Raul once again knocked at the door of Vick's office. His knocks began more impatient, since she did not answer until then.
He tried to call to her, even to the point of yelling, but nobody answered. He was beginning to get worried at that point. If something happened to Vick, all his plans would be shattered before his eyes again…
He could not let that the results ended up being the same as the previous ones. Now that he was so close, it was unacceptable that a small thing got in his way.
He was ready to break into the room before he heard the lock of the door clicking, and its knob twisting just to show that it was opened.
He burst into the room, looking to the Princess, who was in front of him.
He was expecting to see her as the previous days: with her hair all messy, her skin even paler than it already was, and a dead look on her face. However, she seemed completely composed. A perfume was coming from her hair, indicating that she just came out from a bath.
"Y-you really frightened me there, Your Highness…" He spoke, trying to hide the anxiety and nervousness in his voice.
"Yeah, I know it." She averted her eyes from him, turning her back and heading to her desk. Vick was as cold as always, maybe more than usual.
"That Casper… He is good. In just one month he could manage to manipulate her feelings like this… He is skillful at dealing with people. I need to keep an eye on him if he is still alive." The butler thought.
"Do you called me here, Your Highness?" He asked, politely, bowing slightly with his head.
"Yes, I did. I have some things to talk about with you. Since you are a sensible person, I know that you can help me to sort out this question."
"And what's it?" The butler approached slowly the desk, looking at the laptops that Vick had disposed on her desk. There were three, with different things showing on each screen.
"I suppose that it has something to do with Casper?"
"Not exactly with Casper, but that's something that I ended up noticing while I was searching for him. Look at it."
She pointed to a graphic on the laptop from the right side.
"That's the number of people working at the four laboratories in the last three months. They increased in number faster than normal. Generally, it's difficult to find scientists to work there."
"That's not something good? I mean, the Laboratories need a lot of help. Except for resources, new employees is what they most ask for us."
"In fact, they need a lot of people, and surely are always looking for new ones. But there is another thing that breaks this concept." She turned to another laptop, opening a window. It was a confidential file.
The title of the document was written: Project Jormungand.
"Do you remember this project, Raul?" The butler nodded. "40 scientists were working at it in the exact moment as the project came into effect. However, nowadays we have more than 60. It's a huge leap."
Now she pointed to the last laptop.
"I asked for a full count on the number of people from each floor nowadays, and although we have a good birth rate among the Jarls, there are a bunch of new individuals here. And looking more precisely, these new individuals aren't children."
The butler widened his eyes for a moment, but the Princess did not spot it. He leaned close to Vick, to hear her voice better.
"What are you implying, Your highness?"
"That… Maybe we were not the only ones with ulterior plans involving the Midwest battle." She narrowed her eyes to these graphics.
Raul was about to say something, but someone suddenly entered the office. It was one of Vick's subordinates.
"Your Highness…" He tried to show motivation in his voice, but nothing could hide his exhaustion.
"Please, say." Vick raised from the chair, drawing her attention to him with hope in her eyes.
"We… We discovered where Casper is…"
Without even noticing, she let a grin appear on her face, and her eyes shone. She walked towards that man.
"W-where!? Where is Casper?"
"He is at Halden…"
…
"So… What do you want, man?" With a melancholic and extremely hoarse voice, Alfar looked up to Casper, who was standing in front of him with his arm stretched towards his face. Alfar, though, just looked disinterested at his handshake attempt.
"I want to talk with you, Alfar. I have some important things to solve with you." He spoke, pulling his hand backward.
The man scratched his neck and rubbed his pitch-black messy hair, closing his eyes and sighing.
"That's a hassle… Why don't you say it already? You don't need to come all polite, you know?"
"I need to say something to you, but privately." He glanced at the other people surrounding Alfar. They gave him murderous looks, but they were hesitant.
Not everyone was aware of Casper's few feats in that prison. But, anyway, as long as he was in District 42, every individual would act cautiously towards him because of the masks.
"That's something that gets in my way sometimes, but for this type of situation, is easier to pull through when people fear me somehow."
Alfar narrowed his eyes towards Casper, standing slowly from his seat.
Probably it was because of his bad posture, but when seated he looked to be way shorter than he really was. Alfar had about 190 cm, which was about 15 cm taller than Casper.
Because of his skinny physical, he was not that imposing. However, Casper always felt somehow cautious around that man just as much he was being with him.
"There is something inside his eyes that makes me have a bad feeling. I don't know if it's some effect because of his influence, or this bunch of people around me, but…"
Without saying anything that man started to walk away from his comrades, calling Casper to tag along with him.
The other prisoners seemed to have the urge to protest but ended up remaining quiet on their sits.
"Hmmm, that guy is good, indeed. The people around him seem to trust in his decisions and respect him. Although Anton said that there was some controversy about his leadership method, it isn't enough to discredit him."
Both stopped at a place in the courtyard good enough to hide from the Ridires and the other inmates.
"Say it now. My time is my greatest preciousness."
"Sure. I am willing to talk with you about your goals." Casper waited for a second, and when he saw that he could grasp the attention of that man in his first quote, he continued to talk. "I know that you have the will to unite all the prisoners from this place. You want to end with the other factions and initiate a more peaceful society inside Halden, right? Well, and if I say that I can help you?"
This technique to grasp someone's interest and make them sympathize with you was called rapport. Casper did it skillfully.
"Continue."
"You know very well that with these masks you can't do a lot of things. But I can. And I am planning something big.
"Think about it with me, man. For two individuals to get together and cooperate, they need to have a mutual interest or goal. Now, answer me, what's the thing that everyone here wants, but they can't have because of these masks?"
Alfar thought for a second and responded assertively.
"They want to get out of Halden."
"And I can work to make it happen. That is, I can make everyone get together and cooperate to achieve a goal and end up with all factions, creating a single group."
Alfar pondered about that matter for a while, Casper could not make him get so excited as Olaf were, but he was sure that his proposal had entered his mind.
The pitch-black-haired man stroke his chin, looking side to side, before staring at Casper again.
"I can't work with you before knowing what you really are capable of. You probably met some Frelsi here and think that everyone knows about the limitations of the masks, but not all the prisoners here are Frelsi. I am not, for example, and I have a mask since the day I was born. I don't know how to differentiate between actions that are prohibited or enforced, from those that are natural.
"That said, before doing anything, I need to know how far you can go. I want you to prove your worth for my faction, and show what a person without a mask can do."
That was not the exact outcome that Casper was hoping to have. Nevertheless, it was still worth it, he could work with it.
Again, he offered a handshake.
"That's a deal. Tomorrow, you will see what I am capable of."
Then, Alfar shook Casper's hand.