"What?!"
Shinki's face fell completely. "Then... then what was all that just now?"
"You apologized, and I accepted your apology."
Aoi nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, then looked at him in genuine surprise.
"You didn't actually think that had anything to do with saving your father, did you?"
At that moment, it wasn't just his pride that crumbled — Shinki's entire view of the world nearly collapsed.
He realized he had been a fool from the very start. He had apologized, knelt, and kowtowed, yet absolutely nothing had changed...
Well, perhaps something had changed.
Aoi had stopped walking away, giving him one last chance.
After a long, painful silence, Shinki finally steeled himself. He lifted his head again.
"Lord Aoi, please just say it plainly. What must I do to make you willing to save my father?"
Hearing this, Aoi's eyes lit up. This kid isn't completely hopeless after all...
"I am a very reasonable person," Aoi said with a smile, raising one finger.
"I am willing to risk my life to save people, however..."
"Once I save them, aside from their lives, everything they have belongs to me." Aoi narrowed his eyes, smirking coldly. "Meaning, they get to stay alive — that's it."
Shinki froze. Moments later, he stumbled back in horror, falling butt-first into the sand, and screamed in terror, "You want to seize the Land of Ono too!"
Aoi didn't deny it; instead, he nodded with a grin. "You aren't wrong. But let's be honest... you have no other choice, do you?"
Gulp...
Only now did Shinki truly understand: Aoi was no savior. He had escaped the tiger's den only to wander into a wolf's lair, caught between two groups of predators fighting over the spoils.
"How can I trust you?"
Shinki stared wide-eyed and repeated, "How do I know you won't kill my whole family once you take control of the country?"
Aoi burst out laughing. "Because I am only one person. I only want to be the King of the Land of Ono. I have absolutely no interest in running it."
"What?"
Shinki was baffled. He couldn't wrap his head around it. Becoming the ruler of a nation, but not governing it?
Actually, the concept was quite simple.
If the Land of Ono were compared to a large company, Aoi wanted to acquire all the shares.
But since he didn't want to manage the business, he would appoint Shimura as the CEO, give him a small share of the profits, and let him run the day-to-day operations — essentially turning him into an employee.
Aoi himself would be the major shareholder and the boss, sitting back and simply collecting the money...
After Aoi explained this briefly, Shinki eventually nodded. It was heartbreaking to go from being royalty to being an employee...
But just as Aoi said, he had no choice.
Weakness... that is your sin.
"Fine. I agree," Shinki gritted out. "As long as you save my father, nothing else matters."
Truly a devoted son...
Aoi was so moved he almost shed tears. Then he declared that in the future, he would definitely give the Ono royal family a slightly larger share of the dividends — say, one percent.
"..."
Shinki choked. A 'larger share' is only one percent? Then how much was it before?!
But in the grand scheme of things, that didn't matter anymore.
"Father! I've traded away our country, but I'm coming to save you!" Shinki gazed longingly into the distance.
"Please wait for me!"
Aoi nodded secretly to himself. If I had a prodigal son like this, I would be so 'relieved' that I'd probably beat him half to death...
"Brother Aoi."
Suddenly, Noko tugged at his sleeve, her big cute eyes wide open. "I have something I want to ask you."
"Go ahead, little sister!"
Aoi signaled that as long as it wasn't about increasing dividends, everything was negotiable.
Noko's tiny, adorable finger pointed straight at the two shinobi's bodies — their faces swollen and bruised like pig heads.
"Brother Aoi... you only hit them once. Why do they look so hurt? Their faces are all messed up!"
"..."
If those two shinobi knew this, they would be deeply moved that at least one person was trying to clear their name.
"That's not true, Noko. They were born looking like pig heads," Aoi explained with a perfectly straight face.
Noko nodded seriously. "Ohhh... I see now."
If those shinobi could climb out of their graves, they would probably be shouting all sorts of insults: "Aoi! You demon!"
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