"Nothing. First things first, I"ll be going back to the Sect of Hedon. How"s Travis doing?"
As Daneel asked this after coming out of his thoughts, the Watcher actually smirked before saying, "See for yourself."
After he uttered these words, a door on one side of the room, whose grooves were hidden, opened to reveal a comfortable room, complete with a bed.
As Daneel glanced inside, he saw a bookshelf and a blonde-haired kid enthusiastically poring over a particular book.
Beside him was a cloth bag, in which Daneel could see s.h.i.+ning Ker Gems.
As he raised an eyebrow at the Watcher, the bodyless man chuckled and said, "What can I say? I took a liking to him! If it weren"t for the oaths he swore to the Sect of Hedon, I might even have taken him under my wing to groom him as the next Watcher. I like the way he sucks up to me, so I"m allowing him to read through some of my experiences of training to become a Champion. He won"t remember any of this anyway, when we decide to erase his memory and send him back to the Sect."
As the Watcher said the last sentence, Daneel senses sadness in the man"s tone.
Why was he feeling sad?
As Daneel wondered this, he saw the Watcher turn towards the door, which appeared to be the type where the person inside wouldn"t be able to know if someone were looking at him from the outside.
Noticing the way he saw the kid, Daneel understood after a few seconds.
Loneliness.
It was actually a loneliness that was similar to what he had felt from Ashah.e.l.l.
It seemed that every Champion level individual he met was lonely for some reason or the other.
It was a known fact that the path to power was a solitary one, and that an individual had to be prepared to spend a lot of time alone if they wanted to reach the peak.
Back on Earth, he had been a loner, but Daneel had gotten used to company after being on Angaria for so long.
Whether it be the stoic Robert, the loving Mary, the enthusiastic and shy Eloise, the ever-loyal Kellor or the understanding Faxul, he loved spending time with them, and couldn"t imagine living for so long that they would all return to dust, while he might still be moving forward, with no one near to talk to.
This was why those who had life companions on their path to power were considered very lucky, but usually, the problem was that those with the fort.i.tude to reach the peak either as a Champion or a Mage would have very individualistic personalities, making it hard to sustain a relations.h.i.+p for a long time.
Hence, true relations.h.i.+ps between those on the path to power which lasted against the test of time were rare and treasured.
Daneel had almost gone crazy when he had had to spend just 3 months in complete isolation. How could he even imagine living in that way for years, or even decades?
Besides, he wasn"t someone who could quickly build relations.h.i.+ps.
Should he seriously start considering the offers from Eloise or Sister Xuan?
As this question appeared in Daneel"s mind, he shook his head before being surprised at the route his thoughts had taken just by seeing the sad gaze of the Watcher.
Well, he did understand the man.
So, getting an idea, Daneel asked, "Do you want to find a way to rid him of his oath so that he can become your disciple, if he wishes?"
As if the Watcher had heard his wish being uttered, he turned towards Daneel with a hopeful expression at first, before it turned into a neutral one due to realizing just how impossible of a task that was.
Noticing this, Daneel said, "I"ll see if it can be done. Anyway, I"ll be going back to sect. The Mad Doctor is also a part of it, and I plan to go kill the ones he wants to send after me before they prepare and start planning to kill me. Also, I"ll keep looking for ways to incriminate Ashah.e.l.l. I"ll contact you if I need anything."
"Pulling out the weeds before they sprout! Good idea, kid, but be careful. Your safety should come first. Good luck. And don"t bother about the oath thing. If it"s meant to be, it"ll happen."
Nodding and waving at the Watcher, Daneel teleported away after checking that all was well with the Hidden Kill Sect.
Contracts were coming in at a steady pace, and Daneel had already told Luther to try to reject contracts that targeted good, innocent people as much as possible.
Luther also seemed to be doing a great job of managing the sect, and it looked like the help from Skrrag was instrumental.
After leaving, Daneel took out the communication trinket that had vibrated when he had been talking to the Watcher.
