Chapter 224: Greed
Ryder took Rale into the hotel room to prepare for some things and to share the plan with Rale.
" So, Rale. I need you to kidnap the Princess of this kingdom. The same girl that we just saw," Ryder told Rale as he sat on the bed.
"I"ll be right back with her," Rale nodded his head as he prepared to leave.
"No, don"t be in a hurry. First, listen to the whole plan. We"re going to follow the plan I like to call the Knight in s.h.i.+ning Armor. I need to save the Princess and attract her goodwill to become her hero. Ryuk had already taken the lead, and I can only overtake him if I save her personally from a life-threatening danger," Ryder said to Rale.
" You need to kidnap her in stealth without anyone finding out. Also, no one! Not even the Princess himself should see you fly. We can"t expose ourselves. Your ident.i.ty as a Demon needs to stay hidden," he added.
"Understood."
Rale didn"t even take a second before he agreed.
"I know how fast you are, so don"t start now. You remember the path we came from when we were coming from the city, right? I"ll be there, pretending as if I"m leaving the city since I already got the treasure of the Dungeon. That"s when I"ll see you running towards me with the Princess. I will stop you and save the Princess by defeating you. You"ll run away after that."
"Everything will depend on your acting. I was hoping you wouldn"t make it too obvious that you"re not attacking me in reality. Your acting needs to be convincing. So we need to plan how we will do that and what skills we"ll use. We need to be in sync as the villain and a hero," Ryder explained to Rale.
"I understand that, but may I ask one thing?" Rale asked as he nodded his head.
"Sure, Go ahead," Ryder let out.
"Does Your Highness like that girl?" Rale inquired.
"Hmm, I guess you can say that. That girl will be pretty important to me if things go right," Ryder answered.
"Then why don"t we just kidnap her and take her to the Demon Realm. There is no way she can deny being with you. We don"t need to do this trickery. I don"t wish to harm Your Highness accidentally," Rale said with a concerned look on his face.
"Don"t worry about this. There won"t be any danger to me. I"m sure you"ll be able to control your attacks. Even if you do attack me seriously, I still have my ways to survive," Ryder said with a casual smile on his face.
Rale was about to open her mouth to say something, but Ryder started talking again.
"As for the girl, we can"t take her in the Demon Realm. I need her to stay here. I want to establish my foothold in this kingdom for something that I"m planning in the future. I want her to help me willingly. We can"t do anything that might attract her hate towards me," Ryder said.
" Something in the future? Foothold in this kingdom? Is His Highness trying to take over the whole world in the future? Amazing. Such ambitions. This would definitely make our Demon Realm stronger," Rale though as he nodded his head in appreciation. He misunderstood Ryder"s intentions.
Ryder spent the next half an hour clearing up the details with Rale. They talked about how they will perform the fight, and his Rale would run away and many more things.
"Also, you need to change your clothes and wear a mask to hide your face since some players saw you with me. Get ready. I"ll leave first since you"re much faster than me. I"ll be outside the city near that forest. You can start your work after half an hour," Ryder said after he finished explaining.
He stood up and left a normal mask on the ground for Rale before he left the room.
[You have come with a Scheme against the Princess of Tiara Kingdom]
[You have gained a t.i.tle: Fraud Player]
[Would you like to unequip the Main t.i.tle: Salem"s Successor and equip the t.i.tle: Fraud Player?]
Ryder saw a notification flash before his eyes that talked about him gaining a t.i.tle as he left the room.
"Fraud Player? Is this supposed to be a prank, Maya?" Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.
He did remember that he had lied to Maya before, but he was sure that even though she was the Divinity A.I, she didn"t know that. It was probably the new feature that Divinity activated, which kept an eye on the Player"s action to give them rewards, Quests, and t.i.tles. It also informed them much more regularly about any new updates.
"The t.i.tle seems useless. Only an Idiot will unequip Salem"s Successor," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.
He still decided to read about the t.i.tle and what it offered.
[ t.i.tle: Fraud Player]
[Description: t.i.tle is given to the player that use scheme against Royalties of Divinity]
[ Effects: Charm: +50]
"So it increases the charm. It can be useful in getting the Princess on my side. It is not that bad, after all. Even though it might help me, I"m in no need of this at the moment. I"m sure my plan will work the way it is. If there is a problem, I"ll unequip Salem"s Successor and equip Fraud Player for a short time," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.
He didn"t use the new t.i.tle that he gained and kept the old one.
Ryder left the hotel room and started walking towards the exit of the town.
He still had his mask activated to show a different face again. This face was different from the one he showed Max and the others. His scheme was to confuse as many people and have them understand that he had an item that helped him change face to separate his real life from divinity. He was also carrying his Moon Scythe in his hand to let as many people as possible see him and recognize him as Hades.
"Wait, Doesn"t that look like the Moon Scythe if Hades? Could it be that he is Hades?" One of the Players asked as he pointed towards Ryder.
"You"re right. That scythe matches the description. He"s definitely Hades! We finally met him!" Another player said.
"That person has so many rare treasures! If we can kill him, we might be able to get the treasures!"
"True, He has most of the top treasures in the treasure rankings. Our life would be set if we get the treasures! If I can sell a single treasure to someone rich, I"ll become a millionaire!" another player let out.
"Don"t be mad! Didn"t you see his level in the level ranking? Last time I checked, that dude was close to level 70! We"re not even close to level 30! He"ll kill us instantly!" One player said in a concerned tone.
"Don"t be an idiot! We can definitely take him on if all the players here join up! Don"t worry about anything! The bigger someone is, the harder they fall! Have faith! We"ll take him on with numbers that are on our side. He"s just a solo player," Another Player said.
" Alright."
"That"s right!"
"We can do it!"
"For the treasures!"
"Let"s take him on!"
All the players agreed one after another.
Ryder had already noticed their greedy looks, so he knew what they were planning to do, but he ignored them. He knew that he could use them to spread out his fame to deter others in the future. His treasures were a big attraction to other players, and he knew that there would always be crazy people who would come after him for that. Only by increasing his notoriety, he could deter them.
In the last timeline as well, the same thing had happened.
Many players targeted the top players for their treasures.
Most of the top players chose a different approach.
While Lucifer straight away slaughtered the ones that came after his treasures, Darkness chose the different route. Darkness was almost impossible to find, and whenever someone found Darkness, they lost the trail.
There were some players that let their guild deal with them while some players chose another route. Most of the top players didn"t kill as much as Lucifer since they wanted to maintain their reputation on the broadcasts that the channels showed in the future. Lucifer and a few others were the only ones that didn"t care.
Ryder kept walking in the direction where he came from and left the city.
[You have left the Safe Zone. There will be no penalties for killing other players]
"I know that much," Ryder muttered as he ignored the notification.
He continued walking. After walking for another hundred meters, Ryder stopped.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ryder let out loud as he turned back.
He saw hundreds of players standing behind him.