The entrance to Old Gundam was no different from other cities. You could enter the city directly from the highway.

From the outside, it looked like a normal city, except for the lack of tall buildings found in modern ones.

Even in the outskirts of the city, the people on the streets seemed relatively normal.

There were even young people and couples who appeared to be out for a stroll.

However, as we continued to move deeper into the city, an odd situation began to unfold.

The number of people on the streets decreased, and buildings that looked like businesses began to turn into villas. As we progressed, the distance between these villas increased, with wealthier and more populous families closer to the center—that is, closer to the hill, which was not excessively high but could still be considered so. Actually, calling it a hill was incorrect; it resembled a small plateau more.

As I continued to look out the window, the bus began to slow down slightly, and when I looked ahead, I couldn't see any traffic lights.

I squinted slightly and stretched.

Alex and I made eye contact.

Here we go.

~knock ~knock ~knock!

When there was a gentle knock on the door, knowing I was being watched, I quickly stood up and took a deep breath as if I were tense.

"You may come in!"

The door opened slowly. A man in a suit, like almost everyone else here, entered first, followed by the person we were waiting for, Franz, who stepped into the room.

His eyes were sparkling, and he had the same smile on his face as when we first met.

"We've informed the Bluelet Family about the situation, and they said they'll be here soon. If you'd like, we can keep you here until they arrive."

"S- sure, that's fine!"

After getting our permission, the vehicle started moving again, and the large gate on our right opened wide as if it had been waiting for this moment, letting the bus inside.

We entered the plot of land between walls that were almost five or six meters high. During this process, I had the opportunity to examine the area through the window.

This was the Inferesse Family's mansion. It was not very close to the city center, but it was not on the outskirts either. They were just slightly above average among the nobles, or rather the mafia, of this place.

The main building was located right in the center of the area. It paled in comparison to the Laute Family's magnificent and enormous mansion, but it had its own charm. The other buildings, apart from the main building, were generally smaller and more ordinary. Although each of them was still the size of an apartment building, and some were even larger, I was no longer particularly impressed by them, having seen the mansions where the upper-class nobles lived.

As we approached the main building, another detail caught my attention: several figures descending from the entrance of the main building. And the person standing at the front of these figures.

I squinted involuntarily.

His hair, body type, eye color… Everything about him resembled Franz. He was like a copy of how Franz would look thirty years later.

This person was the sole leader of the Inferesse Family.

In short, he was Franz's father.

"James Bluelet, right?"

When we got off the bus, he greeted us personally.

Without any security guards, no less.

"Y- yes..."

He had almost the same smile as Franz.

His blue eyes scanned me with the same angelic yet cautious gaze.

"I've met your father before, and I've seen you a few times when you were little. I didn't think we'd meet again like this."

After me, he scanned Alex from head to toe, then slightly widened his smile and turned away.

"Your father is coming here. You can follow me for now."

He didn't introduce himself, and he didn't even pay attention as he turned his back and walked away.

My presence seemed to have little importance to him.

At least that's how it felt.

"O- of course…"

Entering the main building led to even more interesting things.

There were no guards in the corridors, not even a single servant.

We were completely alone in this huge mansion.

Just me, Alex, Franz, and him.

Of course, after we had gone a little further, Alex was moved to another place because his identity was simply that of a 'guard', and we were left with three people.

Shortly after, we found ourselves in a room. A room resembling a lounge, with chairs and a large table in the center.

Once again, there were no guards around.

"Please sit down; we'll wait for your father here. Until he arrives, let's talk about something ourselves."

I gulped, noticeable to him, and sat down on one of the chairs he had pointed to. My eyes cautiously scanned every corner.

"Did you know that Bluelet and Inferesse's past goes a bit further back than you might think?"

I paused, turning my eyes from the empty corners of the room to him.

"Is that… so?"

He widened his smile slightly.

"Yes, we're related going back four generations. From the time of the Awakening. Then we went in quite… different directions, of course. And our relationship wasn't that close either."

"I see…"

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Are you nervous?"

I looked away.

"A- ah... a little..."

"Don't worry, we don't have any plans to do anything to you, James."

He leaned back and folded his hands in front of him.

"On the contrary, I actually think we can turn what happened to you into an opportunity for both families."

I slowly and hesitantly turned my eyes back to him.

"H- how?"

"Reross, the family that ambushed you. I think we can get rid of them by working together."

I widened my eyes slightly, and he continued.

"We will have eliminated a common obstacle and formed an alliance between our families."

In short, he was offering an agreement that would benefit both sides.

However, neither he could continue his words nor could I respond to what he had said.

Because in the next second, the door of the room we were in suddenly swung open.

A man with brown hair but the same green eyes as James entered the room. Like everyone else, he was wearing a suit. His build was also quite muscular.

The atmosphere in the room changed instantly with his arrival. The air he exuded was heavy.

With all eyes on him, he approached us slowly and stopped a short distance from the table. His eyes were fixed on one person throughout the entire process—me.

"Oh, you've come faster than I expected."

The silence was quickly broken by Franz's father.

James's father, ignoring him, narrowed his eyes slightly, never taking them off me.

"I thought you were dead."

His eyes, his voice, his posture... they were all quite cold. It seemed as if he didn't like his son, James, very much.

And that was indeed the case.

James was afraid of his father because of this.

In such a situation, the only thing he could do was not respond at all.

He could do nothing but stand there trembling.

"You're not dead… on the contrary, you've gotten us into trouble."

His eyes clearly reflected disappointment.

"Useless."

He finally took his eyes off me and turned them toward Franz's father.

"What are you meddling in now, Philip?"

Franz's father, Philip Inferesse, did not break his composure or his smile.

"Nothing, Tom. Absolutely nothing. It could have been interesting if I had done it, but unfortunately, it wasn't me."

He pointed at me with his eyes after saying that.

"The Rerosses have decided to take action at last. And Franz happened to be in the right place at the right time."

Tom Bluelet's facial features wrinkled slightly. His eyes seemed to twitch.

"Luck, you say?"

Philip Inferesse, for the first time, slightly stiffened his expression and lowered his smile.

"Yes, pure luck. And what I say is we should use that luck."

"You mean we should eliminate the Reross from the scene. It's not that I don't understand."

Tom sighed lightly, then sat down in one of the chairs for the first time, despite having stood up until now.

"I just... need to be sure."

While I was facing Franz, he was facing Philip.

"That you didn't plan all this. Because if it was you..."

The table between us was the only thing separating us.

"Then you're the one who put my useless son's life in danger from the very beginning."

A few seconds passed without anyone uttering a word.

The silence enveloped the room.

"Think about it, then."

But then Philip Inferesse stood up slowly, followed by his son.

"It's also better if you hear what happened from your son."

And the two of them walked slowly toward the door of the room.

"Think carefully, Tom. This is an opportunity for both of us."

That was the last thing we heard before the door closed behind them.

The dim light of the room and the silence descended upon us.

"Haaaaah..."

And Tom Bluelet took a deep breath.

He furrowed his brow with his hands, closed his eyes as if in thought.

"What happened, James? Tell me everything, down to the smallest detail. From the moment we lost contact."

His voice carried absolute authority.

But more importantly, he had no doubts.

He was certain that the person in front of him, that is, me, was his son James.

This meant that everything was going exactly as it should.

The original James Bluelet was dead, just as in the game's story.

In the Reross Family's ambush, no less.

Only at a different point than where I had set the stage.