After the brief moment of mirth that had come on due to that realization, Daneel stood up and stood to the side as he waited for Lan to pack up so that they could leave.
He had said that they had to go right away as this operation was time-sensitive, and Lan had agreed, as it wasn"t like Daneel had given him much of a choice in the first place.
While he watched the man collect all the trinkets that he had placed as precautions to ensure that he wouldn"t be intruded upon just as Daneel had done, though, the King of Lanthanor got a very grave expression on his face, as he actually wasn"t very happy about the whole thing.
Although he had felt relief as he had managed to find the one with the Hidden Bloodline in a week after a lot of hard work during which he hadn"t even slept a wink, the truth was that it was pretty disconcerting that he had managed to do so.
This was pretty weird, but it stopped Daneel from completely feeling happy that he had accomplished what he had set out to do in the timeline that he had set for himself, which would allow him to comfortably go to the next steps and be able to handle any problems that might pop up.
The reason behind it was that by finding Lan and finding out about his childhood, he had proven that his initial conjecture was right: that village that Ca.s.sandra had seen in her memories was some kind of organization that was clearly placing those with certain Hidden Bloodlines in certain locations after having them undergo certain situations which would have the most probability of them awakening their bloodline according to the conditions that were present for that to happen.
After all, coincidences without reason were some of the biggest indications that things weren"t as they seemed on the surface. Those with Hidden Bloodlines were supposed to be exceedingly rare, and it was definitely not supposed to be the case that they would be perfectly placed in roles like these to be easily found, almost as if they were pieces on a chess board who had been arranged perfectly according to their properties. If this was true, the first suspect was obviously another plan that the Emperor might have put down, but Daneel had already checked.
The truth was that Hidden Bloodlines were supposed to have an effect on the psyche of those that possessed them. It was their blood, after all, and research had shown that there was a tendency that individuals, especially after maturing, had a chance of gravitating towards conditions that would awaken this hidden power inside them, even if they didn"t know that it even existed. Daneel had heard of such cases on Earth, too, where children would almost automatically go towards professions or habits that their parents had used to have, and even though research was inconclusive about this, there was something there that could not be ignored.
However, what was happening here was different. Both Ca.s.sandra"s and Lan"s childhoods were too perfectly suited to their individual bloodlines, which suggested that something from the outside was affecting them. After all, bloodlines would only cause changes in the one who possessed them, and not in the reality around them.
Seeing it once, itself, had been pretty shocking, but seeing it twice practically confirmed it.
There was almost certainly someone behind it all, and the biggest problem was that Daneel didn"t know whether they were friend or foe.
In fact, Daneel had hoped that they might be watching him, but neither Drakos nor the system had been able to pick up any form of surveillance that was being done on him. This meant that they were either in too advanced a realm for him to detect, or that they had just done the initial setting for these people, and then left them to their fates.
Both were possible, and Daneel decided it would be too naïve to wishfully think that he was reading too much into the situation.
For a moment, he actually daydreamed about some secret organization that was actually out to help Angaria, instead of wanting to destroy it or not caring much about it like almost every other force that Daneel had met so far. How nice would it be if there was such a powerful ally, much like those powerful grandfathers that protagonists would always have in the books that he had used to read?
He discarded this thought as soon as it came, though, because approaching the situation with that hope would be pretty dangerous, and dumb. He could no longer ignore whoever this was, and as soon as all of his steps were done, Daneel decided to join Ca.s.sandra and see whether he could help her in her quest to find them, and the place that she had been born in.
Right now, though, all he could do was shelve these thoughts and focus on the one in front of him.
He had to say that this week had been both enlightening and frustrating, as he had delved deep into the underworld of the continent. One thing that he hadn"t liked when he did so was the constant mention of the Tri-Cobra society, which had apparently been the king of the underworld until they had been driven away along with the Church by the High Council.
However, this did make him understand the true power of the Tri-Cobra society, and it made him decide that he would keep an eye on this facet of the continent that he had practically ignored until now.
