“Now that we’re aware of all of this, we can assume that the manmade labyrinth that Isaac found to be connected to the dungeon is called ‘Knossos’, and we’ve just obtained a key to it. Any questions?”
After Finn had gathered his thoughts, he had called all of the relevant decision makers and members of the familia to his office, seated them around a huge table and explained to them in detail what had happened just an hour prior. This was too big of a matter to just sweep it under the rug. They all needed to be made aware of it, so they could decide on a course of action.
With an annoyed snort, Bete managed to become the center of everyone’s attention. The unruly Werewolf was leaning backwards on his chair, while his boot-clad feet rested on the table. Riveria had kept nagging him about this behaviour the entire time, but even though her gaze had become progressively more icy, he seemingly just ignored her.
“Isn’t it easy? All these ‘Blades’ in Orario, let’s just wipe them out in one fell swoop.”
His recommendation was met with disappointed silence all around. Only a few, like Tiona, seemed to not be on the same wavelength.
“Huh? That sounds like a good idea to me, so why are you all so gloomy?”
Noticing that the only ones seemingly on board with him were the ones that he liked to call ‘idiots’ every so often, Bete’s expression got worse. Thinking a little more in-depth about what he had said, even he noticed the obvious flaws.
But before he could correct himself, Riveria spoke up, a threatening smirk on her face. After having to endure the Werewolf’s appalling table manners this entire time, she wouldn’t let any chance to scold him slide easily.
“It’s a horrible idea, Tiona. If we attack all of the exposed Blades, we will let whoever they are working for realize that we know a lot more than we should be aware of. If we could completely exterminate the threat at its roots, it would indeed be great to do so as fast as possible, but we don’t have any clear idea of what or who we are even facing.”
Glaring at Bete a little smugly, she continued.
“We are strong, yes. But even here in Orario, the Freya Familia can rival us. Keep in mind, though, that this is only the case as long as we look at exclusively the forces that we know about. There is no way for us to even estimate the threat that an organization that has lain low for so long could pose. Even Evilus almost overwhelmed us back then. While I don’t doubt that we could chase all of the Blades out of Orario, that means that we will only be fighting the symptom, not the cause. We’ll give our enemy a minor flesh wound while letting them become aware of how dangerous we are. An unseen threat is far more tricky to deal with than one that we have knowledge of. The enemy could attack us at any time, and with any amount of manpower. We would have no way to guard against this.”
When she paused for a brief moment, Bete interrupted her, clearly a little desperate to display his smarts. Even momentarily being grouped into the same category as that braindead Amazoness caused him to shiver uncomfortably.
“But isn’t that the case now as well? They can target us with however many forces that they want to muster, at any time. We won’t even know what hit us! Wouldn’t it be smarter to wipe out a part of their personnel first, so that we’ll have an easier time later?”
In response, Riveria just shook her head, mostly out of pity. Talking to muscleheads that didn’t want to listen to her advice always gave her a bit of a headache. Lovely Tiona, on the other hand, was always so obedient. In her eyes, that stark contrast made Bete stick out a lot more unfavourably.
“It won’t matter how many of their men that we deal with now. We have no idea who or where they are, besides the few local Blades branches. The enemy can simply bide their time, build up their forces, and then attack whenever they are fully confident in overwhelming us. Also, we have a huge advantage right now. They aren’t targeting us, only Isaac and his students. Our familia as a whole doesn’t seem to have caught their attention yet.”
Pleased with his Vice-Captain’s analysis, Finn nodded before taking control of the conversation. Even more derailing by the rebellious child of the family wasn’t welcome at the moment. There were bigger fish to fry.
“Exactly. While it won’t hurt to prepare ourselves for potential ambushes, there is no reason for us to be any more on edge than before. Just because we have suddenly gained knowledge about an enemy that has always been present anyway, that doesn’t mean that we should let this change get to our heads. They haven’t acted so far, they didn’t even act back when we were with our backs to the wall six years ago. Unless we mess with them, I can’t see them targeting us.”
Still confused, Tiona raised her hand and, after having been given the okay, stated her question. On the side, Riveria smiled to herself, slightly teary-eyed.
‘She is such a well-behaved child!’
“But Captain, they are targeting Isaac. Doesn’t that mean that they are targeting us? Why else would they come after him?”
Instead of replying to her, Finn looked directly at the man in question. Noticing this, Isaac, who had been staying quiet so far, cleared his throat and took it from here.
“In essence, it’s because I’m growing at a pace that is considered to be ridiculous. You’ve all noticed it, and so have the various forces that observe me and my students. While their growth isn’t too bad, dealing with them is surely meant to either serve as a warning, or to lead me into a trap so that I can be killed off before I can really grow into someone that can threaten them. In other words, I assume that their actions were supposed to bait me. Along the way, they could get rid of my students, who are quite talented as well. It’s a perfect plan, in theory. It’s just too bad that their intel on me wasn’t accurate.”
