- Day 18 -

Promises, lies and Counters

After leaving the Armstrong manor, I warped myself somewhere between the estate and the tavern and began briskly walking in the cold night air. I did this mainly so I could collect my thoughts and adequately think everything out. So far, after all, I’ve only been reacting to moves played against others in a game I wasn’t invited to, nor understood. Now that I do, and now even hold an advantage, I have the opportunity to flip the board on the players completely, and I’m not going to waste it.

With Alexander up to speed and Katharine is preparing to leave with us for the expedition, my next stop should be to see Torrent at the tavern before heading home. I’ll need his help in laying bait for the Edis faction after all, and there’s also a few matters I need his team to look into for me, so he takes priority over bringing everyone else up to speed.

For all I’ve learnt tonight, I can’t say I’m not still without questions, perhaps an even more significant amount than what has been answered. While yes, I do finally have a firm grasp on the game that’s afoot under me, I still don’t fully understand everyone's role or reasons for playing, and the game is only becoming more and more dangerous... For both me and those I’ve come to care about.

Hmm, questions only beget more questions. I wonder who first said that? It couldn’t be more accurate to my situation though, as no matter what I do, I only end up with more questions. For every answer I struggle to obtain, three new questions surface to replace it, it’s maddening! ...But I can’t help but also feel humorous about the whole thing at the same time. I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that I’m enjoying the puzzle.

Anyway, Torrent can help me get some answers, but there’s no denying that I’m going to need more hands if I want to find answers to all my questions… Perhaps also, answers to questions I haven’t yet to even ask.

With an understanding of what I need to do, I warp the remaining distance to the tavern, straight into Torrents teams main room. This action caused quite the scene, scarring the two men sat around the table half to death.

The two men, one of which had jumped back to the far wall while drawing his blade, and the other still laying on his back from having fallen from his chair thanks to my sudden arrival, look to one another briefly.

“…Apologies. Is Torrent around?”

They continue to glance back and forth for a moment, before the first sighs, sheathing his blade before speaking, as I proceed to help the second back to his feet.

“...Aye. I’ll get ‘im.”

“Couldn’t ya have warped outside the room and knocked?”

The first man proceeds out the room as the second one asks. I feel the urge to say ‘Because it’s more fun this way?’ but manage to resist.

“...Too risky. What if someone was standing out there and spotted me. Safer if I just pop straight in. Besides, keeps you all on your toes right?”

“Uh-huh...”

The remaining guy, whose name I don’t know or perhaps don’t remember, picks his chair up and gestures for me to sit. I oblige him while he continues to shuffle around the room, cleaning as he does. As I watch him, waiting on Torrent, I notice a tattoo on the underside of his left arm.

“What’s that, if you don’t mind me asking?”

I ask, curiosity having gotten the better of me. For a moment, the man looked back to me, confused, before realising what I was enquiring about.

“This? It’s a division thing.”

Division? Seeing my confusion, he chuckles with a raised brow.

“Ya know, military? ‘Nother life, before the merc world called to me. The tat’s a sorta brand… Normally keep it covered, not that ‘m shamed of it, just safer that way.”

“Safer?”

“Ya really ain’t from ‘round ‘ere. Black Dogs are infamous in Sinki ya know. We aren’t someone ya wanted to cross paths with, recon wasn’t really our only speciality if yer catch me meaning.”

...A special forces unit? No, more likely an enforcer type unit of some kind based on the ominous name. I can’t help but be a little surprised, though I know I shouldn’t. He’s level 50 and seems quite strong. The average level of most humans around fifteen from I’ve seen so I can believe he’s experienced. I’ve definitely been unfairly judging this Kingdoms military prowess by looking to one man.

“You scaring the boys my liege?”

Torrent enters from the door behind me, bowing as he speaks, and with potent sarcasm on his tongue. The man that went to retrieve him, following ever closely behind, quickly closing the door after entering himself.

“No, well, yes I guess, but not intentionally. And would you quit calling me that, it’s weird.”

The two men whose names I don’t know, both let out a sight chuckle while Torrent takes to the chair opposite me at the other side of the table at the middle of the room. The two men wait for him to sit before taking their own seats on the end of the two beds at opposite sides of the room. I was about to start speaking when I remembered the flickering around Prince Edis and thought better of it. Better to raise a barrier first.

