[Two Days Later]
Zeus was in his room, working on twenty throwing daggers made from black steel fused with white powder extracted from the crushed shell of a B-class armored beast.
Each dagger had a storage capacity of five endurance points.
Zeus engraved an energy storage inscription on the dagger, along with three energy inscriptions from the three main types.
In fact, Zeus had spent a fortune to obtain flying daggers with sufficient endurance capacity to compress energy consuming five endurance points.
In any case, money wasn't an issue... but interestingly, Zeus's wallet had become empty.
As a matter of fact, Zeus was currently under several penalties for violating orders, leaving family territory, and later endangering his life.
Among the penalties imposed on him was the cut-off of financial support and being confined again within Mount Raktis—this time with improved surveillance.
This included a bracelet tightly fastened around his ankle that would send signals to the monitoring center as soon as it left the mountain's range.
Regardless, Zeus was crazier than his supervising uncle imagined.
Because Zeus had an idea in his mind, and he was just about to carry it out.
Zeus left the house, and as he passed through the front gate, he saw his mother stepping out of her private car, after which the driver continued to park it in its designated spot.
"Zeus, where are you going?"
"I'm going to see that elephant... It's been a while since I last saw him."
"Don't mock your cousin's weight! How many times do I have to remind you to filter and refine your words!"
Zeus laughed lightly and spoke as he was leaving:
"Sorry, Mom. But I think I lost that part of my memory."
"You naughty boy, I'm sure you haven't. Send my regards to your uncle's wife and children."
"Okay... okay. I'll do that."
Zeus walked along the paved mountain roads, passing by a few of his relatives' mansions until he reached another mansion about ten minutes later.
He entered the mansion through the outer main gate, being ignored naturally by the guards.
When he reached the inner main gate, he asked the present guard:
"Is Aaron here?"
"Yes, sir. You can find him in the back garden."
---
Zeus circled around the mansion and saw "the elephant" Aaron sitting at an elegant, long wooden table, eating a large cake.
On a nearby swinging couch, Mira was lying down.
"Man, I wish—just once—I could find you not eating something. Have some mercy on your stomach!"
Mira was startled by Zeus's sudden appearance, and upon realizing her casual attire, she felt a bit embarrassed and quickly left.
(Zeus): "Nice to see you too... and thanks again for your help earlier."
"I'm sure she didn't even greet you for you to say 'too'."
"They say extreme obesity causes some stupidity... I was indirectly scolding her for running away without a word."
"Man, you need to stop talking in riddles... Be clear and direct like me."
"You mean like when you saw a pretty girl in class and immediately asked her to marry you?"
"!!... Man, that was two years ago!! Why can't you forget it already?"
"Well, for me, it was just two weeks ago... Besides, I don't think I'll forget the slap you got even after two hundred years."
"Too bad I was fat back then... If I were slim and handsome, she wouldn't have rejected me."
"Speaking of which, when will you go to the hospital to drain all this fat and fix your skin sagging? Man, it's really rare to see you in your normal shape... How can you gain weight this badly in such a short time?!"
Aaron pulled a packet of pills from his pocket with a smile on his face.
Zeus took it and scanned it so the AI could retrieve information.
After reading the information, Zeus realized the pill's effect was to instantly digest food in the stomach—and what shocked him even more was that the creator of these pills was his brother, William.
"!!... Did you ask William to make these weird pills?"
"Yes... actually, a lot of people are using them now. I mean, your brother is making some decent profit out of them."
"I'm sure all those users are mentally ill like you."
"You're the idiot who doesn't appreciate the art of food tasting."
"Art, my ass! Let's stop talking about this stuff before I get nauseous. Tell me, do you have prosthetic limbs?"
Aaron glanced at the bracelet on Zeus's leg and asked curiously:
"You mean mechanical legs for the disabled?"
"Of course that's what I mean! Don't tell me you used them all up!"
"Don't worry, I have enough in stock... But believe me, Dad was furious because of you yesterday... I think you should really stick to staying on the mountain."
"You know I hate that."
"You're free to choose... 30,000 gold coins."
"!!... Since when did you start charging me for this?!"
"My allowance was cut too over a month ago... I'm sure you've got lots of money."
"Sorry, I'm broke right now... Are you giving me the leg for free or what?"
Aaron sighed in disappointment and asked:
"How much money do you have?"
"Only 76 gold coins."
"I'll do you a favor this time because you're my best friend and sell it to you at that price."
Zeus handed over 75 gold coins, but Aaron didn't pick them up.
"What?"
"Zeus, hand over the last coin."
"That's all I have!!"
"Then forget it."
"!!... Damn it, you greedy pig!!... Here, take it. Where do you hide the prosthetic limbs?"
"In Mira's room, behind her closet."
"!!"
"Don't look at me like that! It's the only place Dad won't search for my prosthetics."
"You're a smart pig, actually... I just hope your sister isn't in there now."
---
[A Few Minutes Later]
"Damn, there are sounds in the room! I can't just ask her to leave her room and leave me alone!"
Zeus stood before the door, unsure whether to come up with an excuse to make her leave or to go sit with Aaron and wait for her to come out on her own.
But it didn't seem like she'd leave anytime soon, especially since it was already 8 p.m.
Before Zeus could decide, he froze in shock when the door opened suddenly, and he saw her looking at him.
"I saw your shadow and thought it was Aaron... Do you need anything?"
"Did you really mistake my shadow for Aaron's?! Girl, you just hurt my feelings! Aaron's shadow could swallow ten of mine!"
Mira laughed awkwardly and said:
"You're right about that... So, what brings you here?"
"I was... I wanted..."
"Wanted what?"
"To ask you about a design you personally made."
"You don't need to be embarrassed about something like that. You can ask for my help anytime with things like this."
"Okay, thank you for that... And sorry for the trouble I'm causing you."
"Don't say that... Come in, it's not polite to leave you standing like that."
Zeus entered the room and glanced quickly at the closet but decided to ignore it for now.
Mira sat at the computer desk and asked him to send her the data and grab the study desk chair to sit next to her.
Zeus brought the chair over, and as he remembered he hadn't made any digital design for the dagger blueprint—having engraved the runes directly—he realized he was in trouble.
So, he decided to be a bit bold.
"Sorry, but could you get me a drink... Lemon juice would be nice. Sorry, but my throat feels dry."
"Oops, that's my fault. It's impolite to welcome guests without offering anything."
"I'll send the data while you're gone... And don't worry about it. I'm not that much of a stranger—you don't need to treat me so formally."
Mira blushed a little and wanted to say something, but fell silent and left.
As soon as Zeus was sure she had left, he turned his eyes back to the closet.