Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2486 Gifts

"There it is." After carefully covering the table with a clean tablecloth and setting out the plates along with the necessary eating utensils, Billy finally brought out the cake he had prepared for the occasion.

It consisted of three full tiers, easily enough to feed ten people without any difficulty. The entire cake was golden in color and decorated with black details, especially across its uppermost surface, where thirteen small domes made of sweets had been carefully arranged.

"Hmm..." Robin smiled slightly when he saw it, his eyes naturally examining the details of the cake before him. "Gold is the official color of the Empire, and the thirteen domes represent the first thirteen planets upon which the Empire was built. That's also the same number of points on my current crown... It was carefully designed."

Then he turned toward Billy with a smile still on his face and gave him a knowing wink. "Are you actually trying to convince me that you designed and made this yourself? Don't lie. I know your shitty designs very well."

"...I know you're honest to the point of being rude, but that still hurt." Billy stared directly into Robin's eyes with an expressionless face, clearly not appreciating how quickly his claim had been questioned. "...Zara helped me a little. I have to give her the credit she deserves."

"A little?" Robin laughed, obviously catching onto the meaning behind Billy's choice of words.

"Do you want to blow out the candles, or should I just cut the cake?!" Billy shouted in embarrassment, immediately trying to move past the subject.

"Cut it~" Robin casually waved his hand, showing no particular interest in making the small celebration any more elaborate than necessary. "Let's finish this quickly so you can get back to your responsibilities."

"Tsk." Billy clicked his tongue and began cutting through the cake in obvious annoyance, carefully separating a portion from the top tier and placing it in front of Robin before cutting out another similar piece for himself.

Then he cut a third piece as well and, without getting up from his place or calling out to her, sent it flying through the air toward Althera, who had remained at a distance and was watching everything from afar...

Afterward, Billy sat down beside Robin, who had already begun eating his portion without waiting any longer, then took out a ring and casually tossed it toward him. "Here. Everyone was too afraid to come here themselves, but they still sent your gifts."

"..?" Robin caught the ring with his left hand and looked at it with visible surprise, clearly not having expected anything of the sort. "Gifts for me? They didn't have to do this..."

Robin released a quiet sigh while continuing to look down at the ring resting in his hand, his surprise not entirely disappearing...

After taking control of all those Sectors and building an enormous cosmic trade network spanning his territories, after his countless inventions had succeeded and brought him trillions of pearls along with an almost immeasurable number of treasures... what could someone in his position possibly still need?

The very idea that others might prepare gifts for him hadn't crossed Robin's mind for even a moment. On occasions like this, he was usually the one who distributed gifts to others, and what he gave away was generally either valuable technologies or large amounts of money...

Then, with a faint smile appearing on his face and expectations even lighter than that smile, Robin sent his consciousness into the ring and took out everything stored inside it, placing all of it beside him at once.

Krssh

The moment everything appeared before him, his eyes immediately widened slightly and both of his brows rose as his expression finally showed genuine surprise. "....?!"

Everything that had been stored inside the ring, without exception, consisted entirely of books and metallic thought-transmission tablets, with nothing resembling the conventional treasures or expensive objects one might normally expect as gifts.

"This..?" Robin looked over the large quantity of books and tablets that had appeared beside him, the pile reaching all the way up to the level of his seated position, and examined them with a mixture of interest and obvious surprise. "What's all this?"

"They're your gifts." Billy replied casually while his mouth was still full of food, continuing to eat as though the strange collection before them were completely ordinary. "I told everyone that I was coming here anyway, so every one of them sent something from what you see in front of you and asked me to deliver it to you."

"They're all books and written works?" Robin asked in surprise as his gaze continued moving across the collection, apparently finding their similarity stranger than their number. "Did you coordinate with them to make it turn out like this?"

"Of course I didn't!" Billy immediately waved the spoon in his hand in denial, clearly finding the very idea ridiculous. "Would I actually contact all of them and tell them to send books as birthday presents? What idiot sends a book as a gift?!"