[Vacuum Barrier] (50 MP + (2PI * Radius MP) | 10 MP every 5 minutes)

“Must be important--”

“Better safe than sorry Torrent, though it is as well. A lot happened tonight, and I’ll be leaving for Aslogia on the expedition, hopefully just after dawn--”

I proceed to explain everything that’s transpired through the night to Torrent and his two men. I was impressed to find that they were also aware of Graham losing his job, and of Alexander’s pending deployment to Amaki, though they also only found out tonight. They’ve apparently got a high-level source in the Edis faction who doesn’t really agree with what the faction is trying to do. For a substantial amount of gold, they’re feeding Torrent’s team with information. Torrent doesn’t like only having one source so he’s continuing to look for additional contacts within the castle so information can be better verified before passing on to me.

“How are funds looking?”

“We’re more than fine there, don’t worry about that. The bandits hit Trove’s caravan and seems we were right. Over fifteen-thousand gold was being moved along the roads, and while there were some... complications, the gold is now in our hands--”

“Complications? How so?”

“If you must know, the bandits only managed to kill half the guards at the ambush before the carriage carrying the gold got away. My man on the inside had no choice but to step in before the carriage made it to the nearby garrison. We were going to cut the bandits out completely as they messed up, but as we may need them again with this next hit, we settled on a reduced cut. Leaving us with just over twelve-thousand from this score. Now I know what you’re thinking Boss, but my guys solid. He’ll take his cut and disappear… but should that not be enough--”

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“I’ll trust your judgement on it Torrent. Does William know yet?”

Torrent gives a half smile and slanted nod before answering. I assume that’s to thank me for giving him discretion.

“Possible but unlikely. It only happened a few hours ago and Trove's second caravan still left on time. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to hire a few more men--”

“Do it and keep me informed--”

“Will do… While we’re talking about Trove, I should probably mention that he’s hired assassins. Assassins with the purpose of killing you.”

Well, I’d be lying if I said I was surprised. To be honest, I’m not sure why William waited this long to strike.

“Really? Do we know when or where?”

All three of the men start to chuckle to each other as soon as the words leave my mouth. It must be some private joke I’m not in on. I glance around the room with a blank expression before returning my gaze back to Torrent who silences the laughing upon our eyes meeting by clearing his throat.

“Well, Trove’s been searching for someplace called Aimless Rock. There’s some wildflower that grows there that’s rich in alchemical properties. It looks like he plans to lure you there to have you killed.”

So it seems William did take my bait. I’m pleased about it, but unfortunately, I’m going to have to leave the little weasel until I can back from Aslogia... I’m a little surprised that Torrent--

"But it's actually you that's trying to set him up, right Boss?"

"Oh? What makes you think that?"

Torrent gives an exaggerated laugh while folding his eyes, and the man with the Black Dog tattoo muttered that Jake owes him 10 silver under the bellows of Torrent. I think my eyes must have given it away.

"Okay fine. Yes, I went to see William to plant some false information. I then followed it up by going to the library and getting books on the place and asking around loudly… I’m curious though, how’d you figure it out?"

“Truthfully, we were as fooled as Trove at first. It was only when we learned that it was you that first mentioned Aimless Rock to Trove that we realised what was going on.”

“And how did you come across that exactly?”

“Well, he’s hiring assassins to kill you, we simply signed up for the job.”

My turn to laugh out.

"Oh? Should I be worried?"

“For ten gold kings? No, I think you’re safe, though we did see an opportunity and accepted the job. The man is significantly underestimating you, Boss.”

“Indeed it seems… Well, colour me amused anyway. Unfortunately, this does complicate my plans for young William somewhat, as I don’t plan on exposing your team to Graham--”

Torrent takes a folded piece of parchment from his pocket and places it on the table, gesturing it to me. Curious, naturally I spare no hesitation in accepting the offer and unfold it.

A promise to pay three-hundred gold for my head, with the Trove family seal and his full name and signature… My god, William literally signed his own death warrant!

“I thought that’d please you.”

My face must be betraying my glee for Torrent to say that. You can’t blame me though, I perfectly played him. As a puppeteer and a puppet... Hold up a second, three-hundred gold? Torrent told me it was ten. Oh wait, I get it. Ten gold per person means he hired over thirty people. I guess he’s not underestimating my strength at least.

“More than you know Torrent. Good work, outstanding work indeed! This is all I need to crush the rat. With me leaving the city tonight though, this will have to be put on hold for a while, but this does bring me to the next matter we need to discuss--”

I explain about Ruslant Taylor, the game that’s going on in the city, and some of what I plan to do to win said game. I deliberately leave out some minor details that shouldn’t cause problems and lay out what I need from Torrent.

“So you think he’ll turn someone inside the expedition, most likely someone with command authority, kill Colonel West and blame it on you?”

“Or something invoking treason, yes. There’s a war between my supposed people and this Kingdom’s ally, Requis. With three Princes against me, no one will look closely for facts.”

