God of Tricksters

"I will bring him inside." Felix left the car while carrying Isaac. Since Theo had an appointment with Bernard, he could only drop them off in front of their mansion.

"Okay. I'll leave him to you." Theo waved his hand while closing the door.

"Are you sure it's alright to go without me?"

"Have you become paranoid?" Theo chuckled and asked the driver to bring him to the Star Group. "I will talk about the beggars after I go back. Take care."

Felix nodded and brought Isaac inside, watching Theo's car leaving the mansion.

It didn't take too long for Theo to meet Bernard since he had already made an appointment with him.

"So, what kind of special request do you want to ask me?" Theo asked while taking a seat in the office.

"Aside from your normal mission, I need you to help me investigate something." Bernard's expression was grim. It was clear how significant this matter was when the casual Bernard became this serious.

"Hoh? Let me hear what you have to say first." Theo also turned serious and listened to his story.

"Two months ago. The Star Group has discovered an unknown base that is still under construction. Even after gathering some information, we still don't know how such a base can appear…"

"What do you mean?" Theo narrowed his eyes. "I mean, it's not like your hotel is known to others, right?"

"No. That's not what I mean." Bernard shook his head before opening his Skylink, showing the image of the base. The base itself was buried underground.

From the seismic survey, they easily found the size of the building. It turned out to be a small base that was similar to a mansion that he had.

For a person's house, it should be considered big. But for a base, this small underground building was not enough.

"What do you want to say?" Theo was still confused by the images, not knowing why Bernard showed these pictures to him.

"I'm talking about how there is no information about the materials to build that base. Even after using my connections, I found nothing." Bernard sighed.

"Are you assuming another country is constructing this base? In that case, leave me out of this. I'm working for you, not for the country." Theo shrugged.

"I have informed them about this. And there are two parliament members stopping me."  Bernard sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The first one is affiliated to the Guardian."

"Guardian?" Theo tilted his head, not knowing this name.

"It's normal that you don't know about it. The Guardian is an organization that is backing the MelloJello Company."

"You mean the company that is said to be higher than you in position…"

"Yeah. In terms of wealth, that company is higher than me by one rank." Bernard nodded.

"So? I don't see any reasons for me to get involved." Theo shook his head, planning to reject him.

"Listen to me first." Bernard stopped him from talking and continued with his explanation. "The second member is affiliated with General Aspens, the one who has the highest rank of the army."

Theo squinted his eyes. It was clear that he didn't want to deal with the army or the country. However, he kept his silence until Bernard finished his explanation since this matter seemed to be more serious than he expected.

"That General alone is not that of a problem. The president should be able to take care of him, but that person has a connection to a mercenary group. That mercenary group is said to be one of the strongest in the world.

"I am assuming they're acting like this without the president's knowledge. Well, I have some backdoor connection to the president and pressed him about this matter, but it's much more complicated than it seems…

"We sent five Mythical Rank Experts to investigate this matter, but none of them came back."

Theo's expression darkened. "Hoh? You serious?"

"Yeah. I'm assuming they've been killed by the enemies. As for the base construction… I'm afraid they're using the excess materials from other projects. At the same time, they're bringing other materials separately so that no one knows about them.

"With just these two points, we believe there are a few more organizations in cahoots. Without being able to trust anyone, the president asked me personally to investigate this matter while he grabbed their attention so that I could move easily.

"I have consulted my father and believed I should participate in this matter. This is a big gamble. If I lose, those people will band together and target me. If I win, I will be able to gain the complete support of the government."

"As much as I want to help you, you should know that I won't have any connection with the army, let alone the government. I'm here to hide, not make bigger trouble than the one in Italy." Theo shook his head, rejecting his idea.

"I know I'm asking too much." Bernard took a deep breath while clasping his hands, feeling troubled. "There's one more reason why winning this battle is a must."

"What is that?" Theo narrowed his eyes.

"Because if we lose, one hundred million people will die. And that's just a conservative estimate," Bernard stated with a grim face.

"A hundred…" Even Theo couldn't contain his shock. He dropped his jaw and stared at Bernard as if looking at a psychopath. "What kind of danger can annihilate a hundred million people?"

"There is one." Bernard paused and gulped down before stating one word. "Stampede."

"Stampede…" Theo muttered in a low voice before realizing the very reason why he asked him instead of anyone else. He stood up and shouted, "Are they insane?"

Even Bernard couldn't say anything.

He was also speechless when his father and the president actually had the same conclusion.

"Yes. I'm afraid they're making a base that contains either nuclear, ultrasonic bullet, or plasma cannon at the highest capacity. What they want is a powerful blast that can set ablaze even the strongest winter…

"In other words, their target is none other than the ruler of the Depth Frost Region, the Frost Giant. They're planning to be the first to kill a World Class Monster."