A few hours later, in the early evening.
As Nate walked to a specific house in the Sect of Hedon while hugging his arms for warmth, he wondered why he had gotten stuck with this duty.
Every month, on a specific day, one of those who were employed by the Sect to handle miscellaneous matters had to stand outside this certain house and make sure that no one entered the vicinity.
It was a boring job, but it paid well. All he had to do was stand, and shoo away the sect members.
If he had known that it was the sect leader who was inside the house overgrown with creepers, he would definitely have taken the job more seriously.
Ashah.e.l.l was kneeling on the ground in front of a painting.
"Photos" weren"t a thing in Angaria, but top-level mages with their amazingly sharp brain could reproduce any sight in minutes on a canvas, provided they were at least a little talented in the area.
In the photo were a smiling couple holding a baby boy, who was wrapped in a red blanket.
Both of them had very proud expressions on their faces, as if they had accomplished something amazing.
The woman had a long face, but she was very pretty.
The man had long, brown hair, which almost looked to be moving due to the way the light fell on the painting through the window.
The house all around looked like it hadn"t been touched in ages, but there wasn"t a single mote of dust anywhere. It was only the creepers outside which were an incongruity, as one wouldn"t be able to make sense of how they had grown so much if someone was taking care of the inside of the house.
With his eyes closed, Ashah.e.l.l thought back to the only happy memories he had of his life.
Rather than happiness, it was the feeling of…having someone who understood him.
As his parents, these two were the only individuals in the world who loved him unconditionally and would have been on his side, together with him, no matter what happened.
However, in a fluke accident during an exploration for a Ker Gem Mine, they had both pa.s.sed away.
Since that day, his solitary life had begun.
This day was his birthday, and his parents had always made a point to celebrate it, no matter which month it was.
Going through his memories, all Ashah.e.l.l saw was him, standing alone.
His training speed and comprehension made it so that he was lauded as the one prophesized to save Angaria, so he always had this halo about him which prevented anyone from getting close to him.
Even if they did, they would soon leave, seeing how despite all the talent, he was just a quiet kid who pined for his parents.
His ambitions, his actions, all construed the image of someone lofty, undeserving of nothing except praise and jealousy.
He could find no one like him, no matter where he looked. So, he just slogged away at his goal all alone, disregarding everything that changed and always ready to do everything that was necessary to help him achieve his goal-to save Angaria.
Usually, he stood this night vigil alone.
However, right now, there was a small painting beside him.
Of the King of Lanthanor.
….
As Percy trudged through the street constantly cursing the heavens for causing everything that had happened to him, he saw the blonde haired kid who was partially responsible for everything that had happened in the cave approaching him.
He knew he shouldn"t blame him, as he had already warned him, but in his state, Percy wasn"t thinking right.
He started to head to the blonde-haired kid by himself, but to his surprise, he saw that the kid was approaching him.
After he reached within earshot, he raised his hand and pointed a finger at him, before opening his mouth to rain down a hailstorm of curses so vile that it would definitely make him cry for his mommy.
However, he suddenly felt woozy for some reason.
His eyes spinning, his finger s.h.i.+fted towards the air before he swooned and landed on the ground.
He could almost swear that he had felt that infernal buzzing briefly again, but that didn"t make sense=the buzzing only came when he was going to sleep.
"Someone help over here! Our respectable senior brother has collapsed!"
This was the last thing he heard, before blackness covered everything in his vision.
Meanwhile, after hearing the shout, a large circle formed around Percy and Daneel, who had run forward and bent to check with "care".
"His breathing is shallow! He might be dying! d.a.m.n that b.a.s.t.a.r.d who caused him to be sleep deprived! It"s all because of that! d.a.m.n him!"
As Daneel repeatedly cursed with pa.s.sion, the medics who had been alerted quickly reached.
It wasn"t safe, usually, to teleport someone sick, as the transfer through s.p.a.ce could exacerbate any existing conditions.