Even Bete had to acknowledge that Isaac was correct. And after admitting this to himself internally, his face looked like he had just been forced to swallow a handful of bugs…
“We’re stronger than you, though. Why would they focus on specifically you when we’re around as well?”
Isaac’s words hadn’t managed to clear up Tiona’s puzzlement yet, so he continued his explanation.
“It’s because of my growth rate. All of you have taken years to arrive at your current Levels. In that time, the enemy can also have their forces make the same progress, as your growth rates are still considered to be reasonable. It might take others a year or two longer per Level, but most outstanding talents can reach your height with enough support. I, on the other hand, grow too fast. If I’m left to my own devices for too long, then our enemy fears that I will grow too strong for any of their people to catch up with. Should that happen, all of their plans would be for naught. So the one that they are cautious of isn’t the current me, it’s the potential future me.”
Realization sparkled in the Amazoness’ eyes and she nodded. It all made sense now.
With this question dealt with, Finn moved on to the next point on the agenda.
“All of you now understand our exact situation, so what do you propose that we should do? Do any of you have any ideas?”
Judging that this meeting had already taken long enough, Isaac raised his hand, intending to lay out his plans. Should nobody have a better idea, they all would be able to leave soon, which would enable him to deal with the enemy more swiftly.
Only after Finn gave him the go-ahead did Isaac begin to speak.
“I propose for the familia to do nothing besides preparing itself to be ready to defend or move out in force whenever necessary. Supplies should be stocked up on, everyone’s equipment should be upgraded as much as can still be considered to be affordable. At the same time, the familia should keep up an image of everything being normal. As an excuse for the purchases, ‘preparations for a future expedition’ should work out. The important part is to not let outside observers suspect anything.”
Before he could be showered with criticism for his, so far, lackluster plan, Isaac finally got to the point.
“Now comes the important part. I will wipe out the Daedalus Street base of the Black Blade by myself. I’ll do it in a manner which will clearly show that I’m not too aware of what I’m dealing with, and that I only retraced the assailants’ steps by sheer luck or coincidence. It could also lead the enemy to believe that one of their people slipped up and mentioned their goddess when assured of their victory. That way, they will think that aside from the Black Blade and the existence of the White Blade, I don’t know about anything else. Also, they won’t scrutinize the familia too closely, as I will act solo. My actions will only attract enmity to myself, while making it seem like I don’t fully trust the familia - after all, why else would I refuse to ask for your help? Instead of thinking that I’m foolish, our enemy is bound to assume that I’m too risk-averse to rely on others for important matters. This will make it seem like I’m quite easy to trap as well.”
A bit perplexed, Riveria couldn’t help but ask for clarification on a matter. Wasn’t his plan almost pointless?
“But aside from setting yourself up as even more of a target, what use does all of this have? Even if you do nothing, you will continue to be the one that they are after.”
With a mischievous smile on her lips, Loki joined the discussion for the first time since it had begun. She preferred for her children to figure out things by themselves, and only if they were stuck or asked her direct questions would she usually intervene… or, well, for her own amusement. As a veteran schemer, she had long since realized the crucial point of what Isaac had proposed.
“You’re wrong, Riveria. His real goal is Petbe. If we can get our hands on her, we can attempt to extract information from her. Don’t you worry, we gods have our own methods to deal with our kin~ I can’t promise that they will work, but they’re worth a shot. Aside from that, the mansion in Daedalus Street is bound to contain at least a little bit of important information.”
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Smirking to himself, not the least bit surprised at having been figured out, Isaac took a sip from his glass of water and nodded.
“Loki is right. I’m certain that we can learn a lot more about who we are up against by doing this. Actually, my plan isn’t too different from Bete’s. It will still result in the enemy becoming aware that they were exposed to a certain extent. To be honest, ever since the Black Blade’s unsuccessful attempt on my students’ lives, they are bound to have grown at least a little alert, although they most likely will look at the other Blades for the culprit first. The only reason as to why I think my plan will work out better than Bete’s is because I’m sure Petbe would take her life to return to Heaven should all of you attack her familia at once. When it’s just me alone, she will most likely underestimate me a bit. At the very least, she should be confident in escaping. I’m completely certain that I can restrain her and keep her alive. Then, once we know who we’re up against, we can prepare. Dragging the confrontation out for too long, at least for myself, has never been an option. Now that I and my people were targeted, there is only one possible fate for them: Extinction.”
Bete couldn’t help but sneer at this arrogant finish.
“Tough words, huh? But can you live up to them?”
