"Will he do it?" Steven asked me as I walked in.
"Seriously do you live here. What the hell brat it's like 5 am in the morning?" Seeing that he didn't respond to my question but awaiting my answer I sighed.
"Don't worry he will do it, the offer we gave him is enticing for the current him no matter what. Besides to him, it's a win-win situation with nothing to lose. However, aren't you worried he will go against those two families in your faction when he gets stronger?"
"They are merely dogs who eat the scraps falling from my table. If they are gone someone else will replace them. After all street dogs are found in abundance." Steven said while he drank his coffee, while I waited for mine that I just ordered.
"That's good. I am pretty glad this mission went without a hitch." I sighed.
Suddenly I realised my mistake as I looked up to Steven who was looking at me, waiting for me to tell him everything. 'Shit I screwed up.'
"Hahaha, I just remembered I have an order for John in a few hours, need to get the ingredients ready before then." I said as I got ready to run, while praying he will let me go without asking any further.
"Stay old man or the deal is off." Steven ordered as I halted.
"You would break the alliance we have just because I didn't tell you the backup plan we had if it failed?" I asked him as sweat rolled from my forehead, not because of fear of him, but due to the problems that might arise in the worst-case scenario, if I tell him the back-up plan.
"I had a condition that nothing should be hidden from each other and no backstabbing. And to my knowledge, no backup plan was created that would cause you or others any trouble for you to sigh in relief when the mission succeeded. So that means you guys were planning something that I don't know in case the mission failed. So tell me or..." Steven warned me as he sat there.
I sighed in frustration before sitting down "We didn't want to take any chances if this mission failed. You along with everyone else knows how crazy John is and to what length he will go. So it is vitally important for us to ..."
"Get to the point!" Ordered Steven as his tone changed.
"Fine, fine just relax. Before I tell you I would like you to know we are not going to do it now since the mission has succeeded. Do you understand me?" I asked him. It was silent for a while before he nodded.
I took a deep breath before saying "We were planning to reduce her sentence and releasing her in return for helping us." Suddenly the table cracked and broke as the tiled floor started cracking. The source of it all being Steven.
"Brat listen to me. We are not going to release her or reduce her sentence so stop it." I said as I started casting spells to stop his rampage.
His agents came in to see what the situation was to witness the scene in front of them. They assumed a battle position against me. "Darn it, you fools help me! He is out of control!" I ordered as I tried restraining him without causing too much damage or hurting anyone in the vicinity.
His eyes were red in rage and anger as his bloodlust just soared.
Luckily his agents understood the situation and proceeded to help me restrain him. They held him down while I casted a rank 6 calm spell on him.
Suddenly everything was calm, but not without any consequences as the agents who restrained him simply laid on the floor in their own blood. Steven's eyes that were clouded with rage a moment ago regained their calm lustre.
"Don't forget what you and everyone else made me promise me all those years ago. I will kill her and none of you will stop me this time." He said as he stood up and went out, wiping the blood on his hands with a towel.
I sighed as I knelt down to heal his men, who seemed to be in a very critical state.
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"Archer" I called as I sat in front of my desk contemplating on what I saw from the recording device.
"Yes, my lord." Archer came in, in his usual dark clothes, as he stood before the desk.
"Try and sabotage if not delay all investigation attempts into who informed the Springwood about Ellis' situation. If possible also make sure to collect all related information on their current stage of the investigation but make sure, discretion is utmost importance for both tasks." Archer nodded as he disappeared from the room.
I stared at the 2 devices and remembered the contents in them. I had thought they would have had nothing to persuade him, but it seems that's not the case now. Things are going to get a lot messier now.
Albert had approached Ellis with a simple offer saying that all they needed was for him to carry a recording device with him when he travels with John inside the grey zone in return for finding out who tipped off the Springwood about Ellis' situation which led him to his current path of revenge.
Albert being the natural manipulator he is along with Ellis, currently being very easy to manipulate, due to the only thing going through his mind is revenge, he got Ellis to agree.
I should have known that someone would have tipped them off. But who would do something like that? What benefits would they have earned from provoking a useless commoner with no talent? Steven and Albert got a headstart as Steven was informed about this situation long ago as it happened in his faction. So they simply used that to their advantage. But luckily John spotted something odd about Albert and made preparation otherwise we would have been in a terrible spot.
To Ellis, it seemed like there was no harm involved in this situation. All he had to do was have the recording device on him when they enter the grey zone, while no harm was inflicted on John or anyone, in return for finding the perpetrator who started all this.
But what he doesn't know is that he is entering the web of politics. The moment he agreed to do this, there is no turning back and escaping. The only way to escape his either siding with them or us.
Siding with them meant he had to abandon his conscience and betray his saviour, however siding with John meant he had to come clean that he was approached with a deal, and the sooner he does it the better. If he delays coming clean to us then that means, he will start fearing what John would do once he knows the truth, which will raise the probability of either him doing something irrational or just outright betraying us in the end.
John told me to just let it be as he had some plans with Ellis if he decided to side with them.
I had always wondered how good John was at reading people, and today I had witnessed it. His talent at reading people is terrifying, to the point of even reading Albert. There was a reason why, when all the previous generation of commandment nobles retired and let their heirs ascend, Albert still stayed in the game. Rather than stay he was asked to stay longer, because of his terrifying ability to discern people, and being really good at manipulation, while not letting a single person get anything from him.
The only one who I knew who could do the same thing as John was her highness, the previous Empress. Only if she was still alive we wouldn't all be here having to deal with this stupid situation, instead, we all could have just lived peacefully.
I sighed as I stood up to gather Maximus and Titus before bringing them for breakfast with John who wanted to share his output of grey zone with us and see if it matched with our experience.
---------------------------------------------------
I finished cooking breakfast and walked out as the servants came in to clean up the mess I left behind.
I yawned and stretched my arms as I walked into the dining hall to see all 3 of them were sat there waiting for me.
I smiled seeing Titus and Maximus trying to pierce me with their glare.
"You know you are the only person I know who would casually use 2 commandment nobles as a distraction." Maximus said as I sat down.
"Brat I dare you to fight me." Titus said as he pointed at me in anger.
"You guys are terrible actors. If I had told you anything Albert would have figured it out. Besides wasn't it much better trying to go with the flow. See how you going with the flow gave out much better results." I smiled while grabbing 5 pancakes from the plate.
"Accept my fight you bastard. I will show you what we commandments are made out of." Titus roared as he too took a dozen or so pancakes which were then dissected and stuffed into his mouth.
"I would love to, but my left hand and right leg had decided to apparently take a vacation today, so I can't fight you." I said as I slowly ate the pancake covered in a special cream I just made.
"You said you wanted to discuss something about the grey zone, John?"
"Yes, I do. Please put up the necessary barriers when we reach our desserts." I smiled as I carried on eating the rank 8 food.