"What are you saying, Akbar? He is Theodore Griffith?" Felix tilted his head in confusion, playing dumb so that he could shift their conversation. Theo clearly stated earlier that he couldn't lie, so he should be the one to deal with it.
"There's no need for you to say anything, Felix. What do you want to use as an excuse right now? The Death Reaper's clarification? That woman is dead now. The Sword Saint? Oh, come on." Akbar shrugged.
He was the real deal, Felix thought.
Suddenly, Theo opened his mouth. "You're forgetting something."
"And that is?"
"I still can change my face with my power that could even fool the Death Reaper."
"So, you're not going to hide your identity anymore? That was easy to make you confess your real identity."
"I don't like to beat around the bush." Theo shrugged. "I know what you were going to say, so let's just skip all that stuff."
"Heh." Akbar indeed had a few more reasons that could prove Joker was Theodore Griffith. "Well, I apologize in advance… My influence might not be as good as the Griffith Family, but this country is my turf. You won't be able to escape from me as long as you're in this country.
"Although your conversation wasn't that easy to pick up, I heard you saying Thersland in a somewhat nostalgic way. I believe there's only one person, who is as talented as you, that will say such a thing. He's none other than Theodore Griffith."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtTheo's expression was still calm. In fact, he looked a bit uninterested after Akbar gave all that information.
"Is that all?" Theo asked.
"Yes. I just want to tell you that it'll be a bad idea to visit Thersland right now."
"So, you've been advising me like you've accepted to become my subordinate, but don't act like one?" Theo rose and released his Golden Magic Power. "Akbar. I don't have too much time to waste on you."
Akbar's body trembled when he saw this Golden Magic Power. With this, he had confirmed that Theo truly had that quality. However, he also picked up what Theo said earlier.
Theo had stated that he wanted to enter Thersland by using his power to make a perfect cover that wouldn't blow his identity away.
Yet, Akbar actually rejected the idea and even criticized his action. He had clearly admitted that Theo had a superior mind with how he explained his observation this whole time. But Akbar still wanted to advise Theo on something that he was already aware of instead of focusing on solving the problem that Theo had given him.
That was right. Theo had told him he wanted to go to Thersland. As his subordinate, instead of denying that request, he should have asked the reason and plans or even started working on it to make that plan a reality.
What did he do? He complained about Theo's performance. In other words, he had stepped outside his boundary this whole time. That was why Theo wasn't interested.
Even though he wanted a family, he still needed the full reign of this group because he had a clear goal to build this family. If Felix, Chris, or even this new person, Akbar, controlled his group instead of him, what was the difference between this and him joining the Star Group?
That was why Theo was angry that Akbar didn't understand his position.
If Akbar had acknowledged him and wished to serve him, he should have agreed to Theo's request and used his influence to create another identity for Theo so that he could go to Thersland. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't see that earlier.
Only when Theo stood up and showed his power did all the realizations come into his mind.
His body was shivering non stop as if he recognized his fault one by one. His face filled with fear.
No one knew about this, but the Flame Lord, the strongest person in Australia, once visited him because he wanted to recruit him. However, the Flame Lord realized that Akbar wasn't someone that would simply lower his head.
"I…" Akbar lowered his head. "I apologize…"
"I can finally understand what kind of person you are now," Theo said coldly as a warning to Akbar. "It turns out you're only at this level."
Akbar widened his eyes, confused by Theo's statement.
"You can't give your loyalty to someone else because you want to be in control." Theo sighed. "There's no need to have such a person in a group because you're going to confuse the chain of command, destroying the group from within."
Theo explained the reason why the Flame Lord didn't invite him to join his group despite having the power he sought the most.
"Wait… Wait a minute… Let me have a second chance." Akbar desperately asked Theo who was about to leave the house. At first, he could use the threat of Theo's identity to blackmail Theo, but Felix wouldn't hesitate to kill him at that time.
And if he spread Theo's real identity, Theo would hunt him down. In fact, the Griffith Family would do the same. So, he could only hide Theo's identity if he still wanted to live.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmOn the other hand, Theo had finally achieved his objective. "Fine. I'll give you a second chance."
"But…" Felix wanted to protest, but Theo simply stated, "His ability is a real deal."
"Even so, if he can't be loyal to you, he might stab your back sooner or later."
Theo ignored Felix's warning and said, "I'll give you a second chance."
Aside from Theo's real identity, he couldn't use anything else to blackmail him. Even with that identity, he couldn't do much without picturing him dying.
Then, if he wished to take control of his group, Theo knew Felix, Jeff, Coline, or even Rea had loyalty to him. The best he could use was Christopher and Isaac.
However, telling Christopher Theo's real identity would just scare him, making him realize Theo was even more dangerous than he originally thought. With that kind of identity, Christopher would become more loyal to him.
On the other hand, Isaac was a blabbermouth. He could say many things, but his loyalty still leaned to Theo.
This was the reason why a small elite group was the best. It was easy to control one and got absolute loyalty from each member, unlike the Flame Lord, whose group consisted of thousands of people.
Theo's group wouldn't easily crumble because he invited Akbar.
Of course, Theo didn't plan to miss this chance to get an agreement between them as well.
"Still, I need to mention it here. Even though I can give you a second chance, my order is absolute. As long as I'm there, if I see you talking first, don't blame me if I kill you."