Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2432 Robin's Decision

In Front of the Glass House—

Silence

Other than Qarun's voice continuing to come from the recording, not a single person among those gathered in front of the Glass House uttered so much as a word.

Dozens of researchers and scientists remained standing in their places, yet the surroundings were so unnaturally quiet that not even the sound of their breathing could be heard... Only the expressions spread across their faces were enough to say everything that none of them dared to put into words.

Anger at what they were hearing, resentment toward the person speaking, and fear of how His Majesty might react once the recording finally came to an end... Everyone there was listening to Qarun's words with their own ears, yet throughout the entire recording their eyes hardly ever left His Majesty, each of them carefully trying to detect the slightest change in his expression or any other sign that might warn them in advance of the darkness that was about to come.

But—

Krssh

The recording finally reached its end with Qarun's deliberately provocative piece of advice, and almost everyone present unconsciously swallowed hard as they waited to see what would happen next.

"Hmmm..." Robin finally raised his right hand and casually began scratching the top of his head with the pen he was holding, seemingly giving what he had just heard a little thought before commenting, "A rather dirty move." Then he merely sighed, shifted his attention away from the recording, and pointed toward one of the researchers standing nearby. "Alright, next."

"Your Majesty..." The Shadow Sword opened his mouth somewhat hesitantly after seeing that reaction, clearly still waiting for something more than those few words. "Do you have any orders?"

"No, you may go." Robin calmly waved his hand twice without showing any sign that he intended to add anything else.

Then, without allowing the matter to occupy any more of his time, he reached out and took the stack of papers from the hands of the researcher he had just pointed toward, lowered his gaze onto them, and immediately began reading through their contents without the slightest hesitation.

While his eyes continued moving across the papers in front of him, Robin finally spoke again, "Just tell whoever needs to know that everything will proceed exactly as usual."

"Understood." The Shadow Sword finally received the instructions he had been waiting for, accepted them without asking anything further, and withdrew from beside Robin.

Somewhere in the distance, Holak's voice could suddenly be heard shouting loudly...

But even that distant shouting didn't stop Robin from continuing what he was doing, and with the assistance of his spiritual power, he finished reading through every one of the papers in their entirety within only a few seconds before beginning to nod approvingly. "Good work on the rear wings of the Nota Deluge-5, and the most important thing about this design is that the required materials are actually obtainable as long as sufficient money is available, rather than being so absurdly rare that obtaining them becomes a problem in itself... But there are still a few minor adjustments that need to be made."

Robin then lowered the tip of his pen onto several carefully selected pages among the stack, beginning to cross out certain things he had noticed while directly writing his own corrections and modifications over them.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!!" The physicist immediately began bowing repeatedly and rapidly toward Robin, while the enormous smile spreading across his face stretched almost literally from ear to ear.

That single sentence of praise from Robin would be more than enough to satisfy him for centuries. And as for the modifications Robin was currently making? Every single line his pen placed on those papers would only increase their value further, while carefully studying those changes afterward and understanding the exact differences between the old version and the newly corrected one would broaden the researcher's horizons and allow him to become considerably better within his own field... After all, receiving precisely this kind of opportunity was the reason they had come here today!

That particular researcher, along with every researcher and scientist gathered around him, worked on the fifth generation of the Nota Space series, with each individual specializing in developing a particular component or aspect of the vessels so that the entire design could keep pace with the excessive level of power His Majesty wanted the fifth generation to possess, and these valuable visits had become something they all eagerly anticipated every five years.

Judging by the current pace at which both the design and practical implementation were advancing... there probably wouldn't be many more opportunities like these left for them to enjoy in the future.

"And... there." Robin finally finished making the necessary changes, cleaned up the papers once again after completing his corrections, and handed the entire stack back to its owner with a small smile.

Then Robin raised his gaze from the papers and began looking around at all the researchers and scientists gathered before him. "Does anyone still have a question or inquiry regarding the Nota-5 family?"

"...." Everyone immediately began looking at one another, each person checking the expressions of those around them to see whether anyone else still had something they wanted to bring forward.

Then one of the more important figures among the gathered researchers stepped out from among the others and respectfully bowed toward Robin. "No, Your Majesty. The research corrections have already been completed, and now it's time for the lecture you graciously bestow upon us every time."

The eyes of everyone present immediately lit up with unmistakable anticipation upon hearing those words.

Everyone working within the three Sky Opening Cities envied the development department responsible for the Nota Space family specifically because of this recurring meeting with His Majesty and the lecture that accompanied it.

