Chapter 229 Test of Loyalty

“Did he have to do that?” Kathrine asked quietly while looking at Sven. She felt frustrated about what Dilan had just said but it was not as if her complaints could change the past.

That was why Kathrine wanted to figure out what was on Dilan’s mind, without openly asking when everyone’s attention was on him.

“I think it was a good move,” Sven remarked, not properly answering Kathrine’s question.

“And how about you elaborate what you mean, instead of leaving us in the dark?!” Oliver probed, feeling similarly frustrated as Dilan.

After all, Dilan’s words made it seem as if he wanted them to leave. Why else would he immediately reveal that they were free to join the military?

Yvonne and Ailee were also staring at Sven, which he noticed immediately. However, even when he turned in Williams and Xenia’s direction, he could tell that they were equally interested in getting to know Dilan’s reason.

Sven sighed, before he organized his thoughts, and revealed what he presumed to be Dilan’s reason.

“Well, first of all, Dilan shared that Felia and the Soldiers belonged to a different camp that is led by not only one person but multiple. Not many know Mayor Clerens, so sharing his name didn’t have much impact.

But that was not the important point. Dilan merely revealed one of the Blue Star camp leaders’ names to inform us that their camp was several hundred kilometers away.

They didn’t come in buses, and from what I know, they have only a few vehicles parked somewhere that we found later.

Dilan knows that as well. By allowing the others to leave, they would have to find their own way to the Blue Star camp first. Everyone with a few working brain cells can tell that Felia and her people are much weaker than we are, meaning traveling a distance of several hundred kilometers with many Survivors and ensuring their safety will be quite difficult..

Simultaneously, he indirectly hinted that he doesn’t intend to join the Blue Star camp.

Last but not least, Dilan put some psychological pressure on the survivors by making it clear that he won’t take them back if they decided to leave.

After all, they might leave again the moment another group would show up.” Sven finished his explanation and analysis of the situation.

However, there was something else Sven had missed out on. Dilan, who had heard Sven’s explanation, took a few steps back before he added in a quiet voice,

“Furthermore, by clarifying all facts from the beginning, I revealed the content of Felia’s mission. If they were to stay in our base for a few days without anyone knowing about their mission and true motives, it would have been easy for them to convince my people that the Blue Star camp is so beautiful and great, that they treat Tier-1 Ascenders like nobles and so on.

That might even be the truth, but now, whenever Felia and the Soldiers say something, everyone will question whether their words are true or exaggerated so as to lure over my Ascenders.

If it is the truth it would be great, but if not, they would not only have no chance to return to me, but they would have to live in the regret of having made a big mistake for the rest of their lives.”

Dilan’s expression didn’t change a bit as he revealed the final reason behind his act.

Everyone looked at him feeling slightly astonished, including Sven, who realized that he had missed out on that point.

‘True…everyone will now be suspicious about Felia’s words whenever she paints the Blue Star camp in a good light.’ Sven thought, his head flicking to Dilan, whose expression was overflowing with calmness.

The calmness he radiated suddenly felt eerie to him, and Sven began to wonder if it was Dilan, who was actually a strategist, or if it was Sven’s occupation and main role in the group.

Felia had also heard what both Sven and Dilan had revealed, and she frowned deeply.

However, there was actually nothing she could do against it. Rather than trying to deny the truth, it would be best to move forward and accept the situation.

Thus, with various conflicted gazes lingering on her, Felia stepped forward. She cleared her throat and began to speak, hoping for the best result,

“Hello everyone, my name is Felia Mahn and as Dilan already said, I belong to the Blue Star camp. I don’t want to beat around the bush, so I will be honest and straightforward. I hope that works for everyone.”

After saying this, she took a deep breath before she continued.

“I received the mission to bring everyone to the Blue Star camp. As per my instructions, I am supposed to use every means to do so. However, I believe that is useless. What is the use of forcing anyone to come with me, if they’re actually living a good life? Everyone, who is willing to come with us can later follow us, once we leave.

As for those, who are possibly interested in coming to the Blue Star camp, I and my subordinates are willing to share our unfiltered opinion about the Blue Star camp.”

Felia finished her short speech without making a single mistake or growing nervous.

Dilan was quite impressed by the way she chose her words carefully. She chose the only correct solution on how to limit the damage his words had caused.

In fact, Felia should have gained quite a bit of trust from her words alone.

“Not bad.” He remarked before he turned to Felia.

“How about we eat something now? You and your subordinates must be hungry from traveling through the Shikan plains. I’m very interested to know how the situation in the other cities is, how many survivors are there, and how many permanent Gates you guys found on your way to Shiron.”

Dilan had many questions but he didn’t wait for an answer from Felia. He turned in the direction of their newly constructed cafeteria.

Lunch had just been prepared, and Dilan, followed by his inner ring of trusted people, sat down after reaching the cafeteria.

At first, Felia was not sure how to answer him, or what to leave out while answering, but she quickly forgot about answering when the aroma of freshly cooked food made her salivate.

Not even a minute later she found herself in front of a huge plate of food, scarfing down everything as if she had not eaten for several days.

Her subordinates were in a similar condition, gorging themselves as if it was their last warm meal before they would have to go to war.

Kathrine and the others just smiled at this. They felt a little bit of pity for Felia and her subordinates because it seemed as if they had received a limited quantity of rations for their mission.

This clearly showed that the Blue Star camp didn’t have a surplus of food, but that they had less food and more mouths to fill, to be precise.

Once she was done eating, Felia rubbed her inflated stomach, until she noticed the amused expression on Dilan’s face.

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ ‘Shit, I forgot where I am…how humiliating.’ Feeling embarrassed, Felia turned her head away. It took her quite a while to calm down, and not let out a hysterical shriek.

However, when she finally got back to her senses, Felia decided to divert everybody’s attention by changing the topic.

“You asked about the situation of other cities, and how many survivors there were, right?” She asked to make sure that she remembered properly.

Dilan just nodded his head before adding,

“I also asked you about the permanent Gates and how many you guys found near Shiron.”

Felia nodded her head at his words. To them, Gates was not that important. They didn’t have enough time to bother entering and conquering the dimensions behind the Gates.

As such, they had never paid that much attention to the Gates and only took note of the required information to figure out what to do when waves of monsters emerged from the Gates.

“Other cities…they look better than Shiron, but that is only obvious. There was a huge horde of monsters that were migrating from the south quite a while ago.

As for the survivors…there are quite a few larger groups of such people. The Blue Star camp is probably the biggest one for now, but we’ve yet to search through the entire Shikan plains.

But overall…I guess more than 95% of humanity’s population was killed until now. At least, that is what seems to be the case on the Shikan plains.

We have no idea what it looks like outside, after all, there is no way to contact others because even the frequency of radios seems to malfunction…” Felia replied with a deep sigh.

She looked sad when speaking about the fact that mankind’s population had dwindled so much. They were far from being considered apex predators now that the Primordial Ascension had changed everything.

“95%…? That aligns with my calculations.” Dilan stated while nodding his head as he digested the information Felia had shared.

‘How can he be so unruffled by this?!?’

**

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