Chapter 30: Flesh and Reality
"I have one question to ask you"
Watching them run over, Ethan floating in the room slowly studied them
Fortunately, things weren’t as bad as he thought, as most of the children had smiles on their face as they came
Obviously, even with the training and all, the orphanage was still taking good care of them
The only thing that made him frown slightly was the twins
’Um... why do I feel like they don’t like me?’ He thought in his mind
Looking at the twins, Ren and Rani, who were the slowest to come to him, not only did they not have any smiles, but he even felt a hint of dissatisfaction from them
Perhaps it was because of his level, but Emilia beside him couldn’t, as she was too busy looking at him floating with hearts in her eyes
So seeing this, Ethan decided to change act
"Hello, both of you at the back, the children who were fighting"
"Tell me, what do you think of me?"
Pointing towards them, he asked with a smile on his face
And sure enough, the two paused, as their emotions were even harder to be hidden, sometimes it was a frown laced with anger, other times it was worry
However, one sure thing was that they didn’t have the admiration that the other kids had.
It seemed the former Imperion had done something to them.
Seeing this, Ethan decided to press more, even if he couldn’t do anything today, he had to at least make sure these two wouldn’t betray him in the future like before.
’But that’s up to them, if I can’t change them, then even though I have some attachments to orphanages’
’For the sake of my future, even if they’re kids, I’ll have to..’
Muttering inwardly, Ethan seemed to have come to a decision, and just for a split second, his eyes turned red
A move which again went unnoticed by everyone around
Or perhaps Ari saw it, but since they entered the room, she had long been silent
Now looking at the twins again, Ethan made his move
Swoosh
In less than a second, he swooped down from the sky in front of them, making their eyes go wide in surprise
"Why aren’t you replying? Could it be that you hate me?"
"However, I don’t recall harming any children?"
He asked still with a smile, however, if any of them dared to say they indeed hated him, then he would snap their neck on the spot
After all, in this crazy world, if he let them go and decided to deal with them later, who knew if some plot armour would save them
Ever since he knew what book he was in, Ethan knew he had to be decisive
Fortunately, things didn’t have to come to that, as the twins, hearing Ethan’s question again, finally snapped out of it.
Waking in front of Ren, Rani, though unwilling, began to explain
"No Mr Imperion, we don’t hate you, in fact we should be very grateful fo you, after all it was you who gave us children who lived on the streets somewhere fo go"
"Thanks to you, we have food to eat every day, we have a place to sleep, kind teachers who teach us how to use our abilities"
"It’s just..."
As she spoke, her eyes slowly began to get teary as her words slowly turned into choked sobs
Seeing this, Ren stepped up and held her shoulder, taking the lead in speaking
"Sir, like my sister said, we don’t hate you, it’s just that we don’t really trust heros"
"Before we became orphans, our family was killed by a hero"
"In order to fight a level 2 villain, they both fought into our home and killed both our parents in the process"
"And that hero, when we tried to report to the hero association, they said he had relations with Elisyum, so they couldn’t do anything"
’Whaaa!’ Saying everything, the twins seemed to have lost all their strength as they fell onto the ground bursting into tears.
Indeed, they were barely ten years old, so telling such a story, Ethan wasn’t surprised it brought back a lot of bad memories
Even some kids, infected by the mood, had also begun crying
"My Lord Ra~, what those kids say is true, they don’t have any grudge against you, in fact, they’re quite grateful in their hearts"
"A lot of kids here look up to you here and hope to meet you every day, so please don’t take it to heart"
"Their situation is just a bit special"
Stepping forward to hug both children, Emilia began coaxing them as she explained to Ethan
Indeed, she was the director, as, as soon as they fell into her arms, their sobs slowly reduced
"Emilia, find out which hero was responsible for their parents’ death, and I’ll deal with it"
Looking at the twins, Ethan unknowingly felt quite emotional
Such a backstory was never mentioned in the original novel, another reminder that he was in a real world of flesh and blood, not just ink.
"Also, Ren and Rani, please calm down, firstly, while I won’t say I understand completely how you feel, but I at least feel your heart"
Said Ethan as he knelt down on one knee, placing a palm on each of their heads
"In fact, even though I am called the world’s strongest hero, I am not omnipotent nor omniscient"
"Every day I hear the evils being committed, some by villains, and some by villains who pretend to be heros"
"Yes, that person who killed your parents isn’t a hero, but rather a villain pretending to be one"
"For a real hero would not do such"
He paused
"So Ren and Rani, again, I won’t tell you to forgive all heros, but just think about it"
"Like you said, now you have a roof over your head, enough food and you train your abilities"
"If you’re strong enough, why don’t you join me and weed out all these bad people pretending to be heros"
"That way, even if we can’t bring back your parents, we can make sure what happens to you never happens to any other child again!"
"What do you say?"
Saying this, he stretched out by games to both children for a hug
To which, after looking at each other, with tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces, they both hugged Imperion
"Mr, about what you asked earlier about what I think of you?"
"I think you’re really cool!"
Said Rani with a smile on face
"Me too!"
Said ten
"Me too!"
"Me three!"
"Mee! Mee!"
For a while, all the children joined in as they began demanding for hugs
And Ethan, seeing this, with a smile on his face, gave them hugs one by one
Perhaps this was the reason he wanted to keep this orphanage pure
As for Emila, watching all this happen, just stood with a smile on her face
"as expected of my lord Ra~ with him here a better future is guaranteed"
[indeed you perverted woman, finally you and Ari can agree on something]
"Hahaha!"
[haha!]
Laughing to get her both her and Ari unknowingly began to look forward to the future
...
[New Geneva]
[Chimera lab raid]
Time soon passed and month month had gone by, unknowingly, it was time for the raid
Standing, together, Sentinel, Tempest and Imperion all looked at the huge building infront of them
"Are you ready?" Said Ethan with fists clenched
Although he didn’t know why, Ethan felt like he was about to have his toughest battle yet