Gobsmacked, Daneel wondered whether he was hearing right.
How could these two be so sure that this mystery person who had gone to such lengths to cover everything about them was who they were saying she was?
And…wait. She? The bandit leader was actually a woman?!
Katerina crossed her legs and leaned forward before continuing to speak.
"I can understand the query you have. If you hear the tale, you"ll understand why we think it"s her."
As Daneel nodded, Katerina glanced at Eldra, who sighed and spoke up.
"I guess I should be the one to tell you about it, as all of it happened when I was Queen. Her name is Joselyn, and she was the daughter of one of the most prominent human families in the capital of Eldinor. I won"t sugarcoat it. Until recently, even though it wasn"t visible on the surface, humans were always persecuted and maligned in all matters in this Kingdom, especially in matters related to the higher cla.s.ses of society."
This made Daneel nod. It made sense because supremacists were more often than not those who had had their wealth and power pa.s.sed down for generations, and were thus rooted in the "old ways".
"If this were also the case in the low to mid-cla.s.s society, I daresay that Eldinor might have collapsed long ago. I"ve realized over time that the more power one has, the more they tend to hold on to this disgusting idea that they are ent.i.tled to being superior. Anyway, I digress. They are the reason why human traders, merchants, and families who engage in certain occupations cannot grow to the top, as they would find it very difficult to receive larger contracts and work after reaching a certain level. Joselyn changed that. She monopolized a certain industry and made it so that even the elves who didn"t want to would have to come to her, with no other choice. In her case, it was the transport of large quant.i.ties of high-end materials to and from Eldinor. As you know, the hobbies and occupations of many elves is trinket making. For this, many materials are required which need to be imported. They are precious, so a caravan getting intercepted by bandits would result in huge losses. No one knows how she did it, but she somehow made it so that her caravans had the least chance of being ambushed. Some said that she knew bandits very, very well, while others said that she was a master tactician. Regardless, her family grew by leaps and bounds until they were at a level comparable to the top echelons of civilians in the Kingdom."
At first, as he listened to this, Daneel couldn"t help but feel admiration for this woman. He had seen first-hand just how crafty and cunning those bandits could be, so the fact that she had been able to study them and built effective strategies against them was really something to be admired.
At the same time, it started to make sense. Only someone like that would be capable of accomplis.h.i.+ng everything that mysterious person had done. After all, she had come close to completely outsmarting even himself!
If it hadn"t been for his quick thinking, Daneel would truly have had no option but to face complete and utter defeat in her hands.
With interest, Daneel joined together his hands and placed them in front of his face while he saw Eldra continue.
"Many elves didn"t like that, but they let it go, and even started to adjust. Yet, there were a few who joined together and schemed to take "revenge". If I had known about it, I would definitely have stepped in, but by the time the Palace found out, her family was dead. She was actually supposed to die, too, but because she left on an unscheduled caravan run, it was her family who faced the brunt of the sick intent of those elves. They were abducted and were missing for three days, and even though Joselyn raised h.e.l.l throughout the Kingdom in an attempt to find them, all she got was their dead bodies. No, "dead bodies" isn"t the right term. Sacks of b.l.o.o.d.y parts were unceremoniously dumped in front of her house. One contained all the heads, another had all the hands…you get the idea."
Daneel felt the hairs on his hands stand up straight as a chill pa.s.sed throughout his whole body when he heard this. He could almost imagine it: a strong woman who had single-handedly built a business empire, crying with grief while staring at all the b.l.o.o.d.y sacks.
"3 children who were aged 8, 10 and 13, 6 elderly people who were her family, 2 sisters, 1 brother, and 1 husband. All of them had been drawn up and tortured to death. Some who witnessed the scene said that she went mad and died from having her heart shattered into a million pieces."
Sucking in a sharp breath, Daneel leaned back in his seat with anger in his eyes.
Back when he had had to incite the Eldinorians to target the Hidden Kill Sect, he had targeted such elves, too. Yet, only the dumbest ones would let the information leak that they were involved in something like this. The smartest ones would continue completely in the shadows, getting their sick satisfaction from a.s.serting their "dominance" over a "lesser" species.
"It was later found out that that was a ruse proliferated by her to make everything think she was dead, when, in fact, she had just gone into hiding to take revenge. By this time, the Palace had also gotten involved, and even we were clueless about her whereabouts. We couldn"t find the perpetrators, either, as they hid their tracks too well. Only, 2 months after that, strange things started to happen in the capital."
This tale had already reached the level where a movie modeled after it would definitely have broken all records back on Earth. Daneel could guess what happened next, but he looked forward to hearing it anyway.
"Accidents started to befall a certain group of high-profile elves, some of whom were even ministers of the Palace. One tripped and broke his neck. Another choked on a gla.s.s of tea. One even slipped on a banana peel and had her head impaled by a decoration."
"Creative, certainly.", Daneel mused, while a smile appeared even on Katerina"s face.
