Tiberos immediately ordered his subordinates to bring all of those suspects out of the prison and gather them on the surface first. I saw that even while they were being escorted, their expressions looked like those of people who regretted their actions, a stark contrast to the testimony from the commander of the data and communications division when the disaster first occurred, where they had brutally and openly beheaded their own comrades-in-arms.
"My plan is to interrogate those perpetrators in the main prison of eastern Grivendal. Would you mind if my team temporarily uses that prison, Gruzhnil?"
"Y-You may, Tiberos. I will visit there later..."
Tiberos smiled, thanked Gruzhnil, and left the two of us to go up together with the group of perpetrators. I glanced around the entire room again to make sure that the strangeness I felt was only my imagination.
"Are they being taken to the same prison where I was brought when I first came here, Commander?"
"Ahhh... so you still remember that place as well, Johann! Yes, they will be taken there. I will coordinate with the administrators of that prison so that they monitor the interrogation activities there. After all, they are still borrowing an imperial facility belonging to Grivendal and I have the right to know what they are doing there."
I simply nodded. It seemed there were still boundaries between the authorities of Gruzhnil and Tiberos in this matter. I thought that was normal in a formal and law-bound system. We then explored the remainder of the bunker and there was nothing else interesting to be found. Gruzhnil then invited me to return to the surface. Upon arriving above ground, the suspects were already boarding the shuttlecraft. After everyone had boarded, the aircraft took off toward the main prison.
"Come on, let's go to the main military base now! We will monitor the progress of restoring your planet's military capacity."
Gruzhnil nodded after Tiberos said that and walked together with him toward a shuttlecraft. I noticed something different, namely that they were now heading there together in the same aircraft. The feeling of unease in my heart slowly faded and I smiled a little. We sat again in the aircraft seats in the same row. I was simply curious about how Tiberos was helping restore Planet Grivendal's military assets.
"Have you brought almost all of your troops from Planet Grohn here, Commander?" I asked.
"Hahahahaaa... not nearly all of them, Johann. Of course someone still has to protect my planet. Roughly half of our personnel came here." said Tiberos.
"Your assistance is actually more than enough, Tiberos. But I truly appreciate your great effort to help restore the empire's strength as a whole. I'm sure our relationship will improve even more after this." said Gruzhnil with a smile.
Suddenly those words felt contradictory again since I already knew about their dispute in that corridor after the successful infiltration of the portal on Planet Grohn. Questions kept floating through my mind. Had Gruzhnil already forgiven Tiberos for that issue or... was he merely hiding it because I was here, as if I knew nothing about it? I saw Tiberos only laugh again while holding and patting the shoulder of Gruzhnil, who was sitting beside him.
"Have you visited Planet Grohn often, Sir Grelmure?"
"Yes. I have also stayed there several times while accompanying the commander. Why, Johann? Do you want to try taking a vacation there? Hahahahaaa..."
"Maybe I do, Sir. Because when I first went there, its geographical conditions were quite unique to me. It seems there would be even more interesting things there."
"If you want to enjoy yourself there again, I will look forward to it, Johann. Our planet is indeed not like this place, which is green and fertile. But we can also develop in our own way. You must be curious about how we do that, aren't you?" said Tiberos.
I agreed and thanked him. Although Planet Grohn was not explicitly present in The Mayhem gameplay, nor even in its lore itself, I was certain they lived in their own way, not according to the game's narrative.
A while later the aircraft arrived at Grivendal's main military base. We disembarked and immediately boarded go-karts toward one of the shuttlecraft production buildings. There we saw many workers diligently assembling shuttlecraft again. After that we headed to the production areas for other military equipment such as weapons, tanks, tactical vehicles, bipedal robots, rocket launchers, and finally Graganthurions, all of which were being assembled by numerous workers. I suddenly realized that their numbers were far greater than I had ever seen before.
"I brought all of them here starting today from every planet under this empire by coordinating through each high commander. They are all at headquarters now. Come on, let's head there now to meet them, Gruzhnil!"
"Ohhh I didn't expect that you mobilized all of that, Tiberos. At first I was going to ask Emperor Gregustus to request assistance from the other planets. But thankfully you took the initiative first."
"Hahahahaaa... I'm doing this for our military strength as well, Gruzhnil. Even without official permission from Gregustus beforehand, if it is used for this purpose, I think he would approve of it too."
I saw Gruzhnil let out a short sigh while smiling. We returned to the main headquarters again and headed toward the main meeting hall from earlier. It was crowded once more and at the front sat the other high commanders in the front row. When we approached them, they all stood and shook hands with us. Just as Tiberos had said when we met, they congratulated me on my achievements in that battle.
Tiberos, Gruzhnil, and the five high commanders immediately went up onto the stage again and delivered speeches regarding the effort to uncover the mastermind behind the terror and the reconciliation to restore the strength of the imperial capital planet, Grivendal. Everyone present gave enthusiastic applause to Tiberos's speech. He also gave Gruzhnil the opportunity to share his impressions. After it was over, we all attended a banquet in the great hall for lunch together. While enjoying the food, I suddenly remembered Tiberos's earlier words.
