Rafael strode forward, causing Nathan to tense up even more. Last time he checked, he’d gotten mugged right after a phone call with this man. He still wasn’t sure if he was looking at an ally or an enemy. 

Rafael sensed this and stopped immediately. 

“Looks like I still don’t have your trust,” he said calmly. “I guess this is about the attack?” 

So he knew about it! Nathan knew there was something wrong with him. He’d been the one behind the attack.

“Please, let me explain.” Rafael raised his hands above his head. “I mean no harm.” 

Nathan was still hesitant, but for some reason, even though Rafael seemed extremely dangerous, Nathan didn’t feel any sense of danger at all. 

“Go on,” Nathan snapped.

“No need to be so tart, boy,” Rafael chuckled. “As I’ve said, I mean no harm. Even that incident wasn’t meant to harm you. We were just testing the goods, one could say.” 

“Goods?” 

“You came up with a rather intriguing proposition and we wanted to find out what we were investing in. From what I’ve inferred, your father doesn’t know about any of this, does he?” 

Nathan remained silent. 

“I thought so much. Anywa—”

“Where is he?” Nathan interrupted. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to ask if you know where my father is.”

“He’s away right now. I’m not sure when he will be coming back but he’s on a . . . ” Rafael paused, thinking. “. . .You could call it a lengthy mission. I can’t tell you the details, sadly. I guess he hasn’t contacted you yet?” 

Nathan shook his head. 

“The mission was very dangerous. He couldn’t risk blowing his cover. I’m sure you can understand as much.” 

Nathan monitored the man closely, but he didn’t seem to be lying. 

“But that’s not what I came here for. We have some business to do, boy.” 

“Business?” 

Rafael turned around and walked towards the middle of the grassy field. “Follow me.” 

Nathan obliged, looking around the room at all the limp RTDs. “I wanted to ask you this. Did you do anything with the RTDs?” 

Rafael stopped and looked around. “This will do,” he whispered. “Oh, you were asking?”

“When I was training, the RTDs all started acting strange. They were a lot stronger, more coordinated, and faster. I have never seen them that way.” 

Rafael stood still, playing with his goatee. It took a while before he replied.

“How much do you know about RTDs?” 

“I—I’m not sure actually,” Nathan stuttered. “Well, they are robots designed to be as realistic as possible. They are used by people to train. And that’s about as much as I know.” 

“I see. Blithe didn’t want you to join any time soon. Can’t really blame him,” Rafael said, walking towards the nearest RTD. “As you correctly pointed out, the RTDs really were stronger in pretty much all aspects. The reason for that is very simple.”

He bent down and lifted the metal doll off the ground as if it were weightless. 

“You see, these RTDs all have a built-in control panel.” Rafael tapped the RTDs chest thrice to reveal a screen. 

Nathan was shocked. He had been training with the RTDs for years now, but he had never seen this before. 

“I assume that since there is a control panel and they all got stronger, they have various strength levels. That would explain a lot!” Nathan muttered. “I was sure that I was missing something. This is it!”

“I guess intelligence runs in the family,” Rafael chuckled, interrupting Nathan’s mumbling.

“Pardon?”

“You know, when I met your father,” Rafael dropped the RTD to the ground, “he was just a young boy, a little older than you. He didn’t know anything about the world. He was weak and naive. But he had something that a lot of assassins lacked and still lack to this day—a brilliant mind.”

Nathan was a little angry to hear his father called weak, but the anger was soon melted by the words of praise. 

“You know, it took Blithe quite a while to gain strength in a shielded environment. Back when I was younger, the situation was a lot different. Assassins killed each other on a daily basis, and we either became stronger fast or we died.” 

“They did?!” Nathan was shocked. “Why would they?”

“Why wouldn’t they? The assassination business has always been a lucrative one. At one point, assassinations cost so much that a dozen high-profile assassinations could make an assassin financially stable for life. I thought you would know as much. Have you ever thought about the history of assassination companies?” 

“I guess I haven’t.” Nathan scratched his head. “I’m going to be honest, I’m not really that much into history. Or anything that isn’t related to training, for that matter. But I’m trying to broaden my horizons right now. I realize I might have been a little too focused on training.” 

“That’s good to hear. I’m sure Blithe told you this all the time, but you’re still a kid. Enjoy life while you can,” Rafael smiled. “But back to the topic at hand. Twenty-five years ago, this country had three major assassination companies and several smaller ones. It was a  saturated market. Aren’t you thirsty? Let’s continue in the resting room.”

Rafael walked towards the resting room and Nathan followed suit. 

“You said there were three major companies. Was Occidendum one of them?” Nathan asked. 

“Yes and no. The company that you know, or rather will know, is vastly different from what it was twenty-five years ago. But yes, essentially you could say it was one of the three major ones. You see, the current boss. . .” Rafael paused. “. . .the current boss is a very sleazy man. If I can give you one piece of advice, never believe what that man has to say.” 

Rafael stopped walking and turned around. 

“What I will say to you now will stay between the two of us.” Rafael’s face turned serious. “Never trust that man. I know this may sound weird now, but please keep these words in the back of your mind at all times. Trust me, I will explain everything in time. But for now, all you need to know is not to trust that man.” 

“Y—yes, sir.” Nathan stuttered, shocked by the sudden seriousness. He still wasn’t sure if he trusted this man, but there was something calming about him.

“Drop the ‘sir.’ I want you to call me Rafael. You’re Blithe’s kid, after all,” Rafael smiled. “As I was saying, the current boss of Occidendum—his name is Daeril by the way—is a rather sleazy individual. Back when Occidendum was one of the three major companies, he was a nobody. He was an assassin, but he was good for nothing. His first missions were all failures, and he almost got himself killed a couple of times.”

“Then how did he—” 

“Lies and deceit. He stopped taking missions and started focusing on something he was good at. Just as your father was an incredible assassin and a brilliant mind, Daeril is a world-class schemer. He used his cunning to destroy the whole hierarchy from the inside. Even I don’t know how he did a lot of the stuff he did. I only see the results. It took him five years to gather a following and orchestrate a coup.” 

Rafael stopped in front of the white wall. Nathan was about to step forward to open the resting room, but he stopped when Rafael tapped the wall and placed his hand against the display. It flashed green, displaying a familiar message: “Identity Verified: Rafael Ravilla.” 

“How did—?” 

Rafael laughed in response. “Oh, boy. Who do you think built this city for you and your father?” 

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” 

“That’s a story for another day. We will be spending a lot of time together for the next couple of months,” Rafael smirked, making Nathan extremely uncomfortable. “But back to Daeril. The coup went off without a hitch and the previous leaders died by his hand. Or most of them. Daeril isn’t a good assassin, but he sure enjoys his fair share of torture and killing. A wicked man, he is. Water?”

Nathan took a moment to process. Rafael took out two bottles of water from the fridge and placed one in front of Nathan. 

“Oh, thank you.” 

“No worries,” Rafael smiled, taking a sip. “Once Daeril took over the company, he renamed and completely restructured it. The previous oligarchic structure was replaced by a more monarchic one, and Daeril became the one and only leader of Occidendum. The company had around a hundred members, twenty years ago. I estimate around thirty were ardent followers of Daeril. They were willing to sacrifice their lives for him. Not sure what he did to garner such support, but it certainly worked.”