813 Narrowing Down The Traitors' List

"Eh?"

"It might change the fate of our race." Varian continued.

"…what are you talking about?"

"Exactly twenty days ago, what was Sovereign Ares doing? Every single hour." Varian asked.

Minerva's expression cooled down and she looked at him with a cold expression. "Do you understand what you're doing?"

Varian's question was akin to spying on a Sovereign. A taboo.

"I totally get it." Varian nodded. "But I need answers. Answers from someone close to Sovereign Ares. I don't hold anything against him. But he might be endangering our lives for his own greed."

"Varian!" Minerva slammed the wall and glared at him with undisguised hatred. "Don't you dare utter a word of filth about my master! What he has done for this planet and our race, your two or three little battles can't even compare."

'Talk about going 180.' Varian's lips twitched at the open display of hostility.

He didn't take Minerva's angry words to heart. He respected every Sovereign for their duties. But unlike most public, he didn't see them as infallible.

That's why, even though Ares had a very good public image, he had to get the facts straight before judging him.

"Apologize! Now!" Minerva said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, no." Varian shook his head, causing the lady's chest to heave up and down in rage.

But before she blew up, he said. "How about you tell me what Sovereign Ares was doing that day? If it doesn't match with what I have, then I'll call up Sovereign Ares and apologize personally."

Minerva took a deep breath and leaned onto the brown wall. Even though her eyes were still brimming with anger, they also had a spark of rationality.

"Even if what you said is true, I can't reveal his secrets—"

"Don't reveal any secrets. No project names. Not even a word about military missions, equipment, or research and development. Just tell me where he was on that goddamn day."

"An alibi…" Minerva gasped and looked at him in shock. "For what exactly?"

It didn't even occur to her that Varian was suspicious of Ares stealing Aether pendant. She thought it was related to some other incident on Neptune.

And it mustn't be a small matter.

Because even her super strict master praised Varian many times. It wasn't just Varian's strength or his speed of progress, but also his decision-making ability.

Even though he also said that Varian made a big blunder recently, Ares seemed confident that Varian would learn from it and do better.

So, if Varian was a smart man, her answer might really decide the fate of their entire race.

'Forgive me, Master.' Even though she wouldn't reveal any details, Minerva felt guilty as she started narrating.

"At 4 in the morning, like every day, Master instructed me for ten minutes. Then, he went to help out the level 9s in the army…"

Varian listened to every word with utmost care.

The fact that a Sovereign was colluding with Abyssals to acquire artifacts remained a thorn in his mind for long.

And it got him thinking.

Twenty days ago—the day that Minerva was narrating was the day Kreo died. His artifact was stolen on the same evening.

Every Sovereign could theoretically learn about the artifacts' secret. The information might be present in every ruins.

So, Varian went after the Sovereigns one by one to learn the truth.

Since Albert was a strict military man, Varian found his schedule through the Athena group.  Albert was surveying a planetoid on that day. There was a clear Alibi.

So, Albert wasn't a traitor for certain. Nor was Bali.

There were six suspects left. Since Irene was a target that was almost killed, Varian struck her off the list as well.

Of course, it might seem a bit premature. Irene might be a traitor and the Abyssals could've decided to kill her off.

But during the time he was Prince Var, Archduke Mendis once drunkenly told said. "That son of a bitch agreed to kill Irene but backed off at the last second. Humans, I say, are all cowards."

So the traitor was a male.

Irene and Vianne were also off the list.

Four suspects left.

The famous Julius.

The head of the Caron family, Micheal Caron.

The leader of Adventure Guild, Kevin.

And Ares.

There was one more filter Varian used.

This traitor stole two artifacts so far. Aether pendant from Kreo. Demon Sword from Raytheon, Neptune's previous Sovereign.

So, he also checked what these four men were doing on the day Pluto fell.

Only Kevin was out in public, attending an event in a space city.

And thus, the list was narrowed down to three: Julius, Micheal, and Ares.

"…And he spent the night checking up the development of the Ulmac planetoid." Minerva finished her narration.

'Boo.'

'Boo has just checked the locations she told. Sovereign Ares was indeed present there.'

Varian breathed a sigh of relief.

Only two suspects left. Julius or Micheal.

While emotionally, Varian felt that Julius was likely, his rationale told him that the eternal pessimist Micheal was the most likely.

He's such a pessimist person that he thought humanity might go extinct tomorrow. So, he might feel compelled to unify the artifacts and gain Celestial power to 'save' everyone.

Regardless, it was only two now. He'd find out sooner or later.

Varian smiled at Minerva. "Thanks a lot."

Without her pointing out the exact locations, it'd be impossible for Boo to search every single record of the planetoid—especially since every recording with Sovereign had higher security than normal.

"Thanks? Give an apology." Minerva said with a stern expression.

"Sure." Varian laughed.

Swiping his comm, he started recording a voice message. "Sovereign Ares, I'm sorry for suspecting that you're the traitor Sovereign. I'm not 100% sure on who it is, so don't talk about this to anyone."

Ending the recording, Varian raised his head and looked at Minerva who was staring at him with a wide mouth and a pale face.

"W-What traitor?"

Varian shrugged. "Don't think too much about it. Oh, by the way, Pluto—"

"What Pluto? Tell me about the traitors." Minerva stepped forward and reached to grab his arm.

Varian dodged her with ease and jumped out of the bed. Stretching his fully recovered body, he said. "I finished off the wyverns, which if left unchecked would've conquered Neptune in three days."

"Really?"

"Yep." Varian nodded with a serious expression and raised his hands. "With these hands of mine, I ended the lives of two hundred wyverns."

"H-How is that even poss—?"

"I swear on Heaven's Will!" Varian said with a straight face. 'I'm technically not lying.'

Then, his comm displayed Varian standing in the middle of a huge wyvern swarm that filled the sky!

"Woah! Oh my! You are…" Minerva was at a loss for words as she stared at the hologram in utter shock.

"If I didn't finish them off, I wouldn't be rest assured, would I?" Varian smirked.

"Right! Exactly! So you really killed them all!" Minerva nodded fervently as she stared at him with a burning intensity.

Her hostile gaze was long gone and was replaced by one of reverence.

"Please keep this a secret. I don't like standing out."

"B-But everyone should know your heroic deeds!" Minerva insisted.

Varian put on a troubled expression before he reluctantly nodded. "Once the war is over."

"Yay!" Minerva cheered in joy.

Patting himself with his telekinetic energy, Varian raised his chin and walked out of the unit.

'Master, you just wanted her to publish the news, right?'

Varian didn't answer, but the smirk on his face said it all.

Reputation was important. Might as well go out and build an invincible image in the minds of people.

"Mars seems to be in trouble…" Varian muttered.

Seth had already left for Mars when Minerva was narrating.

"I have to find a way to meddle in their level 9 fights…" Varian narrowed his eyes before chuckling.

He had to clean up the planetoids on Neptune before anything else.

"Boo, let's go."

The ghost ship took off under the reluctant gaze of a fangirl.