All of a sudden, a cold shiver ran down his spine. Isaac was looking at him with a saintly smile that seemed to radiate all of the benevolence in the world. It was legitimately terrifying. It didn’t matter how strong he was, the reaction was instinctual.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
The Werewolf wasn’t the only one who had his doubts about Isaac’s claim, but the rest kept quiet about it. Calling him out for his bragging would only lead to conflict, which they weren’t all too eager to have.
In an effort to defuse the situation and to bring this meeting to an overdue end, Finn stood up and addressed the entire group. He and Isaac had actually already discussed the plan that the latter had just proposed beforehand, and they had decided to share it with the others only as a matter of formality. Both of them had worked out the few initial kinks in it and optimized it during the half an hour or so that they had had to wait for everyone else to arrive. Some of the details weren’t even mentioned, and only the two men were aware of them.
“I can’t come up with a feasible plan that is better than this. We might not like it, but the fact is that there is an antagonistic organization out there, with unknown plans currently in motion. No matter what we do, we will draw their ire at some point. If we follow this plan, we will both earn more intelligence and will manage to drag out the eventual conflict a little, by making the enemy focus on Isaac alone for a time. Our peace will have a deadline, and we should all do our best to grow stronger in the meantime. Ais, can you bring us Executives to the 58th floor for a few hours every day? We need to accumulate as much excelia as we possibly can.”
As she had far, far more AP than she could even imagine ever spending, Ais nodded her head. It would only take her mere moments to teleport everyone down there, so it wasn’t a big deal. Confusion was plastered all over Bete’s face, but nobody bothered to explain anything to him. He wasn’t exactly known for his brains, so as long as he could contribute his brawns to the cause, it would be good enough.
“Isaac, how long do you think it will take for you to join us down there? I need to know for how long Ais and Tiona will be unavailable.”
Hearing the Captain’s question, Isaac shrugged helplessly.
“I told you all that I don’t need bodyguards in the first place, but nobody wanted to believe me. But fine. If I take into account my current pace, the time that I will need to deal with the Black Blade and some other matters… four days in total. I should be very close to or already at Level 5 by then.”
CLATTER.
“W-What!? Impossible!”
This preposterous declaration caused Bete to fall off his chair, completely flabbergasted. He refused to believe the words that he had just listened to.
“It’s not, I’m about to enter the 43rd floor tomorrow. If I were to focus solely on the dungeon, it wouldn’t even take this long. But alas, there are always more important things to deal with.”
Isaac’s follow-up just served to make Bete sweat bullets. He suddenly had a weird feeling in his heart, one that he had briefly felt before. That one year challenge… wasn’t he really just digging his own grave? There were still about eleven months left, just how strong would this monster have become by then!?
A heavy gulp later, he got up on his feet again and eyed Isaac cautiously, a hint of pleading in his gaze.
“About that one year thing… how about we change it to two months and have our spar then? You should be confident in being able to win by then, right?”
Even though Bete did his best to suppress the fear within his voice, everyone else still clearly picked up on the slight trembling. Back when he had challenged Isaac, he hadn’t directly stated that they would fight each other, but both of them had understood exactly what had been written between the lines.
Isaac shook his head exaggeratedly and a ‘pained’ sigh escaped his lips.
“No can do. I would be ashamed of myself if I were to do something as dishonest as to go back on my word.”
‘Who are you kidding, you just want to give me a more painful beating!!’
Bete almost popped a vein at hearing this blatant lie. He felt a bit tempted to slap some sense into Isaac right then and there, but he didn’t dare to. If he killed him, he could avoid humiliation - but he wouldn’t live much longer, as Ais would undoubtedly slay him in her rage. Even that idiotic Amazoness would join her. And if he lashed out at Isaac in a non-lethal manner, then he would have to prepare for an even worse fate in the future. Maybe it would be smarter to not cause any more friction and to suck up to him…
Right when he caught himself thinking along these lines, Bete got really angry at himself. Wouldn’t such behaviour mean that he would act just like a cowardly weakling!? So what if he had to suffer more in the future? He would welcome this fate with open arms. He wouldn’t back down in fear, and give his absolute best to shrink that inevitable gap!
Noticing the confident and resolute glint that appeared in the Werewolf’s eyes, Isaac silently nodded to himself with a playful smirk.
‘It’s good to see that he’s motivated. If he becomes stronger, then he can deal with some of the small fry in Ais’ and my stead.’
-----
In an underground room fashioned to look like a temple, a heartthrob-inducing middle-aged man was sitting on a throne made out of monster bones. While the corpses in the dungeon disappeared, all of the monsters that wandered the outside world left behind their bodies after their demise - it wasn’t especially difficult to gather their bones. These ones, however, weren’t just any bones. The entire throne was fashioned out of massive, especially resilient bones that had to have belonged to a beast many times larger than the members of the sentient races.
