"Why are you so shy now?" Varian asked with a teasing smile.
"I-I don't really own the actions I did as my younger self! It's not me! Th-That self of me is stupid and proble—mhh?"
Varian covered her mouth and shook his head. "A child should behave like a child. Why do you judge yourself so harshly? And take this from someone who…hated his younger self for his incompetence, never hate yourself. Especially your younger self."
Primula stiffened for a moment before she nodded slowly. She could feel all the emotions of her younger self, the silly worries, the deep fears and the childish but candid dreams that filled the naive mind.
She saw her younger self as a useless annoyance to her brother. But giving it another thought, weren't all children like that? Would any parents hate them for it?
"I never had a proper talk with you like this, did I?" Varian gave her a warm smile.
Unlike her younger self who looked like a cute doll with a hint of mischief, Primula's teenage self seemed way more mature for any naivety and pretty.
"E-Er, it's our first time talking like this, t-thanks for everything." Primula fidged her hands behind her back and tried to not come off as awkward.
But the moment the words left her mouth, she realized how bad she must've sounded, talking while glancing at the ground.
To be honest, she really didn't know to behave with him.
It can't be that she could ask him to carry her on his shoudlers and carry her in his arms to jump around the forest, right? Or ask him to feed her when she's already so big?
But then, what should she do?
"Don't thank me. It makes you sound distant." Varian shrugged with a wave of his hand.
The scenery in front of them changed and they appeared in front of a door.
Muffled cries were heard from the other side with a female voice muttering incomprehensible things in between.
"Alison."
The door opened and a lady covering her face while sobbing desperately came into view. Sitting across her was the lady who the Emperor entrusted the administration to, long, long ago.
"Welcome, Your Majesty." Alison stood up and gave him a formal bow.
The lady stopped her crying at the words and turned to Varian with a confused expression.
He wanted to tell Alison to drop the formalities here but the Imeprial Secretary added something before he could speak. "You finally had the time to return after 20,000 years."
"…"
Varian's lips twitched. Her tongue had gotten sharper.
"Grandma!"
"Oh come on! I have the right to complain!" Alison glared at Primula and placed her hands on her hips. "20,000 years! Twenty fricking millennia. I'm glad this man didn't have a child or he'd have come to meet his great grand child directly upon his return. Seriously!"
"He didn't want this to happen. Brother was really facing a lot of issues outside." Primula stepped forward and argued with a serious expression.
Alison glanced at the determined Primula before turning to Varian who maintained a calm expression as if her words didn't affect him one bit. "Forget it. Why are you here?"
"I want to expel everyone from Hortus."
"Oh, there are plenty of crimina—say what?" Alison nearly jumped at him.
"It's a safety measure." Varian explained. "In the bad case that I lose the battle, they'll come after Hortus. We could be chased down to the depths of space. In the chaos involving divine rankers, everyone here will die. All the races might go extinct."
"…A-Are you really going to let them all go? Give them all…freedom?" Gasping heavily, Eveline asked with an unbelievable expression on her face.
Varian raised a brow. "Yeah, you can have all the freedom you guys craved. Do whatever the hell you want with yourselves."
"B-But…" Eveline glanced at Alison for a brief moment before turning to him.
They had a conversation where the secretary showed her the iron clad proof of Varian's existence, his achievements and the situation of Hortus.
Eveline knew she was wrong. That a man named Varian really did exist. And the possibility that their revolution was all plain wrong hit her hard to the point she broke down into tears and started to regret it all.
But when he started talking about the freedom she's prepared to die for, the recent feelings were pushed aside as the sentiment developed for thousands of years burst out.
"Please make the proper arrangements to send out everyone." Varian instructed Alison and Primula before turning to Eveline. "Are you really not going to torture her?"
Alison sighed while Primula wanted to speak up and say yes. But the thought of 'What will he think of me if I do such things?' stopped her.
"Then let her be one of the leaders of the groups. People who trust you can follow you. Select a few more popular figures, let them lead everyone out. Let them take enough rations for ten years. With it, the bond between Hortus and these people will end." Varian declared the fate of a 100 billion in a few words.
"N-No! We made a lot of stuff, our treasures, our potions, our herbs!"
Primula wanted to step forward and dig a hole into Eveline's head but looking at Varian in front, she lowered her head and relaxed her fist.
"Hmmm," Varian tapped his chin and nodded. "Let the poor and middle-class leave with everything they could leave with, excluding public and natural resources. The rich, we'll have a 90% cut."
"9-90%?"
"No need to thank me. I know I'm being generous." Varian flicked his fingers and Eveline's injuries vanished.
"I…I…"
The woman descended from the Nymphs, elves and humans didn't know how to respond in this confounding situation.
Should she oppose him? She couldn't even defeat Primula. And Alison wasn't too weak. But the man himself?
Varian…Varian from 20,000 years ago. He looked as young as ever.
And to her horror, she felt that he didn't even age. Her perception was screaming that he was biologically less than 50 years old.
Then how did he heal her, a peak rank 9, instantly? A fellow peak rank 9 had no chance at pulling that off.
'W-What the fuck is going on?' Eveline sensed that she was at a great crossroads.
The right decision could propel her to heights and the wrong one might condemn her to the abyss.
If she had more time and was in a better mental state, she might've taken a different decision.
But in the heat of the moment and the aftermath of a tragic battle which ended up in a shaky time with Alison where her entire life had been called pointless, all Eveline could think was to get out this living hell.
"I-I'm grateful for the help. Thank you very much. I'll make the arrangements." Saying those words in a shaky voice, the woman quickly walked out of the room and then flew away like a comet.
The calls for evacuation began minutes after she entered her palace.
An hour later, the empire she ruled and the one ruled by Thomas were both running at full capacity, leaving out all other tasks, focusing only on the subject of evacuation.
The Empire which Primula had conquered started the same under her guidance and assistance from Alison.
It couldn't be delayed for long.
Thankfully, the development of some technologies in the past 20,000 years made what would've been an impossible task even in a month during the time of abyssals a doable work.
Without the barrier outside Hortus blocking people away, the arrangements ran at a monstrous pace.
And given the fact that rank 9s also took part in this mission, they did things a million rank 6s could not do.
6 hours later, Varian received the report that the evacuation could commence at any time.
"B-Brother, you have to meet some people."