Chapter 211 - Please, Help Us!

(Tom's PoV)

I looked at the man Siji brought into the house. I didn't bother to hide my displeasure as I sat on the chair like a boss with my eyes shooting chilly gaze. Sitting beside me was Jane, fully dressed and if she were so passionate about getting pummeled just several minutes ago, she didn't show it. Her face returned to the serious mask she would put on every time she would deal with something important.

Damn! Right in a crucial time, Siji told her that he got some lead about the army from before.

Therefore, she requested to help her got dressed and refused any advancement towards her. I nearly broke the bed in my frustration. Since I couldn't get anything, I might as well follow her and listen to the 'lead' Siji got for her.

The man was not a human. I wasn't surprised at that fact. However, the way he carried himself was so full of dignity that I was wondering how Siji could ask him to come here.

"Young woman, I see that you've met the Cloud Army." The old man smiled.

My eyebrows arched in instant I heard that name. Cloud Army? I glanced at her and found her frowning and falling into contemplation.

"Tell me about it." Jane said with cold eyes. "Why could that man command some of the men?"

"It's because they are related by blood. Compared to White Army who only obeyed one Master, Cloud Army is more like a Kingdom. Once the old Master retires, his or her children or even grandchildren will have the same opportunity to fight for the position." The man explained patiently.

I had no idea such rule applied in that Cloud Army. It was totally different with how White Army chose their Master randomly. Honestly, I still had no idea what was the criterion to be Master of White Army.

"However, the current Master is not the rightful heir. The one who's supposed to be the rightful Master is his nephew, the little brother of the man who provoked you. It's just too bad that he is still young and easily manipulated so he let his uncle to manage the army." The old man spoke again.

That answered why they couldn't use the ability of Cloud Army to the fullest.

This man knew much. Who was he, actually? I guessed that he was an important figure in the Cloud Army. But, how could Sanji bring him here? He said that he would go out to scout some information, who told him to abduct someone here? Even though this old man was only a ghost –or soul, whatever –I didn't think it was appropriate to abduct one.

"Where is he?" Jane asked. There was no ripple in her cold eyes hearing about that. Well, the matter related to Cloud Army was not any of our business so it was just right that she didn't care about it.

"Playing with his friends." The old man replied.

I frowned as I heard him. How old was the Master, actually?

"How old is he?" I asked. Somehow I had an inkling that this supposed-to-be-the real Master of Cloud Army was even younger than Jane who was only in her teens.

Well, she was not a young girl, but a girl who had turned into a young fine woman. Even her way of thinking was different with the girls around her age. When girls at her age were busy with their love life and got into trouble with their parents at their backs scolding them, Jane was busy planning about her father's rescue.

When some girls out there were playing with fire; dating two men at the same time but failed to hide it or even worse, created a whole new trouble for themselves, Jane had already got two men in her hands. Two men who loved her enough to share her with each other but would drown themselves in vinegar when other men tried to get close to her.

As one of the man, I could say that I was proud to be her man. No complain needed.

So, I couldn't really take Jane as a mere teenager in her late teen age. After all, she was an abnormal compared to the others.

Heh, I even forgot that she was still a teenager. It was because she had a mature body; a perfect combination of her mother who was a foreigner and her father who was taller than the average Indonesians. Many would envy her figure if only she would stop wearing loose t-shirt or baggy pants. She hid her curves really well.

I was sure the real Master of Cloud Army was someone really younger than Jane to be able to let others take care of the army while he was having fun out there.

"He is twenty years old." The old man said calmly.

I frowned, an attempt to hide the shock I felt inside. Twenty years old? Ah, see? My Jane was still the best, after all.

I didn't notice a smirk crept on my face after frowning. Later, I learned from Siji that I looked practically menacing that way. The old man thought that I was feeling displeasure with the age of the real Master and had been mocking him inside my head. He also thought that I was probably thinking about how to eradicate that foolish master of him, that I thought his presence as the real Master of a mystical army was a disgrace.

The old man was seriously having fun in imagining things! He should be a novelist or a movie director if he had that great of imagination running wild in his head.

After hearing the master's real age, Jane put her head on her hand helplessly. She had a hopeless look on her face and she sighed softly.

"Don't think about it that much." I said to her.

"With the meeting coming up, I can't help but feel nervous. Since they want to have a grand meeting, the problem must be pretty serious, too. I'm just afraid that our force will be reduced greatly if Cloud Army couldn't use its full power later." Jane explained her worries.

"Young woman, I'm willingly come to see you in hope that you can persuade the Master to take over the control of the army. Honestly, our current Master has been abusing his authority over the army. As the Guardian of Cloud Army, I couldn't let him continue his wrongdoings anymore. Please, help us." The old man's gaze changed into something more serious as he spoke. He even lowered his head to plead to Jane.

My eyes widened in surprise at the identity of the old man. So, turn out he was The Guardian of Cloud Army! No wonder he knew much about Cloud Army but at the same time he restricted an amount of information from us.

