Cain was idly sitting in a large auditorium where two Heroes were facing off against each other.
There was nothing interesting to see in this match, so although he was supposed to be watching and giving advice, his mind was elsewhere.
Specifically, it was on the mission which he had engineered, and he wondered how the team from the Central Continent was doing.
Even now, he didn't really understand why he had done it.
Maybe it was the fact that they were the first from the Central Continent to enter the Order in a long, long time, and that, too, as a group from a single place.
Or maybe it was something he had seen in the king who had made waves all over Angaria, and even in the Order.
Whatever the case, it had led him to believe that he should pay special attention to that group, and he really hoped that they were soaking in all the experience so that they could have a great start in the Order.
It was a very rare opportunity to see a top team in action, and he had given them that chance in the hopes that it would both benefit and motivate them, even if it had cost him quite a lot.
As it was unorthodox, he was actually on standby to go to the mission area in case there was anything wrong. Typically, in missions which involved catching Great Sharks, this was not an option available to the ones participating as it was really supposed to be a situation of life and death that would spur them on to work harder and discover more of their powers. Yet, because in this case, the top team would also have to take care of the newbies and make sure that they were involved but not in danger of dying, it was possible that something untoward could happen, in which case, there should be someone ready to step in and intervene.
It had been quite a bit of time since the beginning of the mission, and it looked like the Aegis team, which had performed commendably in the last year, was managing everything well. He knew that there was a possibility that the newbies might be confined and made to watch, but even that would be really beneficial to them, and it might even make them angry enough to improve so that they would never have to go through something similar again.
This kind of anger…was good.
However, just as he was about to tell himself one more time that nothing bad would happen, he got the call, and he instantly teleported away.
He didn't even wait to go to the official station in the Order which managed teleportation into the Endless Sea, which calculated the fluctuations of elementary particles using a large amount of resources so that coordinates could be given where it was safe to teleport to. He simply traveled to the edge of the coast, and from there, with a sonic boom, he shot off in the direction of where the mission was going on at a speed which made him invisible to any normal person who might be looking in that area.
In the Hero realm, he wasn't really known for his speed, that anyone at this power level could travel so fast that it would even seem like they were teleporting to those that were weaker than them. Every two seconds, he had to conjure a new barrier which protected him from the air resistance, and each time he did so, he also made claps of thunder appear behind him which catapulted him forward with their force, allowing him to accelerate more and more until he was traveling at at least 1000 km/h(620 m/h).
In the span of ten seconds, he was at the destination, but instead of directly going forward, he decided to assess what was going on first.
He had gotten the message that they were sending an anticipatory distress signal, which meant that they knew that a threat was coming, and that they could not handle it.
If the message was of the sort where they were in danger of dying, he would not have done this, but he was curious to see what might have gone wrong.
At first glance, itself, he saw something very worrying.
The official trapping formation that was meant to catch the Great Sharks and keep them in place had failed, and he detected this first because he was the one who had laid down this one in the first place. If he wasn't in his present situation, he would have gone forward to see just how it must have happened, but his attention was diverted to a spot just beside that formation where a Great Shark was bobbing in the waves of the sea, with its underside facing the sky.
On top of it, he saw one of the most unique scenes that he had ever witnessed in his life.
There were eight people on it, and each of the eight were having different reactions.
As to what they were reacting to… It was a pack of gigantic Great Sharks which were quickly closing in from all directions, and each of them kept splashing water as if they were extremely excited about something. Their shark fins those 10 feet(3 m) into the air, and it was a terrifying sight which would make anyone call for help.
He had already known that this was the case in the message, so what he was more interested in was what was going on on top of the Great Shark in the middle.
The more he studied it, the more bemused he felt.
The one who stood out most was a man who was whistling a tune with his hands behind his head, and he looked like he didn't have a care in the world. He had conjured a chair with an umbrella, and he looked more like he had come out to sunbathe instead of on a dangerous mission which had taken the lives of many Champions of the past.
Right beside him was a small fire that floated in the air, and on top of it, a few pieces of shark meat were being roasted which were continuously being picked out by two women beside him who were paying no attention to anything else. The meat kept disappearing into their mouths while accompanied by the drool that kept flowing no matter how much they ate, and they kept taking small breaks in the middle, almost as if they were already extremely full, but they couldn't resist the taste which was making them eat more and more.
There was another person beside these three, and he looked like he had seen something which had shocked him so much that he had gone into a coma while still standing erect. He kept looking between the shark and the man in the chair while stuttering something, and then, he would look down, as if he was questioning the very existence of the world.
