"An exercise of free will... That indeed can't be traced by my divination," Roshoka muttered. "If you've really put someone out there in a position to make a choice between acting against my interests and otherwise, then they have at most a 50% chance of choosing the former. Again, such a limited scope of choice also stretches the boundary of Free Will. There has to be more than just two options for them to pick from in order to make this pivotal choice stay beyond my divination."
Ken nodded in agreement. "I merely guided this person to the crossroads of fate, with not a hint telling them what I wanted them to do. But wisdom is a funny thing; till a certain limit, it keeps making you more predictable. So I can tell what choice they'll make if I don't walk out of this place alive and well. Let's just say that the small parasite clan won't be the only party holding your battle plans in their palm in that case."
"You seem pretty good at spewing lies. Tell me human, would you trust me if our positions were reversed? Think from my seat for a moment," Roshoka said.
The oppressive tone he had maintained since the beginning of the interrogation was now gone. Ken didn't know why the Duke seemed so open to debates, but if he had to guess, he would link it to whatever the result of the Duke's divination spell was. It seemed that the devastation he had planned to rain down on Shamrock City would be more effective than what he had envisioned, if things really went that far.
But this was a good opportunity for Ken, and he seized the initiative without hesitation.
.
"If I were in your position, I would consider forging a better relationship between the two of us," Ken said. The Goblin Duke snorted, partly from disbelief and partly from disdain. Ken wasn't deterred from continuing.
"Hear me out, first. What's really stopping us from being useful, effective allies? The only issue that's making us act against each other's interests is the whole fiasco concerning your battle plan against the western ocean's merfolk. I ended up letting a parasite clan get a card that they can use to blackmail you. Do you think this has caused an unresolvable enmity between us? At least I don't think so! We can neutralize the issue on both sides by simply abandoning the scheme of spreading manapoisoning in the Western Ocean."
Roshoka slammed a palm down on the table, and almost immediately seemed to regret the action for some reason. Grudgingly, he replied to Ken's proposal. "You are making light of a plan I have been perfecting for decades. Each of those manapoisoning instruments cost thousands of Greengold. And let's not even get into the trouble I had to go through to keep my movements a secret-"
"I can tell," Ken said, interrupting the Goblin halfway, which only infuriated him further. But Ken couldn't let the flow of the debate be wrested away now.
He droned on without stopping. "But there is a fatal gap in your battle plan. Others might think you're attacking your neighbouring merfolk communities in an act of vengeance. However, what they don't know is that this is merely a ploy to amass wartime merits when Queen Emora declares war against the Sapphire Basin, targeting all three interconnected oceans at the same time!"
Time seemed to freeze inside the interrogation chamber with that revelation. Duke Roshoka's greenish-grey face became visibly devoid of color. The creases on his long forehead grew a degree deeper. His right hand, which was placed on top of the metal table, had at some point dug some shallow grooves on the surface unconsciously.
The heavy, pregnant pause was broken by the Duke himself eventually.
"Very few people know what the Queen is planning. If the secrecy of my battle plan is given six points out of ten, her plan would earn more than nine points. Even I, an aide she has great trust in, found out about it by pure coincidence. That raises the question... Who are you?"
Ken smiled victoriously. The fish had been hooked. It was time to pull the reel in.
"Who I am is not something you need to learn now. What you should be more concerned about is what my words imply. I told you to abandon your strategy of poisoning the Western Ocean. I told you your strategy has a huge flaw. And then I gave you the reason why you should trust the validity of my claims. I know far more than you think about the Queen's ambitious war project. Connect the dots, wise Duke!"
Chewing on his own tongue for a moment, Roshoka replied, "My plan itself is quite foolproof. The gap you're talking about can't be within its design. So you can only mean to say that my plan isn't compatible with the Queen's own plans. The wartime merits I want to earn would not be granted if I go through with it."
"Correct. Not only would you fail to get the benefits, you might even be penalized for causing obstructions to her plans. So listen to my advice, and use the leaked news as your weapon! Let the world think what it appears on the surface! Let them treat you as a coward who has messed up, now being blackmailed by weak enemies. Those who are a bit wiser will figure out your original plan, which is to suffer in silence now to shine during the war using your decade-spanning set up!
.
"Like I said, wisdom is funny that way. You'll fool even the smartest of your opponents into thinking they have understood your strategy, as it is the most optimal, beneficial choice in their eyes. But when the war finally breaks out, the western front will be devoid of your presence. Wouldn't that be the maneuver of the century?"
Roshoka closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, as if imagining the scene in his head.
"You're convincing when you put things that way. But anyone in my seat would require a little more persuasion. After all, you have not given me enough of a foundation to place my trust on."
Ken began to laugh. Frowning, Roshoka asked, "What? You find my reaction absurd?"
.
"No, no, not exactly absurd," Ken said with a shake of his head. "It was just funny to hear that stupid question coming from you, wise Duke. Think about it, the main leverage I held against you until now was the secrecy of your plan. If you harmed me, the plan would be leaked worldwide. Queen Emora would be dragged into the line of fire alongside you by every race surrounding Emeraldflame subcontinent. But now I have given you a valid reason not to follow the plan, and a good method of using the leak as a weapon to your own advantage. Have I not practically surrendered my biggest leverage? Yet you're asking me to show more sincerity!"
.
Roshoka froze for a good few seconds, thoughts churning chaotically behind his eyes.
"... You make your sacrifice sound grand. So why does it feel like I have no choice but to accept your proposal? Seems as if things are moving according to your will regardless of my choices."