Location: Star Palace
3rd Person POV
The tension inside the room hadn't dissipated since Twilight Valentine sat down. If anything, it had gotten worse.
Zalario hadn't said a word, but his aura was fluctuating ever so slightly—same with Obera and Dino, probably due to Twilight cutting off Veldanava mid-sentence. Garasha looked like she was holding back the urge to slash someone with the shield strapped to her back, not just because of the interruption, but also because Twilight was sitting beside her at the corner of the table.
Cornu still looked completely lost about what was going on. Even Pico had stopped trying to scribble on the table—which, naturally, didn't have a single scratch because it was just built different—and was simply... watching. That alone should've set off alarms.
Feldway had entered thought processing mode. His eyes narrowed, calculating the whole situation... only to realize the numbers had been written in an invisible ink.
End of 3rd Person POV
Feldway POV
So let me get this straight.
Boss Veldanava introduces a vampire, and says he's going to 'populate' the Cardinal World.
With immortal spirit-bearing human flesh.
I don't even know where to begin unpacking that sentence.
"Feldway," Boss Veldanava suddenly called out, snapping me out of my spiraling thoughts.
I sat straighter. "Yes, Boss?"
"What do you think?"
What do I think?
What do I think.
Right. Yeah. What do I think?
"...Permission to speak freely?"
"Always," Boss said with a grin that told me he already knew what was coming.
"Fine. Here's what I think." I stood up slowly, gesturing toward Twilight. "You're giving full biological responsibility to a man who called us 'mere beings born from light' with a straight face."
Twilight raised a hand. "It was a compliment, actually."
"I'm not done," I cut him off.
Then I turned back to Veldanava.
"You're telling me this immortal vampire—who doesn't age, and can't even reproduce normally—is supposed to create humanity?"
Boss Veldanava's grin only widened.
"Twilight Valentine is immortal and remarkably well-informed. Let's test that. Twilight, in Earth mathematics, what's two plus two? Oh—and he's got knowledge from multiple civilizations across different universes."
"Four," Twilight answered smoothly.
I sighed, pressing two fingers to my forehead. Fantastic. We're starting with preschool.
All right then. Let's see how deep this knowledge really goes.
"What are the neural mechanisms underlying consciousness?" I asked, slamming my hand on the table—loud enough to wake up Dino, who had started dozing off. "Use Earth-based scientific frameworks."
Twilight's eyes lit up. "Ah, consciousness! Earth's scientists had a few competing theories. One was the Global Workspace Theory—basically, the brain acts like a spotlight, selecting which thoughts become 'aware.' Another was Integrated Information Theory—consciousness comes from how well the brain connects and processes information."
He tapped his temple with a grin. "In short? A bunch of signals firing around, building models of reality. Enough complexity, and boom—self-awareness."
He shrugged, almost playfully. "Simple, right?"
"Alright, then. Let's try something harder," I said, folding my arms.
After a long while...
I just stared at Twilight Valentine, who was still smirking.
"…Good work," I muttered, rubbing my temple.
Seriously?
He had answered thirty of the most obscure and complex questions from Earth's science, and metaphysics—and he made it look like a warm-up exercise.
"What's a 'pi'?" Pico asked, tilting her head as she scratched behind one horn.
"Oh, sorry, lil' miss made of mere light" Twilight said with a mock bow, why does he kept on using mere light.
"I should have explained earlier in sixth question. Pi is a transcendental constant—the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Roughly 3.14159."
Zalario turned toward me with a questioning glance. I nodded once. Twilight was right. Again.
"See, Feldway? He's more than capable of managing the Cardinal World," Boss Veldanava chimed in, grinning as if we'd just found the perfect intern.
Twilight crossed his arms. "Exactly. I'll take full responsibility. Give me housing, and freedom to work."
"I've already prepared a sanctuary for you here in the Star Palace," Boss replied casually.
Twilight didn't look satisfied. "With all due respect, Lord Veldanava… if I'm meant to 'populate' the Cardinal World, then that's where I should be. It's a bit hard to work when I'm surrounded by people who keep looking at me like I did something heretic towards you."
His eyes shifted pointedly toward Garasha, who was visibly holding back her temper.
Garasha stood, her hand twitching toward the shield on her back. "You dared to cut off Lord Veldanava mid-sentence. I should—"
I raised a hand. "Cease it, Garasha. Boss clearly doesn't mind."
She inhaled sharply, then bowed. "As you command, Commander Feldway."
"Fufufu~ Feldway, you're quite educated in Earth knowledge, all those questions were quite hard" Twilight mused. He looked genuinely impressed. Or mocking. Hard to tell.
The others blinked in mild confusion. Naturally—they didn't know what Earth was. Hopefully they'd just assume I was well-informed and move on.
"How does Lord Feldway know about this 'Earth'?" Acer asked.
Nope.
Of course. Hopefully this cherub flies headfirst into a pillar next time.
Before I could respond, Cornu cut in.
"I expected more from Dino's right hand. Obviously, Commander Feldway has a broader natural knowledge—including about this 'Earth.'"
I nodded.
Never really talked to the Cornu guy, but right now?
He just saved me from a two-hour tangent and at least four follow-up questions.
Cornu, you're a real one.
Boss chuckled. "Very well. I'll send you to the Cardinal World—temporarily, under my watc—"
The chamber doors burst open.
White hair. Blue eyes. Glowing magicules.
Velzard.
"Big Broooother! I accidentally destroyed one of the pillars!"
I sighed.
Am I surprised? Absolutely not.
Boss Veldanava just rubbed his temples. "It's alright, Velzard."
If it were anyone else, they'd be hanging upside down by now. But her? One 'big brother' and it's all forgiven.
Before anyone could say more, Twilight zipped in front of her.
"Oh my, oh my! Your body—so packed with magicules, so thick and tight… it turns me on just looking!"
Huh..
Garasha narrowed her eyes. "I knew something felt off about him... such heretic act of talking to Lord Veldanava's sister in such manner..."
Yeah. Can't argue with that.
Twilight kept rambling about Velzard's body, though I could barely understand any of it.
Velzard just blinked. Maybe she didn't understand either.
"Let go of my sister!! You damn heretic!!" Boss snapped, activating a teleportation circle.
Twilight vanished with a casual wave.
Like nothing happened, Boss clapped his hands. "Meeting adjourned."
As everyone began to leave, I noticed Velzard giving me a… look. Like I'd kicked her in the stomach. Which, for the record, I did—but it was a long time ago.
…Right. I'm just bad at keeping track of time. Sometimes a few days feel like a thousand years, and a thousand years feel like a few days.
I turned to leave—until:
"Feldway. Stay a moment," Boss said.
I paused.
"…Alright."
End of Feldway POV
To be continued…