Ano soon retuned to the imperial capital.
Dylan and Helene were keeping watch over the Exile Sectors. As he didn’t need to switch places with either of them, Ano became the second Grantz to come home after Norton.
He bragged about it in the Grantz channel for quite some time before Bert teased him about it.
When he stepped into the palace, what awaited him wasn’t Adlet with a tray of steaming hot food, nor his mother warmly fretting over him, nor a hug from Ye Muo, nor Norton…forget it. Big Brother Norton never did anything special for this.
Still, Ano had no idea it would be like this. He would’ve gladly gone and switched places with Dylan had he known.
Ano bent over to save his ear. “Mom–”
Sylvia cut him off. She took a deep breath.
“Tell Dylan to not rashly agree to anything if someone asks for him, even if it seems like a good deal. That isn’t to say he should mistreat the captives either. Forget it. Tell him to keep a low profile for now and send his adjutant for any negotiations.”
There were faint dark marks under Sylvia’s eyes. Hebert yawned on the side, looking just as tired. He would never behave in such a rude manner in front of outsiders, of course.
The Felier family were born to be political creatures. Setting everything else aside, it was almost effortless for them to maintain an air of sophistication. Most of the time.
Gu Chuan contacted Grantz at once after receiving word from the Alliance. Sylvia and Hebert had been attending countless meetings to analyze the data available on the Alliance. Sylvia almost immediately grasped one key point– the resource tournament. She needed to infer what position Grantz would place from the scant amount of information available in order to judge the benefits of joining the Alliance.
Only to turn around and hear that Dylan had basically declared war with the Alliance over in the Exile Sectors.
Sylvia: Weary smile.jpg
Her anger did subside somewhat after hearing about the chain of events. Dylan did not instigate the conflict without reason. With his temper, he probably even held back a bit. Still, that didn’t stop Sylvia’s irritation from building. She had already pulled several consecutive all-nighters.
Bert and the others were already aware of the situation with the Alliance, especially Norton. Secretary-General Lin most likely informed him far in advance. Sylvia also mentioned it to him when she took charge of the matter.
However, she doubted any of them took it to heart. Sylvia didn’t bother to explain the details to them. Even if she did, it would all go in one ear and out the other. Bert, for example, would probably flippantly tell her: ‘Oh, don’t worry, darling. They’ll need to be able to beat me first’.
Meanwhile, Norton would probably feel like he was surrounded by incompetent people that even needed him to worry about things like this before urging Secretary-General Lin to work harder.
The clerks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs almost burst into tears when Sylvia took charge of the matter. They were some of the most overjoyed at the news of her return. Everyone knew how much they worked themselves to the bone over the years due to the shenanigans the Grantz got into. With Sylvia around, they could at least rely on her to rein them in a bit. They could also stop tiptoeing around on broken glass whenever something happened. The Empress would act without needing to be asked, meaning they could just do their jobs and enjoy the show.
Ano probably didn’t even understand why Sylvia was angry right now, but he was clever enough to know what to do.
“Got it, Mom. You’ve worked hard. I’ll tell him right away. I just want to make it clear that I had nothing to do with this. This is all Big Brother Dylan’s fault. I told him he should’ve captured a few more motherships. We don’t have things like that yet.”
Sylvia tightened her grip instead of letting go like she was about to. She silently tugged his ear a little further down and added, “Tell Dylan to leave the mothership be as well. We will have motherships eventually, but not like this.”
Ano immediately changed his tune, “Alright, alright. I told him he was too rough-handed this time.”
Then he reminded her in a whisper, “Ye Muo’s still here, Mom…”
At least don’t beat him up in front of Ye Muo, ah. He was supposed to be Ye Muo’s elder. At least leave him some face.
Sylvia glanced to the side at Ye Muo.
Ye Muo was pressed to Adlet’s side, peering fearfully out at them. He instinctively shrank further behind the butler when Sylvia looked over. The little robot did the same.
Norton stood behind Ye Muo.
Ye Muo had never seen Sylvia lose her temper before. Sylvia always had a gentle smile on her face. Even the way she straightened out his collar was as tender as a spring breeze.
Thank goodness he’s always listened to her, Ye Muo thought.
Sylvia coughed and let go of Ano. Her voice was even more gentle than usual. “Ah, our dear Muomuo is here for lunch? I believe your favourite dessert is available after the meal today.”
“Oh, okay.”
Ye Muo was relieved to hear that Sylvia didn’t seem that mad anymore. He drew closer to her and quietly said, “Then I’ll give my portion to Sylvia. Please don’t be angry with Ano anymore, alright?”
Sylvia cupped his cheeks and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “Aiya, how can our Muomuo be so sweet? You must be hungry by now. Let’s go eat.”
Ano fell in line behind Norton, rubbing his ear. It didn’t hurt, but the impact to his reputation was significant. He muttered, “It’s all Dylan’s fault. You have to teach him a good lesson, Big Brother.”
Norton made a sound of acknowledgement. He quietly told Adlet, “Give my share to Ye Muo.”
“Mine too.” Ano immediately chimed in.