"Ay~" Robin let out a long sigh when he saw their expectant expressions. "I gave you a lecture once at the very beginning simply so that all of you could understand the general direction I wanted you to follow while developing the Nota Space-5 family, but somehow that one lecture eventually turned into a special segment that has to happen every single time we meet, huh?" Then he chuckled lightly at the situation and finally gave in. "Fine, sit down."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!!" The researchers and scientists before him, people whose ages ranged from tens of thousands of years all the way to millions of years, together with an extremely small number of exceptional geniuses from the Young Belt, all immediately sat down directly on the ground without showing even the slightest hesitation.

Bzzzt

At that exact moment, an Instant Gate suddenly opened directly beside Robin, and from within it stepped a person whose eyes were an extremely deep and oppressive shade of darkness.

"Aha, Theo!" Robin immediately opened both arms toward him in greeting, looking completely relaxed as though nothing particularly important had happened and there was no reason for the tense expression Theo had arrived with.

"...?" The sight before Theo was completely different from everything he had expected to find here... He had traveled all the way from Mid Sector 98 while repeatedly thinking through every possible scenario for how he would face his father, what kind of state he might find him in after everything that had happened, and what methods he could possibly use to ease his anger if he discovered him furious because of Qarun's recording... Yet after preparing himself for all those possibilities throughout the journey, his father was simply sitting there with a smile on his face while surrounded by a number of researchers?

"Father, haven't you seen the recording?" Theo immediately began advancing toward Robin with steady but unusually large strides, his eyes carefully examining his father's expression as he approached.

Judging by everything he was seeing in front of him, this was the only possibility Theo could think of that could reasonably explain why his father was sitting there with such complete calm after what had just happened—he simply didn't know anything about that recording yet!!

"I saw it." Robin casually waved his hand, showing no particular agitation as he answered. "That Qarun is an extremely cunning fellow."

"...?" Theo narrowed his eyes slightly after hearing such a simple response, then turned and waved toward the researchers who were still sitting on the ground nearby. "Cover your ears!"

"...!" Not a single one of them hesitated even for a moment. Everyone immediately used either natural energy or soul force to completely block their senses, making sure that nothing from the conversation about to take place would reach them.

"What exactly are we going to do about that recording, seriously this time?" Theo asked as he furrowed his brows deeply, clearly wanting an actual answer about how they intended to deal with the situation.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" Robin finally put down the pen he had been holding and raised both palms toward Theo. "Trying to justify myself would be completely useless without the Cosmic Elder himself standing beside me, while opening a gate directly to Mid Sector 250 and attacking the Star Academies' stronghold wouldn't lead to anything good either. All we'd accomplish would be making direct enemies out of an organization that has around three thousand Dominators within its ranks... And that's without even considering the fact that attacking them after that recording spread would only confirm every single word they said about us."

"...." Theo released a long breath after listening to his father's reasoning, since those were the same problems he himself had already considered. "I thought about all of that during the entire journey here... But are we really not going to have any reaction at all after something like this?"

"Forget about it for now and continue operating exactly as we have been. We're a military power first and foremost, and the sectors we already possess are ruled with an iron fist, so whether our reputation becomes good or bad doesn't actually benefit or harm us in any meaningful way. Just continue doing your job as usual and crush any rebellion before it even has the opportunity to properly emerge."

Then Robin continued in the same calm manner, "In fact, if we look at the situation properly, the coming period might not actually be all that bad for us..."

"How exactly?" Theo asked in obvious surprise, unable to immediately understand what positive side his father could possibly see in the current situation.

"We'll finally find out who's genuinely with us and who's secretly hoping to see us fall." A faint smile appeared on Robin's face as he spoke. "Morval, for example... It's already obvious that he did a very good job promoting that recording and helping it spread."

"....." Theo remained silent for a moment before slowly nodding several times, then remembered something else that had happened during his journey. "Actually, while I was coming here from Mid Sector 98, I encountered a rather strange situation."

Then Theo turned fully toward his father and continued, "They charged me ten times the usual transportation cost, and when I asked them why they were charging that much, the officials told me that they didn't want to participate in spreading corruption throughout the universe."

"Oh?" Robin raised both eyebrows slightly upon hearing that. "Antares has become rather active lately... First he sends token reinforcements to Mid Sector 89, and now he's also the first one to actually make a move and strike us over the head while we're supposedly in a position of weakness." Then Robin nodded several times with a serious expression, clearly taking note of what Antares had done. "Fine..."

Afterward, the seriousness on Robin's face faded as he returned to smiling toward Theo. "The Soul Society is no longer safe enough for us to rely on for communication, and apparently the Major Space Gates aren't safe anymore either... I'll think of something to deal with that."

Then Robin gestured toward the temporary gate Theo had arrived through, signaling that their discussion had reached its end for the moment. "Go on, get back to your work and continue doing what you were doing... I have a lecture to give."