The one who stood beside them was the captain of the Aegis team whom Cain recognized. He was known to be a calm lad on whom many hopes had been placed, but right now, his face was flushed, and his eyes were so red that he looked as if he was throwing a fit.
He was shaking his fist angrily at the one in the chair, and he seemed to be screaming something repeatedly. As Cain cast a spell to magnify the sounds coming from that place, he couldn't help but take a step back in the air as he heard what the captain was saying.
"Do it again! Do it again, dammit! Alright, fine, I did say that before, but we're not on a picnic! I don't even know why the hell so many Sharks are coming, and even though I sent a distress signal, it might take time for someone to arrive! Do you want to kill everyone here before that? Just do it! Come on, do it, please…"
His emotions were so frazzled that he went from anger to pleading in the span of a few seconds, but the one in the chair was completely unperturbed.
All he did was take a glance at the sharks which were coming closer and closer and then say, "Oh, but I'm just a newbie who doesn't know his place! If I know what's good for me, I'll stay put. I'll even follow in the footsteps of the great captain of the Aegis team, and put a barrier around myself!"
Following that, a barrier appeared around the four of them, and seeing this, the captain was dazed for a moment, before he started screaming unintelligibly while staring at the heavens as if they had done a great disservice to him.
He even started to pull out his hair, which was when a woman beside him hastened to stop him.
Cain was already extremely confused, but he at least knew what was going to happen next. The man was clearly out of his mind, so his companions would console him.
However… The words of the woman that he heard made him wonder whether he should laugh or cry.
"Don't, captain. You're already going bald. Why hasten the process? I don't want the one I'm going to marry look bald until he breaks through to become a Hero…"
"…"
The captain paused… And then started to hit himself on his forehead, as if he was done with this world.
That was when the other two other members of the Aegis team finally stepped in. They removed the woman who shrugged and just said that she had been stating the truth, before starting to tell him that help would soon arrive, and that they didn't need that guy to act again.
Cain couldn't take anymore. By this point, he was sure that whatever had happened had cast such a shadow over the captain's mind that it looked like it would break soon.
But what the f*ck could have caused it? What did he want the king to do?
It was sad that even if he found the answers, the memories would be erased from his mind, so Cain could only put these thoughts aside and decide to do his duty.
He made himself visible and started to descend to the surface of the sea, and all eight easily detected him. The one in the chair only shot him a nonchalant glance, but the four members of the team looked so relieved that they might start crying.
Of course, the one who showed this the most was the captain, who stumbled forward in the direction of Cain while saying, "Oh, we're saved! Please take me away from here! Please! I can't stand him! He's the devil!"
The one in the chair actually chuckled as he heard this, and this made the captain almost break down once again.
Yet, Cain decided to speak up, saying, "Alright. I don't know what happened here, but let me just say one thing. I made this mission happen been because I wanted to give your team a chance to see what the top teams in the Order are capable of. I hope that you-"
"You wanted us to show our capabilities? He's a f*cking monster! He killed the Shark by scaring it! We were able to do nothing! This is all a f*cking joke!"
Cain widened his eyes and swallowed the words he had been about to say as he heard this.
What the f*ck? Killing a Shark by scaring it?!
Could it be that…he had wanted the top team to motivate the newbies, but the opposite had happened?
But how?!
Not for the last time, he wished that he wasn't bound so tightly by the Order, so that he would retain the memories of what he was seeing here.
Alas…there was nothing he could do now.
Taking a deep breath, he quickly put away his shock and sank into deep thought, as his time was limited. Due to the Rules of Secrecy, he would forget everything regarding the King after his newcomer trials, so before that, he had to do something with this information, and the fact that his gut feeling had been right.
Of course, he couldn't have known that it would be this right, but because it was the case…he took the most impulsive decision in his life.
"I see that your power exceeds everything that anyone could have expected. Go wild, king, and take as much advantage of the Order as you can. It is people like you who can benefit the most from this organization, especially because of your ties with the Central Continent. You'll understand the reason behind this later. Now, my time is short, so let me give you some advice before I forget you. The Order is the best place for you to get stronger. As you know, only the Overseer will ever know your identity and what you achieve. But…even the Overseer can decide that you are too powerful to be left unsupervised. I say this to help you, but you can decide whether to follow it or not. Strength that exceeds two minor realms is fine. It is incredible and will allow you to excel, but it is still nothing that would want to make the Overseer move. Above that, though…if it is displayed, there might be consequences. Be warned, King."