Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 568: Raine legacy.

The King leaned forward, his belly pressing against the edge of his bone-white desk. He peered at her, his eyes darting up and down. "Still," he pointed a stubby finger. "Why do you look familiar? You are sure you have not been to Glacian before?"

Sunshine’s heart did a somersault. "N-no, Your Majesty. I would not lie to you." In the back of her mind, she thought, ’can we drop this already?’

"Perhaps?" he pressed, his voice dropping into a suspicious growl. "Are you a spy? You have the look of a spy; your eyes are too eager to soak in everything around you as if you are studying the place. And you have been using some kind of square device to take pictures and record videos. If you are not a spy, you must be a very confused repairman. Are you and your partner spies or bad repairmen?"

"Err, neither your Majesty. We are very professional repairmen and not spies." Sunshine stammered. Just what was wrong with this king and were his people not tired? They were going round and round on the same issue,

Nine cursed silently, the atmosphere was beginning to become tense the more the King asked questions. Why the heck was he pulled into Sunshine’s mess? Maybe, during her one woman Spiker hunt, she had messed up something and it was going to bite them all in the ass. "I knew she was trouble," he whispered.

Vaelor looked sharply at Vortan, his eyes silently screaming for an explanation before the King lost his temper entirely.

Vortan cleared his throat, his voice shaking just a little. "Your Majesty," Vortan intervened. "The girl is new to the crew. But commander Melvin chose her to come specifically because she is the granddaughter of Maximus Raine. Maybe that is why she has a familiar face."

The room went deathly quiet. Even the water in the walls seemed to stop flowing.

The King’s eyes went wide, and he slowly sat back, his chair creaking under the weight. "Maximus Raine?" the King whispered, his annoyance suddenly replaced by something that looked a lot like shock_ and maybe a tiny bit of respect. "My good friend, the crooked repairman?"

Vortan nodded. "Yes, your Majesty sovereign...."

The King’s laughter cut Vortan off as abruptly as a snapped wire. He stood up, his massive, violet-hued frame uncurling from the throne with surprising grace.

He didn’t just walk, he prowled. He descended the stairs and began to circle Sunshine, his oil-slick eyes scanning her from her boots to her messy hair.

Once again, Sunshine found herself crossing her fingers and hoping that her grandfather had not betrothed her to an old alien sea king after having one too many bears in a bar under the sea. And why had the king called him crooked?

"You do look like him," the King murmured, his voice now a low, reverent hum. "No wonder you caught a Spiker. You are as brave as Maximus. Oh, the great Maximus, I still miss that bastard!"

Sunshine felt her heart stop hammering against her ribs. Her chest relaxed, just a little. "Yes... he was my grandfather. If he were still alive, he would be here instead of me."

The King did something that made the entire room gasp, he reached out and took Sunshine’s hand.

"Why do they like taking her hands?" Nine complained silently. He looked at his claws. How come nobody was taking them?

Behind them, Vaelor let out a sharp hiccup. Then another. He looked like he was having a minor stroke. The King famously avoided touching anyone, he treated commoners like they were the plague and considered his own skin to be on par with the gods. But here he was, shaking the hand of a girl who smelled like portal-dust and old sweat. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"You are always welcome here," the King declared, his voice booming through the pearl hall. "Maximus saved this empire once. The cores that keep the water pressure out... they failed. Every repairman in the galaxy came, saw the damage, and ran away with their tails between their legs, even with all the rewards I put on the table. But Maximus?

He found a solution. He fixed the core with rusted Egorian metals and Oxben dissolving paste before this world could crumble into the silt. To date, nobody knows how he managed to convince the Oxbens to give him some of their prized glue to save an empire they hated."

Sunshine blinked, her brain spinning. She’d known her grandfather was a good repairman, but saving an entire underwater civilization hadn’t been on his resume. At least, not the version he’d told her as bedtime stories. In his stories, which had all seemed fictional, he had trimmed the details to child friendly and silly.

Nine leaned toward Vortan, his jaw practically hitting the floor. "Is it true?" he hissed. "She’s way too clumsy to be Maximus Raine’s granddaughter."

Vortan didn’t even look at him. "It’s the only reason you two were sent here, Nine. The Commander was reluctant, but the King is a picky man. He doesn’t work with just anyone. He works with people he likes. We took a gamble on her because she has her grandfather’s eyes."

The King was still lost in memory, a misty look in his eyes. "After he finished the job, I offered him mountains of jewels. Galaxy coins. Enough wealth to buy a small moon. But he turned me down! That fool. So, I decided to give him the sole contract_ the only repairman allowed to touch the most important systems of my kingdom. He must have become incredibly wealthy."

Sunshine arched an eyebrow, thinking of her grandfather life. "We were comfortable," she said slowly, "but wealthy? Definitely not."

The King blinked, looking genuinely confused. He snapped his head toward Vortan. "Is that so? It cannot be! I am sure he made a fortune!"

Vortan scratched the back of his neck, looking a bit sheepish. "Well, your highness... Maximus Raine has a very fat account that his family hasn’t claimed yet. This is mostly because Sunshine only officially became a Repairman recently. The funds have just been... sitting there."

"A fat account?" Sunshine’s eyes went wide. "Of what? Money? Gold? Treasures?"

Vortan let out a soft sigh, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Everything, Sunshine. Money, stocks, repairman bonds. You can claim it all as soon as we get back to the headquarters."

That is more like it!" the King barked, looking immensely relieved that his debt was being paid. He looked back at Sunshine with a newfound warmth, as if he’d just found a lost treasure. "And as for you going back to the abysmal forge _ we have plenty of Levias marrow extract.

Take as much as you want. All I ask is that you tell me about all its uses. Perhaps someday they could be beneficial to my people as well. Do not return to forge ever. Maximus would never forgive me if his granddaughter died in a dark hole trying to harvest something I have sitting in my stores."