Galaxy's First Ruler

A few hours before

In the windowed office of the Blazing Royals Guild, two people peered at each other for a fraction of a second.

Edmund again eyed the folded letter in front of him on the table. His hand reached towards his face and pressed the area between his eyes. He would lie to himself, believing that he hadn't seen this coming. But even then, it seemed too soon to be true. Without looking at the person sitting opposite him, he presented his thoughts.

"Boomie, are you sure you want to do this?"

"… Yes."

Edmund unfolded the letter and saw the content. But after reading the word 'Resignation', he couldn't go further. He had his doubts over the sudden turn of events, but it was neither place nor the time to clear those out. The guess in his mind had still occupied his mind when he heard Boomie's next words.

"Edmund, I am thankful that you gave me the opportunity when I needed it. And for that, I will stay until we can find a competent Tanker. After that, I would leave."

Edmund knew how crucial Boomie's existence was for the new Dreamers and the entire Guild. But even when he first approached him with the offer, he never thought to keep Boomie to himself. But he was more worried by the absence of the usual helplessness in Boomie's eyes. As Edmund had guessed, this only meant that either Boomie had lost all hope or he had found the thing he had been looking for.

And both cases could very well turn into a headache for him.

"Sigh… No, It's me who should be thankful to you. I only asked for you to be with me until the Guild reaches its current position. And yet I selfishly never asked you for your dreams even after this long."

A brief silence followed Edmund's words, and he stood up from the high-back chair. He passed by Boomie and looked at the hustle and bustle of the new Dreamers about to go on their first raid. He looked at the slight reflection of Boomie's back in the glass and asked.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your plan?"

Edmund came back to his chair as Boomie prepared his answer. He took out a pen, signed the letter, and handed it back to Boomie. There was no point for a Noble to force a subject for his services if he didn't want to.

"That… You will find it out soon, I hope."

Edmund raised his eyebrows at the mysterious answer, but his heart had already skipped a beat. The Baron's mind buried the wild imagination deep within him again. It had kept placing a face beside Boomie's, even when common sense dictated that it was impossible.

"I must go now to handle the 'kids'; Maybe the new batch has someone that would suit the Guild's need."

Edmund nodded and saw the Guild's "Wall" leaving the office. But as Boomie was about to step out of the office, Edmund saw his feet halting at the entrance. And he heard the two words from Boomie that he had never thought of hearing from him.

"… take care."

For the next few hours, Edmund tried to concentrate on work but couldn't manage to. The two words weighed like a block of ice on his head. And there was only one thing that could make him take his mind off the absurd and irrelevant things.

On the wall behind his chair, there was a red door on one side. Edmund entered through the door and took the whiff of the familiar smell. In a small but spacious room, there was a gaming setup not much unlike the one he had before the Night.

Even after becoming a Baron, Edmund hadn't forgotten about his roots.

As he started the system, Edmund remembered the purpose of his actions after the Dream. The setting up of a Guild, proposing a structure like ADA, and hiring Boomie was all part of a plan. A plan to not face the situation that Masked Menace was facing now.

Edmund wasn't aloof from the events going on in the world. But he had cared little for the skirmishes into which most people loved to involve themselves. He was aware of his capabilities, and the only thing he needed was time. He had known that if not backed up by a potent force, then in the future, he would have to prove his worth to the world.

And society, especially the one formed by Dreamers, would never accept a rebel Dreamer among them. As proved by the ongoing events. The only workable solution that Edmund had thought of in this case would be to crush every finger raised against him. But Edmund did not know that he would become one of the strongest Dreamers and thus had gone with a safe option.

While the entire world had occupied itself in a meaningless fight to bring down one Dreamer, Edmund stuck himself to the thing he was best at.

Gaming.

Only in this case, he thought that Matsumoto Sho was ahead of him. That Japanese Dreamer was the epitome of focus and a master at unraveling the hidden purposes within the RECORD. But Edmund had found out his way of doing the same.

One of the most important things to a gamer at his level was the gear to play with. Edmund had made sure that the Blazing Royals Guild would stay ahead in the quality of Items for years to come. The other thing was practice and understanding the game's mechanics. Edmund had turned his mindset that the whole raiding Dungeons was nothing but just another game.

And this had become the driving force behind his determination to achieve an even higher Rank than Baron without looking back. How could he have the time to deal with senseless matters when the Dream that he had envisioned was at the end of a straight but long path?

THUMP!!! THUMP!!!

A loud thumping knock on the door beside him brought Edmund out of his reverie. His mind had been inputting accurate commands in the game without using its full calculation capacity. Edmund opened the door and found the colorless face of Samael in front of him.

"You… Why haven't you been picking up my calls?" asked Samael, with heavy breath.

Edmund reached out in his pocket and looked at the mobile. It seemed to be out of battery and needed to be recharged. Edmund saw Samael shaking his head in annoyance.

"You are indulging yourself in-game? Do you know what's going on in ADA's HQ right now?"

Even before Edmund could ask for an explanation, Samael had already barged into the room. Edmund followed him in and saw him opening up the live coverage of the ADA's press channel.

'No…' Edmund's mind went blank seeing the kneeled Dreamers, with their hands and legs shaking in fear.

The camera zoomed in on the face of Dr. Annie for a brief second and then changed its angle towards the rooftop. Edmund saw a masked man leisurely eating a burger, his feet dangling down from the rooftop's edge.

"What in the name of devil is he doing?"

Edmund heard Samael's question and narrowed his eyes, seeing the blurry tattoo on the Masked Menace's right hand.

"It's obvious. He is waiting…"

"Waiting? Waiting for what?" asked Samael, baffled by Edmund's answer.

"Not what, but whom. He is waiting… for me."