Irium 153 Interlude I - 6. A Proposal

"Dad, what are you-"

"Don't' worry!" I cut her off. "He wasn't trying to hurt me to be honest. He knew I'd dodge."

It was only after I dodged it that I realized that he knew I'd dodge from the get go as his feet were ready to kick my kneecaps in from the position I had ended up in after dodging.

"…" He looked at me in silence for a whole 15 seconds and then said, "What do you want?"

"I just want to help." I said. "I have a proposal for you."

He wasn't particularly excited or surprised but his expression softened up just a little bit as he heard my words.

"Well, if that's the case, spill it out!"

"I … I think we should get to a more private location before I tell you." I suggested. He sighed and asked me to follow him.

*****

From the lawn we had our first meeting in; I followed him all the way over to outside of the shrine. It was just me and Kaylith; not even Grimma was allowed by her father to follow us.

"So?" and once we were far away from the shrine and n.o.body was around to hear us, he urged me to go on. "Just don't tell me after coming all this way that this was a prank."

"No, no, not at all." I said immediately, and then, gulped, composed myself, and said, "Do you know what Asteroid Realms are?"

"Yes, I do. What about them?" He didn't show much enthusiasm even on that topic, however, I did take him by surprise with what I told him next.

"I am from an Asteroid Realm known as Pegasus C34."

He looked at me wide-eyes, and asked, "Young man, why do I not feel the joking atmosphere around you?"

"That's because I am not joking. I really am from Pegasus C34. It's an Asteroid Realm in-"

"I know where it is. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that I am talking to an alien." He said and looked back at the shrine.

"…" I stayed silent thinking he might have something to say.

But he didn't. And so, for a while, there was silence between us. It was a cold and awkward silence but it was silence nonetheless. And then, when it broke,

"So what's your proposal?"

I started answering him without any more nervousness on my face, "Remedy won't stop hunting you down to the ends of the earth, not at your current state of power."

"Please don't tell me you are going to give me a way to become more powerful!" He wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea. Luckily for him, that wasn't my proposal.

"No; well, at least not in the sense that you become a more powerful mage. What I am talking about here – is political power."

I then suggested something I had originally kept for much later in my plans. "My proposal is that you become the king of Pegasus C34, the realm I come from."

"What!?" Naturally, he was surprised.

"Currently, Lucifer rules the realm. In his rule, the realm has flourished in many ways. People are generally smart, strong and open-minded. Law and order is present throughout the realm. It's a beautiful place by itself but with technological advancements balances out with natural beauty, it has become one of the most beautiful Asteroid Realms in the world."

Don't get me wrong. I was no salesman. The reason why I was telling him all this was to say what I said next.

"All those factors have contributed to Pegasus C34 becoming one of the most key realms in the universe from a political standpoint. If you can take the leadership of that realm, in which I will help you of course if you accept the proposal, you will have reached a level where Remedy will have to back away from your family."

"…" What followed was a moment of contemplation on Kaylith's part after which he asked, "How can I know that you are not trying to take advantage of my situation?"

"…" That was a question I had no answer for. For someone who thought they were responsible for the predicament that family had fallen into, how could I answer such a question with a straight-face?

"Well?" Yet, he pressed me for an answer.

And so, I played the only card I could play.

"If I help you meet up with your dead friend, Trevor, will you trust me?"

"Huh!?" Before he could burst out in anger thinking it was a joke, I continued,

"Your friend has become an Angel. I can help you meet him. Will that help you trust me a little?"

Thinking from a logical standpoint, it wouldn't make sense for him to start trusting me over something like that. But, emotions don't work on logic, not always anyway. And in the matters of dead friends or relatives, they definitely did not follow logic at all.

"Y-you can do that!?"

"I …" I trailed off, thinking I'd get out it somehow by keeping quiet but,

"Tell me! Can you really do that!?" He asked me with eyes filled with hope. And so, I had to answer.

"Mr. Glice, I can do just about anything that is humanely possible. I know all there is to know about mage-craft." I said. "And so, yes, I can help you meet your dead friend, in his Angel form."

*****