Namor's appearance was just a small interruption for Raymond.
While he was curious why the ruler of Atlantis would show him such respect, it was nothing more than curiosity. He didn't feel any fear—certainly not enough to be nervous.
Compared to the time he encountered the Ancient One through John Constantine, this was much easier to handle.
Namor's strength probably rivaled that of an experienced Level 4 mutant. But against someone like the Ancient One—who stood at skyfather tier—he was clearly outclassed by several levels.
When Raymond saw the Ancient One—even though it was inside someone else's mind, and only a shadow clone—it still sent chills down his spine.
Namor, by contrast, didn't come close to that.
Still, Raymond hadn't been lying when he said he hadn't planned to interfere.
Namor clearly just wanted to take someone and have Mia's father meet him.
Raymond didn't see any reason to step in for something like that.
But Clarice and Lorna had acted on their own and started a fight—leaving Raymond no choice but to get involved.
He didn't care whether Mia got taken or not, but he would never stand by if Clarice was in danger.
Namor wasn't someone worth fearing.
"This is strange," Raymond muttered to himself.
After Namor left, the crew had originally planned to turn the plane around and fly back to North America.
But one of Mia's remaining vampire bodyguards—the last of her vampire counts—politely requested they continue to London instead.
He made that call only after asking Raymond's opinion.
Even though he didn't know why Namor had shown Raymond such courtesy, it was more than enough to make him treat Raymond with deep respect.
Namor, after all, was powerful enough to challenge their own duke in combat. Even if they were enemies, his strength was undeniable.
So for someone who earned Namor's respect... that couldn't be an ordinary person.
The bodyguard made no mistakes. He immediately thanked Raymond and asked his thoughts on the route, wanting to be sure the flight direction aligned with Raymond's wishes.
Raymond, of course, didn't want delays and was happy for the journey to continue.
So the plane stayed on course.
As soon as they landed, a heavily armed group of mysterious figures surrounded the aircraft and sealed off the area. No one was allowed to leave.
Of course, "no one" didn't include Raymond and his two companions.
These operatives were under the Ventrue clan's command, called in by Mia's bodyguard to clean up the scene.
Even though they were technically the victims this time, there was an unspoken rule in the superpowered world: when something happened, the involved parties usually helped cover things up—clear the area, remove evidence, smooth things over.
This had nothing to do with Raymond and his group, though.
Under Mia's bodyguard's arrangements, Raymond and the girls were taken straight to their connecting flight by a private shuttle.
Before parting ways, Mia reminded Clarice and Lorna several times to contact her once they returned.
When Raymond arrived with the two girls, the first person they saw was Carl.
"Finally, you're here…" Carl greeted them with a bright smile.
Clarice and Lorna tensed up instinctively at the sight of him. Even though the misunderstanding had been cleared up back at Raymond's place, it wasn't so easy to change the impression rooted in their minds.
Lorna, in particular, had actually fought Carl head-on before. So her opinion of him was far from favorable.
Seeing their reaction, Carl gave a slightly awkward laugh.
Thankfully, Raymond stepped in to ease the tension: "You came to pick us up personally? That's a bit too much, don't you think?"
"Well, it's your first time attending the end-of-year gathering. You deserve some special treatment. As for everyone else... they can take care of themselves," Carl chuckled.
"Everyone else already arrived?"
"Most of them. A few are flying in tonight," Carl replied. Then as if something clicked in his head, he added:
"By the way, I heard there was some trouble with a flight from D.C. coming this way. That wasn't your flight, was it?"
"You mean the one heading to London?" Raymond's expression turned a little strange.
"...So it really was you?" Carl froze for a second.
He had only brought it up casually, looking for something to chat about. He didn't expect to hit the nail on the head.
Raymond didn't hide anything—he told Carl about the situation with Namor, and how the incident involved the Ventrue clan.
He even admitted, "That Namor guy... I still don't know what his deal was. I thought I'd have to fight him, but he just turned around and left."
Carl burst into laughter. "Then you've come to the right person."
"You know what happened?" Raymond was surprised. He hadn't expected Carl to have the answer.
"Namor and Red Devil are actually pretty close. You introduced yourself, right? I'm guessing Red Devil must've mentioned you to him—that's why he gave you some respect."
Carl grinned. "Red Devil's been hyping up your strength ever since he saw you last time. He's told quite a few people how impressive you are."
"As far as I know, there are already several people here who don't buy it. They're itching to test your strength themselves…"
"So that's why," Raymond said, half amused and half exasperated.
He had thought maybe he just gave off a really intimidating vibe—so much so that even someone as powerful as Namor didn't want to mess with him.
He hadn't realized Red Devil had been bragging about him to his friends.
After all, last time Red Devil personally saw him take down the Shadow King, and it clearly left a deep impression. Raymond hadn't expected Red Devil to go around bragging about it, though.
If Namor had heard about him from Red Devil, and also realized he was on his way to the Hellfire Club's year-end gathering, then he probably pieced it all together and decided not to cause trouble.
Still, with Red Devil hyping him up , he'd definitely painted a target on Raymond's back.
From what Carl was implying, a lot of the core members were already lining up to test him.
But was Raymond worried?
With a grin, he said, "Good. This'll be a great chance to 'get to know everyone better.'"
Seeing Raymond's expression, Carl suddenly had a very bad feeling.
He'd seen it plenty of times—especially on Juggernaut.
It was the unmistakable expression of a true battle junkie.
Carl had thought Raymond was a low-key, reserved type. Turns out, deep down, the guy was just as crazy.
He had seen Raymond fight Juggernaut once. Even though Juggernaut hadn't gone all out that time, Raymond had held back too.
At least according to Red Devil, the power Raymond used to destroy the Shadow King was something he'd never even used in his fight with Juggernaut.
"…Right. This guy's totally insane," Carl thought, his face darkening.
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