So, it was always best to wait for a medical professional to give the OK.
In Angaria, that meant healers who had studied the human body.
The healer who arrived first was a black-haired woman, who immediately bent and laid a hand on Percy"s forehead.
"He has fainted from exhaustion, but I don"t know if he"s completely all right. He"s ready for transport. Let"s go."
"Miss Healer! Will he be all right!"
"It"s tough to say now."
Leaving these chilling words, the healer teleported away with Percy while everyone watched in shocked silence.
Everything had worked out like it was an orchestrated play, so Daneel was very happy inside.
Fighting the urge to smile, he got up and left in a hurry, as if he was intent on following his senior brother.
Of course, he had been the one to cause the fainting through the system.
It wasn"t easy at all to make such a strong Warrior faint.
However, when said Warrior was already close to pa.s.sing out, all it needed was a…push.
Daneel had just made sure that that push came at the right time.
Panic. All he wanted to cause was panic.
It had already been a few hours since he had eavesdropped, and he had spent them setting everything up for this.
As soon as people started to recover, as if on cue, one sect member shouted, "Guys, head to Clyde"s stall over there! His solution worked, I just took a nap and came here to tell you all!"
This was a true sufferer, who had been given the "cure" by Clyde, the tall member of the Shameless Sect.
He had timed this whole incident to make sure that it coincided with this sect member"s return, and even if he hadn"t exclaimed like this, he would have been manipulated into doing so by Daneel soon enough.
Thankfully, that hadn"t been necessary.
The problem had been created, and it was now time to sell the solution and…profit.
As everyone flocked to Clyde, who had surrept.i.tiously set up his stall at a place quite a distance away so that it would be able to accommodate a large crowd, they were startled when they saw a weird signboard outside.
"500 Ker Gems for the cure. Pay first. If you don"t, I can just give you a fake one."
After seeing the state that Percy had fallen to, all many did was glare before forking out the amounts.
No one carried so many Ker Gems, so they exchanged anything they could: trinkets, contribution points, sometimes even free pa.s.sage in some side business they owned.
Daneel had mainly chosen Eminent and Exalted Warriors, with a few Amateur Warriors thrown in there to avoid suspicion, so that they would have the ability to pay such a sum.
The first one who bought the "cure" actually walked into the jungle and slept there after casting the spell, before coming back out and shouting, "IT"S GONE! IT WORKS!".
After this, he promptly ran back to his room to sleep.
As the boxes started filling up, Daneel left the scene, satisfied.
Other people might steal the "cure" and start selling it soon, but he wasn"t very concerned about such bottom feeders who resorted to piracy.
They were sc.u.m that would lower themselves to do anything anyway, so it was just a waste to try and stop them.
SO, Daneel was only concerned about being the first mover and tapping the market as much as possible-something he had learned back on Earth.
While walking to his room, he was reminded of a certain tech giant which created problems with its products which only it solved, while making a tidy sum in the process.
Where he had used "panic", that tech giant used "need". By making society think that those who owned their products were of a higher cla.s.s, they successfully created the "need" before fulfilling it.
All he could do was try to take hints from such "geniuses".
After reaching his room, Daneel laid down on the bed, trying not to fret about Lanthanor.
He knew that he couldn"t do anything before he got to the tower, but he felt restless.
So, he started pacing back and forth again, while resisting the urge to go count the Ker Gems in the stall even while sales were going on.
….
Meanwhile, in the sky directly above Lanthanor.
2 individuals teleported to a certain location almost at the same time, before looking at each other and nodding.
If Daneel were here, he would have recognized both of them: they were Marcus and the Matron, who had "interrogated" him before.
With panic, the Matron clutched Marcus"s arms and said, "It"s Xuan. She sensed something. She says Angaria is in grave danger, but she can"t get anything else. She says…that all she sees is blood, with not a living soul left on the entire continent."