"Doctor, please take a short break."
"..."
"Our cooperation agreement with Lungmen is progressing smoothly. Rhodes Island supplies them with medical materials, while Lungmen provides us with land and monetary compensation in return… You've already done more than enough, Doctor."
"..."
"Uh… Doctor?"
"...I'm fine, Amiya. I was just thinking about Rhodes Island's future direction."
"But if you keep pushing yourself like this, your body won't last."
"No… I know my own limits. My body won't collapse."
"Even if your body can handle it, your mind…"
"..."
Seeing the Doctor lower his head again, blocking out her words as he continued reviewing the documents, Amiya sighed deeply. She turned toward the door, ready to leave the office.
She couldn't stop him.
Though she was the nominal leader of Rhodes Island, she was still just a fourteen-year-old girl.
Just as she was about to step out, a message arrived from Doctor Kal'tsit.
Amiya's brows, previously furrowed with worry, relaxed instantly. Her eyes brightened as she hurried back to the Doctor's desk, dividing the towering stack of documents in half.
"Doctor! I have good news. We can take a vacation in Siesta! Once we finish this paperwork, we can finally rest for a while."
"But—"
"No buts! That's an order from the highest authority in Rhodes Island."
Amiya tried to sound stern, puffing herself up, though her confidence wavered slightly. She sneaked a glance to gauge whether the Doctor was displeased.
"Doctor Kal'tsit has approved it," she added quickly.
The Doctor merely nodded slightly, looking at Amiya with quiet acknowledgment before returning to his papers.
"..."
Seeing that, Amiya stayed beside him silently, helping him process the remaining files.
When the work was finally done, she rose from her seat to leave the office.
"Thank you."
The voice beneath the Doctor's hood was still calm and steady, yet softer than it had been when he first awoke.
Hearing that, Amiya's ears, which had been drooping slightly in exhaustion, perked up in delight.
"There's no need to thank me, Doctor. Just remember to relax when we get there!"
She gave him a bright, beaming smile before gently closing the door behind her.
The Doctor stood up quietly, reaching for a thick book from the shelf.
He still needed to study—to relearn all the knowledge he had once lost.
---
Cape sat aboard his personal—no, the Cape Group's—aircraft, leaving Siesta behind.
Then again, it was hard to say where the line was drawn between the two.
In truth, the Cape Group's resources could be considered Cape's personal property in all but name. But compared to the image of a self-indulgent CEO wasting company assets, calling them "corporate tools for handling executive business" sounded far more respectable, didn't it?
Even if their actual uses were exactly the same.
"Boss, our branch in Rim Billiton has been affected by the local financial crisis. A large amount of our products are now piling up in storage."
A Cautus man dressed in a secretary's suit handed Cape a report while the latter idly toyed with a piece of obsidian between his fingers.
The structure of the Cape Group was remarkably straightforward:
At the top sat the President, Major Shareholder, and Chairman—in short, the "Boss," Cape himself.
Directly beneath him were the Secretaries—individuals appointed personally by Cape, each holding supervisory, executive, and reassignment authority over their designated regions.
Each nation had only one Secretary.
Among them, the Secretary of Victoria wielded the greatest power, as the Cape Group's headquarters was located there.
Below the Secretaries were the Division Heads, followed by ordinary employees.
It was worth noting that senior employees were permitted to bypass the Division Heads and communicate directly with their Secretary.
These senior employees were highly skilled, irreplaceable front-line specialists—individuals whose abilities made them indispensable.
However, there existed another category of personnel—those who operated entirely outside this system.
They answered only to Cape himself.
That department was known as the "Debt Collectors."
It was also the division with the highest concentration of elite employees.
After all, in this chaotic land, there were always debtors who loved to take advantage of others.
And so, Cape could only "reluctantly assist them in realizing their self-worth"…
Before ultimately liquidating them to cover the Cape Group's losses.
"…This kind of trivial matter—you should already know how to handle it, shouldn't you?"
Cape picked up the report, flipped through it casually, then tossed it back to the Cautus secretary who stood before him, hesitating to speak.
"Or… do you perhaps have a better idea?"
Cape squinted his eyes with a cheerful smile—an expression that could almost fool someone into thinking he was a considerate, kind-hearted boss.
"...Those products," the secretary stammered, "perhaps we could distribute them for free, to improve the company's public image. It could serve as good publicity."
Cape's smile didn't waver in the slightest.
"Oh? Are you questioning me? Questioning the one who pays your salary, who granted you your current position and power?"
Though his tone remained mild, the warmth had completely drained from his voice.
"Put away that overflowing sense of compassion. I don't care how much of your salary you waste on your little charity projects, pouring it all into that endless pit."
The secretary lowered his head even further, trembling.
"You should know exactly how much loss the Cape Group would suffer if we did what you propose. Those greedy parasites—so desperate to grab whatever's free—would swarm like flies to rotting meat."
Cape rose from his seat, walking straight toward the secretary.
Sweat began to bead on the man's forehead.
"N-No… I didn't mean to harm the company's interests," he muttered weakly.
"Heh… Once those leeches get a taste of handouts, it'll only make things worse. They'll realize that whenever Cape's products fail to sell, they can simply sit and wait to get everything for free."
"No, they wouldn't! They'd remember the Cape Group's kindness. Boss, didn't you once say that emotions are also a form of wealth?" the secretary stammered out, desperate.
"When a man must struggle with all his might just to stay alive—what right does he have to speak of terranity?"
Cape seized the secretary by the chin, forcing him to lift his head and meet his gaze.
"Do you need me to remind you of what you used to be? The creature who clawed and bit to survive—who even fed on the corpses of his own kin just to stay alive?"
The Black Snake's voice was gentle—almost tender—as he helped the secretary recall the person he once was: the desperate, ruthless being who had abandoned all morality just to endure another day.
"Do you understand now? Everything you're doing—the charity, the pity—it's nothing more than a psychological crutch. A self-defense mechanism to soothe your fragile conscience."
Cape patted the secretary's shoulder lightly as the man fell into a dazed, trembling silence.
The memories he had buried deep within himself—his wretched, blood-soaked past—resurfaced with haunting clarity.
Before long, the secretary collapsed to his knees, gagging as if trying to vomit out the memories themselves.
Cape gazed down at him, his expression cold, detached.
"I expect this will not happen again. Remember this—the company's assets belong to the company… and to me. Not to you. Understood?"
He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper.
"If you persist in using my company's resources to indulge your misplaced compassion…"
"Then the Cape Group will reclaim everything you have."