RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 210

“So, I will have the somnium headgear sent to the hospital,” said Balthazar glad that Yerman accepted his proposal. “Crimson Power would be the head of the guild. Please, contact him after you login and Robert is using the ID Draco Rigor. You can play the game and use the headgear for any other purpose in your free time.”

“I bet there are others in the family who can provide you the same service from your family. Is there any other who is going to work from your family?” asked Yerman.

“There are few who could, but they wanted to work on other uses of the somnium technology and not on the game. So, don’t have any who could be useful for it,” said Balthazar.

“It is not like he is only focused on the game. He also is involved in these other applications that he had mentioned,” said Leon.

“Of course, they are all just business opportunities. It is hard to survive in this world on the military salary alone, especially in the current circ.u.mstances. One needs to have a few bucks in his bank account to be able to have an edge,” said Balthazar.

“Good, I hope you wouldn’t be some military man who had been enticed by the world of technology and virtual games leaving behind his career and involve himself too much in these games,” said Yerman. “There have been instances of those things happening.”

“Of course, not. I am pretty sure that it won’t happen as I acquainted with the world of virtual games much before I started my military career. They are quite interesting and provide some enjoyment that would be hard to attain in real-life, but I still understand that it is not the real thing and know enough to discriminate between the two,” assured Balthazar.

“Let us talk about the rest of the things, later,” said Yerman. “I wish to talk with Leon.”

“Sure, I will take my leave. Glad that I could meet you today, Sir Lewis,” curtsied Balthazar as he left the balcony along with Robert.

“He is much closer to Winston than Walter,” said Yerman as Balthazar and Robert went away. “Walter never thought much about involving himself in new products other than arms and security.”

“Might be. He also shows a certain amount of political aptitude. Either way, I think he is better suited for armed forces than joining the industrial circles like Winston. He might have a few behaviors similar to his grandfather, but I still think his future is as a fighter and commander,” said Leon.

“Maybe so. Let us see. Either way, I am glad to make his acquaintance,” said Yerman. “You were the one who informed him that I would be a good fit for that job right. Were you concerned that he might take the job himself?”

“No, I didn’t have any such concerns and even I was the one who told him of your identity, does it make any difference?” asked Leon.

“None. He is still interesting,” said Yerman smoking on his pipe.

After that Balthazar went to meet with Rudra and the others and spent some time drinking and eating before D.i.c.k found him. “Shall we have a chat now?” asked D.i.c.k as he tapped on Balthazar’s shoulder.

“Sure,” said Balthazar and excused himself from the group and went along with D.i.c.k. They went down to the same room that they had been to before and Glen was already there waiting for them.

“Khalid has been sent to the family. Arthur assured that he would put him in a safe location, and he tasked someone to get a hold of his family,” said Glen.

“Well that is good,” said Balthazar. “So, D.i.c.k you got the identity cards?”

“Yes. One Branson Shades. Native to Harlen mega city of BD-36. Aged 32 years,” said D.i.c.k as he have an identity card to Balthazar. “It is also to be noted that you have worked as a prison guard and then a mercenary in a security firm after leaving that job.”

“Yes, this will serve well,” said Balthazar as he took the card. “Need to change myself to a blond if I am going to use this.”

“There is also this,” said D.i.c.k giving him a kit. It had a few items like lenses, some filaments in shape of ear, a small device in shape of a triangular panel the size of one’s thumb and a thin transparent glove. “Wear it when someone wants to take a DNA sample to cross check. It is an artificially synthesized item and it would provide a false sample as well as false fingerprints that would make the device recognize you as Branson. They will stick to your body and unless you use this device and press the button close to them, you wouldn’t be able to remove them.”

“Quite sophisticated,” said Balthazar looking at the things provided by D.i.c.k.

“This is rare equipment, but not knowing your requirement, Evelyn decided to let you be equipped with rare designs used by Rhodium level agents. If your find your self-recognized even after their use, you need to escape as soon as possible,” said D.i.c.k.

“I appreciate the effort the both of you put for me. Thank you,” said Balthazar realizing the kind of equipment he is using.

“Yes. They are quite good quality ones. I will be moving along with him. You don’t need to worry,” added Glen from the side.