The man’s cloudy, grey eyes glimmered in annoyance and his black eyebrows were furrowed. His hair and beard were masterfully trimmed and relatively short, so as to not get in the way. He wore embroidered monster fur armour and various jewelry. It seemed like he wanted to hit the sweet spot in between a warrior and an affluent noble - and with the bit of Divine Aura that he was exuding introduced to the mix, he succeeded splendidly.
“So you’re telling me to cower in front of a moderately strong brat, Ivan?”
Shivering panickedly, the same white robed young man whose life Isaac had spared to send a message shook his head. His god was known to not have the best temper, so he truly didn’t want to be doing this. But… what other choice did he have? That man, he had been even more terrifying! He didn’t want to face him as an enemy, no matter what!
“Lord Vidar, don’t shoot the messenger! If I hadn’t agreed to these terms, then I wouldn’t have had a chance to make it out alive, and to let you know how dangerous this Mr. Blackshaw is! We need to carefully consider how to handle him before making any rash moves.”
The frown on Vidar’s face only deepened. The words of this Executive of his were simply a disappointment. Had he failed in raising him? With a sigh, the god glanced at his Captain, Esja. Although only the area around her eyes wasn’t covered by the white uniform, her unconcealable curves would make any observer certain that she was a stunner underneath those robes. When contrasted by the emotionless eyes and the constant cold killing intent, though, most people would be smart enough to keep their eyes to themselves.
“Ivan will be on house arrest for a month, to clear his head. In the meantime, try to find an opportunity to get rid of those kids. Make doubly sure that the Blackshaw brat isn’t around, as he could pose a bit of a danger, even to you.”
Wordlessly, Esja bowed slightly and turned around. A moment later, she was already at Ivan’s side, grabbed his collar and proceeded to drag him outside of the room.
In a last-ditch effort to avoid disaster, Ivan held onto one of the floor tiles and gazed up at his god in genuine terror.
“You are underestimating him too much! Even the Captain won’t stand a chance. If you mess with him, we’ll all be doomed!”
Really disgusted by this unsightly behaviour, Vidar’s expression darkened further.
“It seems like he has formed a shadow in your heart. I didn’t expect for your mind to be so fragile, my child. You are truly a disappointment. Do you have no confidence in me? Even if he were to be a Level 5 already - which is impossible - Esja could still kill him. I have already overestimated him as much as I could, even warning her to be careful although I’m personally convinced that he won’t be a threat. You, on the other hand, are simply being irrational. A man intimidates you a bit and you turn into a coward? Out of my sight, fool! Esja, he’ll have three months of house arrest. From today on, Ivan, you will be stripped of your title as Executive. In the future, until you redeem yourself, you’ll only be doing menial tasks!”
Following a wave of Vidar’s hand, Esja dragged Ivan’s body even more forcefully, causing him to lose his grip. In less than a minute, he found himself in a pitch-black room without any furniture.
The ground, walls and ceiling were made from smooth and cold stone. His Captain hadn’t even said a single word this entire time and thrown him in here like a sack of garbage. What hurt even more than the bruises was the feeling of helplessness. Hiding his eyes behind his hands, a silent sob escaped the young man’s lips while tears slowly dripped down his cheeks.
‘I know that I sounded like a nutjob, but my gut is telling me to avoid that man at all costs! I had hoped that Lord Vidar would at least take some time to rethink the Blade’s course of action, giving me more opportunities to convince him… What am I supposed to do now? I don’t want to die!’
-----
Just a few hundred meters from the Petbe Familia’s mansion, a relatively tall young man strolled through Daedalus Street. To any observer, it was obvious that he had a clear goal in mind, as he didn’t even hesitate whenever he needed to choose between different alleyways to proceed forward. He was fully clad in expensive, high-Level adventurer attire and wore a gentle smile on his face. His blue-green eyes, however, blazed with anger. A black leather sheath hung from his belt, while one of his hands was positioned next to the therein contained sword’s grip, ready to pull it out at a moment’s notice.
On one of the surrounding rooftops, a person fully clad in a black robe, his face mostly hidden behind a veil, almost doubled over in shock when he noticed this ‘passerby’.
‘Isaac Blackshaw? Why is he here!? I need to inform Lady Petbe as quickly as possible!’
Once Isaac realized that the observer disappeared from his spot and ran in the direction of his target, his expression didn’t change. Inwardly, however, he was quite pleased with himself, as everything went according to plan so far.
Without turning his head, he used his Eyes of Hermes to look at a certain spot on a different rooftop, where a figure clad in a green cloak was located - and clearly a bit shaken.
‘Even though I said that I’d be doing this alone, it would be a real shame if I didn’t invite an audience to the show.’