"Now tell me why did you not let me stop their meeting?"
"I pick an impossible mission against the expectation of everyone, and then a few hours later they send their best man to get something out of me. All for it to fail. Then they see me going out and making orders for a weapon, some weird components and ordering a customised Whizz board. Not to mention getting 2 stinky blankets from beggars to be made into a cloak.
From all this what would you assume if you were in the emperor's shoe?" Dexter thought for a while before replying.
"So, he wants Ellis to work for them, to spy on you and see what your plan is?"
"Something like that" I said as Dexter frowned.
"Those two factions are really paranoid now. Whatever I do, they think I am doing it with a purpose and plan. They want to know why I want the weird components, the cloak made out of stinky blankets etc.
They would have examined those things and see what I was planning to do with them, only to find nothing odd about them except for those weird component orders I made.
They would definitely like to know how those things will help me with my assignment. If they know what I am planning to do with at least one of the items then it will help them sabotage whatever I am going to do." I elaborated to Dexter.
"So, Ellis will be their eyes where they can't reach you inside the grey zone?"
"Yes."
"But why didn't you let me stop them? And why did you make me send those 2 after him?" Dexter asked again.
"I could have stopped the meeting with Ellis but that would mean I would just delay the inevitable. They would just contact him another time, if they can't do it now."
"We could have arranged necessary measures for that then." Dexter replied back
"I know you could do that, and they know you could do that. What would you do when all your plan fails at sabotaging your enemy? You would attempt desperate measures. They would have delayed my orders purposely or sabotaged the orders I made for my weapon, Whizz board, components and cloak. This would mean when I use them I could be in serious danger.
I would rather they meet him under a controlled environment where we have absolute control of everything."
"What do you mean?" Dexter asked in surprise.
I took out a few small cuboid devices from my pocket and held it open in front of Dexter. Seeing this Dexter was astonished at what I did.
"When did you bug him?"
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Hearing the calm knocking I stopped training my sword arts as I walked towards the door and opened it.
Seeing his highness in front of me I got nervous as I had disobeyed his order of resting.
His highness he looked at me for a few moments before walking inside my room and looking around.
Seeing my sword on the floor along my sweaty body he understood what I was up to.
"I told you to rest Ellis. I know my food is the perfect training material for anyone but what are you trying to achieve by mindlessly training day and night. Take it slow. I told you I would get those guys to you one day." His highness said as he walked towards my bed and sat down.
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"I am sorry your highness, but I have to get stronger, not only to protect you but for my own personal goal." I replied as I thought about the game realm.
Shaking his head Prince John replied "Does it matter if you even take a single day of rest? All I said was just take a rest for this single day. It's a good thing I came to check up on you on my break. Finish off your training in 1 hour and go to sleep."
Prince John stood up after he ordered me, as he took the plates from the table where I had my meal with him. "Your highness let me." I said as I went up to take the plates from his hand.
"Just finish your training and go back to sleep. I am going to the kitchen anyway so might as well take this. Besides I don't need an extra person to carry 3 plates." He said as he stopped me.
His highness walked out as he closed the door behind him.
His highness was an unusual person.
From the stories, I have heard, and the people I have seen from the academy I know for a fact nobles hate doing the trivial task even such as picking up litters right in front of them, or cleaning their plates. They would get their servants to do those kind of work for them.
But his highness is the kind of person who does the opposite of what a stereotypical noble does. He doesn't live in a fancy house, surrounded by maids, servants. He could care less about formality. He wouldn't abuse his authority unlike certain pieces of scums.
To be honest to myself Prince John is the most humble noble or Prince I had ever seen. If I hadn't seen him I would have thought all Nobles were pieces of trashes.
I sighed as I picked up my sword as I carried on practising.
As I was wrapping up my training I heard another series of knock. I sighed 'Did his highness not trust me enough that I would stop after 1 hour?'
I went and opened the door expecting his highness to stand there only to see an old man standing in front of me grinning.
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"If you were going to bug him what was the point of delaying him with Maximus and Titus?" Dexter asked as he took the devices from my hand to watch the recordings himself, while looking at me curiously. The real question he wanted to ask me was held back as I saw him reigning in his excited expression.
"Tell me how easy is it for you guys to spot a bug?" I asked back.
"Usually very easy if we look for them actively." He replied while waiting for me to answer the unasked question
"Now if it were you, would you check for bugs before going into a secretive meeting?" Dexter nodded in reply.
Suddenly something seemed to have clicked as Dexters suddenly smiled and exclaimed. "So that was it! Those two were distractions."
"Not only distractions but they were there to cause a sense of urgency in him. Along with the guards and possible you coming after him. He had 10 minutes with delaying Maximus and Titus, but with reinforcement and you searching for him, you guys would have gotten to Ellis' room in 2 minutes. This meant he would have had no time to check for bugs, in fact he would have forgotten to check for the bugs in his rush, to get everything done as he sensed the incoming reinforcement."
"Brilliant plan. But there is something you missed out. If that old man had felt extremely under pressure he would have taken Ellis somewhere calm and quiet before explaining everything to him. To be honest, your plan succeeding was by pure luck, John." He smiled as he shook his head.
I smiled back as I replied, "Do you know what the old man's only mistake was?"
"What mistake?" Dexter became intrigued at what I suddenly asked him.
"The first and last mistake the old man did was coming before me and letting me read him like an open book.
When you lie sometimes mixing it with truth will make it more believable. Likewise, when that old man first came to me wearing a mask he partially revealed part of his true face to me to make me believe in his personality. And using that small gap as a keyhole I opened into his true self and read everything I can about him.
Let me tell you this there is currently no one in the empire who can probably read him like I do, to the point where I know to give the exact amount of pressure for him to do exactly what I want."
Dexter's smile stiffened as he heard my reply. Slowly fear and terror crept into his eyes before he restrained it. He probably wondered if I read him as I did for Albert.
"I know exactly how much time I should give him under pressure for me to make sure everything is under control. And besides, I rather have them play in my game where I can set the rules rather than outsmarting them in their game, where they set the rules.
Even if he had taken Ellis somewhere that would have failed his mission. They wanted to do this mission as secretly as possible, without letting anyone know Ellis will be their eyes. If he had taken Ellis somewhere, he would know that you and I would become aware of his plan, therefore not trusting Ellis when he comes back.
He could do it now and get it done with, without alerting anyone or he could have done it later in my store when I wasn't checking on Ellis but having to evade the 360 degrees of surveillance from agents of all factions surrounding my store, which meant having a higher chance at failing.
To him, it was now or never moment."
I kept my smiling face up as I finished off by saying "So, it is and was game over since the very moment the ball came into my court."