"Ho ho ho ho-"
"A... nostalgic face indeed-"
The amusement gradually faded from Frieza's scarlet eyes, replaced by his usual courteous, elegant smile.
"I didn't expect you to be a Saiyan, Mr. Turles~"
Facing Frieza's smile, Turles kept his expression unchanged.
He stopped after leaving a suitable distance between himself and Frieza.
Then he dropped to one knee.
"Lord Frieza!"
"Your subordinate can finally return to the Frieza Force's embrace."
Turles then began the speech he had rehearsed countless times.
He vividly described a Saiyan wandering far from home, struggling to make his way through the universe.
Yet he had never forgotten that he had once been a warrior of the Frieza Force.
Frieza did not speak immediately.
The silence was more tormenting than any interrogation.
Turles's mind raced.
He had gone over this story again and again aboard the spaceship, carefully arranging every detail he could think of.
From the timeline of his assignment to a remote planet, to the reason he had lost contact with his homeworld, to his experiences wandering through the universe... everything matched the Saiyan records the Frieza Force still possessed.
Thousands upon thousands of Low-Class Warriors had been sent away; Frieza couldn't possibly remember every one of them.
Listening to Turles's account, even Amond and the others behind him were slightly moved.
None of them had known that their boss had endured such a difficult experience before meeting them.
"My, my, my-"
Frieza finally spoke.
"I had no idea your journey had been so difficult, Mr. Turles..."
The tip of his tail lifted from the armrest, traced a small arc in the air, and settled back down.
"Thank you for all your hard work."
Turles's heart clenched, then relaxed slightly.
He immediately raised his head, put aside everything superfluous, and adopted an expression of perfectly measured sincerity.
"It was no trouble! This was all my duty."
The tip of Frieza's tail paused briefly on the armrest.
His smile did not diminish.
Amond and the others behind Turles kept their heads lowered throughout.
Turles knelt, so they knelt too.
None of them dared make a mistake on an occasion like this.
Amond's braid hung against the ground, collecting a layer of dust, but he didn't even dare flick it.
Frieza changed the subject.
His gaze settled on Turles's face again.
"Such a resemblance!"
Turles's mind jolted to a halt.
Resemblance?
Resemblance to what?
He felt Frieza's gaze and quickly thought of something.
It's this face of mine!
From the moment Turles had stepped off the spaceship, Frieza had been staring at his face.
Bardock.
The Low-Class Warrior who had charged at Frieza alone as Planet Vegeta turned to ashes.
In Frieza's eyes, he had been nothing more than an ant.
Yet that very ant had done something an ant should never have done.
He had charged up to Frieza, filled with laughable fury and possessing a pitifully insignificant power level.
And the face of Turles's current body looked almost identical to Bardock's.
That was nothing unusual among Saiyans.
The gene pool of Low-Class Warriors was only so large, so the chances of two looking alike were much higher than among other races.
As a transmigrator, Turles naturally knew this, but the real Turles shouldn't have known!
He maintained a puzzled expression.
"Lord Frieza, what do you mean?"
Frieza withdrew his gaze and smiled faintly. "No, it's nothing."
"I merely recalled something nostalgic."
After Frieza spoke, the tip of his tail began flicking gently against the armrest again.
"Speaking of which, Mr. Turles."
Frieza straightened in his seat and rested his folded hands on his knees.
"Did you know that your homeworld-"
He paused.
"Planet Vegeta no longer exists."
His trademark smile remained on his face.
His scarlet eyes did not blink, their gaze fixed ever so subtly on Turles's face.
Turles did not hesitate.
He raised his head.
Just the right trace of regret appeared on his face-but only a trace. For someone who had wandered away from home for years, it was only natural to feel a slight stir upon hearing that disaster had befallen his homeland.
But to be heartbroken? That would have been too much.
"After returning to the North Galaxy, I already heard about it on a planet I passed through."
"Planet Vegeta was destroyed by a meteorite... it truly was a misfortune."
He lowered his head slightly.
"But to tell the truth, I have only a few unpleasant memories of Planet Vegeta."
"And it has been so long since it was destroyed."
"By now, I no longer feel much about it."
"Yes... it truly was a misfortune."
Frieza's tone was light, carrying a note of detached regret.
"I'm terribly sorry~ to bring up something so sad in front of you, Mr. Turles."
Turles lowered his head.
"You're too kind, Lord Frieza."
"I don't feel sad."
"To me, that planet was nothing more than the place where I was born."
Turles knelt on the grayish-brown ground, gravel digging into his knees and sulfurous air pouring into his lungs. Every second dragged on absurdly long.
Then Frieza's attention finally shifted away from Turles.
The oppressive sensation of being held firmly in his gaze abruptly receded.
Turles didn't dare let his shoulders relax in the slightest.
Facing a being on Frieza's level, he had to carefully control every subtle movement of his body.
The tip of Frieza's tail began tapping rhythmically again.
"Speaking of which-"
Although the oppressive sensation had mostly subsided, Turles instinctively pulled himself together every time Frieza opened his mouth.
"I hear your power level is quite impressive, Mr. Turles."
"If that's true..."
"Then you must be the strongest Saiyan I know of, Mr. Turles~"
With that, Frieza gave Dodoria a look.
Dodoria understood and immediately used the scouter over his left eye to check Turles's power level.
[35,000!]
Dodoria couldn't help exclaiming in astonishment.
Even Zarbon, on the other side, couldn't help being taken aback.
That power level!
It's even higher than my ugly transformed state!
How could this be!
A mere Saiyan!
A savage monkey!
How could he have such a high power level!
An uncontrollable sense of danger rose in his heart.
Dodoria then scanned the subordinates behind Turles.
Their power levels were all quite impressive!
The weakest among them, the brothers Reiz and Lakasei, each had a power level as high as 7,600.
Cacao, the strongest, had a power level of 13,000!
Frieza smiled in satisfaction when he saw the results.