Chapter 1082: D-DAY HAS COME

"IS IT BECAUSE I’m a crow? Do you hate me because I’m a crow? Is that why you didn’t save me?"

Neoma would admit that those were pretty harsh words coming from a child.

Having said that, those questions were questions that she had already asked herself before.

Do I really have the heart to save the crow children, who were raised to kill my loved ones and me?

"Neoma, you don’t have to deal with that child," Papa Boss said. "I’ll talk to her."

"No, Papa Boss. I got this," Neoma said, and then she finally faced the child again. "Unfortunately, I don’t have the power to save everyone. Even as we speak at the moment, there are plenty of people out there who are probably screaming for help. But, if you’re only talking about children like you who are being abused by the crows, then I’ll be honest with you: I don’t think I could save you when I didn’t know about your existence in the first place."

The child was obviously disappointed in Neoma’s answer.

And that was understandable.

Even I am disappointed in my own answer.

"But now that I know and now that you’re in front of me, you can ask me."

"Ask you what?"

"Ask me to save you."

The child scoffed. "Will you only save people who ask for your help?"

"In your case, yes. Don’t forget that you’re here to kill my people."

"I didn’t want to kill anyone—"

"And that’s why I’m telling you to ask for my help," Neoma said in a serious tone. She didn’t mean to be rude to the child by cutting her off. But she had to because the child was starting to get hysterical. "Should we start by giving you a proper name, aegiya?"

"’Aegiya?’" the child asked, confused. "What does it mean?"

"It means ’baby.’"

In Korean.

"I’m not a baby."

"You are, at least in my eyes," Neoma said, smiling. "And I’ll call you that until we find a proper name for you."

The kid looked shocked once again.

But, this time, the child’s pupils shook as if her heart had wavered.

Before Neoma could say anything to win the child over, the child suddenly collapsed.

She tried to catch the kid, but someone else beat her to it.

"It seems like the child is tired, Princess Neoma."

Neoma lifted his head and met the Ancient Devil’s smiling eyes, as the Ancient Devil carried the sleeping child in his arms. "Bullshit."

Since she hated looking up at someone, she immediately stood up.

She noticed that Papa Boss stood closer to her after the Ancient Devil appeared. Of course, she appreciated it.

I like it when my family is being protective, even though they know I can protect myself.

"Ah, your curses are really music to my ears, Princess Neoma."

"I thought you’d join as Helstor’s Battle Representative," Neoma said, ignoring the Ancient Devil’s bullshit. "Helstor even agreed to my ’no death match’ rule just to add you to his roster."

"Well, Helstor and I realized that an ’Advisor’ is a role that suits me better."

’Advisor.’

It was the same as Trevor’s role in that fight.

One person was allowed to assist Neoma in any way— even during a fight— and she chose Trevor for that role.

He’s the strongest after Ruto, after all.

The registration for that role would only begin if the battles resulted in Neoma and Helstor having to fight in the end.

"Helstor used his brain this time, huh?"

"I’m the one you should be praising, Princess Neoma. It was my idea, after all."

"Yeah, fuck off."

The Ancient Devil just laughed.

"Neoma, let’s head back," Papa Boss said sternly while shooting the Ancient Devil a cold look. "Before I snap and kill that bastard."

Ah, right.

Papa Boss had a personal grudge against the Ancient Devil.

That bastard attacked Mama Boss before.

"Alright, Papa Boss. Save your energy for tomorrow’s fight," Neoma said, and then she clung to her father’s arm to calm him down. And it worked. After that, she gave the Ancient Devil a quick once-over. "Take care of the child."

***

"AH, SHOOTING STARS!"

Heh.

Neoma smiled at Greko’s na?vety.

Right now, her entire team was having a sumptuous dinner on the rooftop of the large and fancy villa that Lord Levi lent to her team. Hence, they were eating delicious meals while admiring the beautiful night sky.

The place was well-lit, so they could eat comfortably.

