“You seem to have a plan?”
Lyra spoke, her narrowed eyes focused on me. The situation, in a sense, was dire for the whole of the archery association. We can still push Draxton forward to the war council, but that would end up ruining its reputation and trust, severely affecting everything, which would be very bad for us.
Plus, it would disrupt the life that was going on here. This association is relatively newer than the others. Yet, it has risen towards the top, which means my master has already made a lot of enemies, and they wouldn’t hesitate to strike at the moment of weakness, which means we have to be very careful about how we do this.
My gaze landed on Malek, the only one who seemed not to be giving off any sort of reaction but the one who was being deeply affected by it. Don’t let the silent voice and rough look fool you all; the man is a very big softie and considers everyone here like family. Quite the reverse feeling for a guy who follows assassination-like killings, but in his heart, he is a good guy.
“How well can you hide your own assassination killings from being found?”
My question made the QuiverLors frown, but Malek focused on the question as a whole as he replied.
“I have a few. Every assassin killer does a very different move that doesn’t mark them at all.”
His words earned a nod from me as the plan flowed through my mind. In fact, if I were to use some of my connections, I would easily deal with this, but then it would take away my goal of bringing all of them together while ensuring their true loyalty. Using the ones just in this room is the best way to deal with the issues ahead.
Thus, with a smile, while leaning onto the chair, I produced a file from my spatial ring, flipping it over to Malek, who, upon receiving it, started to read it. Feeling the curiosity of those around, I spoke.
“It’s a file containing all the dirty things that need to be removed, courtesy of our friend Draxton here.”
My words formed the plan slowly in the minds of those gathered, and the first to speak was Eldon.
“If you are not careful about how you do this, our association can come to be seen as weak by the people.”
His words made me nod at him as I responded.
“I understand, and that’s what we will do. In fact, I don’t just want their deaths to be for nothing; I want their deaths to push our association forward.”
My words had a deeper meaning. Leaning forward, Eldon spoke, his eyes shining.
“Go on.”
Smiling that all the focus was on me, I spoke.
“You guys know about my special ability to cure corruption, right?”
My words earned their nods, to which I continued.
“Then that means I might have a bigger affinity for finding out if things are corrupted around me. Why not spin a story around that and end this traitor in our midst as a hero to the world?”
At my words, I could see Draxton raise his head to look at me, the fear in his eyes no longer clouding him. The poor man was touched by DarkNight. You don’t have to think much about how tough things would be for him, especially when DarkNight has a very high anger against them.
“It doesn’t sit right with me, all these things—to fool the world and to make this traitor a hero.”
Faelan finally spoke, a frown on his handsome face, the very elegant yet truthful high elf not liking the idea too much. When it came to the prospects of these things being done, using such darkness wasn’t something he was comfortable with. To this, I looked at him, the man facing me straight as I spoke.
“I can understand where you are coming from, but if we don’t do this, we will have to watch what my master built slowly fall apart piece by piece.”
This had more of an effect as the expression of the man cracked, my master being more of his weakness. He finally sighed and closed his eyes, leaning towards the chair, which meant he wouldn’t participate in it but also meant he wouldn’t go out of his way to stop it. The others didn’t mind it, for they already knew about his character for a long time.
The thing I earned from them is the respect with which I dealt with the problem, Eldon even giving me a small thumbs-up for it as he spoke.
“What you are proposing looks good, but we need a more finite plan.”
To this, with a nod, I started to speak.
“What we can do is show the world that we have been silently gathering the corrupted ones around us that were aiming for us. With my help, it was easy to do so, and when the time was ripe, we acted on it, bringing them all down. And maybe in this situation, I ended up removing some of their corruption and helped to get more information on the situation.”
As I stopped here, I could see that all of them were hooked on the idea. Though the only thing being the issue is that those people in the dark who have been taking a more half-hearted approach towards me will make it a much more open push to bring me down, but I am ready. In fact, I need it for some of the future plays and alliances to form, I need my life to be in ‘danger’—at least, I need to show it.
Thus, taking a deep breath in the break, I looked at the ones around me as I continued.
“We could also put on the play of Draxton being the one to take the lead. He was the one who started to gather the corrupted ones around him and kept them in check until we acted, and he would be the one who would heroically die while protecting the members of the world. How about that?”
The ones turned silent after they heard my words, all of them running the plan through their heads as Eldon suddenly spoke.
“What about the corruption that surrounds him? Can you take it away?”
To this question, with a smile, I looked at Eldon as I spoke.
“Before, no, but when he dies, it won’t be hard to take it away from him. While for the weaker ones we save, I will be able to get rid of their corruption. The ones that didn’t willingly succumb to it will give us all the boost we need.”
As my words ended, Lyra, after a thought, spoke.
“After which, we will be able to give a public apology to those who suffered under the corruption of Draxton’s people and finally resolve that problem openly. In each way, we will just end up as heroes.”
Lyra nodded as she spoke this, impressed at me as she gave me a respectful nod, her words continued by Eldon as he spoke.
“Draxton’s death might affect us in the short term, but for the long-term goal, it will only be more useful in pushing our reputation and strength forward. Not bad; it’s a very smooth plan.”
The respectful nod from Eldon was another level. After which, I turned to look at Malek, who finally spoke.
“You want me to discreetly get rid of the worst ones so they don’t survive at all, start the flames of the movement, while also killing the rough ones in public too, right?”
His rough voice earned my nod as I spoke.
“Can you do it?”
To which he replied:
“Piece of cake.”
Thus, with that, I looked at Sylvanna, the one who had stayed the most silent. Sure, she has a little more moral compass than the others, but she isn’t stuck up like Faelan, so she kept listening to the plan, her gaze a bit dazed as she looked at me and spoke.
“Looks like I was wrong about you, and I am sorry for it.”
First, she apologised to me, to which I smiled at her, showing that I didn’t take it to heart as Sylvanna continued, her gaze fixed on me as she spoke.
“While your plan is good, what can guarantee that the war council won’t pick up on it? For if the truth is ever found out, there would be consequences for trying to cheat the war council.”
Her words had their meaning, to which I, looking at Sylvanna, spoke.
“It’s true, but what’s also true is that every plan has its own problem. If you trust me, I can guarantee you that the war council won’t find out about it. Have trust in me, as I have trust in all of you that you will achieve the outcome of this goal. Trust me as you trust my master, and I will trust you as my master trusts you all.”
My words had their effect as the stern face of Sylvanna melted, and she nodded at me.
“Okay, I will trust you.”