“I can see that, but your counterplan is… Well, insane Aburi, you know this right?”

“I do, but it’ll work… If you guys can pull off your end--”

“I think we can agree ‘at’s my area Tor, I’ll see it done.”

The man with the tattoo from earlier, who had sat quietly throughout the entire conversation, suddenly spoke up. It’s true that the task I’m requesting would require someone with experience of similar ops, and his skills certainly put him up for the job.

“You sure about this Dillan? Infiltration alone is--”

“I said it’ll be done, it’ll be done.”

I nod to Torrent in approval.

“Very well… I’ll handle setting up a network within the expedition force, and they’ll be wearing the identifier we discussed… Aburi, I hope you know what you’re doing. If it were me, I’d have walked from this--”

“The greater the challenge--”

“The greater the reward? I know the saying, you’re still crazy. There are too many moving parts to it.”

He’s not wrong, but there’s only really two crucial stages to my plan. The majority of it is to limit Ruslant’s moves, something that’s only necessary if Torrent’s team fail the first stage. If they succeed at the first hurdle, all the ‘moving parts’ do is add a smoke screen to what's really going on. My greatest fear in all this is that I’ve overlooked something, but if I keep thinking on my plan, I can always adjust as I go. Wasn’t it, ‘don’t worry about action, only inaction’? As long as I’m constantly listening, thinking and adjusting, this plan will work!

“The key part to all this is Rus and Trove. As long as those parts go as planned, I’ll be able to drag everything else together.”

“...Very well. I assume we keep hitting the caravans--”

“Of course. Bleed the little piggy dry Torrent. Burn his empire to ashes down around him.”

In the grand scheme of things, I guess my attitude regarding William is a little extreme. I don’t know why, but he just invokes wrath in me.

“Righto. Guess I won’t be seeing you for a while, huh? Don’t worry about the girls, we’ll be watching them, and I guess, good luck boss.”

“And to you all as well.”

With the plan in place and nothing left to discuss. I bring the conversation to a close and warp home. The sun is just breaking through into the sky, splashing the horizon with pinky-blue hues that peer around the large darkened clouds. I get the feeling today may be the first time I experience rain in this new world.

As I walk through the main room, I can hear noises coming from the kitchen, indicating the girls are already up preparing breakfast and doing their morning work. I always feel guilty walking in on them doing chores, I mean, every day at the crack of dawn? Do they never want to lay in?

“Oh, Master? You’re up already? Breakfast is still a while off--”

“That’s not a worry, good morning Millie.”

“Something’s wrong. What’s happened?”

Ah, I let a little melancholy at the thought of being away from them all for a while, and I panic Millie.

“No, no, I just... There’s something we all need to discuss, and there’s not much time to do it. I’ll go wake every--”

“I’ll do that Master.”

Kate appears from the stairs leading to the basement. She must have overheard me.

“Very well. Tell everyone it’s important and come to the dining room as quickly as possible.”

She nods, leaving the basket of vegetables on the counter as she heads into the main room.

With nothing to do but wait, I lift the basket and begin washing the vegetables inside. I had expected Millie to tell me off, but instead, she smiles at me warmly upon catching my gaze.

She takes the washed veg piled up beside me and begins chopping them while humming an unfamiliar song to herself. She almost seems to time her movements to it as she goes between the counters and oven. Having finished washing, I decided to join in chopping as well--

“Finely.”

“S-sorry.”

She chuckles at me.

“Master--”

Kate enters and sees me chopping veg.

“Really, I turn my back for a second!”

“Huh? Ah, it’s not what you think, I was just hungry, and Millie was busy, so I decided to cut this thing up to eat--”

“Ah, wait!”

I take a piece of it from the chopping board and throw it into my mouth as Millie seemingly tries to stop me. No sooner does the vegetable touch my tongue do I understand why. I’ve just put a large chunk of something akin to garlic but far stronger into my mouth… My tongue burns and my eyes water.

“Mm…*cough* Tasty *cough*.”

The coughing fit is overshadowed by both Millie and Kate’s balling laughter as I spit out the contents of my mouth into my hand and rush for water. It takes a good six glasses before I can breathe without coughing. I guess this will teach me for trying to lie to Kate huh!

Once Kate regains her composure, she lets me know that she’s woken everyone and told them to assemble in the dining room and she commands that I go do the same. Unable to argue after my shameful little display, I do as I’m told, and sit at the table in my usual seat. I’m not sitting long before Kate appears holding a plate with a sandwich on it.

“Here… Unless you would like more krision instead?”

Said with the purest form of sarcasm.

“No, no. This will do just fine, thank you.”