Chapter 108. God Does Not Play Dice (2)
“No. 6, do you still want to meet your family?”
While Yukgap was lost in thought, No. 5 suddenly asked an unexpected question.
Yukgap answered without hesitation.
“Why ask something so obvious all of a sudden?”
The moment he learned that he had parents and a younger sister, an aching longing had surged up inside him.
He still could not remember them.
Even so, the determination to meet them remained inside him like a mission he had to fulfill.
“I’m afraid.”
No. 5 continued in a calm voice that somehow made her words feel even heavier.
“Our desertion, and everything we’ve done to find our families, may all be within Alpha’s foresight.”
“Maybe the best way to protect them is to never meet them.”
“Then are you planning to spend the rest of your life missing them?”
At Yukgap’s question, No. 5 lowered her head.
“I don’t know.”
Her voice was filled with despair.
“And I don’t want to.”
She did not want to spend her entire life longing for her family.
But she also did not want her family to be placed in danger because of her.
It was a painfully contradictory situation.
“Why are you thinking so hard about it?”
Victoria seemed to notice the heavy atmosphere and deliberately spoke in a bright tone.
“I don’t know how amazing this Alpha person is, but if her prophecies were really perfect, then why did that obnoxious bald fat bastard lose to me?”
“Right?”
No. 5 looked confused.
“Who is the obnoxious bald fat bastard?”
“She means No. 11.”
Yukgap quickly explained.
Apparently, defeating No. 11 during the previous incident had given Victoria a quiet boost in confidence.
“No matter how impressive Alpha’s foresight is, she probably can’t predict every single unexpected action.”
Victoria spoke with confidence.
“So we just have to deliberately do things she won’t expect.”
“Throw off her calculations.”
No. 5 slowly nodded.
“As it happens, that is exactly why I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Before she could answer, footsteps approached inside Restaurant Shelley.
“Is anyone here?”
It was a familiar voice.
Yukgap immediately recognized the scarred face of the man who entered.
“You?”
“It has been a while.”
The visitor politely greeted them.
Then, in a calm voice, he revealed why he had come.
“I am Kevin, the Mercenary King.”
“I came to Restaurant Shelley to request a special menu.”
The man known as the Mercenary King.
The man who had once driven back even an Archon of Abraxas.
He was now standing before Yukgap.
[Here. Drink, fleshbag.]
Robert politely served Kevin a cup of coffee despite his usual choice of words.
Kevin accepted it and offered a light compliment.
“It smells good.”
[Naturally. I brewed it myself. I carefully selected every single coffee bean.]
Robert seemed pleased by the praise.
But that was not the important issue.
Yukgap immediately questioned Kevin.
“So why has the Mercenary King honored our restaurant with his presence?”
“Exactly as I said.”
Kevin answered.
“I came to order a special menu.”
“We don’t have time for jokes.”
Yukgap’s tone hardened.
“Get to the point.”
Kevin immediately did.
“I heard that you stopped the large-scale biological attack Abraxas carried out recently.”
“My mercenary group has connections with the Herrington Order.”
Apparently, he had learned about the incident through the convent.
Victoria immediately puffed herself up proudly.
“Hehehe. That much was nothing for the beautiful alchemist Victoria.”
Kevin glanced at her before continuing.
“The most frightening thing about Abraxas is its foresight.”
“It is almost as though they can directly see the future.”
“No matter what we prepare, events somehow always move in a direction favorable to Abraxas.”
“My mercenary group has clashed with them several times.”
“We have rarely won.”
Yukgap answered flatly,
“Of course.”
“They have Alpha.”
Kevin’s tone changed slightly.
“But doesn’t something feel strange?”
“If Alpha’s foresight is truly absolute, then why did she allow Abraxas to lose twice?”
“That...”
Yukgap began to answer, then stopped.
Come to think of it, why had Alpha allowed those two defeats?
Kevin seemed to read the question on his face.
“There are two possibilities.”
“First, those defeats were also part of a carefully designed plan.”
“Second...”
He deliberately emphasized the next words.
“There may be a flaw in Alpha’s foresight.”
Kevin took several photographs from his coat and spread them across the table.
They showed a dark harbor.
At the edge of one image was a ship marked with the emblem of Abraxas.
“History has seen many people who claimed to be prophets.”
“But most of them did not possess supernatural abilities.”
“What they had was an extraordinary ability to read the flow of their era and calculate what would happen next.”
He tapped the photograph.
“Perhaps Alpha of Abraxas does not literally see the future either.”
“She may simply possess an incredibly precise ability to calculate it.”
“In that case, I intend to challenge Abraxas’s foresight.”
Yukgap picked up one of the photographs.
“What is this?”
No. 5 answered.
“Information I stole from Abraxas.”
