Chapter 58: Rosaline’s Invitation

"I didn't think our freshman year was hiding such a good soccer player," Rosaline teased with a smile in the private room.

Hiro scratched his head, acting embarrassed, but he was grinning with confidence.

He responded while smiling, "It was only a matter of time before I made it big, it's nothing serious."

"You didn't rely on your special abilities to perform so well, did you?" Rosaline asked seriously all of a sudden.

Hiro scoffed. "Do you think I'm that foolish? Of course not, this is all raw, pure talent!"

Rosaline looked deeply into Hiro's eyes for a prolonged moment before slowly nodding her head. "Okay, I believe you. I'm glad you know how important it is to hold back… By the way, what level did you reach now? I can find a vector measuring machine for you if you want."

"No need," Hiro waved his hand. "Weak is weak, it doesn't matter how weak."

Hiro paused and added, "This must be about that pocket dimension, right? Are you inviting me on your team or something?"

Rosaline was stunned for a moment before she collected herself with a smile. "It seems like you've made yourself quite a few capable friends to get your hands on this information."

Hiro blinked. "Is it that serious?"

Rosaline raised an eyebrow and said, "This is very classified information, how could the church publicize their failed expedition to the Paranormal Society openly? Anyone who got their hands on this information must have a wide network."

Hiro didn't give it much thought beforehand, as he wasn't in touch with this side of society for long.

However, thinking about it now, the Holy Church was like one of the strongest organizations in this world, how could anyone get their hands on secret intelligence about its movements in such a short time?

Theo's friends are really capable, it seems like the Odins family is more complicated than I thought.

On the surface, Hiro still acted as though this was nothing big as he said, "It still doesn't feel like a big deal. I mean, I also know the reason behind the core's deterioration, let alone something so trivial as a failed expedition."

Rosaline's eyes hardened as she reassessed Hiro, thinking to herself. Could it be that he was missing the last three weeks because of something related to this expedition? How entangled is he with the Paranormals already?

While shocked, Rosaline was also relieved to know that this little guy was no longer a clueless blockhead.

"My family is also taking part in this expedition hosted by the Holy Church, but we're not the only interested party…"

According to Rosaline, the Big Three are going to send a batch of promising youngsters into the crumbling pocket dimension on a military expedition.

This will serve as both a training mission and a contribution to humanity. So far, no one has gotten their hands on a Minor Realm large enough to support the human population.

This Minor Realm was a big breakthrough point toward colonizing the New World, but no one expected that other races from other worlds had their eyes on it too.

It's still unclear how pocket dimensions came to be and how many worlds like their current world were connected to these pocket dimensions.

However, the possibility of a different race or a different civilization locating the coordinates of their world through an unstable pocket dimension wasn't low.

Thus, every encounter between different races or different civilizations in a pocket dimension ended in the destruction of the pocket dimension.

It doesn't matter who was stronger and who was weaker upon first contact, as no one was willing to take the risk.

If they could find our world through the pocket dimension, we could also find their world.

It was like a game of chess on the racial scale.

Since the pocket dimension was already on the countdown to destruction, how could they not feel anxious about the resources accumulated for a decade?

The Holy Church had drawn out a map for the explored areas, and the mission of the new batch of explorers was to tap into the uncharted territory.

Find anything of value from herbs, treasures, remnants of civilization, dimensional keys—anything of value could be brought back and sold to the church.

Of course, they wouldn't buy it for money, but they would exchange it for suitable resources.

For example, Hiro could obtain spirituality-rich resources to increase his personal strength as a Sorcerer.

Many families and governmental agencies agreed to send their young talents, but these two would also treat this expedition as a test for their young.

Rosaline's siblings and cousins from the other branches of the family will be joining the fray, not as her helpers but as her competitors.

At least, that should have been the case until she declared her intention to withdraw from the competition to become the next head of the family, which shocked a lot of elders, including her parents.

As a punishment, the family wouldn't provide her with any help or resources on the expedition—since she decided to use this expedition as her first pot of gold to affirm a foothold in the Paranormal Society, then the family would let her work all alone.

Once she realized how ruthless and fearsome the Paranormal Society was without the backing of her family, only then would she realize her mistakes and come back to make amends.

This brought her here to this dinner meeting.

Rosaline said in earnest, "I've already invited Bella and she agreed to help me, now I'm formally inviting you to join my party and help me, too."

Hiro blinked and asked in confusion, "Have you lost your mind? Wait, tell me you've secretly gathered some resources for yourself before ditching your family…"

"Did you stash away a few billion dollars? Did you bewitch some capable subordinates to help you?"

"When you say you're all on your own, you don't literally mean it that way, right?"

…

Hiro fired off a string of questions, only to be met with Rosaline's silence as she stared back at him with a faint smile.

"What's the big deal?" Rosaline picked up her teacup and took a sip. "Look at Bella's family, it's doing alright even though they only have her father. Also, I don't have any enemies, they're the Rosch family's enemies so no one will target me."

Hiro's eyes twitched.

Bella's father is anything but a simple character. If even the Rosch family is oblivious to his true background, then these waters run too deep.

No simple character would draw the attention of some Master Osmond, but that guy is hiding too deeply.

He somehow used me to shield the entity behind him, now no one knows who is exactly behind the Odins. If I'm not wrong, he should be some big shot from the government.

Hiro's guess was baseless, but he trusted his gut feeling very much. Nonetheless, this doesn't change the fact that I rescued his wife and daughter.

Hiro concluded that whoever was behind Theo didn't care about Theo's family, as long as Theo himself was fine and well.

This type of ruthlessness and coldness probably doesn't sit well with the man, especially since his personality is so passionate, hence why although he's being targeted by an overpowered enemy, that enemy doesn't dare cross some lines either.

Hmm, seems like They used me as a shield and that Master Osmond is going to use me as giving himself a way out, especially since he wouldn't want to offend the big shot behind the Odins.

Hiro scoffed inwardly, did they really think that he was some scapegoat that could be used to divert attention and cut losses?

Did they think that targeting an outsider without influence in the provincial capital was better than getting entangled in the deep murky waters of the capital?

Hiro had but one thing to say about his current standoff with those two parties, and it wasn't something pretty.

Are they worthy?

Rosaline tapped the surface of the low table with her teacup, drawing Hiro's attention to herself once again.

"I heard that you tend to space out a lot without any rhyme or reason, but I didn't expect it to happen even during such a tense conversation…" Rosaline smiled.

Hiro shook his head, hesitated for a moment, and said solemnly, "Just take this piece of information as repayment for what you've done to help me so far. The waters of the Odins family are deeper than you think; it's an ocean that could swallow your Rosch family without a ripple, let alone some tricks in the Paranormal Society."

Hiro leaned forward, his chin resting on his knuckles while his elbow was propped on the table. "Let me put it this way, the Odins family is one thing, but Theo Odin is a whole different animal. Don't ask me how I know, but just know that targeting Bella and her mother is one thing, while targeting Theo is a whole different matter." Searᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Rosaline's hands paused, her eyes narrowed dangerously as she spoke, "You mean to say that Theo is in a similar position to my current self, just under different circumstances?"