"Behavioral matrices? What's that?" Theodore answered the question with one of his own, expressing confusion in his drowsy eyes.
Fiana was surprised by the answer. Under the influence of a substance that weakens one's mind, the drug that was flowerily named 'Truthseeker's Oil,' she asked Theodore if he had been practicing the crafting of behavioral matrices. She was sure that he had done so in order to create the mouse undead that stole the Dandelion Mandragora seeds.
(Is he lying? Is the drug not strong enough? But that can't be. My father created it himself and it had never once failed to get the truth out of someone, not even trained spies could stop themselves from spilling what they knew after breathing this in.)
"Could it be that-"
Fiana had to stop herself midway from voicing her own thoughts. Though she had resistance, she was by no means immune. If she's not careful, she might end up spilling things she shouldn't have herself.
(Could it be that he truly doesn't know? But, who could have placed that mouse among my belongings then? I am sure that I was on guard in all places except here, in the workshop. Few would dare to infiltrate the workshop grounds of an elder. As the mages do not take kindly to those who try to steal their secrets, those caught sneaking into the domain of an elder may find themselves facing a fate worse than death.)
"Then did someone ask you to put something in my bag?"
"Your bag? I didn't touch your bag."
Now Fiana became even more confused. So convinced she was that Theodore would be unable to lie under the drug's influence, she was at a loss when it was starting to look like he had nothing to do with it.
(What's going on? if it's not Theodore, then who? Could it be that courier? What's her name? Albatross? Did she place the mouse here beforehand when she visited? But the mouse had to be in an Aethervoid glass vial to make it past the tower guards' inspection. It had to be sealed in a vial first and would therefore be unable to move on its own.)
With each question, Fiana only got more and more confused, not knowing this was all a part of Theodore's plan.
***
The behavioral matrix, a cluster of crystallized Aether bearing instructions weaved from the will of a mage. It is the core that controls the behavior of Aether and by extension, the construct they were installed in, constructs such as undeads, magic automatons, elementals, and anything that has a concentrated amount of Aether within them. In other words, even a human body, rich in Aether, could be controlled.
Theodore, realizing that his knowledge of modern alchemy was lacking, did not expect to be able to deal with whatever substances that Fiana might use on him. As such, he instead relied on his experience as a Demon Lord and his understanding of Fiana after spending much time together.
Theodore was counting on Fiana to want to confirm her suspicions first before acting. With that in mind, he had to prepare countermeasures against the moves she would make towards that end.
As Fiana wasn't someone who had displayed any signs of overt cruelty, Theodore deduced that she would not use any forceful methods such as torture and would most likely deploy drugs that would weaken the mind to coerce the truth out of his own mouth. In that case, Theodore merely needed to ensure that he would be able to lie even under influence.
For that, he decided to make use of a behavioral matrix. Inserted directly into his body, the behavioral matrix would respond to questions that Theodore had anticipated with a set of answers scripted ahead of time. It would do so by overlaying its Aether over Theodore's nervous system, overriding the instructions sent from the brain with that of the behavioral matrix when needed.
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Under normal circumstances, the natural magic resistance within the body would reject the control from a regular behavioral matrix, making it difficult to make puppets out of living specimens. However, the behavioral matrix that Theodore had inserted into his own body was made of a crystal formed from his own Aether inside of his own body. As such, with everything originating from himself down to the raw material, his body's magic resistance did not react to the behavioral matrix.
However, all things considered, having one's body controlled by a behavioral matrix was a risky affair and was never done on record before, at least, not on oneself. There were great deals of risks involved, especially with his mind in a weakened state. The risks could be mitigated with extensive tests and adjustments, but given the time he had to work with, from when he retrieved his undeads to when Fiana returned from work, three to four hours at most, Theodore was unable to implant as many safeguards as he would have liked.
Even so, he wasn't going down without a fight.
***
The night came and went. After a lengthy cross-examination with nothing to show for whatsoever, Fiana sent Theodore to bed where Theodore slept soundly till morning. Due to the effects of the drug, his memories of the night were vague and was unaware of what occurred. He could only suspect that things went according to plan due to not waking up in a dungeon somewhere.
As always, he woke up before the sun rose. With Peter in tow, Theodore left his room and began to head to the kitchen to try and find out what happened last night by ever so subtly probing Fiana and closely watching her reactions.
It was then, just as he was about to walk down the hallway, a creak coming from the old couch in the living room drew his attention. It sounded to him as if someone was shifting their weight on the old couch. In this workshop, at this time, for someone to be in the living room seemed highly unusual to Theodore.
Considering what happened just last night, Theodore could not help but fear for the worst. With his blood running cold, Theodore's feet brought him to the living room.
"Ah, as early as always. Surprising, considering what you went through last night."
There, sitting on the old couch, was a bushy-browed old man, the man known as Elder Kalman. For once, he was seen outside his study and the workshop proper.
Laid out before Kalman, atop the crude tea table in the living room, were the bodies of four crows and one mouse, laying still as if they were corpses. No, they *were* corpses. They were the same corpses that Theodore had made his undeads out of. And amongst the corpses, there were the seeds of the Dandelion Mandragora, sealed within a vial made of Aethervoid glass.
"It was very prudent of you to seal that little tunnel of yours with hardened earth and overlay it with soft soil," Kalman continued to speak. "Had I not been keeping my eyes on you, I wouldn't have thought to look for it and would never have found your little handiwork."
'As early as always,' and 'had I not been keeping my eye on you,' were words that stood out to Theodore. This entire time, he had been under close watch. Knowing so, his heart sank. It was not because he was caught off guard or surprised. He knew very well the risks. He simply felt the way he did because this was something he had least hoped to happen.
It wasn't out of negligence that this occurred and by no means did Theodore underestimate an elder. It was simply that if he allowed himself to fear the possible surveillance, then Theodore would not be able to take a single action within the workshop grounds. Considering the capabilities of an average mage and the lengths one must have gone through in order to become an elder, chances were that Theodore couldn't do anything within the elder's very own workshop without him finding out.
Had he feared the surveillance, Theodore's only option would be to sit and wait as his fate fell upon the mercy of the Circle of Mages. Realizing that they might have figured out that he was the Demon Lord, the future did not look bright.
As such, Theodore depended on the apathy displayed by Kalman the last time they spoke. He depended on the fact that Kalman only ever seemed to care about his own research and took the opportunity to act, refusing to simply leave himself to be at the mercy of others.
"How long has it been? Was it only a little over a month since you first arrived?" said Kalman, his eyes not leaving Theodore for a single moment. "Even now, you're keeping that eerie calm about you, just as you have when you stood before the Elders of the Circle back when you first arrived. I do wonder what goes on in that little head of yours."
It would seem that Kalman had been watching him since the beginning, despite appearing to be disinterested and even nodding off during that meeting almost a month ago.
"Elder Kalman, if I may ask," Theodore began to speak, his demeanor calm and steadfast, with not a trace of panic that was in his heart. "If I remember correctly, you said that you would like the Demon Lord's assistance on something, correct?"
Indeed, Kalman's apathy was not the only thing Theodore had kept in mind from their last conversation. Though he had hoped for this to never happen, just in case it did, he had saved a few cards up his sleeves. Depending on where this goes, Theodore may yet still have a few cards he can play.
***
End of Chapter 67
***