church. You had absolutely no obligation to justify your conquest of the empire to ordinary people of Aris, especially when none of them possessed the power to oppose you. Yet instead of ruling through fear alone, you chose to expose the crimes of those you destroyed."
He paused briefly.
"That tells me you value mortal lives to some extent. More importantly, it tells me you understand the importance of public perception and civilization itself. Someone like Elavlin would never bother with such an inconvenience. A beast-minded individual only sees domination. You, however, view civilization as an asset worth maintaining."
Edmund adjusted his glasses slightly. "People who think that way are generally reasonable."
William listened quietly, and his amusement slowly deepened.
"The second reason," Edmund continued, "is the way you dealt with Aliaster. You allowed him to choose a side before killing him. That alone says enough. You also spared the ordinary workers within the churches and selectively targeted only those in leadership."
His gaze remained steady.
"Then there is the fact that you waited several days after the conflict ended before coming to my island. You deliberately gave me time and space to research and investigate you and then decide my stance."
A faint smile appeared on Edmund’s face.
"And lastly, when I mentioned that I had a few conditions of my own just now, you reacted with amusement instead of anger. Your ego was not wounded by the mere idea of negotiation with someone lower in strength. Even my guards outside were spared despite being completely insignificant to you and still daring to take out their weapons."
He folded his hands calmly together.
"All of these things tell me that you do not kill or oppress others unnecessarily."
William burst into laughter after hearing the old man’s explanation. Had he been that observant of William’s every decision?
William could not help but marvel at the way Edmund phrased his words; it made him genuinely feel good about himself.
"You really are skilled at flattering people. I wonder if you think praising me like this will improve the chances of getting your conditions accepted."
Edmund gave a small shrug, and for the first time, a subtle trace of humor appeared in his expression.
"Maybe."
William shook his head with a chuckle.
"Most of your assumptions are correct, but you should know that my reasonable personality is only selective for people who are not my enemies, and I have no intention of being reasonable toward certain races as well."
The smile on his face gradually thinned and became colder.
"Demons, for example."
A chilling sharpness entered his voice.
"My goal is to erase them. I intend to be as unreasonable as possible when it comes to them." He leaned back in his seat, eyes narrowing slightly. "Soon, I’ll be entering the Abyss itself, and I’ll need capable people around me to help clean out that filthy race and also rescue someone from the clutches of a demon lord."
To William’s surprise, Edmund slowly nodded in agreement.
"I can understand that feeling," he said quietly. "There are races I despise from the depths of my soul as well. If given the chance, I would gladly see them erased."
The atmosphere around him changed the moment he spoke those words.
For the first time since entering the room, genuine emotion leaked through Edmund’s calm facade. His voice carried a bitterness so deep and heavy that even William found himself caught off guard. It was like glimpsing violent currents hidden beneath an endlessly still ocean.
William raised a brow in surprise.
"Well," he said slowly, "that’s unexpected."
He studied the old man. "What exactly happened to make you hate a race that much?" William asked. "And which race are we talking about?"
Edmund’s lips tightened slightly.
For a brief moment, the calm composure on his face seemed strained.
"Please don’t force me to revisit the past," he said quietly. A bitter chuckle escaped him afterward. "I’m already putting considerable effort into maintaining this calm facade."
He looked away briefly. "I would rather not become some grim spirit consumed by old hatred right now."
William let out a dry laugh at the unusually honest confession.
"At least tell me the race," he said with a grin. "If I run into them someday, maybe I’ll help you hunt them down."
"Haha..."
Edmund laughed softly at the joke before his expression gradually faded back into silence.
"Angels," he said at last, and the room became noticeably quieter afterward.
William’s expression changed slightly, though he hid most of his reaction.
"I see."
He tapped his fingers lightly against the armrest while thinking for a moment.
"Who else among humans hates angels?" he asked eventually. "Aside from you, I am sure there may be more victims."
If Edmund refused to explain further, then someone else might.
Edmund shook his head lightly.
"Yue Qinglan," he answered. "The Divine Seer despises angels as well." A faint smile appeared on his face.
"But she will never tell you anything."
William’s smile disappeared almost immediately.
"Why not?"
"The same reason as me," Edmund chuckled.
William frowned; he could theoretically ask Yue Qinglan himself. She had been close to his mother since childhood, after all.
But asking questions about past grudges and forgotten history would inevitably attract suspicion. His mother would definitely hear about it sooner or later, and once that happened, they would naturally begin questioning why he had suddenly become interested in digging through the past.
And if he claimed it was merely curiosity, there was little chance they would believe him, and even if they believed him, Yue would definitely not open up just because he wanted her to.
"Anyone else?" William asked instead. Edmund rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Perhaps Yun Long would tell you," he said after a moment. "You should ask him how forty percent of Aris’s landmass was obliterated. He will probably tell you the whole lore since he is a lazy ass who drinks tea the whole day anyway."
William’s eyes widened instantly.
"What?!" He nearly shot out of his chair in shock, his composure completely shattered for the first time since entering the room.
"How is that even possible? When did Aris’s land get obliterated?" The sheer absurdity of the statement made it sound unbelievable.
An entire continent losing nearly half its landmass was not a war. It was a catastrophe beyond imagination.
Edmund chuckled and took out a map; he traced his finger along the arc-shaped western boundary of the Aris Empire and spoke.
"Do you think such clean boundaries on a land are created by nature?"
Edmund merely shook his head, refusing to elaborate any further.
William slowly sat back down, but the disbelief remained clearly visible across his face. His thoughts churned violently as he tried to process what he had just heard.