What was my great, awesome plan?

An artificial hunt.

It was a simple, incredibly so as a matter of fact. I had no doubt that, if I asked Takis to plan something, he would have come up with an incredible, complicated plan, but I had lived long enough to know that complicated plans were hardly necessary when dealing with two dangerous forces with significant friction between them.

I was inspired by the times I had dealt with rival gangs, particularly the kind where they had risen up enough that they didn't fear the law enforcement anymore.

Those kinds of gangs only feared other gangs, obsessively keeping their internal affairs safe while looking for a chance to take over their opponents' assets.

Yet, even though they wanted to deal with their rivals, they didn't dare to do so unless convinced that they could deal with a rival rapidly, afraid of weakening themselves further against the rest. Paranoia ruled ambitious gangs.

Weaponizing that paranoia was the easiest way to deal with them.

Ultimately, that was how I wanted to use that artificial hunt. I wanted to force the Somaton forces to mobilize, which in turn would trigger the paranoia of the Ralum forces. Then, a few pokes, and a couple of targeted assassinations should be enough to heat the situation.

Of course, the reason I dared to poke around the explosive powder keg of two armies was that, ultimately, I was convinced that they wouldn't dare to actually start a war, not when the Calamity was this close. That meant, I could push the situation until some of the reserve forces were forced to transfer to the border, and ideally, bring some of the Elites away from the breach, allowing Zolast and the rest to take over the breach.

I started slow. Right now, I was at the hunting encampment, gambling … and losing badly.

"Are you sure you want to play more, old man?" one of them said. "You're out of money. How about your weapon?"

I gave the desperate look of a compulsive gambler as I clutched my cards tight. As a man that owned multiple casinos and even more illegal gambling dens, I had seen that expression too many times.

"Not my weapon… How about I put something more valuable as a stake?" I said.

"It needs to be something really valuable —" he started, when I put a beast's tooth on the table. One that was radiating an intense glow of vitality. "Is that the teeth of a Lord Beast?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered. "I'm hoping it is acceptable."

"Did you hunt it yourself," he asked.

"Naturally," I answered, though I did my best to look like I was lying.

"Really? It's a bit old," he said, looking suspicious even before I used my Charisma to trick him further.

"Well, I'm an old man," I answered, then promptly lost that round as well. However, he was suspicious enough to ask for an expert to check the tooth. He thought that to be hidden, but that was not the case.

I lost everything, and soon accrued quite a bit of debt, which was paid off by two more teeth.

In truth, they were the teeth of a shark-like creature. I had worked on them to make them look old, but I had also made some deliberate mistakes.

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A few careless whispers, and a couple of Charisma blasts later, people were convinced that I knew the location of a Lord Beast with some kind of a teeth problem, which I further exacerbated by disappearing for an hour, only to return with two more teeth.

Therefore, when I left the camp in the morning, I had several spies following me, thinking that they had managed to stay hidden, while the camp was already gossiping about the possibility. The first step of my plan was complete.

I moved toward the location of the trap.

The location of the fake hunt was equally critical, as it would be the source of the mobilization. Someone less experienced might have tried to trigger that fake hunt at the border of the no-man's-land between the two kingdoms, hoping that the greed of the nobles would start the desired conflict, but I had decided against it.

Instead, I dragged the spies into a valley, which was not only sufficiently deep in Somaton territory to avoid people doubting Ralum, but also conveniently laid in the disputed territory between the four baronies.

With that in mind, I walked forward, my footsteps on the hard ground echoing sharply. I walked confidently, acting like I was unaware of the multiple spies that followed me.

They did nothing to me even as I found a nice cave with the obvious signs of a large beast. A couple of subtle spells, and some scraps from the Lord Beast was enough to fake the signs of a beast.

A few Charisma blasts to boost their greed didn't go amiss. They stopped following me while I returned to the camp, which was convenient. A combination of Speed and Concealment allowed me to visit several towns to spread gossip about the discovery of the Lord Beast.

People didn't believe it at first, but that was quick to change when they noticed the sudden mobilization of two of the baronies. The other two reacted as well, and before noon, the valley had been cordoned off by the military, while inside, the knights from the four baronies were arguing about who had the right to hunt the beast.

Just like that, the second part of the plan was complete, which allowed the old man to disappear without a problem. I wanted to return to the valley, but first, I went to the other side of the border, and used a couple disguises to visit some of the smaller forts at the border, delivering fake magical messages asking them to stay alert in case of a sudden attack.

Of course, delivering such a fake message was not a trivial achievement. If I had the ability to casually hack into magical communication networks, I wouldn't have to run around recklessly between different spots. I would have just sent a fake mobilization alert from their kings to both armies, and handle the rest.

Those magical artifacts had many safety measures to prevent such a thing. However, Family Yoentia's defenses had a unique problem, that being their young duke trusting Zolast with everything. And, even under the effective exile, the magical encryption keys of their lower-ranking forces were still known to Artmiss. Add in Zolast's incredible magical abilities, and creating that fake message had been trivial.

I didn't try to order them to attack, as it would have been too suspicious. However, turning that particular outpost into a potential powder keg was easy.

Then, as the finishing touch before leaving, I added several ward stones in select locations, which, when triggered, would block the magical communication.

With that, all the elements of the trap were conveniently in place. All that remained was to trigger it.

For that, I sneaked into the valley, dressed in a distinctive black robe, once again ready to show the abilities of an assassin. I couldn't help but remember the exact same trick I pulled back in Town Maell, back when I was trying to get a few mana stones.

Things had changed significantly since then.

The military blockade did not even slow me down as I used my Concealment, and soon, I mixed in with the crowd. The valley was already filled with the forces from four baronies, each carefully exploring the valley while staying alert against each other.

The valley had many beasts, but none of them were strong enough to slow down the combined forces of four baronies. They were slowed down by their own caution, not wanting to miss the imaginary Lord Beast that was supposed to be hiding.

I bypassed them as I went deeper into the valley until I found a nice, large cave; filled with some giant beasts. I dealt with them quickly.

[+5,291 Experience]

[+3,928 Experience]

…

[+4,117 Experience]

Then, I followed with the harder place. I set up a ward first, then used a few small scraps of Lord Beast meat. It was nowhere near to convince the others that I had actually killed Lord Beasts there, but then again, it wasn't necessary.

It just needed to leave enough evidence to look convincing after the explosion.

"Magic is surely convenient," I muttered to myself as I carefully created an explosive ward while I constantly talked with Zolast, making sure that the explosion would look far more impressive than its actual impressive nature.

Then, I went out, using my Charisma to time the arrival of the scout forces. I wanted to be observed by the scouts of the multiple baronies at the same time.

I waited…