Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 387 Detective Alex, coming to your service!

(((Author’s Note: This chapter is a doozy for me. That’s all I can say for now. 2999 words are a lot to type in one sitting, you know. And for this chapter to be filled with deductions just makes it harder. Sigh... and I still have to do many things after posting this chapter....)))

"Say what?" Professor Frances, who was starting to chill right now, went back to her anxious mood again after she heard Alex’s question.

She did not bother to hide what she was thinking as she directly said to Alex,

"What did you just say?"

"I just asked the Great TimeMaster on how much money she paid to the Endless Monarch to make us come here. It’s just as simple as that." Alex replied nonchalantly as he shrugged his shoulders. "Why? Is there something wrong with my question?"

"You’re asking me if there’s something wrong with your question? Of course there’s a problem!" Professor Frances thought to herself as she glared at Alex. "You think that this woman ’hired’ the Endless Monarch to make us go here? Do you understand what you are saying?"

Professor Frances did her best to not blow up Alex right now, as she knew that they were currently in an important junction with the Great TimeMaster.

But even if Professor Frances was trying her best to keep herself calm, some flashes of anger still leaked out of her body.

"...."

How could not Professor Frances be angry?

Alex was basically asking a question, which to Professor Frances, was something that greatly changes her perspective of all the things that had happened to her.

For Professor Frances, this kind of change was greatly unnecessary, and for the current her, this change was enough to anger her greatly!

"Alex, you knew that the world that I had ruled before was disturbed by the Travelers sent by the Endless Monarch. So if what you are asking on the Great TImeMaster right now is true, then does that mean that someone in my world paid the Endless Monarch for his services?" Professor Frances blurted out before Alex or the Great TImeMaster can override her.

"Alex, do you even know how ridiculous that sounds? Do you think that someone from my world actually had the resources to summon help from the Endless Monarch? You know that that world was my property alone! There’s no way someone can just do that s**t on my turf!" Professor Frances continued saying as she started to breathe deeply.

She ignored the fact that the Great TimeMaster was listening to her as she continued on talking to Alex.

"Alex, just stop saying your crap ok? There is no way that the Great TimeMaster had paid the Endless Monarch to ’send’ us here, and nor does anyone from my world did that! Nobody, nobody did that, ok?"

"Miss Frances.... Your angry voice sounds cute. I actually find it amusing." The one who spoke after Professor Frances was actually the Great TimeMaster, as Alex appeared to have kept silent for some reason. "If you just talked that way earlier, then maybe I could have liked you more."

"Stop those foolish talks now, woman." The professor coldly said as she seemed to have forgotten the power that the Great TimeMaster had. "Just answer Alex’s question. Tell him that you did not pay the Endless Monarch anything. Tell him... that his delusions right now are all just delusions!"

"I’m sorry to say this Miss Frances, but Mr. Alex was right. I did indeed pay something to the Endless Monarch." The Great TImeMaster replied, which quickly brought Professor Frances into a frozen state. "And mind you, I had to pay a huge price just for him to send you guys here. Sigh, it still pains me to imagine all the good stuff that I had to give up... But from what I can see now, the payment that I gave to the Endless Monarch was all worth it! You guys are worth the risk! Hahaha, I hope we can have some more good business next time!"

"Hohoho, so my guess is indeed right!" Alex said as Professor Frances continued to stay in her frozen state.

He now looked extremely smug, even smugger than the smuggest state that he was in before.

"I just made this conclusion when I saw many weird discrepancies in this world..." Alex muttered as she shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I shrugged off these discrepancies as just coincidences earlier, but when all of them kept piling and piling up, I had no choice but to consider them as something else!"

"So you just thought that I have links with the Endless Monarch just because of those discrepancies? I don’t think I follow you, Mr. Alex." The Great TiemMaster said with the sound of fake concern on her voice. "What discrepancies are these anyway, and why are they able to make you reach the truth?"

"You’re asking me that? You, Great TimeMaster, was the reason I was able to doubt this world!" Alex replied as he shook his head. "All the major events that happened to me in this world were all related to you! The arrest of the rebels, my alliance with the TimeMasters, you hiring me to babysit Kiera, Kiera’s kidnapping, and many more events were all related to you!

"..."

"All the actions that I made in this world appeared to be orchestrated by you! Even if I think I had the full control in this situation, you were always one or two steps ahead of me. And I had the feeling that even if I did everything that I can to best you, you will have a countermeasure against that. Doesn’t that sound suspicious to you, Great TimeMaster?"

"..."

"..."

