This Universe Needs Old People - Chapter 71



Only Noblemtl

Apocalypse Needs Old People Episode 071

60. Father (3)

Krrrr… … .

Joseph looked up at the thunderstorm-filled sky.

The sky has been ominous these past few days.

Looking at the clouds, it didn’t seem strange that a blizzard would come at any moment, but the snow that was actually falling was more like sleet.

Sometimes the clouds would be strangely concentrated in one place, then suddenly clear up and then become cloudy again, over and over again.

‘The weather station says they don’t know the exact cause… ‘

Changeable weather is never a good sign.

Because humanity has already experienced the end of an ice age once.

‘The matter of Lieutenant General Max hasn’t been resolved yet, and now the weather is making me anxious.’

It’s been 13 days since Lieutenant General Max was detained on charges of ordering the murder of his adopted son, Bones.

The fate of Lieutenant General Max has not yet been decided.

Why is punishment being delayed even though there is testimony from the commander, Plato, and the team leader of Team 2?

‘I hope you didn’t notice something… … .’

Not a single speck of dust was left behind as evidence.

I only spoke verbally with the colonel, who was the team leader of Team 2, so only the colonel knew that I was involved in this.

That colonel faked his death and got away with it.

‘You sold the name of Lieutenant General Max even while hanging from a cliff? I told you that I raised one dog incredibly well.’

Although he was such a loyal dog, his work was not satisfactory.

It just so happened that Bones, the adopted son of Lieutenant General Max, came back alive.

The original plan was to take advantage of the distraction during the subjugation battle to kill Bones and pretend it was self-defense.

Bones had a bad temper and was easily angered, so he rebelled against his superior and in a fit of anger, he pointed a gun at him and was shot in self-defense, but he died… That should have been it.

During the search, there was an unexpected situation where a team with a commander was surprised by large monsters.

Originally, after completing the search, they should have been dealt with without being noticed while moving around with around 100 people, but since the 10 teams were reorganized into 5 teams, it became impossible to deal with them without being noticed.

The colonel who was ordered to deal with Bones before the end of the expedition must have decided to put Bones in his own reorganized team 2 and take him to a place where he wouldn’t be noticed by others.

It would have been difficult to handle a team of 10 alone, so he must have recruited a few of them. Seeing as Bones and Lucas are still alive, it seems the officers he failed to recruit interfered.

‘Bones… That kid is really bad.’

Even though Bones had heard from Team 2’s leader that Lieutenant General Max had tried to kill him, he still kept his mouth shut.

He was a guy who followed General Max quite well, so he probably didn’t want to sell out his father even if General Max tried to kill him.

It was truly atrocious that she chose to remain silent instead of reporting him, even though she knew that he was the father who abandoned her.

Just as he raised a dog like the Colonel, Max must have brought a proper dog into his home.

‘The good news is that Your Majesty, Haydam, and Anton’s son heard the Colonel’s testimony.’

If only the commander and Haytham had testified, there would have been a great backlash from the Chindaphne faction, but since Plato, Anton’s son, also testified, no one in either camp doubted it.

Because everyone knows that Plato, even though he did something foolish, was not the kind of person to bend his beliefs and give false testimony.

The only evidence is the testimony that it was something Lieutenant General Max ordered.

‘But it’s strange.’

What Josef had ordered was to kill Bones in self-defense, not to directly frame Lieutenant General Max.

Although it was done with the intention of bringing down Lieutenant General Max, what Josef wanted was a picture of Lieutenant General Max, enraged by Bones’ death, shooting the colonel to death.

I never thought that seven precious officers would die because of this.

It was also partly out of resentment that he killed the colonel and made it look like suicide.

‘I told them firmly that if anything went wrong and they got caught, they should blame Bones for the rebellion… … .’

If a colonel from the pro-Haydam faction, not even the pro-Chinapne faction, was moved by a mere threat from Lieutenant General Max, it would be impossible for the commander and Haydam not to find it strange.

Even killing Bones didn’t give Lieutenant General Max any advantage.

But why did that Colonel falsely confess to trying to kill Bones under the threat of Lieutenant General Max?

Was there ever a situation where you had no choice but to confess like that?

‘Anyway, since you’ve already testified like that, there’s nothing I can do.’

Unless other evidence comes out, no, even if other evidence does come out, the commander will not doubt himself.

Nevertheless, the fact that Lieutenant General Max had not yet been punished made Josef anxious.

It seems as if the commander has no intention of punishing Lieutenant General Max.

Just then someone knocked on the office door.

“Come in.”

“Captain.”

The adjutant came inside, came closer, and whispered in my ear.

“Heydam has come to see you.”

“Mr. Haydam?”

It was Haydam who had never sought her out first.

Why would such a person come to me at this time of all times?

If the successor to the district had come looking for him, he might have been delighted and said that this was an opportunity, but to Josef, it felt like a grim reaper.

It was also because he was in a situation where he had to endure a lot of pain, but the face of Lieutenant General Bottom, who had wiped the blood that had splashed on his face with an indifferent expression and smiled brightly, remained in Josef’s mind as a kind of trauma.

‘No.’

If you’re going to be the grim reaper anyway, there’s no point in worrying about it.

It’s not like you can kick someone out just because you don’t like them, so if you’re going to get beaten, wouldn’t it be better to get beaten quickly?

Even if he is Lord Haydam, he will not immediately execute me, His Majesty’s closest aide.