I think this villa is one of Ruto’s properties here.

For the sake of fairness, Ruto wasn’t allowed to meet Neoma and her team in private.

However, her man insisted on cooking for both her team and Helstor’s team.

It wasn’t like Ruto wanted to cook for Helstor. But he did that so it would be fair. Plus, I think he also wanted to feed the kids from the other team properly.

"Greko, those aren’t shooting stars."

"Then what are those, Eomma?"

"Gods," Neoma said, putting her chin on her hand while looking up at the night sky. Yes, it looked like they were under a meteor shower. But those weren’t stars. "Most of them are gods, and some are divine beings. It’s interesting to be surrounded by beings like that."

Her team’s reaction was pretty lukewarm, though.

She expected Papa Boss, Lord Manu, Uncle Dominic, Gavin Quinzel, and Trevor not to care.

But the kids?

"Aren’t you excited to meet gods?"

"Noona and I have already met gods before," Skylus said while happily munching on his chicken nuggets. Yeah, Ruto mostly cooked ’modern’ food for their team. "They’re just like grandmas and grandpas that we meet every day."

Pfft.

"Unnie, you always tell us that gods are nothing special," Monik, who was happily eating her chocolate sundae, said. "That, yes, we should respect them. But we shouldn’t worship them blindly either. So, Skylus and I just treat them like our grandmas and grandpas."

Ah, so it was Neoma’s fault.

"One god is enough for me to worship," Lewis said bluntly, and then he looked at Neoma. "And that’s you, Princess Neoma."

And her other ’children’ nodded in agreement.

Aigoo.

"How did you expect us to react, Neoma?" Hanna asked curiously. "And, to be honest, I don’t have a good impression of the gods that we’ve met so far. That’s why I don’t feel anything, even though I know the chance to meet gods doesn’t happen to just anyone."

"Maybe I expected you to be a little excited? Gods are still gods, after all."

Hanna just shrugged.

Aigoo.

"I wouldn’t say I’m excited, but I suppose I’m a little curious," Jasper Oppa said while tilting his head to one side. "I want to know what keeps the gods here ’busy’ that they allow children all over the world to suffer."

Ah, that was also valid.

Jasper Oppa was there when we raided the Death Camp.

"The only god I want to meet again is Lord Yule," Uncle Dominic said. "And Lady Roxanna."

Neoma nodded in agreement. "Valid."

"I guess I want to have a private conversation with Ruto later," Gavin Quinzel said. "He’s a god, so it counts, right?"

Neoma looked at Gavin Quinzel, surprised. "Why do you want to talk to Ruto, Appa?"

Gavin Quinzel smiled, but that smile was a little dangerous. "It has something to do with your baby."

Aigoo.

"I fully support you, Gavin Quinzel," Papa Boss said while nodding. "Give that thief a good scolding."

"Yes, I definitely will."

Neoma turned her gaze away from her two fathers (who were probably planning Ruto’s ’funeral’ already).

That was how she caught Trevor spacing out.

"What’s up, Trevor?"

"Oh." Trevor blinked, and then he shook his head. "It’s nothing, Princess Neoma. At least for now. I’ll tell you later once I’m sure of it."

Ah, so something was happening ’behind the scenes.’

Oh, well.

Neoma didn’t get worried about that.

Trevor can handle it, and he’ll tell me if he needs my help.

***

NEOMA had a busy morning.

Breakfast, done.

Dressing up, done.

Ah, they did prepare a simple uniform.

They didn’t need armor because the materials used for their uniforms were already enough to protect their physical bodies to a certain level.

Plus, the clothes were comfortable to move around.

The design was pretty similar to the casual uniforms that the Imperial Knights would wear at banquets, so it was pretty stylish.

Of course, the highlight was the emblem: the Moon and a Pink Rose.

That’s me.

"It’s finally D-Day," Neoma said, smiling at her team. "Everyone, fighting!"

***

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