"....." Robin ignored Billy's words for a moment and quickly scanned through the books before him, his gaze passing over them one after another until something particular caught his attention. He then extended his hand toward one specific book and pulled it out from among the rest. "Diary of an Officer Who Thinks He's Just... Isn't this from you?"

"....." Billy lowered his gaze toward the ground for a moment, looking slightly awkward now that Robin had singled out his book from among the entire pile. "Yes." Then, after a brief hesitation, he continued somewhat sheepishly, "I don't really have anything suitable to give you as a gift, so I thought I'd write down the current state of the Light Swords, their hierarchical structure after centuries of continuous testing, their optimal locations, the best method I've found and followed for deploying them, and the codes governing their dealings with citizens... I believe this policing system can work in any empire, no matter how ancient it is or how newly established it might be, and regardless of who its founders or inhabitants are, as long as it's implemented correctly."

"...." Robin looked at Billy for a moment before a smile appeared on his face. "They'll need a just officer like you to implement it correctly, and not everyone is fortunate enough to have one." Then he gave a small approving nod while setting the matter in his mind. "Gift accepted, Billy. Thank you."

"Aha~" Billy scratched his head in embarrassment at the direct praise, clearly more uncomfortable receiving it than he had been explaining the book. "Read it first, then give me your opinion."

"I've already read it." Robin calmly placed the book aside as though he had merely finished checking something simple.

15:37

"....?" Billy stared at him, momentarily unable to understand what he had just heard.

"The section on page 745 about the rapid spread of the Light Swords on Planet Oraio was truly inspiring. I couldn't have handled the situation there any better myself. Well done!"

"......?!" Billy's eyes widened further, his expression showing that he hadn't expected Robin's claim to be quite so literal.

"Alright, what else do we have?" Robin immediately moved on, sweeping his eyes across the large pile of books and metallic tablets in search of his next target, a faint smile remaining on his face while his relaxed eyes showed clear satisfaction with what he had received.

Although Robin hadn't read the rest of the books and written works yet, he already loved his gifts and the idea behind them.

Even if he were completely penniless and possessed nothing at all, gifts that their makers had personally spent their own time and effort creating held a value far beyond anything that could simply be purchased with wealth, and it was obvious from what lay before him that all his children and followers had worked hard to create these books and written works specifically for him... Even if some of them ultimately contained nothing more than new methods for seasoning and cooking food, it wouldn't matter in the slightest; what truly mattered to him were the feelings they had put into what they made and the effort they had personally spent on it.

"Ha... haha, you scared me for a moment there. I forgot just how powerful your soul is." Billy scratched his head again as the initial shock faded. "At this rate, you'll finish reading all those books within a few—"

At that exact moment, before Billy could finish his sentence, his expression suddenly shifted into mild shock as an important fact that had completely slipped from his mind returned to him...

He remembered that he was still broadcasting everything that was happening!

Billy quickly released a long breath and forced himself to focus again, gathering the thoughts that had scattered while talking with Robin and carefully arranging them in his mind so he could finally proceed with what he had actually come here to do...

Then he turned his gaze toward Robin from the side and stared directly into his eyes for a moment before speaking. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead." Robin nodded casually while continuing to examine one of the books before him, showing no particular concern about what Billy might ask.

Billy furrowed his brows deeply as his expression became much more serious than before. "...Why don't you show people the truth about how you're using the plague?"

"What is there to show?" Robin replied with the same faint smile still resting naturally on his face, his expression not changing in the slightest after hearing the question.

"Your reputation is terrible right now, as you know. Your enemies are using what's happening on Donara against you, and they know perfectly well what is actually happening here, yet they're deliberately showing the universe something entirely different. They've managed to make people hate you for something you should actually be praised for!" After saying those words, Billy stood up from his place and walked toward the edge of the cliff, then pointed downward with obvious frustration and shouted indignantly, "How can what's happening here possibly be used against you, when every sane person in the entire universe should come here every single day and kiss your foot for the sacrifices you're making?!"

Throughout those resounding words, even while his voice carried his anger and frustration, Billy's eyes remained firmly focused downward toward the area beneath the mountain, directly toward the Passage Gate and everything that was taking place around it.