Nameless King

"Fifty-four and fifty-five..." Reto muttered, touching the last grape, lightly wiggling the tip of the bunch.

"What...? What did you say...?" Felix muttered in disbelief, he needed to hear it again.

Reto smirked, "In this bunch, there are exactly 55 grapes, no more, no less. If your memory is better than your hearing, you know what that means."

Felix smiled broadly as his eyes shone brightly.

"It means I've won! Doesn't it!" Felix exclaimed cheerfully.

"Sure." Reto nodded, "Well, as I promised, I won't just let you live, there's a small prize waiting for you as well, though it's more of an offer than a prize."

"Hmm...? I don't quite follow you." Felix tilted his head in confusion.

Reto smirked insidiously as he held up a finger, "Look, now you have two choices again. You can leave right now and continue to invade various spaces like a common thief."

"Or...?"

"No, not like that. Answer first, do you want to leave? That will determine whether I tell you what my offer is." Reto said as the corners of his mouth went up, forming a sly smile.

Felix frowned. In their short acquaintance, he had already realized that Reto was the kind of man who preferred to make devious plans. ɴovᴇl_Firᴇ.ɴet

Felix doubted what was evident on his face, but eventually, he took a deep breath and said, "Fine. I'm not leaving. I want to hear what you're going to offer me."

Felix wasn't completely sure of his words, but he decided to trust Reto since so far Reto hadn't fooled him.

'If he wanted to, he would have killed me several times already, wouldn't he? Moreover, his last offer saved my life, so that should be more profitable too...' Felix muttered inwardly.

"The right choice." Reto smirked, then he turned around, walked over to the rock, and sat on it.

Reto put one foot on the other and said confidently, 'Since you've decided to stay, I want it to last much longer! I want you to stay in this Void and become our ally!"

"What the hell...?" Felix muttered with wide eyes, "Are you serious right now...?"

"Of course." Reto nodded, "I mean, you have great skills since you were able to sneak into dozens of areas, even coming here wasn't a problem for you. You're just unlucky you didn't manage to hide from my gaze."

"Well... honestly I don't even know what to say... I'm completely confused..." Felix muttered as he waved his hand.

"Hah, don't worry, I can explain again so you can make the right decision." Reto shrugged before pointing at Felix, "Don't you get tired of being a thief all the time? You work alone, your Void is your vault, and I couldn't spend much time alone. I don't believe you like it."

Felix answered nothing, he just gulped and clenched his fists tightly. Reto didn't need his answer, he understood everything from the look in Felix's eyes, within which there was hope for change.

"I believe one should try to get the best out of any situation. The worst that could happen would be a battle between us, you would die I would win and that would be it. However, if you accept my offer, we both get decent allies and even friends." Reto said sincerely, fully aware of the points to be pressed.

"Allies... Friends...?" Felix whispered as if he'd heard what he'd wanted for so long, "That sounds wonderful, but can you make those decisions? I mean, as far as I'm concerned you don't own this Void, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. I'm only the leader of one of the territories, or rather this forest that you decided to invade, but that's no problem. We can talk to the owner right now." Reto nodded calmly.

"What...? Are you serious? Shouldn't he or she be fighting right now?" Felix was puzzled, "It's quiet here...that's why I decided to open a portal in this place, but there are battles going on in the rest of this Void."

Reto smirked, stood up, and looked toward the hill that was very far away from the magical forest.

"Not really. In fact, our leader isn't even fighting right now. He's just watching us deal with the attack." Reto shrugged.

Felix's jaw dropped since he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Wait... You were attacked by two Fifth Chronicle spaces... Their amount of energy is about the same as what you have now... I clearly identified this, yet your leader is not fighting? Is he insane?!" Felix waved his hands.

"No, you have to look at it this way. His actions only mean that he has complete confidence that we can do it even without his help." Reto smirked, "Well enough talk. We have to get to that hill as fast as we can. Let's go!"

Felix would have liked to ask a few more questions, but he didn't linger and ran straight ahead. The situation was still strange, but his instincts told him that it would all lead him to great success.

Watching Felix's distancing back, Reto picked up a bunch of grapes.

"Well, well, you may be a great thief, but you're completely unlucky." Reto said with a slight smile before touching the bunch.

Tremble.

One of the grapes shuddered and disappeared in purple smoke, so now the total number of grapes was 54.

'That's why I don't like to hope for luck, you just might not get lucky, to begin with, but what's worse, anyone can make adjustments.' Reto inwardly spoke, opened his mouth wide, and ate the entire bunch of grapes in one bite.

"Agh... but this grape tastes great... It's a great bonus to me for finding us such an unusual ally." Reto closed his eyes with pleasure, sighed, and followed Felix.

Felix ran forward like a shadow, gradually moving faster and faster as he approached the high hill from which all the territory was visible. He did so silently, thinking of what had happened, and it made a joyful smile appear on his face.