"Sir Grelmure, why don't I see Emperor Gregustus at this meeting? Was he unable to attend?"
"I don't know for certain, Johann. But it seems Commander Gruzhnil already sent him an invitation. Perhaps The Emperor was unable to attend for a particular reason."
I wondered what could be more important than this. If he merely wanted to continue searching for a future partner for Glynpatra, that seemed odd because this was an important event for rebuilding the empire's military strength. I was also reluctant to ask Gruzhnil even though it would not be problem to ask so. Could it be... that The Emperor didn't come because he wanted to avoid Tiberos? It was possible because, according to the history, The Emperor had punished the Grohn defectors unilaterally, after Gregustus' wife was killed. After all, Tiberos was a native of Grohn who carried guilt over the actions of those defectors.
After the series of events ended in the late afternoon, Gruzhnil suddenly called me over again and I immediately approached him.
"Johann, tomorrow we will visit the other planets together with Tiberos. This will last about two to three days. As for preparations, you don't need to worry about anything, just prepare yourself..."
"And this is a tool for you to use later while working as my secretary. You can carry this instead of that tablet, alright!"
Gruzhnil handed me a medium-sized laptop-like device. I was very happy to receive it and thanked him. He allowed me to go home and Grelmure immediately drove me back.
"Whoooaaa... You haven't even officially started working yet and you've already received that device... Back then I had to work for five years before I could get one." said Grelmure in a jealous tone while driving his vehicle.
I didn't respond to his words and simply showed him a sour expression. Once again Grelmure only laughed at my annoyance with his teasing.
"Do you want to go straight to the apartment or visit Lord David first as usual?" he asked in a tone that suddenly softened.
"I want to stop by Sir David's house to spend some time with his beloved Feliths."
"Huuuhhh... since when did Lord David enjoy keeping Feliths?" said Grelmure with a confused expression.
I smiled when I saw his expression. There was no way I could tell him that David, when he was still an ordinary human, loved his pet cat. Everyone here only knew that David and I were survivors from the Realm of Terror who came from different worlds.
"Did you see that yesterday Greslan acknowledged Sir David as his new master? Maybe he thinks he can keep Groths but that they don't suit his house?"
"Hmmm... that could be, Johann. At the climax of the war yesterday, I, the commander, and Her Highness witnessed Lord David riding Greslan into the battlefield followed by a huge horde of Groths. Perhaps he is interested in animal species like those." said Grelmure.
I was silent and thought that the statement was the same as what Gruzhnil had told me a while ago when I was about to receive my new residence.
"Hahahahaaa... I just realized that you weren't there when it happened. It's alright, Johann, perhaps that's the reason why he keeps Feliths."
I merely smiled. But it felt like quite a coincidence that David, whose background was that of a cat lover, had then been acknowledged by Greslan, the entire Groth species and given the title The Black Groth Emperor.
We arrived in front of David's house and Grelmure left me there. Several people were still standing in the yard praying. I ignored them, just as David had instructed, and entered the house. Inside, David was once again not sitting on his throne chair but rather it was occupied by three Feliths lying on it. When I glanced to the right, I saw that he was there together with two guests. I was shocked when I realized who they were...
Emperor Gregustus and Glynpatra were having a conversation with David.
I immediately approached them. The Emperor and Glynpatra looked pleased to see me and invited me to sit with them. David merely looked at me. I never expected that he would rather meet David than attend the high commanders' meeting earlier that afternoon.
"Forgive me, Emperor Gregustus, but were you aware of the meeting of all the high commanders today?"
"Of course I was aware of it, Johann. However, I entrusted that matter to Gruzhnil. I merely wished to converse with The Great Lord David regarding the future of the Grivendal Empire."
I was somewhat confused by The Emperor's statement. He should have been present there if he truly wished to discuss the matter as a whole, not only with David. I had to dismiss my suspicion that The Emperor simply didn't want to meet Tiberos.
"Does this also include the plan for another infiltration into the Realm of Terror together with High Heaven, Your Majesty?"
"Hahahahaaa... you must have heard about that from Uncle Gruzhnil, Johann! Father was indeed discussing that with Lord David. But that was not the only topic." said Glynpatra.
I simply nodded. Yet what truly felt strange to me was that David was not the type of person who usually gave opinions or advice. He was far more inclined toward action than lengthy discussions.
Not long afterward, The Emperor and Glynpatra excused themselves and left. Now only David and I remained in the room. He was still silently looking at me.
"Did you give your own opinion during your conversation with The Emperor earlier, Sir?" I asked.
"No." he replied flatly.
I had already expected David to answer like that. Even all this time, I had never asked him to explain anything to me at length.
"Let's have dinner..." he said once more.
I smiled at him again. David was perhaps still the same David I had known long before the game world became reality.