"All in all, 8 elves, two of whom were Warrior Mages were killed. With their deaths, their torture rooms and illegal activities started to be uncovered. Joselyn had had her revenge, but, alas, as per the rules of the Kingdom, I had no option but to authorize an arrest warrant for her as she had taken the law into her own hands. Since then, we"ve heard nothing from her, except for a single piece of news that she had stolen the a.s.sets of those 8 elves and converted them into Ker Gems. She was only an Eminent Mage, but with those Ker Gems, it"s very possible that she must have reached the Exalted Mage level. Hence, she fits all criteria."
Daneel had already guessed as much, so he continued and asked million Ker Gem question.
"But why would she want to break the alliance?"
It was Katerina who answered.
"I suspect that it is because of her vendetta against Eldinor, which failed her. She must not want this Kingdom to develop rapidly and continue the trend that has already started due to your actions."
Mulling on this, Daneel nodded after a few moments, but something felt off.
True, the perpetrator of this whole thing was definitely a very driven individual, so, Joselyn fit the bill.
Yet, this reason wasn"t enough for her to act and talk with the desperation he had seen.
Still, he knew her ident.i.ty, and a lot of stuff about her, which would definitely come in handy.
Standing up, Daneel let out a deep sigh and said, "All right, now I"m really glad that I came here. Thank you, both of you, for solving this. I promise that this will be resolved in a few days. Meanwhile, try to warn the elves to stay safe and cautious."
Nodding, the Queen and Eldra both stood up, too, to send the King off.
Nodding in return, they followed him with their eyes as they saw him leave and close the door politely behind him.
With him gone, Katerina adopted a much more casual pose
Sitting down on the sofa and putting one leg on another, she said, "So, the rumors are true."
She had a very strange expression on her face. It was one of…disbelief.
With a sigh and a sweet smile, Eldra sat down and said, "Yes, that appears to be the case. But I don"t know why we should care. I don"t even know how you talked me into this."
After chuckling for a moment, Katerina clapped both of her hands together and said, "Don"t you feel it"s so…odd? He must be the most innocent ruler in the history of Angaria, itself! There hasn"t been a single ruler who didn"t abuse their power to get what they wanted in "that" matter. Not one, I bet!"
Putting her fingers together, Eldra said in a low voice, "Well, I…"
"You were h.e.l.l-bent on destroying the Kingdom, so you don"t count."
Katerina was never one to mince her words, or refrain from making direct jokes, She said this idly, which made Eldra glare at her for a moment before saying, "There"s Queen Arafell, too."
"Pfft, please. That uptight woman is rumored to have a secret room in her Palace with numerous "toys" to play with. Even if that isn"t true, it doesn"t take anything away from the novelty and uniqueness of our dear alliance leader."
"You…want to pursue him?"
As Eldra asked this, Katerina got a very thoughtful expression on her face for a few moments, before she sighed and said, "No, I just wanted to see if it was true. I don"t gel well with those more powerful than me. Besides, it wouldn"t be appropriate. And I wouldn"t want to get into a fight with a certain woman in Lanthanor, who I hear is quite the firebrand. But, for now, it seems as if the King has no intentions of taking steps regarding those matters."
Hearing this, Eldra nodded.
As Katerina got up to get a bottle of wine, she ended the discussion, saying, "I wonder how long that will be the case, though. It will definitely be interesting to see who he chooses. I, at least, will be waiting to find out. Firewhiskey for you, right, Eldra?"
As the former Queen nodded, the present Queen walked to the cabinet and got them both bottles of wine, and the night was filled with discussions regarding the future of Eldinor and the alliance, along with brief speculations about what kind of woman the King would choose when the time did come.
…
One day later, Daneel was trying hard not to wrinkle his nose in disgust due to the cheap beer he had just drunk.
All around him, raucous laughter mixed with the sound of men winning and losing at board games of chance to result in an atmosphere that made Daneel feel as if he were in some sort of decrepit bar.
Only, he was 50 meters underground, in a large cavern which had over 600 people.
"Vincent, refill?", asked the bartender, which was a coveted position because the one in that role would be the one who could steal away the most beer and wine.
"Sure thing."
The Eminent Human he was masquerading as was supposed to be a drunkard, so Daneel had no option but to say this.
"System, block out my taste sense."
[Affirmative. Blocking taste.]
Taking this step, Daneel proceeded to down mug after mug of the murky yellow liquid until, finally, an explosive "Boom!" Caught everyone"s attention and made them look toward a flat-topped tock in the corner of the cavern.
There stood the man with the bald patch, and as he gathered the attention of all the bandits, he said, "The Gathering will start in 10 minutes. Now then, I don"t want our group to be embarra.s.sed like the others during the Gathering. There should be no squabbles for the leader"s role. If anyone has the guts to beat me, then step right up, right now. Does anyone have the b.a.l.l.s?"
Amidst the silence, Daneel drunkenly raised his hand and hiccuped, before shouting, "I do! Your b.a.l.l.s will be mine, today, Skylar!"
"Here we go again."
"Man, Vincent is gonna have to rest for a month, again."
"Dumb b.a.s.t.a.r.d. The leader should just kill him this time."
As laughter and statements like these were heard all around him, Daneel staggered toward that flat-topped rock.
It was showtime.