Chapter 526 - 522: The Seven

"I remember that you were doing the same quest. So you probably had the risk of being blocked as well. Did this happen?" Ryder asked Alice despite already knowing the answer to this small question. 

It was already certain that she was blocked. Ryder was also happy about that fact since that meant Alice wasn't allowed to even step a foot inside that dangerous game.

But since he was the one responsible to make it happen and to hurt Alice, he still needed to act concerned. 

Alice nodded in Ryder's response, letting silence take over.

Her silence was only broken as she continued, "That's right. I am blocked. It's fine, though. I had a special reward for accepting the Quest before I was banned."

"Special reward?" 

Hearing that word, Ryder had a bad feeling. If her reward was the same as his reward, then it was wrong. It meant that Necrosis was asking for her data to let her take part in that billion dollar event. 

Hoping to be wrong, he asked her directly. "What reward?"

"That's right. It was something that allowed me to take part in their Billion Dollar event. Since it's something that will be held inside Divinity, they can't have me blocked. So they'll unblock me soon," Alice answered. 

She didn't stop with her excitement here as she continued, "If I win those billion dollars, I'll give them all to you so you can boost the company."

"Don't tell me you already sent them your details?" Ryder asked, frowning. 

"I did," Alice answered smilingly. 

'Sigh, this girl. I don't want to be involved since I'm a bit suspicious, but she's already involved now. They should already have her information. But they don't know she's related to Hades yet. So they don't know about me. This doesn't make sense.'

'They were after the top ten. But Alice is nowhere near top ten, from what I know. Since they even accept her, does it mean that I'm worrying unnecessarily? There's no scheme to involve the top ten only? Don't tell me I'm becoming a conspiracy theorist, but something doesn't add up here.'

Hearing Alice, Ryder had realized that the information was already gone. Alice was a part of this event now. That also made some cracks in his previous assumptions and sent him into deep thoughts. 

He couldn't help but have second thoughts if he was just being too suspicious of this event because it didn't happen in the previous timeline. 

Many things happened in this timeline that didn't happen in the last. Shu tried to take over Necrosis in this timeline when he hadn't tried it in the last timeline. So a change didn't prove there was a scheme. 

After a long thought process, he finally decided to put this matter down. In any case, he was here to protect Alice against any schemes, so it was fine. 

"Is something wrong? Should I not have taken part?" Alice asked Ryder, wondering if she had done something wrong.

As soon as she told him what she did, he went silent, which was giving her a bad feeling as if she had done something wrong. 

"No, you did nothing wrong. I just remembered something about work. I was thinking about that. Anyway, tell me when you get a response from Necrosis with more details about this event. I want to know about it too," Ryder told Alice. 

"Huh? You're the top rank, if I'm not wrong. Are you not taking part yourself?" Alice asked, surprised. 

She needed a special reward to take part, but Ryder was different. This event was especially for the ones that were in the top ten. And as the top ranked player amongst them, he had the best chance. Why wasn't he taking part?

"I am not sure if I will take part or not. Most probably, I won't. Maybe I might later on. As I said, I'm not sure at the moment. So tell me what it's about when you get the information since you already sent them the information," he told Alice, who nodded in return. 

"Alright."

....

After finishing the conversation with Alice, Ryder was back in his room. 

He had freshened up and was lying on the bed in his more comfortable clothes. 

He didn't wish to enter Divinity tonight since he knew it was going to be boring. There was only preparation everywhere. There was no fun for him. But it was for his coronation. So he didn't have any choice. 

Despite just wanting to sleep tonight, he wore the Divinity Glasses as he prepared to enter the world of Divinity. 

....

"Your Highness, which robe do you want to wear on your coronation? This one or that?"

...

"Your Highness, these are the choices for dishes in the feast. Do you have anything to add or remove?"

...

"Your Highness..."

"Your Highness..."

....

Throughout the day in divinity, he was made to go through thousands of choices. He wanted to give all these to Rale to choose, but High Dukes had said that it was the custom for the Prince to choose such things. Ryder couldn't deny such customs, so he was forced to go through it. 

Fortunately, the tiring days finally got over as tomorrow was the day of the ceremony.

Tomorrow morning was when guests were going to arrive, and the evening was when the crowning ceremony was supposed to happen. 

One more day and the big event was about to take place, after which Ryder knew he was going to get all the freedom he wanted. 

Hopeful about the next day, Ryder left the world of Divinity again. 

....

Far away from the Maxwell Estate existed the country of Japan. 

It was a small country in size, but it was a very important country. It was a country which held many top organizations that were a pioneer in the department of technological advancements. 

There was also a company here that was one of the top ten companies in the entire world. It was close to the Dream Corporation in size and business, not much different. 

The owner of this huge conglomerate was also a young man, but his story was different from Shu. 

While Shu was the son of the Dream Corporation Owners, he received their inheritance after their death.

This man, on the other hand, had an entirely different success story. His rise was swift. It was said that many company owners in the country just handed over their companies to him for some reason. There were many stories about it, but no one knew the exact truth. 

The man was known as Itsuki Yamada. 

At his young age, he was suddenly the owner of many different companies. He merged them all and made them all rise, becoming the owner of a company which was known to be one of the richest in the world.

The company was what he named Itsuki Corporation.

There were only six people in this world who knew the truth about this guy. 

He actually wasn't from this world. Instead, he was the son of the gods who had come here on a trial, just like Aluren and the other five. 

In total, there were seven such god-sons in this world. Each of them was given a different goal in this trial. 

To make sure that no one affected the other person's trial, some rules were also made. 

Each of these seven was given a specific country which they weren't allowed to step out of. If they left and entered someone else's territory, it was against the rules and something which could warrant punishment for them. 

That's why it was such a big deal when one of the seven, Adrian, had left his country to enter the land which was assigned to Aluren.

Fortunately, the punishment wasn't big this time since both Aluren and Adrian were wrong. So no one could blame others, and the matter was over. 

Amongst the seven, Aluren was allowed to stay in the country of the United States. Adrian Balakin was told to stay in Russia. Aryan was in India. Draco Liang was staying in China. Suliven Salazar was in the United Kingdom. Julien was in Germany. And lastly, Itsuki Yamada was ruling over the business Empire in Japan. 

Each of these seven was the sons of one of the Great Gods. They were given all the instructions about their trials, and when needed, some external manipulation was also given.

Just like his Suliven Salazar was made Prince of the United Kingdom through great manipulation. Aryan was placed in a family whose memory was wiped to make them believe that he was their nephew. 

There was a similar story with all of these seven, albeit a bit different since each of them had a different trial to go through. 

At the moment, Itsuki was sitting in his office, talking to someone over the phone. 

"So you're saying he wasn't in any cameras either. And the men disappeared. Interesting. Alright. I'll see what it is," he said to the person over the phone before he disconnected the call. 

Gazing towards his receptionist, he commanded, "Get me the information of this Ryder Flynn from Divine Corporation. And see if he has any relationship to Aluren or not."