Well, never mind. As long as he didn't plan something bad for us, I didn't mind him asking for help. However, all the decision was still in Jane's hand.

I looked at her pretty figure from her side. Her calm eyes didn't seem to be perturbed. She didn't show any sign that she was considering the request or not. If I were the old man, I was sure I would be nervous.

"Dear Sir…" I coughed in my hand. I was about to call him 'old man', but remembering his position as the Guardian of Cloud Army, I made some adjustment to it. "We don't mean to reject your request, but we also need time to train ourselves. We have no idea about your real Master, so persuading him is nearly impossible. After all, we don't know whether he can't control the army because he is still young or because he doesn't want to."

"I've told him the same." Siji chimed in. After all this time and he just made a sound now? Where were you?

"Your Master is a capable one. She is smart and reliable. I believe she could think of something to help us." The old man shot him a long glance over his shoulder. "As you know, we can do nothing to oppose our own Master, but if it's a force from outside, I believe Master of First Army is the most suitable to return the peace to Cloud Army." His eyes showed his determination as he looked straight to Jane.

I frowned. Did he even think of the casualties that might happen if White Army and Cloud Army were to clash in a battle? Why did he need to throw this burden at Jane?

"He's right. After all, Jane is the Master of First Army." Siji said.

Right. I forgot about that. Even though there was no rule stating that the First Army was the leader of all ten armies, ever since the presence of the First Master, all the other Masters referred to him as the leader. It came without saying that the Master of First Army would be the problem solver of the other armies' trouble, the one who held the highest order of all.

But, somehow I had this doubt that something had changed. I didn't doubt Jane's ability, but human's greed was something we knew nothing about. I was afraid that Jane wasn't at the highest order anymore.

"Since it was the case, I can't promise you anything, but I will give a try. You know that we have very limited time to convince your real master to take over the army, so I hope you won't take it in your heart if I fail to do so." Jane calmly responded to the man's request.

"Of course, of course." He nodded hastily. There was sign of relieved in his eyes. His smile bloomed as soon as he heard her responding to his request.

"Good for you, old man." Siji smiled.

"Now I can be reassured that your Master has voiced her choice." The old man raised his thumb up towards Siji. "I can return to my abode peacefully now."

"Wait a minute." A question popped in my mind and I hastily stopped him from returning to where he belonged to.

"Yes?" The old man turned his head towards me.

"Why weren't those two able to recognize Jane as the Master of White Army?" If they were ignorant like Jane or Sanji or me, it was pretty much almost impossible to recognize a fellow Master. But, I was sure I saw Cloud Army's Advisor among them as well as the General. How could the advisor not know about Jane?

The old man let out a bitter smile listening to my question. "Arrogance." He said. His eyes reflected the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. "We have tried to inform them both, but they refused to accept it. As I said before, we couldn't disobey our Masters, but we could choose to be silent if he didn't ask us first. It was hard to lie, but to stay silent the whole time was easier than sucking up to them."

Ah, so that's what happened. Exactly just how evil were those people from before that they made their own men turned themselves towards other people and asked for help?

"Then, please excuse me." He bowed down again before he disappeared.

I called Sanji as soon as the old man disappeared. Jane was still sitting with her frown grew deeper. I bet she must be thinking of how she could persuade that master who sounded no more than a playboy and troublemaker in my ears.

"Sanji, help us finding an information about the real Master of Cloud Army." I told him as soon as I heard his voice on the other end of the phone call.

"Name?"

I looked Siji as Siji told me a family name. "Sanji, his family name was Wikarta. The real Master should be Dirga Wikarta, around 20 years old."

"Fine."

Then, the call went off. He was too serious to the point he talked less and less each day. What was wrong with him, actually?

"I'll go find information outside. We will start our training tomorrow morning. Don't forget." Throwing a teasing smirk, he went and disappeared from our sight.

After all the visitors had gone, I looked at Jane's serious expression. She didn't look at me at all. It was either she did it on purpose or she had drowned herself into working mode. Either way, I could only confirm it.

"Hey…" I rubbed her hand gently.

Blinking her eyes, she turned her head towards me. What I saw bemused me. Her previous clear and cold gaze turned hot and seductive in a matter of seconds. What a strong desire! She must have been suppressing her libido this whole time during our conversation with the old man to be able to create this kind of storm in her eyes.

But, she really did an excellent job hiding her true intention. Her stoic and laid-back manner made her look hard to approach, but who knew what's behind all of it? I even thought that she had lost her desire, turned out she suppressed it and let it built up more and more inside.

"Tom…" She whispered softly. My ears felt like it was being tickled by her soft whisper and feverish gaze. Her eyes grew hazy, but it didn't stop her to do whatever she wanted.

She moved so fast and when I realized what had happened, she was straddling my lap.

"Ugh…" I groaned.