“Ok. So, how do you plan to go forward now. I hope you have heading other than going after the Nirbaadh pirates,” said D.i.c.k. “Cause there is too much of competition on that front.”

“I have some information that is supposed to come this evening at the mansion. Probably, has already been received,” said Balthazar. “I am just waiting for a couple of friends from the PK-170 and my sister. They should have come by now, but I still couldn’t see them at the party. I am worried.”

“You are waiting for Bolena?” asked Glen. “There have been some changes after Winston’s announcement. Bolena was received by Winston and all military members not on leave were asked to convene and not attend any public events to avoid reporters and the like.”

“Yes, except for a few closely connected to Winston, all military personal were told to avoid public events till further confirmation,” agreed D.i.c.k. “They probably thought that you would have also received the same message and understood their situation.

“Damn!” shouted Balthazar punching at the wall. He felt angry at Winston for his statement during the party and for the first time wished that he had done it later. It lost him the chance to meet up with Sophia. He had been hoping to meet with her for some time. He called her and got a message that she was instructed to avoid conversation with him because he belonged to the Blyth family.

After that, he called Bolena as she was with Rodrigo and Sophia during their journey here. “Hi Bel, I am back at the mansion. Grandpa really did it this time. I don’t know why he did it, but the consequences of his statement are affecting my contract. It is the most ridiculous thing ever. Your friends couldn’t wait to drop me off and make back to the hanger after they heard of it.”

“Ah! Shit. I will have to ask Winston about it,” said Balthazar. “Did you get to meet him at the mansion. He doesn’t seem to be at the party.”

“Yes. He is at his office. A few elders have decided to convene with him after they came to know about it, but they returned back within a minute and didn’t say anything. He asked me to come to his office along with you after you returned. He says that it wouldn’t affect any of the business of the family or its affiliates, but we will have some trouble for a week at the most.”

“Really?! That is awful confident of him.”

“I know it is like there is something secret, but he told that he was busy, and he would explain it to the pair of us at a time,” said Bolena. “After that he went to his office and the other elders are also behaving a bit unconcerned. Don’t know what happened, but they were pacified.”

“Fine, I will be there in a few minutes,” said Balthazar as he cut the call.

“So, anything else?” he asked D.i.c.k who seemed to be concerned about something.

“What is your relationship with Rowleys?” asked D.i.c.k. The question surprised both Glen and Balthazar. Glen was just mildly surprised and confused. As much as he knew, Balthazar wasn’t on good terms with the Rowley family. His testament caused them to cut of ties with one of the members of their family, Raymond Rowley. Although, they informed the world that Raymond Rowley was a traitor, they still will be harboring a grudge as he was directly responsible for failure of their plans.

Balthazar on the other hand was completely on guard and he suddenly felt the urge to not use the identity provided to him by D.i.c.k. There are only three ways to know think that his relationship with Raymond family might be different to that of Glen’s opinion or even suspect it to be so. One was to have been in contact with his cousin, Jack Blyth, but knowing D.i.c.k’s personality and life he strongly doubted it.

The other way was to have been in contact with Muramasa or having some sort of way to spy into their meeting in the somnium technology. The last was to be able to spy into his activity in his Shadowcard account which he suspected to be the most probable.

D.i.c.k was also quick in uptake and managed to notice the change in expression and his wary behavior. He immediately realized that his concern and doubts have put Balthazar in caution against him. He needed to quickly assuage those concerns if he wanted some trust between them. Luckily, Bruce had already suspected this might happen and suggested something to him. Bruce actually asked D.i.c.k to inform him about the ten Shadowcard commanders and Bruce’s identity as he was vouching for him. He intended to let Balthazar know about the manner in which his shadowcard identity was created.

“Bruce wanted to know about it,” explained D.i.c.k with his hands raised indicating Balthazar to not be hasty. “I would request your bodyguard to leave the place before I explain,” he continued as he looked at Glen. After a cursory glance at Balthazar who also wanted to listen to D.i.c.k and indicated Glen to leave, Glen went out of the room and stayed guard outside.

