Edward, a seasoned politician, was used to such accusations and managed to keep his smile. His wife, however, less practiced, couldn't hide her anger at such humiliation.
Her husband placed a hand over hers and spoke. "Sora Hashino… That's also the name of the child adopted by the Swansons. That individual died almost two years ago. When we investigated Ralph Eden, we considered the possibility he was one of their sons, but there was evidence confirming their deaths…"
Sora didn't react, but everyone else at the table was listening intently.
Edward continued, "And yet, the timing of Sora Hashino's disappearance and Ralph Eden's appearance in the Swanson household was odd. Who was this person, who came out of nowhere, with no birth record in France, yet so close to the Swanson family? The most plausible theory was that he was Henri Swanson's illegitimate child. Henri was known to be a womanizer in his youth, back in England, after all."
"However, my wife always hated that theory. She insisted Ralph Eden was actually the missing Sora Hashino… and that was enough for me to believe it. Just like I believed her when she said, after Ralph Eden's supposed death, that he wasn't dead at all."
"And finally, while many may have missed it, we caught a few comments in the stream chat. The aliens watching seemed to know more about you than all of humanity combined. Word is, you're the wielder of [Prestige], and your previous name was indeed Ralph Eden."
"Let's stop playing games, Sora Hashino," Edward concluded.
Sora's eyes lit up and he smiled. "So you've done your homework… Your wife's [Innate Skill] is called [Intuition], isn't it?" He turned to Caitlyn. "Go ahead. Consider going to war with me, and see where it leads. I promise you that if you want war, I'll erase all trace of your existence within a week."
He gave her a few moments, then shook his head at the sight of her anger and fear. "Thankfully for everyone, I'm not petty and I'm not here to stir up trouble. I only want one thing: for humanity to win this war. For that, I need [ARAM] and a few allies."
Noticing the fury in their eyes dying down, he said, "If you want to join us, you'll be welcome."
Watching the long exchange between Caitlyn and Edward, Sora remained silent.
After a few minutes, Edward McCall's shoulders relaxed, and he nodded toward Sora. "Alright. You can count on our cooperation."
Turning to Emily and Kim, he added, "We'll withdraw everything we still have access to from the guild's vaults before the assault begins. We'll also order our troops to leave the guild. You'll be free to declare a guild war at that point. Hannah's group will know we've betrayed them. As for the information we've gathered about them, I assume you don't need it?"
Sora shook his head and sent Edward a list of several thousand names and details—spies Hannah had planted throughout both major American cities.
"Don't kill them. Capture them and bring them to this place. We'll determine if they're spies or just victims enslaved by Hannah. Depending on who they are, I encourage you to put them on trial to decide their fate," he explained.
Caitlyn was taken aback by his words. "Some get a trial and others don't?"
Sora looked slightly uncomfortable with the question, but answered anyway. "I've made enough mistakes in the past to be disgusted with myself. The fewer I make from now on, especially against my own kind, the happier I'll be."
He then turned toward the [ARAM] leaders. "Do you have everything you need to deal with Hannah?"
Morgan was the first to respond. "We can go right now! I'm ready."
Emily cut him off. "Morgan, calm down."
Less confident than him, she turned to Alius. "We're not fully ready yet. How much time would we need to be sure we can win?"
Alius remained silent for a few seconds before answering, his gaze cold. "One week. That should be enough. In one week, Hannah will be history."
His words sent a chill through the room, and the couple of leaders couldn't help but shiver at the sound of his certainty.
Sora then spoke up. "On my end, I'll help with the reorganization of New York and Los Angeles. I'll provide resources and hidden dimensions. I'll let you find the right specialists for the construction."
Sora smiled upon seeing the duo nod and sent a message to Alius.
Moments later, an NDA made of Soul Power materialized in front of the participants. The content of the contract guaranteed absolute confidentiality for everyone involved in the conversation.
Sora sighed. 'We're in a world where only those with a high soul level can break this kind of agreement. And since Alius has a monstrous quantity of Soul Power, no one here is likely to breach it any time soon.'
He signed the contract and watched as each participant added their signature one by one.
***
After spending some time finalizing the details of the offensive, both parties went their separate ways.
Sora walked alongside Hope and Alius, who didn't take the same path as the others.
He smiled at Hope and extended a hand. "Hello, Hope. Alius has told me a lot about you."
Hope shook his hand. "Is that so? That little rascal barely mentioned you at all."
Alius avoided their gazes and answered flatly, "Hope, this is Sora—my evil twin. Sora, this is Hope, my partner…"
Sora burst out laughing at how his brother introduced him. Then he pretended to get angry. "Your evil twin?! You little ungrateful brat—come here so I can teach you some manners."
Watching Sora grab Alius by the ear as the latter struggled like a bullied little brother, Hope couldn't help but smile.
After 'disciplining' his brother, Sora turned to the two of them. "You mentioned needing a week to prepare. What exactly will you be doing?"
Alius grew serious again. "I've prepared extremely powerful spells, but they consume a lot of Soul Power. I'll spend the week increasing my reserves to make sure I can counter any kind of attack. I think I'm already stronger than Hannah, but I don't want to take any chances."
Hope nodded and added, "Meanwhile, I'll be completing as many collections as possible to boost my overall power. Even though I'm at a lower level than Alius, I have some skills that are usually very useful in battle."
Sora, intrigued, asked, "Collections? What does that mean?"
Hope, happy that Alius hadn't revealed her ability, briefly explained her [Innate Skill] before adding, "Right now, I need to collect all dungeon keys in the kingdom. The reward for this collection is a 30% boost to my Soul Power absorption capacity."
"Impressive… A quest that easy gives such a reward? Wow," Sora couldn't help but comment.
Hope frowned. "An easy quest? Each dungeon has its own key, and I have to find all the quests that lead to their locations—or find a divination specialist. That kind of collection would take years for a regular person. But with my expertise and certain skills, it'll take me three or four days at most."
Sora, realizing that his abnormal knowledge of item locations might be useful, got an idea. "What other collections are there? And what are their rewards?"
Hope began listing her quests. "100 fangs from different dog-type bosses, all level 200 or higher. 2,000 pelts from various feline monsters, level 190 minimum. One kilogram of every known ore in the kingdom. One of each type of gemstone. And each collection has higher tiers that demand even more."
When Sora heard the rewards tied to those collections, his eyes widened.
'If she completes all that quickly… she could become monstrously strong in no time.'
"You want a hand with that? I know someone who could help you collect everything you need pretty fast," he said with a smile.
Hope looked surprised. "How would you even do that? Even if you have thousand of evil twins, I don't think that's the best use of their time."
Alius also raised an eyebrow. "Did you acquire new skills I don't know about?"
Sora, aware that both of them were watching him closely, stayed cryptic. "Something like that."
He stepped away for a few minutes, entering a hidden dimension, and came back with a new 'friend.'
"Let me introduce you to Newtons! He's a specialist when it comes to finding all kinds of things. He'll help you locate everything you need in no time."
'Newtons' was a young man with a radiant smile, red hair, warm brown eyes, and freckles on his face. He was slightly taller than Sora and radiated pure joy.
Alius and Hope both stood with their mouths open—but for different reasons.
"Newtons? You just created him with [Alter Ego], didn't you?" Alius asked telepathically.
"Level 225? Your friend is level 225?! I can't let a player that high spend his time on my side quests!" Hope protested.
Newtons shook his head. "Don't say that. I've always been passionate about collections, and hearing about your skill honestly filled me with curiosity. I'd be delighted to help. Let's not waste time and let's get started."
---------------------
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