Reincarnated as an Energy with a System

Chapter 1970: Briefly to New Limaro

Ning returned to New Limaro after leaving Jun’Tal with his family. One of the first places he visited was the Star Hero Agency. The building was as busy as usual, with heroes and staff moving between offices, though none were able to see Ning arrive.

Several of Blake’s clones handled different tasks at once, each one far too busy handling tasks that Ning could not even begin to imagine being required of him.

"Hey," Ning called out.

The main body turned toward him from far in the corner of the room.

"You’re finally here. What did you do?" Blake asked as he walked over.

Ning raised an eyebrow. "That question could mean a lot of things."

"You know exactly what I mean," Blake said. "News from the summit has been spreading everywhere, and even though most of the reports are incomplete, everyone seems to agree that Blackfang was right in the middle of whatever happened."

Ning nodded once. "That sounds accurate."

Blake stared at him for a moment before lowering his voice.

"Have you heard anything from Faedria?" Blake asked. "They say you attacked one of their leaders."

"I did, but I haven’t heard anything. Have you?"

"That’s the strange part," Blake said. "After what you did to the High Elf in front of all those leaders and cameras, I expected Faedria to be furious. I thought they would release statements, accuse Conjora of humiliating one of their representatives, demand an investigation, or at least complain publicly, but there’s been almost nothing."

Ning thought about that for a moment. Leamor had been accused of murder in front of the world, exposed by Maelis’ ability, and then confronted directly by the face of the man whose family he had killed, so silence from Faedria wasn’t that unusual.

"Any actual problems here?" Ning asked.

"Not really," Blake admitted. "No official complaint has reached the agency, and nobody important has come looking for you yet. Your public ranking might take a hit, though, depending on how people react once the full story spreads."

Ning shrugged. "That’s fine."

Blake frowned. "You say that now, but you spent months climbing into the top fifteen."

"I didn’t spend months climbing. You spent months worrying about it."

"That is technically true," Blake said, sounding mildly annoyed. "But I still don’t like watching numbers go down."

Ning smiled faintly.

Blake studied him for another moment before asking, "Where were you for so long? You disappeared after the summit."

"I had something to take care of."

"What?"

"I’m not telling you."

Blake sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Of course you’re not."

One of his clones appeared beside them and handed him a small folder before walking away again, and Blake opened it automatically while continuing to watch Ning with suspicion. Ning had already told him everything he intended to, however, and once he was satisfied that there were no immediate problems waiting at the agency, he decided to leave.

"Oh, before I go. Do you know how many years I have left on my contract?" Ning asked.

"On your hero contract? Should be about 4 and a half years, maybe. Why?"

"I’m leaving once the contract ends," Ning said.

"What?" Blake’s eyes widened. "You’re going to leave us?"

"No, I’m not changing agencies. I’m going to stop being a hero in general."

Ning left after saying as much, leaving Blake with a blank, stunned expression that would require him several minutes to get rid of.

From there, Ning made his way toward the police station, where Larissa had continued following the trail left behind by her father’s murder. He found her in one of the investigation rooms with Mira and Jack nearby, the table between them covered in photographs, printed records, and handwritten notes that had clearly been reorganized several times over the past few days.

Mira was seated near one end of the table, quietly reading through a document, while Jack stood beside a wall covered in pinned photographs and names. Larissa looked up first when Ning entered, and her attention immediately settled on his uncovered face.

"You’re just walking around like that now?" Larissa asked.

Ning looked at himself. "Like what?"

"With your face showing."

Mira glanced up from the papers and looked between them, while Jack turned from the wall to see what Larissa meant.

Larissa leaned back in her chair. "The entire world saw you take off your mask at the summit. I assumed you would at least pretend to care about keeping your identity secret afterward."

"It doesn’t matter much anymore," Ning said. "How is the investigation going?"

Larissa accepted the change of subject and gestured toward the mess covering the table. "Better than before. We found a few more connections, though nothing strong enough to move against anyone yet."

Mira placed the paper she had been reading on top of a small pile. "We’ve confirmed that it really is Grace Wyndham’s husband who impregnated the woman. Now we’re trying to find people who are willing to stand on the witness stand and tell that to the judges."

Ning looked over the material for a moment before turning back toward Larissa. "So you’re making progress."

"Slowly," she said. "Which is usually how investigations work when you can’t solve everything by appearing in someone’s house and terrifying them."

Ning smiled slightly. "Sounds inefficient. If you want my help to... you know."

Larissa ignored that.

She studied him for another second before saying, "I saw what happened with Leamor."

Ning’s expression did not change.

Mira looked up again at the name, while Jack quietly moved closer to the table.

Larissa continued. "You must have had a lot of self-restraint not to kill him right there."

"No," Ning said. "I just decided to kill him later."

Mira blinked.

Jack looked toward Larissa, but she only sighed.

"Really?" Larissa asked.

"He has something coming to him," Ning said. "I just don’t need to do it immediately."

Larissa gave him a long look before returning her attention to the documents. "I’m guessing nothing I say is going to change your mind."

Ning glanced over the photographs again, then tapped lightly on the edge of the table. "When you’re ready to move against the senator, let me know. I’ll help."