Lucius stood slowly and began to pace.
“So what is your plan?” Lucius asked.
“You seem to be trusting me a lot more than usual,” Nathan said with a chuckle. “I’m probably even more dangerous than Sylas in your eyes, no? Why else would you keep me so close?”
Lucius gave Nathan a glance but didn’t reply.
“If you want to deal with someone like this, you can’t do it directly. And you also need to really weigh whether or not you want to do such a thing. He is too smart for you to get away with it if it ends in failure, so you need to be ready for the fallout.
“In addition, you need to decide if it’s not really better to just be friends despite what risks might come with that.”
Lucius stared off into the distance.
Friends with Sylas?
If Sylas had no ambitions at all, that would have been possible… but every aspect of him was completely antithetical to that.
The fact he entered the Trial at all was enough of a red flag. But somehow he had managed to defeat a Quasi Bronze beast against all odds, become a Noble, and disappeared off the face of the planet only to return with Merits Lucius couldn’t even fathom.
Someone like Sylas would certainly take control of the Grimblades if he was given the opportunity, and what made all of this worse was that he had the pedigree to do so.
Although some would be dissatisfied with the fact his grandfather had married someone who wasn’t approved, with Sylas’ current performance, he had already begun to hear murmurings.
They were minor, and definitely in the minority, but they were there.
However, the only reason they weren’t louder was because Sylas was obviously too independent as well. No one wanted to put all their cards into such a basket. But…
Sylas’ actions also had a direct impact on him. Because it was clear he couldn’t control him, his status in the eyes of the ancestors was only plummeting by the day.
Astrid had already started with a lead and she was only leaving the two of them further and further behind.
“That’s impossible,” Lucius eventually said.
If he couldn’t lead the Grimblades.
Then he would rather die.
His fate would be in his own hands and no one else’s.
“Well… alright,” Nathan said.
“What do you have in mind?”
“When you’re dealing with variables, the best counter is something even more variable.”
“You want to throw numbers at him?”
“Numbers won’t work. He’s just one person, and with his power, escaping an encirclement only takes one slip-up. If there’s not the requisite power, it’s all useless.”
“Then the System City.”
“You’re going to have to give up something to gain something. This won’t come without a cost,” Nathan replied without directly refuting.
“… The Multi Quest.”
“Bingo. Unless you’re willing to lose any and all of the rewards of this Quest, you’d better go back to thinking about whether or not you want to be friends again.
“And… you have to be ready for all of this to fail even if you have perfect preparation. I have a feeling that since he forced himself onto the list of participants, this won’t be so easy.”
Lucius came to a stop from his pacing, staring out of the window for a long while and almost subconsciously looking toward Sylas’ home.
His decision had already been made.
“There’s also something else,” Nathan suddenly said.
“And that is?”
“Have you read Bloom and Mark’s report?”
“Of course.”
“Then you should know that they almost died. If they failed, then we would have fallen behind Ebonspire and they would have taken a decisive advantage.”
“Is this your way of trying to convince me to be his friend?”
Lucius was smart enough to know that this wasn’t what Nathan meant, but there was still a bit of dissatisfaction in his heart that he couldn’t quite control. He felt like Sylas was pushing him into a corner and it had been a very long time since he felt so…
Helpless.
“No. But we should be wondering why it was the System City chose to target us and not the Ebonspire. Why did they allow them to hit the 70% complete mark, but wanted to stop us from doing the same? As far as our reports and scouts go, there were no otherworlders who attacked Ebonspire’s people.”
“And you’re sure that Sylas didn’t kill them on his way?”
“It’s possible, but doubtful. The trade routes will overlap, but only during Leg 004 which just started. Meaning, the odds Sylas would come through both wouldn’t make any sense unless he came from the direction of Ebonspire… which is doubtful.
“According to Bloom and Mark, he came from the north.”
“I see…” Lucius’ gaze flashed with a murderous light.
The number of traitors was growing more and more these days. They had already infiltrated several governments, and now it seemed like even the heirs of these families were growing desperate.
It made sense, of them all, Ragnar Ravenclaw had been ranked last on the Leaderboard and had only recently begun to climb up. He had the least chance of becoming an heir of anything.
Had he really taken such a step? Or was the System City sowing discord on purpose?
…
“They died?”
—
[Rolland Orciulius]
[Level: ???]
—
City Lord Orciulius heard the report and was more than a little surprised. Everything had been perfectly planned. How had they failed at the final step?
“There is no information. However, their vessels are now empty. They’ve definitely died.”
Rolland stood from his throne.
It was an outright humiliation. They had already lost Azrael all those months ago, and he still wasn’t absolutely certain who the culprit was. He was just somewhat sure that they came from Lucius’ city.
But if before he had still had some reservations, now he was certain.
A flash of fury lit in his eyes.
How dare these ants kill his flesh and blood?