"That does sound suspicious Mr. Alex, but you know, this ability of mine to ’control the events of this world’ could just be the effect of my real powers. I am a Chronomancer after all." The Great TimeMaster said as she appeared to be amused by Alex’s words. "I could have just been using my ability to see the future in order to manipulate your actions! Isn’t that a better explanation for the ’discrepancies’ that you felt compared to your ’hired Travelers’ theory’?"

"Viewing the future? Well... I thought of that first when I realized your effect on me." Alex slowly said as he put down his hands. "But after a few seconds of thinking, I realized something about your power."

"Oh, and what is that realization, Mr. Alex?"

"I realized that there is no way for you to view my future with your power!" Alex said triumphantly as he approached the still frozen Professor Frances. His foot made crunching sounds as he crushed the grass under him with each of his step.

This crunching sound was naturally heard by Professor Frances, but she was too preoccupied with her thoughts to even care about it.

"You may not believe it, but I actually had an ability i that makes me almost immune to future-gazing abilities..." Alex slowly said with relish as he got nearer and nearer to Professor Frances. "You know Emperor Litch, right? If you know him, then you must have known about his Conqueror’s Aura."

"Yes, I know about that aura. That’s a pretty irritating ability." The Great TimeMaster replied as she nodded her head. "Not only does it allow Emperor Litch to control the people and matter all around him, it also allows him to take control of his own fate and destiny! This control of his on his fate was so great, that he was able to keep it hidden to those who wants to see it. And that includes those who wants to see his future!"

"Yes, that’s one of the benefits that the Conqueror’s Aura gave to Emperor Litch." Alex replied as he let out another sigh. "The Conqueror’s Aura allowed Emperor Litch to conquer his own fate, that nothing, not even the power to control time can see it. Only Emperor Litch can see his own fate, and there’s nothing that can change that fact."

"Mr. Alex, why are you talking about that power? Perhaps you’re saying that..."

"Yes, I am saying it, Great TimeMaster. I actually have the Conqueror’s Aura too." Alex said as he continued the words that the Great TimeMaster was about to say. "Don’t ask me where I got it. I just have it, and I ever since I got it, I have been using it to shield myself against future-gazing abilities. Especially against yours."

"..."

"Oh, and the effects of the Conqueror’s Aura also affects the people closest to its user. So that just means that even Alina, Queen Mother, Professor Frances, Kiera, Kiera’s old man, and Asteria were all shielded from your future-seeing abilities." Alex continued to say before the Great TimeMaster opened her mouth. "So don’t say that you saw my future through my allies..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So that’s the power that you had used on me before. I thought you were using a different type of ability to shield you and your friends from my future-seeing ability. Hehehe, you really are interesting, Mr. Alex." The Great TimeMaster replied as she shook her head in more amusement. "So because you knew that you’re immune from future-seeing ability, you already assumed that I had a connection with the Endless Monarch?"

"Well, even if I am immune with your ability to see the future, you were still able to manipulate me to do actions that will benefit you. That only means that you still had a way to know what I am about to do, even if you’re ’blind’ about my future actions." Alex replied as he closed his mouth into a thin line. "That means that you either had an ability that allows you to spy on me, or that someone was feeding you information about me."

"Mr. Alex, that first option sounds more feasible to me..."

"No, you spying on me is not a feasible answer too..." Alex suddenly said as he shook his head. "It is impossible for you to spy on me without me knowing it, as my Conqueror’s Aura had something for that too."

"..."

"Great TimeMaster, the control that the Conqueror’s Aura had on my fate also allows me to feel if there are people that are observing my life and fate in an intrusive manner." Alex said as he slowly tapped his temples. "As long as someone makes an observation on me, I will quickly know that I am being observed. Not only that, but I will also be able to gauge how powerful my ’observer’ was, and the proximity of that ’observer’ against me. It’s a pretty neat ability, right?"

"..."

"Great TimeMaster, if you were indeed spying on me, I should have quickly known that someone powerful in this world was discreetly ’observing’ me. But no, all that I felt were only observations from numerous TimeMasters. Sure, there auras are powerful, but not as powerful as yours." Alex said as he clapped his hands. "Oh, and I can also use his ’observation detection’ on my allies too, so don’t bother talking about them here."

"..."

"So, since it is impossible for you to see my future or even spy on me without me detecting it, the only remaining way that you knew what I will do was by getting information from someone close to me." Alex slowly said as he patted Professor’s shoulder.

He seemed to be slightly peeved by something, although it was not focused on anyone else near him. "Of course that is a hard thing to think, as none of my allies, my allies who went with me through thick and thin, could have just been talking with you privately, right? But my Conqueror’s Aura showed me otherwise."

"..."

"Just like what I told you earlier, I can also sense if my allies are being observed too. This is a pretty good way to keep my allies safe, as I can save them from possible harm if I knew that one of them was being observed by a powerful being..." Alex said as he started shaking his head with a tight smile on his face.

