"You thought he would be better off without you?" Caen asked, frowning.
"Something like that. I didn't know Zale was a person who didn't have any close family members to take care of his kid and keep an eye on him. If I knew, I would have done something even before," Salazar replied.
"I only found out about this when I saw the message by Uprising on the TV," he continued. "From that point on, I started searching for him. Unfortunately, by the time he had disappeared. There was no clue about him for the next eight years."
"Neither APF knew nor the Uprising as to where Lucifer was. I had already lost hope when one day I heard the news about the Capital City's fall. I think you know the rest. I went there and had a conflict with you people.. The rest is history."
Salazar finished telling the whole story to Caen before stopping.
"To be honest, I don't even know why I am here with him. I should've stopped him from coming to this dangerous place. But instead of me influencing him, it's like he influenced me. It would suck a lot if he is dead here," he further added, sighing.
"Don't worry. We will find him. He would be perfectly safe. At best, he might be trapped somewhere he can't get out of. Killing him is impossible after all," Caen responded, comforting Salazar.
None of them could afford to lose faith at the moment.
"Here, coffee for all," Heath returned with two cups of coffee in his hand.
"You didn't bring one for yourself?" Caen asked.
"I drank mine there since I couldn't carry three. Don't worry about me," Heath responded as he handed over the cups to Salazar and Caen.
Caen had just picked the cup when he heard a call from the arena.
"Next would be Caen and Sonia! The two of you shall come to the arena right now!"
The last battle was already over, and it was now the turn of the third battle.
Caen stood up and returned the cup to Heath. "Here, you can drink it. It'll just get cold otherwise."
"Why would it get cold? Don't forget; you just have to go there, surrender and return. You don't have to really fight there," Salazar reminded Caen. "Stick to the plan. Only I and Lucifer were allowed to fight. Since he's not here, I'll fight. You just surrender and watch."
"I don't know. I was thinking that I should give it a try. Even though I'm not a powerful Warlock, I do have some skills."
"No! In Lucifer's absence, I'm taking the leader position. My command shall be followed now. And you will stick to the plan. Don't put everything in jeopardy. Surrender instantly and return," Salazar let out, frowning.
"Sigh, fine. I'll stick to the plan," Caen said, ultimately agreeing. He was just thinking about giving it a try, and he also knew that it wasn't needed. He dropped the plan.
"Caen! This is the last call for Caen! If he doesn't step forward, he will face the consequences!" the chubby man called out again as the second person didn't step in the arena.
"Coming!" Caen exclaimed as he hastily jumped over the fence to land in the arena.
There were marks of battles already left on the arena because of the last two battles.
Observing the markings, Caen reached his opponent.
A blonde-haired woman stood before him, dressed in a green gown.
The woman had beautiful blue eyes and a curvy figure that could've made any man fall for her, but Caen remained focused on her eyes.
"Your eyes aren't red," he said, frowning.
"That's for pointing out the obvious, dumbo!" the lady retorted.
"Wait, are you not a Noble?" Caen asked, surprised. The enemy he faced wasn't a Noble?
"That's right. I'm a Variant, and I joined this competition so I could win and become a Noble! So give it your all! Because only when you give me a tough competition can I show my full skills to impress Her Majesty!" Sonia informed Caen, cracking her knuckles.
The stands were also filled with excitement. It was finally the time they were going to see one of the so-called foreign powerhouse Warlock in action.
The people who had bet on the foreigners were grinning ear to ear as they realized that the enemy wasn't a Noble.
"Man, this guy is so lucky! In the first round, he isn't matched up against a Noble! If he is really as powerful as they say, then he can easily move over to the next round!"
"I regret not betting my money on foreigners! I lost such a great chance! I'm not lucky like this man!"
The people who hadn't bet on the foreigners were shocked and sad at the lost opportunity, while the rare few who had bet on the foreigners were as happy as a person could be.
They felt as if they had this victory in the bag. If the enemy were a Noble, the battle would have been much more brutal, but with a random Variant, it wasn't hard.
They were all waiting for the battle, and most of them had already guessed who the winner was going to be.
Even Milena was looking at the battle, intrigued. It was the first time she was going to see Caen in action. She wasn't the only one as the Noble Lords were interested too.
Salazar, on the other hand, was perfectly calm as he already knew there was going to be no battle.
The only person who was frowning here was Heath. Salazar's last words were still floating in his head.
He said in Lucifer's absence, he was going to be the leader now? Why did it seem like Caen actually wasn't the leader of the group?
'Ah, could it be that all three of them were the Leaders in the Warlock Council! That would make sense then! That's why they talk to a leader like that! Because they're the leader too! They fooled me!'
'No wonder that Lucifer was ready to face Milena at the start! So this was the trick! The Warlock Council sent three leaders instead of sending one leader and his team! They fooled me really well.'
From the conversation, he had managed to guess that there were only two possibilities. One was that Caen wasn't the leader either. And that was why others talked to him like that.
But he knew that it wasn't possible since he knew Caen was a leader from his last trip. That's why he went with the other possibility, which was that they all had the same position.