Galaxy's First Ruler

Aldrich eyed Count Rodrigo from the shadows.

"Daddy… I… can't… hold… more."

This was the third time Sha had spoken out in his mind. It has already been over 5 minutes from the time limit that Sha had told him. But he couldn't come out now. And the reason was simple.

Aldrich wasn't sure if he could handle the Count by himself as smoothly as he had handled Viscount Robert. There was a big difference between a Count and a Viscount, irrespective of levels. Aldrich could have made a move if he could use Devil's Oldest Change to the full extent. But now, even though he was sure that he could kill Rodrigo, this wasn't his prime motive.

Aldrich wanted Count Rodrigo's memories. And for it to work, he had to make sure that Sha got to devour the old man entirely.

"Sha, hold on. Just a few minutes more."

Aldrich pacified, but he wouldn't come out of the shadow even if Sha were to burst out in millions of shadowy blobs. This was a crucial moment, and for all things to go well and as planned, it all depended on how long he could maintain his unknown presence.

"Leave me alone and don't let anyone in."

Aldrich saw the Recordless nodding and leaving out of the chamber following Rodrigo's command. The old Count traced another FIR on his hand and took out a white cube engraved with purple markings. Even from afar, Aldrich could analyze that these markings were related to voice transfer. They were like a crude copy of the Runic Symbols that he had spent six months mastering.

Aldrich recognized the cube as he had also one exactly the same. He had got one from Robert's Inventory, which he used to contact the middleman from the Organization behind the Red-Jackets. It was a general Galactic Information Transfer Cube or GIT Cube for short. And by general, it meant that the High Nobles and High Ranked Dreamers used it to transfer information from one part of the Galaxy to another. But it had its limits, as it could only transfer voice and not images, making the 'Information' part in its name nothing but a joke.

Aldrich felt a ripple in space as Count Rodrigo covered the entire chamber with his Divine Sense. A burst of Mana came out of his hand and entered the cube.

Tick-Tip-Tick!!!

Following a rhythmic sound, a scrambled and hoarse voice came out of the cube.

"Rodrigo, how dare you contact me after failing your task?"

Aldrich couldn't tell if the voice belonged to a male or female. Whatever technology that was used to hide the characteristics seemed to work out as intended. But the next sight that got reflected in his white eyes was even more unexpected than seeing the sheet amount of Mana cores as the payment.

Count Rodrigo fell on both knees and slammed his head on the hard metallic floor.

Bang! Bang! ….

The voice went silent, and the bangs kept echoing in the chamber.

"Ok, stop. Sigh! …"

Count Rodrigo stood up, but there wasn't a single impression on his head stating the reality of what he had just done. There was no blood on his head and not even a single bruise. Unlike his prideful tone in front of Robert, a feeble and gentle voice came out of Rodrigo's mouth.

"My Lord, I have got the package."

"WHAT?!"

Aldrich could sense the sheer astonishment from the single word. But his mind was occupied by Rodrigo's use of the Lord for the person behind the other end of the voice transfer. In the world of RECORD, as Aldrich had found out, the use of the Lord to call out someone was a sacred thing.

Low Ranked Dreamers in presence of Higher Ranked Dreamers used it. Unaffiliated Dreamers used it to address nobles of the Kingdoms. Heads of the Houses used it to address their ancestors. And Recordless used it to address every Dreamer of the House they belonged to.

Count Rodrigo obviously wasn't a Recordless. So for him to call out someone, My Lord, meant that either the other person was an ancestor of a House, or he was higher ranked than Rodrigo. No matter what was the case, the other person was certainly an Earl or even a Marquess.

Aldrich had expected that there was an ancient House behind all this trafficking. But to chance upon a big fish from the get-go was truly a blessing.

"Haha! It's getting interesting…"

An evil smile came upon Aldrich's face, but soon Sha again shouted in his mind.

"Daddyyyyy… I… can't… It… coming… out."

Aldrich narrowed his eyes, hearing the senseless sentence. He kept his eyes on Rodrigo, who was about to say something and asked.

"What's coming out?"

"Pee… I… need… to… peeeeee…"

"Huh?!!"

Aldrich's eyebrows jumped up as Sha mentioned she had to pee. From the last "Session", Aldrich had already made sure that every organ inside Sha's body was nothing but an imitation. It was true that Sha had devoured many beings, but Aldrich had observed that there wasn't any waste production. All things that went inside her had vanished without a trace.

Aldrich's mind raced and concluded that this sudden urge to pee was just an effect of staying in the Shadow World longer than Sha's current abilities. It was her existence's way of telling her to go out.

Aldrich shook his head, and ignoring Sha's pleas, he passed a comment.

"Sha… It's all in your head. You can't pee."

"Daddy… Sniff!… You… are… mean… Wahhh!!!… Get… outtt…"

Sha's sudden outcry took Aldrich off guard. Every conversion between him and Sha was taking place in his mind at a fast pace, so the Count had yet to give a reply. Aldrich sensed something was wrong and hurriedly pointed it out.

"Sha wait…"

But…

It was already too late.

BANG!

The shadow under the table rippled and Aldrich's body got thrown out in the chamber. The Pillar of Footprints was still in his hand, but Aldrich was more worried about something else.

Aldrich could feel the cold metal on his face and realized that Devil's Oldest Change was no longer on his face.

'Shit…'

BOOM!!!

Through his Perception, Aldrich saw the Count pounding the GIT Cube which also crushed the table along with it. Ten long swords materialized around the Count, and his glossy gray eyes dimmed.

A roar quaking the entire battleship came out of his mouth.

"WHO ARE YOU??"