GUARDIAN OF THE END

"You took your sweet time." Risa commented the moment Jason stepped out of the bathroom.

A teasing smile was visible on her face, making Jason steel his nerves a bit.

"If they really need my help, they will wait for me no matter how much time I take," he replied.

"I guess that's true. Amber should be bringing your food soon. Talking and staying with you might just have been the thing that she needed to come out of her misery." Risa said in a slightly amused tone.

Jason decided to ignore her remark and sat on the bed.

"Remember, you can chose not to help Zilan. What he will be asking for is no small thing." Risa warned before leaving the room.

Jason started massaging his forehead while wondering what sort of questions he would need to answer.

Five minutes later, the door to his room opened and Amber walked inside with food.

"Your grandmother is an excellent cook." Amber grinned before setting the food on the bed.

The two of them ate it in silence. Amber was simply enjoying the taste of the food while Jason was planning his conversation with Zilan.

'System, do you think I should question him alone?'

[ If that's what you want, you can do that. If anything bad happens, Risa and Issac can step in at any given point of time. Both of them are capable of doing that. ]

Jason agreed with the system and stood up. "Amber, I will be back soon. Got some things I need to talk to the prime minister about."

"You mean ex-prime minister, right? Zilan was removed from that position a long time ago when he rebelled against the king and went into hiding with his daughter." Amber pointed out.

Jason blinked in surprise when he heard this piece of information. If Zilan had come out of hiding to specifically talk with him, the matter must be of great importance.

'I can use that as leverage.' Jason silently noted before thanking Amber.

He then made his way down the stairs and arrived in the hall again. Zilan's face lit up when he saw Jason.

"I am willing to talk now but I want to talk with the two of you alone," Jason glanced at Issac who stood like a shadow in the corner. "It will allow me to talk better."

Jason and Issac's gaze met as a silent exchange passed between them. The latter walked out of the house without any argument, technically leaving the three of them alone.

[ He is going to eavesdrop from the outside, isn't he? ]

'That's what the glance meant. Its either that or "I am going to f the goats". I don't want to think that he meant to say that.'

[ Indeed… ]

Jason took a seat opposite of the two royal Vancouver family members. He activated his mana vision at the same time to make sure that no tricks would be played against him.

"So, what brings two royals to the house of the Syrward family?" Jason asked casually.

"I know what happened inside the royal palace when Julian tried to capture you. You not only resisted his divinity, you were also able to loosen the seal placed on both of your grandparents.

This means that you can directly oppose the powers of my brother's patron and free people from their contracts. I am here to ask your help on a similar matter." Zilan explained.

"You want me to break the curse placed on you by your brother?" Jason guessed.

"Indeed. As you might understand, Julian works through supreme control. The strongest people in his army are either gathered through ambition or are forcefully working for him.

But it doesn't really matter. He had both sides under a contract and if you can free some of them, I think you can make the kingdom enter a new area. But before that, I want you to try the same on me and my daughter." Zilan stated.

Jason fell silent as he leaned back on his spot. His mind started thinking about effective ways to deal with the situation.

He could simply accept the deal and use the power of Sancus's divinity to break Zilan and his daughter free from the grip of Julian.

Except there was one thing preventing him from doing that…

"What's in it for me? I don't really care about the kingdom and such. My hometown and the people I am close with will remain safe inside Duphia. I can basically sit here for the rest of my life and nothing will happen."

"I know you can't do that. You want to explore the area and perhaps learn about things that you don't have any knowledge about. Your parents for example," Zilan narrowed his eyes.

"Also, do you think you can beat Julian's patron god if he appears here at full power?"he questioned.

Instead of saying anything in reply, Jason stood up from his spot and smiled. Suddenly, his body burst forth with thunder. Following the thunder was Hestia's appearance.

The guardian maximized her form and stood behind Jason in a protective manner. The divinities inside Jason also started rumbling as divine energy shot out from them.

"Currently I at a level where I can battle many of the small fries. If I remove the contract placed on my grandparents, both of them will be at full power as well. If we gather all of the allies, do you believe a mere god can do anything?

_{𝑓r𝘦𝘦𝘄eb𝒏𝙤vel.c𝙤𝙢}

Even if all of that fails…" Jason's voice trailed off, his lips curling up to reveal a sinister grin.

[ You want me to do that? ] the system questioned.

'Let's do it. If we can intimidate him, maybe we can strike a better deal.' Jason replied.

He had already planned to accept Zilan's request but there were a few things he wanted to make clear.

The first was that he was in charge. The second was that he would get certain benefits in exchange for helping Zilan.

[ All right. Just don't scare them too much. Remember, his daughter is still quite young. ]

Tendrils of darkness suddenly appeared beside Jason. They shot forward and wrapped around Zilan's arms, tying him down.

"If I leave them on you for more than ten seconds, you will be sucked dry. That is just one of the powers of MY patron god." Jason smiled before recalling the tendrils.

Zilan seemed shaken by what had transpired in front of him. Aysel on the other hand looked as though someone had taken her heart out and put it back in after a few seconds.

"That is why if you want to help me," Jason added in a businessman tone. "There are a few things that you will have to give.