"Something feels…off."
Hoisting the short plow in his hands onto his shoulder, Raul said this and stopped, making those behind grind to a halt.
Their cover was that he owned a farm in Lanthanor, and that these 20 were the help that he had hired from outside the Kingdom.
From the beginning itself, this plan had faced obstacles that made Raul appreciate just how…creative the King was.
He hadn"t paid too much attention to the ID system before, but now that he did, he saw that there was practically no way to defeat it unless he enlisted a bonafide formation master.
Each ID was bound to an individual by blood. Even a camouflage technique would only change the outward appearance, making it so that if someone did carry out a search, the mechanism of the ID where it would stand out if it was not in the proximity of the person it was tied to would result in them being caught red-handed.
As for trying to enter normally, that was impossible, as it would be foolish to dump away all their trinkets and weapons. Raul hadn"t been willing to take that risk, so he had only cursed the advanced trinket-checking devices that the King had deployed at the borders.
In the end, he had decided that this would be a quick Guerrilla strike. They would enter the Kingdom and try to reach their destination as quickly as possible, and if anyone intercepted them, they would just kill the soldiers.
So far, they had faced no obstacles, but Raul just couldn"t shake that feeling.
At the moment, it had just peaked, so he had ordered a halt.
Using the scanning formation that he had acquired which was able to spy out any being at the Warrior level near them, he tried to see if they were being tailed, but sighed when he saw the same output.
There was no one.
"What is it, Raul? Any change of plans?", asked the woman behind him, who was garbed in the clothes of a peasant which she kept pulling at as she was used to wearing only the softest of fabrics which were sold at a premium that only the privileged could afford.
"No. Just a feeling. I guess I"m just being paranoid. Let"s go over the plan while we walk."
If he knew that his target, the King of Lanthanor, was currently standing right in front of him and looking at him with an expression of scorn, Raul would definitely have turned back right now and raced away with all his might.
After all, someone capable of that…was clearly not an individual he could mess with.
Indeed, Daneel had been closely following this group while they traipsed through his Kingdom, unaware that their mission had already failed.
He could guess that their objective must be to take him by surprise, but those roles had switched.
Just now, he had been considering whether to go ahead and engage, but hearing this sentence, he stopped.
"Eloise, stay on standby. Move forward when I give the signal."
Sending this message, he prepared to find out what the exact intentions of this group were.
He had prepared multiple plans regarding how he was going to use this opportunity to bring Reality TV to Lanthanor. Some of them were simple, such as the idea to have the communication eye follow him while he infiltrated the group and began slaughtering each with the rest being unaware that they were being slowly picked off.
This would make for a great show, but was it Reality TV?
Not really.
Other plans were a bit extreme, so there was still a little bit of hesitation in Daneel regarding whether he should choose them.
He had been hoping that they would talk about their plan, as it would make it much easier for him to choose.
If they were just here to target him by just attracting his attention and attacking him when he least expected it, he was ready to consider even not killing them. After all, Warriors were a rare commodity in the Central Continent.
Yet, if they had planned something more nefarious…then the extreme plans would be much more enticing.
Hearing their leader, the woman nodded and began to speak while the rest resumed their brisk walk forward.
"We"re heading to a town called Kasar which is populated by 2000 citizens. In this town, 50 people have a Network trinket. We will be posing as a rogue Axelorian unit who will kill these people and use the ability of these Network Trinkets where they can also act as communication trinkets to send the message that more will die unless the King arrives…"
Interrupting the woman, the leader, Raul, said, "Killing them isn"t necessary. Knocking them out is fine."
"There he goes again…caring for these useless cattle."
A scoffing voice was heard from the group, but when Raul turned around to see who it was, no one spoke.
Aiming to defuse the situation as fury was slowly starting to appear on Raul"s face, the woman said, "Yes, we will disable them, and wait for the King to come. He will only be thinking that he will have to deal with a squad of Humans, but we will deploy the Champion level s.p.a.ce-lock formation and barrier that we will have laid beforehand to trap both him and the town. He"s only a Peak Warrior, so he will be powerless in front of the Peak Champion level formations. After that, he will be given the choice between handing over his inheritance or watching thousands of people die, painfully. He"s known to care for his citizens, so he will hand over the Inheritance, as Bors, who is an expert in torture, will begin torturing and killing a hundred people for every 5 seconds that pa.s.s without the King handing over what we want. After obtaining the Inheritance, we teleport away, and if he tries to stop or pursue us, we will threaten to detonate the Explosive Formation that will also be laid down."
While Daneel"s eyes slightly reddened, he watched a Raul sighed and said, "For the sake of those innocent people, I hope that he hands over the Inheritance right away."
Right after he said this, he didn"t notice one of the 20 nudge the woman who had just spoken about the plan.
"Err…Raul? The others wanted me to ask something."
"What is it?", he asked, while keeping a careful lookout.
His eyes darted around, carefully examining each and every part of the terrain around them, but when he heard the question, he couldn"t help but press his lips into a thin line.
