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"How could I? I'm a good student! With a good teacher, such a good student would never even think of ever attacking a good teacher,

" Elijah said in all seriousness.

nMaverick didn't show any changes, but in his heart, his eye twitched. On the surface, he was at least able to control his facial expressions when he wanted to.

n'You've already said that you're a good student, so do you mean by that, that if you are to want to beat me up, it's my fault?'

nThis student of his was starting to learn his ways.

nThis was not good.

nIt spelled trouble for Maverick.

nAfter all, it was getting harder and harder to shake this kid off.

nStill, even if he knew the true meaning behind Elijah's words, he would be shameless enough to pretend he didn't.

n

"That's good, that's good. As long as you don't act treasonously against your teacher. Tell me, why have you come?

" Maverick moved on to the important matters before he was really punched, after all, he was already old, and not as fit as the young who trained their bodies continuously.

n

"Teacher, how could you not know why I am here? You have long known of my mission to find and… recruit M, well, at this rate, I doubt recruiting is in the picture, but at least I must make an inseverable connection in order to ensure my safety. A doctor of M's caliber is rare after all, and everyone cares about their own health the most. That was grandmother's condition,

" Elijah glared a little at Maverick.

n

"Now that I have finally gotten a lead after years of searching, you won't go as far as taking what little I have, right?

" Elijah twisted and spun his words like a pro, but the pitiful act definitely didn't work well with his teacher.

nWell, it wasn't exactly that the act didn't work well, but rather that the person doing it was simply not the right one.

nIf Margo or Maverick's wife, Leanora, so much as asked, he probably would do whatever it was in a heartbeat.

nOn the other hand, Maverick enjoyed making troubles for Elijah, the difference in treatment was as clear as day.

n

"Hm? I don't quite understand,

" Maverick tilted his head in feigned ignorance.

nAnd to Elijah, Maverick acting oblivious was also the most unbelievable yet most frustrating act in the books.

nLike hell he was supposed to believe Maverick didn't know.

nBut even if Elijah knew, so what?

nWhat could he do?

nThere was also the component that Elijah was on Maverick's territory.

nIf he didn't play by his teacher's rules, he could very well be thrown out into the ocean, where some of the deadly aquatic species that they were raising would eat him alive.

nEither that or he would have to swim to the closest mainland, a few hundred kilometers away.

nElijah had no doubt that his teacher would have no qualms about having Jackie send an attack plane to follow him and to shoot down any form of transport that was to come to pick him up, just to make his life a little harder.

nJackie would probably go the extra mile to record it all for entertainment as well.

n

"Teacher, it isn't that I want to trouble Margo, in fact, if it were possible, I wouldn't bother her at all! But I'm really desperate this time,

" Elijah said in a serious tone.

nThat was a lie.

nElijah was never desperate.

nBut he knew that his life would be a whole lot easier if Margo were to be interested in the matter and were to help him.

nHe would be able to get the help of both Maverick and Margo and even get back at Maverick, all in one fell swoop.

nAh, but it was okay to act desperate for benefits.

nIn the face of a shameless person who was in a position higher than your own, there were only two options.

nEither to submit and concede, or to act even more shameless.

nFor the sake of completing his mission, he would choose the latter.

nBut could he even do that?

nIt was hard, very hard.

n

"Really? It's a shame though, Margo isn't here right now!

" Maverick claimed.

nThat was a lie too.

nWell, it wasn't exactly a lie, but rather a misleading claim.

nOf course, Margo wasn't right here, at this office, she was at the spa underground!

nBut it was a misleading statement that made it sound like she wasn't on this island at all, and that was Maverick's intention.

nElijah could have his doubts, but could he act on them?

nIf Maverick said she wasn't here, what could Elijah do about it?

nThis was called the home ground advantage!

n

"Is that so, what a shame,

" Elijah also knew that he was at a disadvantage.

nJust as he was about to suggest taking a tour of this place because

"he hadn't been here in a long time

", as a guise to try and find an opportunity, something stopped him.

n*Knock* *Knock*

n

"Dad, I'm coming in!