“Heydam is here, what are you asking me? You told him to come in and didn’t bring out the tea.”

“that is…….”

The adjutant hesitated, then spoke in a quieter voice.

“Second Lieutenant Bones is here with us.”

“Second Lieutenant Bones?”

“… What should we do?”

Why did Lord Haydam come to see me with the guy he was supposed to be protecting at the Commander’s Residence?

Joseph, who was about to fall into thought again, realized that it was not the time for that.

The grim reaper is not only scary, but also has a bad temper, so if you leave him outside the door for too long, you never know what might happen to him.

“… Let’s go together. I’ll prepare the tea, so you go out.”

“Yes, sir.”

A moment after the adjutant left, a smiling Haydam and a gaunt-faced Bones entered the office.

Josef was inwardly surprised when he saw Haydam’s neat face.

‘They say it’s a miracle in the crevasse, but you really don’t have a single scratch on your face.’

How did you fall off that cliff and still be fine?

Still, in the eyes that looked at me, I could not see any respect for a fellow human being, and for a moment, I was even afraid.

‘How can someone look at a human being like that? Who would see this child as a ten-year-old who grew up in the slums? Even a monster’s offspring wouldn’t be able to exude such ferocious aura… … .’

It seemed understandable that Anton had decided to retire quickly and leave the military.

‘No, no.’

Anton is just a coward who sent his son away because he was afraid that something bad would happen to him.

Currently the Commander’s closest confidant, and dreams of becoming Haytham’s advisor in the near future.

Joseph greeted the two with a friendly smile on his face.

“It’s been a while, Heydam. I can’t tell you how surprised I was when I heard the news of the expedition. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“I didn’t know you cared so much about me. You didn’t even come to visit me once, so I thought you had forgotten again. Now that you’re older, I’m sure you’re confused about whether or not you had children.”

The horse was full of bones, but Joseph pretended not to understand what was being said and laughed, because if he got involved with Haydam, not only would the horse’s bones be a problem, but his own bones would also be a problem.

“I heard that there are new officers’ children living in the hospital room, so I refrained from visiting them because I thought it would be uncomfortable. You took good care of Heydam while you were hospitalized, right?”

Josef, who naturally turned the conversation to Bones, offered her a seat, telling her to sit down instead of standing there.

“Please sit comfortably.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

While Ensign Bones sat down in his seat.

Haydam stared at himself, wondering what was on his mind, and only when Josef licked his lips and seemed to suggest that he should take a seat again did he sit down.

“Okay, for now.”

– with meaningful words.

Joseph tried not to be agitated and went to the tea set on one side to pour himself some tea.

“So, what brings you here, old man? I heard that Lieutenant Bones has been…refraining from going out lately due to some unpleasant incident.”

“Nothing else, I just wanted Josef to help me with one thing.”

You said you wanted me to help you?

‘Is Heydam asking for my help right now?’

Joseph relaxed a little and asked while preparing teacups for three people.

“Do you need my help, Heydam?”

“It’s not me, exactly, but Lieutenant Bones here needs your help.”

“Second Lieutenant Bones?”

“Bones, speak freely. You can talk to Uncle Josef.”

The call of “Uncle Joseph” sounded sweet to his ears, so Joseph looked at Bones as if he would listen to anything.

Then Bones flinched in surprise and hesitated, unable to speak right away.

Josef waited patiently for Bones to speak.

Only after cups filled with boiling tea were placed in front of the three did Bones finally open her mouth to speak.

“I want to testify that my adoptive father… Lieutenant General Max tried to kill me.”

Joseph raised one eyebrow slightly.

‘You’ve been keeping your mouth shut all this time, but you suddenly changed your mind?’

Josef glanced at Heydam, but Heydam only had a faint smile on his lips, as if to say that they should talk alone from now on.

Josef turned his gaze back to Bones and asked.

“…Why do you need my help in testifying?”

“I would like you to accompany me while I give my testimony, sir.”

‘Hmm.’

Asking me to accompany you means asking me to protect you so you can testify safely.

It wasn’t unusual for Bones to make such a request of himself.

In a situation where Lieutenant General Max may have ordered his own assassination, it would be impossible for him to ask the Chindaphne faction leader to protect him.

And Josef himself had recently been actively pushing for Bones and Lucas to be protected at the Commander’s Residence, so he must have thought they would be happy to help.

“It’s not that difficult, but if it’s something like that, why… … .”

As Josef’s gaze turned to Haydam again, Bones responded as if he knew what he meant.

“You must be wondering why I didn’t ask Haydam.”

“Yes. Your Majesty must know that you and Haydam are very close, so there is no reason not to help you, right?”

“I asked Haydam to speak to Your Majesty, but… Your Majesty seems to think that Lieutenant General Max is not the culprit.”

Joseph’s heart sank at those words.

‘Your Majesty, you don’t think Max is the culprit… …?’

Joseph almost panicked, but he tried to remain calm and asked in a tone of bewilderment.

“If not Max, then who else could have done such a thing?”

“that is…….”

When Bones couldn’t answer right away, Josef swallowed dry saliva in impatience without even thinking about putting down the teacup he had raised.

‘Is it possible that you came to see me with Lieutenant Bones because Your Majesty suspects me of being the culprit?’

This time, Joseph couldn’t wait any longer for an answer and had no choice but to ask again.

“Who is that?”

“The person in this place.”

Joseph dropped the teacup he was holding in his hand without realizing it.