"They wanted to know whether you"ll hesitate if the time really came to kill all of those townfolk. Some say that we should do it anyway, despite the King"s actions, so that he wouldn"t dare to pursue revenge."
Initially, it looked as if anger would cloud his face, but Raul controlled himself and spoke in a stoic voice.
"That would be a bad idea. You forget his talent. If we do that, we will be creating a vendetta that will result in us having to run throughout the rest of our lives with the fear that the King of Lanthanor might be around the next corner, waiting to end our existence."
His voice caused silence to descend over the group, as they all knew that he was speaking the truth.
Meanwhile, Daneel was looking at this leader of theirs with both of his eyebrows raised.
A previous member of the Big 4 who cared for the people of Angaria?
This was pretty hard to believe, but he knew that this man had no reason to put up an act.
Besides, from the way the others were talking about it, he could tell that this was something that must be famous about this man in their circles.
Still, it wasn"t as if he was willing to do anything to make sure that those citizens lived. It was quite clear that although he might care about them, that care only extended till the selfishness of his needs, as it looked like although he would feel that it was regrettable, he wouldn"t really hesitate to let them burn.
With this, Daneel"s plan was finalized. It looked like "extreme" was the way to go, as these people definitely deserve any mercy.
Giving them one last look, he prepared to tell Drakos what he needed.
If any of those 21 could see him now, they would definitely have rethought this strategy of infuriating the King of Lanthanor.
That look…belonged to one who had decided that he would play with his prey before tearing into their throats and crus.h.i.+ng their hearts.
With a small smile on the corner of his mouth, Daneel ran ahead to a location he had chosen on the way so that he could wait to "welcome" his guests to the show that would soon become the phenomenon of the continent.
…
In the town of Kasar, little Ophelia was arguing against her mom who was insisting that she should go play outside, as she had been cooped up in the house for 3 days ever since that Network Trinket had landed on their roof.
"Mom, that"s unfair! You and dad are not leaving, why should I?"
Her face flus.h.i.+ng as she heard the question, her mother answered, "Ophelia, stop asking questions and go, this instant! You"ll understand when you grow up!"
Grumbling under her breath, the 11-year old left the house, following which her mom closed the door and ran into their living room.
The Network Trinket was affixed to a wall which had been cleared, and her husband, who was twiddling his thumbs while waiting for his wife, said, "She finally left? Great! Come on, I can"t wait to see whether Gerard will kill those arrogant p.r.i.c.ks who insulted his mother, or show mercy! I, for one, hope that he cuts them in two!"
Nodding with glee, Ophelia"s mom snuggled into her husband while the man used a small, palm-sized trinket to change the channel to one which was meant for adults.
Filled with gore, cursing, and supposedly even explicit scenes, this show was one which could not be watched when there were kids around.
"Last time on…SKKKRR!"
A sudden, harsh sound made the two close their ears reflexively, while the screen went blank.
"You broke it! d.a.m.n it, Howard…"
"I didn"t do anything!"
Ophelia"s mom automatically started to hit her husband, who had a penchant for breaking things, but while he began to hastily defend himself, the screen cleared to show someone very familiar to them.
It was the King of Lanthanor.
"Good evening, viewers of the Network. For those of you who might not know of me, I am the King of Lanthanor. I am interrupting all of your shows right now for a very important announcement. As I speak, 21 Warriors are headed to the town of Kasar in Lanthanor, where they plan to launch a terrorist attack. Listen to them yourselves."
With pulses racing, the duo watched the conversation between Raul and the rest, and when the contents of the plan became clear to them, shudders of fright pa.s.sed through both of them.
Without saying anything, Ophelia"s mom started to run toward the door to get her daughter. Yet, she stopped in her tracks when the King"s confident voice was heard through the trinket once again.
"First of all, I would like to urge all viewers not to panic. The situation is under control. If you don"t believe me, see for yourselves!"
As the King waved his arm, his surroundings, which had been dim till now, lit up to reveal a stage, on which the 21 individuals who had been seen before were sitting with all of their limbs tied up by thick ropes.
Near the stage, the King conjured a large Throne for himself before taking a seat.
Gesturing at the unconscious Warriors, he made a proclamation that would never be forgotten by all who were watching.
"If it were up to me, I would kill them all, or at least imprison them for life. However, I realized that this is a special opportunity to show you the potential of the New Network. Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight, you all will be part of a show called…"Mercy for the Wicked"! Soon, each of these…contestants will be pitted against their teammates. Each fight will be more exciting than the last! And at the end of each fight, you will be posed with a question. Which of the two would you wish for to be given a second chance, so that they can swear to follow me? You can vote through your control trinkets! Choose the most dazzling one, or choose the one whom you think will be of service to Lanthanor the most! Either way, you are in charge! Let"s…begin!"
The best Reality TV was, after all, that which involved "Real" partic.i.p.ation by the audience.
On Angaria, where power was supreme, Daneel wanted to give the people the chance to experience power, themselves, by being in the judging seat.
At the end of the day, the success of a show was dependent on how much it connected to the audience.
And on Angaria, what could connect more to its inhabitants than a show about which they thought about the most?