Return to the North Galaxy!

Boom!

After breaking through the atmosphere once more, Betkas's spaceship plunged into the planet and landed in the sea. The violent impact sent the water surging and split it apart, forming a massive crater. Betkas slowly opened the hatch and stepped out.

He was tall, with the same pale-gold eyes and unchanged light-yellow hairstyle. His gaze held a detached air, and the new blue Battle Armor he wore gave him the look of a pure-blooded warrior. The golden scouter and faint curve at the corner of his mouth, however, added a touch of wicked charm.

Nearly ten years of growth had brought his body to its peak. Thanks to his relentless training, he now stood around 1.8 meters tall. His physique remained pleasing to the eye, not the overly muscular sort. Betkas might have looked slender, but only someone who had fought him firsthand could understand the terrifying power he held.

"The coordinates for the deal are 88231. I can sense a few power levels... Hm? They're only this strong? Tch. What a disappointment."

Betkas recalled the location of the deal, then turned his head to look east and sensed the power levels there. His expression shifted slightly, and he sounded displeased. He had indeed detected a few people, but they were still weak—at least, they were weak by his standards.

There were six of them. The strongest among them had a battle power of around twenty thousand at most, as far as Betkas could tell from their ki. The weakest had only a few thousand. How could that not disappoint him?

He had hoped he might run into someone familiar. In the end, he'd gotten his hopes up for nothing.

"But it's still work. I'd better get it over with."

Betkas shook his head, acknowledging his bad luck this time, then flew toward them at full speed. He hadn't fought in five years and was itching for action. He wanted to wrap up this dull business and leave as soon as possible, then find a more advanced planet.

In just a few blinks, Betkas reached the deal site at an incredibly high speed.

He hovered in the air, looking down at the six people below.

More precisely, they were six figures dressed in black cloaks, with their faces and bodies hidden.

Betkas frowned as he watched them. They seemed to notice him and looked up. Both sides sized each other up. Then Betkas caught the right hand of the black-cloaked figure at the front making a gesture. The figure stepped forward and said, "You're the person Lord Frieza sent to handle the deal! We're the ones buying the planet."

"That's right."

Betkas slowly landed and fixed his sharp gaze on the speaker, whose face remained hidden. From his voice, Betkas could tell that the man was male, but he couldn't learn anything else useful.

"Regarding our purchase of Arles Planet, as discussed last time, we've gathered the money."

The leader in black continued speaking. Two people behind him stepped forward with four large chests and set them down between the two sides.

Smack!

Betkas stepped forward, opened the chests, and checked the amount of money inside. He glanced at the leader, who seemed to be trembling slightly, then appeared to notice something. With a smile, he stood up and said, "The amount is correct. Congratulations. From now on, Arles Planet will be your new home. Our people will withdraw from there soon. It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

"No, no... We should be thanking Lord Frieza. Without him, we never would have found such a good planet."

The leader in black didn't seem to notice anything unusual about Betkas's smile and replied courteously.

"You can go now. I need to take this money back to base."

Betkas picked up the four large chests, turned, and flew away. The six men seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and rose into the air one after another.

Betkas watched them disappear, a mysterious smile on his face. His lips parted as he murmured a few words, then he headed back toward his spaceship.

"Turles. Tree of Might Fruit..."

"Dodoria, Zarbon, put all the important things from the base back on the spaceship. We're leaving right away!"

At the base on Frieza Planet, Frieza sat in his hover chair, in high spirits as he spoke to Zarbon and Dodoria beside him.

"Yes, Lord Frieza... But where are we going?"

Zarbon was taken aback, then asked cautiously.

"Heh heh... Father just contacted me. He said he's giving me the North Galaxy, so we're leaving here and returning to the North Galaxy!"

Frieza was so pleased that he didn't bother questioning Zarbon's response. Instead, he happily explained.

"Understood!"

Zarbon immediately caught on and went out to make preparations. Dodoria, standing nearby, watched Frieza in good spirits before asking honestly, "Lord Frieza, since we're returning to the North Galaxy, should we withdraw all our forces from the South Galaxy?"

"Hmm! We can't do that. We've spent so many years developing the South Galaxy—how could we abandon it? We'll leave some forces behind here. The rest will return to the North Galaxy with me."

Frieza thought it over for a moment before replying. He couldn't give up the South Galaxy. He'd worked hard to develop it for so long; how could he bear to let it go? That is, unless he'd never taken it over in the first place.

"Dodoria, notify the capable subordinates currently carrying out missions. Tell them to change course and return straight to our old base in the North Galaxy! Now!"

Frieza suddenly remembered some of his capable subordinates who were away on missions, and gave Dodoria another order.

"Yes, sir!"

Dodoria nodded seriously, then slowly left the room.

"All personnel currently carrying out missions: due to special circumstances, your return destination has changed. Your new destination is Aide Planet."

Betkas had only just boarded his spaceship and begun the return journey when a notification popped up on its screen, catching his attention. He read it carefully, then said in confusion, "Aide Planet? Isn't that the Frieza Planet where Frieza used to be based in the North Galaxy? Why has the destination been set there?"

Betkas was puzzled for a moment and pulled up the details to find out why. A few minutes later, he finally got his answer: Frieza was returning to the North Galaxy.

"That works out. I still have four years left, enough time to grow stronger. I'll do my best to improve my strength."

Betkas smiled in anticipation, then immediately changed the spaceship's destination. The vessel curved away from its original course and began flying in a different direction.