"

nThe room inside fell into silence as three heads turned to the opening door.

nMaverick, Elijah, and Jackie were all stunned silent.

nWell, things really fell through, and Maverick threw a glare at Jackie which clearly said, 'What the hell? Weren't you supposed to be keeping watch? And where is everyone else? Why is my baby here?'

nWell, it wasn't all that clear, but Jackie, who was proficient in reading his Master's facial expressions and emotional fluctuations got the gist of it, which was that Maverick needed an explanation for this matter!

nJackie looked down at his mechanical hands like a child who was caught not doing his homework.

nHe had been too immersed in watching Elijah and his Master battling it out with words, enjoying Elijah being troubled.

nThat was why Jackie had put most other things on autopilot, including the mini mechanical surveillance outside the spa, of course, there was none inside since that would be inappropriate.

nEither way, Jackie had missed when Margo left the spa, and only now did he reconnect to his main system to see what had happened.

nMargo had left and come here, and none of his Master's subordinates could stop her.

n'Such wimps!' Jackie thought to himself, not saying it out loud as he had calculated that this would not be the right time to express his emotional range.

nWas it that idiom about, no one will think you are mute even if you do not speak? Well, the idea was that it wasn't his turn to talk unless he wanted a thrashing.

nElijah gave an eyebrow raised glance at his teacher as Margo came in and Maverick pouted.

n

"My baby, why are you here?

" Maverick decisively ignored Elijah and gave his full attention to his daughter.

nSo what if his plans were foiled? His daughter was more important!

nAnd no matter how old she was, Margo would still be his little baby girl.

n

"Dad, oh, how come Elijah is here?

" Margo exchanged nods with Elijah before looking back at his dad.

n

"Well, remember when you pushed me to the spa with mom earlier? I said that I felt like I was forgetting something, well while I was relaxed during the massage, I finally recalled so I came rushing over, but the others weren't letting me out, so I made my way there to see if anything was happening,

" Margo looked genuinely concerned.

nMaverick gave his daughter a helpless glance.

nHe patted her and told her to sit.

n

"No, everything is fine on my end. I'm not sure why they wouldn't be letting you leave the spa. They were probably just worried that you were tiring yourself out too much these days and so they wanted you to rest some more,

" Maverick felt like he should give his subordinates a good scolding, yet at the same time, if they used any means other than words to hold his daughter back, he felt like he would have to punish them even more.

nIn the end, there wasn't much he could do, not much at all.

nSigh.

nElijah looked interestingly.

nHow were this father-daughter pair so different yet similar at the same time and in the same way?

nElijah knew both of them well, all too well.

nOne more personally than the other, but he had seen many sides of both Maverick and Margo that most others wouldn't be able to see in their lifetimes.

nThey were both like lions in their industries, incomparable to the normal folk.

nMargo with her numerous chain stores was a household name across continents by the people who were well entangled with the related businesses, yet she often simply worked at some of her simpler shops like a normal employee

/ manager

/ boss of a small business type of character.

nAnd there was no need to mention Maverick, who was spending all his time here on this farm island when masses of people could be waiting for his command, doing his bidding as long as he wished for it.

nAnd then there was the fact that though both of their IQs and EQs were sky high, the moment they were only interacting with family, none were spared as both their IQs and EQs plummeted willingly to normal or even below-average levels.

nElijah didn't look down on either of them.

nIn some aspects, he could understand the concepts of their way of living despite their eccentric nature, but he felt like he couldn't do the same.

nIt was as simple as that.

nBut that was also what made the matter so interesting to an outsider such as himself.

nUnderstanding and doing were worlds apart, just like how you could memorize a theory and not understand it, just as you could understand a theory but still be unable to apply it.

nElijah didn't work that hard because he had his own way of doing things.

nIt was his motto that if things could be accomplished by others, then he would leave it to others to do, but Maverick and Margo were different.

nMaverick was more eccentric and didn't have many ambitions, but Margo, well, Elijah didn't know her well enough to judge as Maverick, more often than not, safeguarded her from the

"bad influence

" that he was.

nApparently, the more Elijah became like his teacher, the worse of an influence he was on Margo.

nThere was no need to go in-depth about that.

nIt was just a little silly.

nEither way, it was also likely that they had simply grown up in too different of environments for them to live like the other party.

nThere were simply too many factors that came into play, so Elijah didn't bother delving too deep into it.

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