Initially, his plan had been to spend a little more time in Lanthanor to launch another of his grand plans which would go a long way in mimicking one of the most effective means of propaganda on Earth to achieve the effect of building support and goodwill for him on Angaria.
On Earth, there were at least a host of regulatory boards and experienced people to notice the effects that entertainment channels had on people, and these people would fight and bring attention to such attempts.
On Angaria, as there was no such thing and no such people, Daneel had a free rein, and he intended to make full use of it so that when the time came, things would move smoothly.
However, this plan had changed after the realization that the communication trinket that had vibrated was the one that he had given to Percy.
If the kid was contacting him, then it meant that he must have some information about where the Mad Doctor was storing those disgusting cretins.
Hence, Daneel had announced this plan and left.
After reaching a point halfway beneath the Hidden Kill Sect and Lanthanor, Daneel teleported into the air and contacted Percy.
"Master! I can"t stay outside for long. Please come quickly! I"ve completed your a.s.signment, but my father is acting very suspiciously!"
Hearing the urgent tone in Percy"s voice, Daneel quickly changed into the disguise of Master Novrain before heading to the same meeting place as before.
However, before he reached, he carefully used the system to check if there was a trap waiting for him.
Although he was impatient to get Ashah.e.l.l acquitted for his crimes, he had already learnt from his mistakes so far that hastiness would only lead to ruin.
So, after checking that it was just Percy pacing around with a worried expression on his face, Daneel appeared in front of him silently before saying, "What did you mean by "suspicious"?"
Startled, Percy almost tripped and fell before righting himself and saying, "Greetings, Master! Regarding that, something has recently occurred in our Central Tower. Yesterday, the Tower was sealed and all those inside were thoroughly interrogated. After that, all the Champion level elders in the Sect have been hurrying here and there with worried expressions on their faces."
"What does this have to do with your father being suspicious of you?"
"I was getting there, Master. 2 days back, I begged my father to take me to where elder brother and the others are. I had gone through some…events, and I was very pitiful, so I used that opportunity to appeal to his sane side. Luckily, he agreed, and as we discussed, I placed a locator trinket there covertly, in a place where no one would ever be able to find it. His "suspicion" started with that event I told you about in the Central Tower, and because I don"t know what other reason he could have, I think it might be me. He threw me out while shouting that "Nowhere is safe"."
Hearing this, Daneel was quite surprised to see that two events instigated by him had led to him finding the location of those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.
First, he had targeted Percy using his scams, which had allowed the kid to use his pitiful appearance.
Second, he had caused Ashah.e.l.l"s plan to fail, and the repercussions must have ticked off the Mad Doctor, as someone had infiltrated the Central Tower and poisoned the tea.
Daneel knew that the suspicion was definitely not on Percy, but he couldn"t tell the kid the same.
However, he decided to use the opportunity to bluff.
"Don"t worry, kid. I"ll protect you if you"re outside even if that Mad Doctor tries to kill you. Great job with the trinket. After the deed is done, you"ll get your reward."
Percy"s face lighted up when Daneel said these words, while Daneel scoffed inside that he was only saying this because he knew for sure that the Mad Doctor wouldn"t come after Percy right now.
"Thank you, Master! Here is the accompanying trinket. Please ask eldest brother to be careful."
Handing over a small b.u.t.ton-shaped trinket, Percy bowed before disappearing, and his last words indicated that he was trying to show his intelligence.
Chuckling lightly, Daneel switched disguises before heading to the Sect of Hedon behind Percy.
Coincidentally, they both entered the Sect at the same time, but Percy was too busy praising himself for a job well done to notice Daneel.
Getting back to his dormitory, Daneel noticed that things did seem stricter, and although it meant that his next mission was going to be harder, he looked forward to it.
The items were definitely inside the Central Tower, and there was no way that he was going to acc.u.mulate and pay another 10,000 Ker Gems to enter it.
So, it was time to use true corruption to worm his way into the upper echelons of the sect, while waiting for an opportunity where he could be sure that the Mad Doctor wasn"t around so that he could go pull out those proverbial "weeds" before they sprouted.