He was Ye Muo’s favourite grown-up, after all.
……
The Exile Sectors.
Cartabelli soon received an urgent transmission from the Alliance.
“…They came into conflict with a Grantz overseeing the review in that sector and one of their motherships was captured. They’ve retreated to their original resting spot for now.”
The adjutant finished reporting to Cartabelli with a complicated expression.
Cartabelli burst into unceremonious laughter. “That’s the most satisfying news I’ve heard for days.”
After all, the review wasn’t exactly something to announce to the world. He intentionally stayed vague and told the Alliance it was just the local forces conducting an inspection.
However, in the face of how badly the Alliance had screwed up, being basically forced to cooperate with the review was nothing.
Even Lais, who had been delegated to filing documents in the command centre for Cartabelli as punishment, couldn’t help but agree, “Those snotty bastards had it coming.”
The Alliance was no paper tiger. It had its own armed forces and weaponry as well as access to all the cutting edge technologies. As the organizer of the resource competition, the various member nations were more that willing to continue providing it with talented personnel and technologies. Therefore, the Alliance has always had a bit of a holier-than-thou attitude when addressing member nations.
Cartabelli seemed to be in a good mood. He leaned back in his chair a little. “Tell them I need to speak directly to the one in charge of the operation.”
“Um…that may be a problem.”
Lais set aside the documents in his hand with some dissatisfaction. “Are they still hung up on pride at a time like this? What’s wrong with them?”
The adjutant looked numb at this point. “No, sir. Both of their commanding officers were captured and they’ve lost contact with them since.”
Both leaders of the Alliance forces were in the mothership that had been towed away.
In general, where there were multiple motherships, the commanding officer would stay near the center of the fleet for the sake of security and to quickly communicate orders.
However, the Alliance was here this time to recruit new members. The process was normally just a matter of recording their information and fashioning an official announcement. A relaxed affair. Even if they encountered insects, they believed their motherships were fast enough to leave them in the dust and avoid conflict. This was why their formation remained so vulnerable.
Then they ran into Dylan as soon as they set food in the Exile Sectors and entered battle without so much as a conversation. No, what happened couldn’t be considered a battle even. The Alliance literally lost a mothership before they could even react.
Cartabelli fell silent for once. It took him a while to speak, “Tell them we’re in negotiations with Grantz already.”
……
Ano played with Ye Muo a bit after the meal. Ye Muo was very affectionate to spend time with his uncle, who he hadn’t seen in such a long time.
He finally hugged Ano and touched his ear. “Does it hurt? Sylvia has been really busy and tired lately. Don’t be mad at her.”
Ano put on a nonchalant expression. “It doesn’t hurt at all. I’m not angry with Sylvia either. I’m an adult, after all. You’re the weird one here. What were you afraid of? I’ve never seen a Grantz as obedient as you.”
“Adlet said Sylvia is working very hard so we should all listen to her better to be safe.”
“Are you going today?” Norton asked as he came over.
He was referring to the gardens.
Ye Muo had started tending to the gardens lately. He had only taken care of his little greenhouse before, and the most he did was check on how the plants were growing. It was his first time looking after such a large garden.
Moreover, Norton had already informed Adlet to hold off any major renovations to the gardens. Ye Muo was a little worried at first, but not anymore.
Norton seemed to have a talent for things like gardening as well. He even repaired the paved roadway that Pangzhua messed up. Ye Muo had never done that himself before.
In any case, Norton didn’t need anyone else’s help. He steadily chipped away at the tasks alongside Ye Muo.
Recently, they’ve added a stone path to a corner of the gardens that Ye Muo frequented. There was a swing set and a small table on the hill there, and the view was great. Adlet sometimes prepared afternoon tea for Sylvia and Ye Muo there.
Now, they were tackling the large trees nearby. A winding staircase had been carved into the thickest tree, leading up to a small treehouse in the canopy. However, the overgrown foliage had obscured the treehouse and decorations from sight.
Norton was up on the tree, pruning the foliage little by little. A continuous trickle of leaves and branches dropped down to the ground. Ye Muo ran over to drag the branches away.
The little robot trailed behind him.
Norton swiftly grabbed the branch he just cut before it could fall. He paused instead of telling Ye Muo he was getting in the way.
Ano, who was about to pull Ye Muo back, sat down again. He should’ve known that nothing would go wrong with Big Brother around.
Since that was the case, Ano seized the opportunity to contact Dylan.
[Mom’s real mad this time, Dylan. She told you to think before you act. Don’t kill them all, and don’t touch that mothership. Just don’t do anything to be safe.]
Dylan was silent for a while. Then he contacted his adjutant: “Leave that mothership be for now. Pull our people back.”
The adjutant looked regretful. “Then I’ll ask the technical department to stay back for now.”
[Understood. Tell Sylvia I won’t do that.]
Ano was indignant. [You’d better not. Mom was angry with me all because of you.]
Bert quickly interjected: [That’s right. You’ve gone too far, Dylan. Ano, tell Sylvia I’ve scolded Dylan already.]