“There was a request to kill someone in that family and someone known to Bruce attempted it. It was considered too hard to do and the minimum bounty acceptable for the assignment was increased to twenty times the original. At that time, Bruce was also informed of your request as he was one of the ten commanders of the Shadowcard and was the one who vetted your account,” explained D.i.c.k.

“Bruce is a commander of the ShadowCard?” asked Balthazar in surprise. He had known about the hierarchy of the organization, but the commanders were always a mysterious existence unknown to him in his past life. He only learned of them as a Rhodium agent called Rohan ghatke he once tagged along with took an interest to him and wanted him to join his crew. He was the one who informed Balthazar about the hierarchy of ShadowCard and offered to recommend him to a commander, but later they parted ways.

“Yes, but I suspect that you are already acquainted with another commander as you knew the loophole,” said D.i.c.k.

“No. I was actually informed by a Rhodium level agent. Bruce is the first commander of the ShadowCard that I know,” said Balthazar.

“Even if you didn’t and were told of the loophole by a Rhodium agent, the agent wouldn’t inform you without consent of a commander. It means that one of them already has their eyes on you but didn’t personally recruit you. Else, you wouldn’t have needed by help to set you up with an account. Usually commanders only consider agents who have reached at the very least Rhodium level. So, Bruce was interested and wanted you to stay within our group known to one another.”

“Aren’t you concerned about the other commander who might have taken an in interest in me?” asked Balthazar. He wanted to know how useful he is being assumed to be by Bruce. That would give him a better idea of the relationship between them.

“You don’t need to worry about that. You are already well acquainted with us and Bruce is a good friend of your family. So, I doubt anyone would compete with him. Moreover, you always have the choice. You can choose an affiliation with one of the commanders once you reach Rhodium level. At that time, you will be contacted by them through your account,” said D.i.c.k. Though he told the truth about the Rhodium agent, he carefully managed to avert Balthazar’s suspicions that Balthazar had about him monitoring his account. The reputation of the ShadowCard along with his explanation were enough to keep Balthazar from doubting him unless Balthazar was someone who was overly suspicious about others without reason.

“So, how come I am being notified about Bruce being a commander. Is he really fine with it?”

“You are my recommendation to Bruce. I am Rhodium agent and consider it a friendly gift. Moreover, he wouldn’t have accepted if he didn’t think you capable of reaching Rhodium level,” explained D.i.c.k. “Of course, it isn’t official, and you are forbidden to speak of it if you want to continue to remain a member of ShadowCard. We aren’t going to hunt you if reveal this information due to your family and contacts, but you would definitely lose some privileges.”

“Don’t worry I have no intention of revealing it,” said Balthazar. “But there is one thing I didn’t expect. You are a Rhodium level agent?”

“Of course, I am. I specialize in infiltration and hacking. You are looking down on me, dude,” said D.i.c.k.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” said Balthazar hoping that D.i.c.k didn’t take it as an insult.

“I get it. It is my behavior. Wouldn’t be good at infiltration if I didn’t have an amicable personality,” said D.i.c.k. “It is part of my charm. Either way, you shouldn’t make assumptions. For Rhodium level, there would be specializations. Based on those specialization, the interested commanders contact the agents. As you probably have seen in your account, you are considered a silver level agent.”

“That is good enough,” said Balthazar agreeing with D.i.c.k’s assessment. He didn’t need a higher level and he considered it enough to get some others to join him temporarily to hunt the pirates. He didn’t need higher level agents as he put his age to be on the younger side and anyone at that age who is a gold agent would have some fame in those circles. If there was a golden agent who suddenly popped out, the others who joined him would probably try to test his skills and such attempts he was determined to avoid.

“But not to handle either the Rowley’s forces or the escaped pirates. Both require a higher combat capability. So, I suggest you to not take any risk and have capable people from your friends or family accompanying you,” advised D.i.c.k.

“Do I give of the vibe that I am foolish or incompetent,” laughed Balthazar taking D.i.c.k’s words lightly. “I will take sufficient precautions.”

“It is not about your vibe. People like me don’t rely much on it. It is your history or lack of history. No one knows anything about you or your physical capabilities. Still you did something which suggests you could be a capable leader. So, the advice,” explained D.i.c.k.

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