"And I was able to put this into use when one day, I realized that someone powerful suddenly started observing Asteria. And from the calculations made by my power, I knew that this powerful observer was just residing here in this world." Alex said as the smile on his face continued to tighten. "Oh boy... I was worried at that point, as I thought that maybe Asteria was now a target of someone powerful in this world. But then, I realized something weird with this ’observation’ on Asteria."

"..."

"By combining my FED Manipulation with Conqueror’s Aura, I was also able to feel the emotions directed by an observer to me or on my allies. I was able to put this on use on Asteria, as I felt the emotions of the observer on her. But to my surprise, I did not feel any ill-will or killing intent from Asteria’s observer. Instead, what I felt only were positive, satisfied feelings."

"..."

"Why would someone observe Asteria in such a manner, if he/she does not have any ill-will against her?" Alex blurted as he raised his hands up. "Even if a pervert was only interested on peeking at Asteria, I will still feel that pervert’s lecherous intentions on her. But no, I only felt positive emotions, bordering that of satisfaction."

"..."

"But then, I realized something. This satisfaction that I felt from the observer was something that I had felt before too." Alex then clicked his fingers as he pointed his fingers right at the Great TimeMaster. "Great TImeMaster, this satisfaction that I felt from Asteria’s observer... was similar to the satisfied feeling that a person has when they receive information from an info broker!"

"..."

"When I made this realization, I thought to myself: "Why would Asteria’s observer feel this kind of satisfaction when he/she was just supposed to observe Asteria? Where is the ’info broker’ that gives the info to Asteria’s observer?"

"And it was there that it hit me. The info broker was actually Asteria herself. She was the one giving information to her ’observer’...." Alex then pushed his finger forward, with these fingers still pointing at the Great TimeMaster.

"Asteria was not being spied upon at all. She was actually communicating with someone powerful in this world." Alex said as he started to wiggle his fingers. "Since communicating with Asteria was also a way of ’observing’ her, I was able to detect this conversation while it was happening, although I just felt it through the ’observation’ made by Asteria’s chat mate."

"..."

"Now then, why would Asteria be giving information to someone that is not my ally? And who is this ’chat mate’ that receives all of Asteria’s info? I pieced these two questions with all the things that I told you earlier, and that brought me to an exciting discovery."

"..."

"You, the Great TimeMaster, was actually having a secret communication with Asteria. You talk to her regularly to obtain important info about me, and Asteria will just casually them give to you. You will receive this info with satisfaction, and you will use them in order to manipulate my actions in this world."

"..."

"When I reached this point, I thought to myself: "Why would Asteria give you info that will allow you to manipulate my moves? Why would she do that? That could place me in danger!"

"...."

"I tried thinking of any possible reasons for this ’secret’ by Asteria, but in the end, I only could think of one reason."

"And the reason that you reached was the possibility of me having a link with the Endless Monarch." The Great TimeMaster said as she let out an impressed smile. "And you also thought that I am using this link in order to use Asteria as a spy for me."

"..."

The Great TimeMaster’s fingers then slowly caressed her chin as she continued talking. "And since it was fairly hard to have a connection with the Endless Monarch, the only ways that I could have any link with the Endless Monarch was few. I could be either a Traveler or his relative, or I could just be someone who had a close ’business partnership’ with him."

"..."

"..."

"Great TimeMaster, being a Traveler for him is impossible. If you were, then you should be killing me now. Being his relative is also impossible too, so I naturally veered to believing that you had a business transaction with him." Alex said as he slowly retracted his pointing fingers.

"..."

"Great TimeMaster, the only business that I can imagine that the Endless Monarch could engage with you was related to Travelers. After all, Travelers were his main source of livelihood, right?"

"...."

"Now, after I combined your possible ’business transaction’ with the fact that you used me to reach your goals, I reached the conclusion that you paid the Endless Monarch to send us here in order to change something in this world. As for why you were allowed to just communicate with Asteria and have your way with us, I am not sure on that too. But perhaps, you’re willing to explain that part to me?"

"Hehehe, your deductions are really god-like, Mr. Alex." This was the reply given by the Great TimemMaster as she let out a sigh. "You were able to deduce the truth just from a few set of data points? Truly amazing."

"Cut the crap, woman. Just answer these questions: Why were you allowed to communicate with Asteria, and why were you allowed to have your way with us here?" Alex said in a tone similar to the one used by Professor Frances earlier. "Weren’t we supposed to change this world through our own effort alone? Why were you allowed to disturb us Travelers, when we were supposed to do this by ourselves? Is there a different reason for us to be in this world?"

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