"What's the matter, mother? No confidence in getting the support of the people who gather here?" John ridiculed.
"Right back at you. You have no confidence to win the coming war?" Linda asked back.
"Fine. Let's do it your way. Our bet will be the outcome of the coming war," John said. "So, seriously now. Where is your master? Don't tell me he is not attending this convention he organized, is he?"
"He will be here," Linda replied.
"What are you looking for?" John asked.
"Hm?"
"Don't play coy. Your eyes keep on looking around during our conversation. You are looking for something."
"You are overthinking," Linda said. At the same time, she received a message from Spring Crown who stood by her side.
"No need to search, I've looked around. Three are here, but the Themisphere King is not with this crowd."
"Maybe he is late?" Linda replied to Spring Crown, also using a message.
Spring Crown just shrugged for a response.
"Where is your king?" Linda asked John.
"Are you kidding me? You didn't answer my question. Now you expect me to answer yours?"
"I am here!" A thundering voice boomed from above.
Everyone looked up and saw an ethereal in regal clothes floating down from the sky. It was Master! He floated down and landed in front of the empty chair before sitting on it.
"Damn, dude. Do you have to make such an entrance?" Paytowin called out.
"He has always been that kind of a swagger," a female voice was heard from the side. She came with another group. Her group consisted of players from all seven races, but a majority were of the ethereal race.
"Wilted… I expected you to come as well," Master uttered.
"Wilted!" Grace came to her. Grace had met Wilted before when she came to the Village of Peace to take the Pipe of Monster Control and the Grace of Tranquility potions. The two quickly became friends.
"Grace," Wilted greeted Grace back with a smile. "Where is Jack?"
"I don't know… He promised he would be here. He is probably just late," Grace replied.
"You can't contact him?" Wilted asked.
Grace shook her head. "I can't. I've tried."
"Hey, sis," Handsome Joe, who came with Wilted, called to the stage. Beside him were Anotherday, Blackhole, and Dark Radiant.
The one whom Joe called, was Mistress. Mistress displayed an expression of disgust. She said, "You still like to hang around in the dirt pile, I see. I sometimes wonder if we truly came from the same mother."
"I don't think our blood is the problem, sis. You are simply too spoiled," Joe returned.
While the others were talking, Master was conversing with Spring Crown via messages.
"What about the scouts outside, do they catch any sign of the Themisphere King? He might probably be hiding somewhere," Master said.
"Nope. No one saw him. Why does he bother to hide? It's not his style. If he is here, he will be up here having a bicker with you."
Master didn't deny that. The memory of him longing to shut Jack up when they were in Euphosine's dimension came back to him. The guy would be very loud if he was here.
But he didn't understand what reason Jack had to skip this event. Out of all the others, Jack would be the last one he expected to not see here. But instead, the three others were here and Jack was not. Did Jack somehow know what he was up to?
No! No one outside of his closest people knew about the true purpose of this convention. There was no way Jack knew about it.
He looked around. Perhaps Jack was simply late.
"The convention will start in three hours!" Master's voice boomed. His voice carried over even until the hills where the furthest players were. Everyone heard his voice.
"… He has a powerful mana manipulation," Domon remarked after hearing the voice.
"Jack said he doesn't study martial arts and he has no one teaching him. Hard to imagine he reaches this stage all by himself," Jet said.
"Such a pity a genius like him turns to the evil path," Domon sighed.
"There are two evil geniuses up there," Jet said, indicating Long who stood beside Master. All the four heavenly enforcers were also up there on the stage.
Murmur ensued after Master made the announcement.
"Three hours? We have to wait some more? I thought this convention was supposed to start at sunrise," One person complained.
The others echoed his sentiment. Some had been here since yesterday. They were tired of waiting.
The murmurs turned into a chorus, but Master ignored them all. Some tried to get close to the stage to protest, but they were stopped by the World Maker and World Ruler's members. These members were all high-level players. Although the complaining people had more numbers, they didn't dare to force their way.
Everlasting Heavenly Legends and its allies didn't protest. They waited quietly by the side. In John and Jeanny's opinion, they were happy the convention was delayed. Maybe Jack could still catch up because of this.
Little did the two sides know that they were waiting for the same person but for different reasons.
Everyone started mingling around while waiting for the three hours to pass.
"Wilted, is it? It's good to finally meet you," Jeanny came to Wilted. "Thank you for your schematics on the Time Chamber and Ice Cannon Tanks. Those were a big help to us."
"I am the one who must thank you for giving Master such a headache. I thought I would be his biggest thorn, but turns out your guild does a much better job than me."
"We are already preparing our final push to invade Liguritudum," Jeanny said. "There is no need for you to play guerilla anymore. Your group can come and join us to fight together. I'm confident we will defeat the World Maker."
"… If we can sway the public here from joining Master," John joined in the conversation. "Saint John. Pleased to finally make your acquaintance, Miss Wilted. Your reputation precedes you. You can call me Mister Saint."
"Mis… Mister Saint…?" Wilted was lost for words.
"Don't take him seriously, just call him John," Jeanny said.
"John… You are Jack's brilliant strategist!" Wilted exclaimed.
"I would prefer you leave the word 'Jack's' out. Just brilliant strategist is enough."
Three hours passed quickly, but no sign of Jack.
Master clenched the armrests of his chair. "Damn it. He always is the one who spoils my plan," Master muttered unhappily.
"What should we do?" Mistress asked. "That item you have can only be used once. If they are not all here…"
Master gave the matter a brief thought. He then said, "Change of plan then."
He sent the others messages containing his instructions. He then got up from his chair and announced, "We will now begin this Outworlder Convention…!!!"