The good thing was that most of the underworld was involved in things like information trade, gambling, smuggling and of course, killing. That last part, of course, was majorly dominated by the Hidden Kill Sect, and even though it was currently laying low on Daneel"s orders and acc.u.mulating strength under the leaders.h.i.+p of Luther, they were still the go-to force if someone wanted someone to be killed.
As for the other aspects, they were of the regular sort that would be present in the underbelly of any Kingdom, and it was a consolation that atrocious stuff such as forceful prost.i.tution, selling humans or other species and fulfillment of weird and oftentimes disgustingly immoral fetishes, which were all things that were prevalent on Earth, were not so here.
It was either that, or that he hadn"t spotted them, but Daneel had been pretty thorough by using Mind Control, and except for very rare cases where he had already marked the culprits for death, he didn"t find much.
The reason behind this was something that he couldn"t ascertain, but it was possible that it was linked to the fact that punishment here was so much more severe when compared to that back on Earth. Case in point was, of course, the punishment for slave traders in Eldinor, which had previously been for them to be tortured unceasingly for a month before finally being beheaded in public. Of course, that had been altered for the former Queen, but it still stood strong, and similar laws were also present in other kingdoms.
Just as he began to consider whether he should think about implementing something as harsh in the Alliance just to make sure that the situation wouldn"t change, he was interrupted as Lan held a suitcase in his hands and said, "I"m ready."
With a smile, Daneel nodded and checked once to see whether everything was in place.
The entire objective here was to take Lan through a series of impersonations that would push him to perfect his craft, and along with that, Daneel had also prepared a certain… Something for him that he suspected would help in giving the final push towards awakening his powers. He had gotten a clue regarding this from what he had seen in Ca.s.sandra"s case, and there had also been certain thoughts regarding Awakening by the Emperor which had pointed him in this direction.
All in all, Daneel"s role in this was practically done, and he would be adopting an att.i.tude of just watching to see what this man would do. Everything was set for Lan to show what he was capable of and who he was, so Daneel looked forward to see what would be revealed step by step, throughout this operation.
He would be lying if he said that he hadn"t been pretty impressed with Lan"s own scheming skills, so he had pretty high expectations that he hoped wouldn"t be let down.
With an enigmatic laugh erupting from his lips, he flicked his fingers, and both of them vanished.
…
A week later, Lan was cursing the bravado with which he had accepted to take part in this operation.
For this entire week, he had been secretly tailing 3 different individuals as he would have to impersonate them all.
He had always had a natural talent in this area, but 3 was still a bit too much.
Right now, he was sleep deprived, but as he went through the notes he had made regarding each person, he realized that he had actually…done it.
In a moment of clarity, their three distinct personalities, traits and unique movements became segregated into three different clumps of information in his head, and as he looked at himself in the mirror, he enacted each, and found them to be perfect.
"d.a.m.n, I"m awesome!"
Although he said this in his mind to distract himself from the fact that even he was surprised that he had outdone himself, the truth was that he was pretty d.a.m.n impressed.
Never before had he had to do something like this, and by pus.h.i.+ng himself, it was as if his skills were responding rapidly in turn. They were getting better and better at a pace that astonished and frankly scared him, and they even began to give him an unsettling feeling, as if there was something that he didn"t know about happening here which he just couldn"t put his finger on.
Yet, the constant reminders and calls for updates from the Warrior Mage, whom he had nicknamed "Crazy" in his head for easy reference made it so that he could only put these thoughts to the side and focus on the matter at hand.
The first phase was finished, so it was time to begin.
Sending this message, Lan began to prepare himself, as this was the true start of their entire scam, and it had to be flawless.
Crazy had only given him a general idea of what should happen, and he had left the minutiae up to him. Lan knew that getting things wrong might result in his head being lopped off, so he had put all the skills he had acquired by running many scams in the underworld to use in order to formulate this pretty elaborate plan. He had sent it to Crazy, and he had actually been happy to hear the faint tone that had made it clear that the guy had been impressed.
This kind of freedom meant that Lan might also have a chance to…change a few things, down the road, but he had decided to get everything rolling first. So, putting on the same trinket that had kicked off their interaction, he strode out the door.
…
The next day, a press conference had been held by the prominent Viscargo Trade Family in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, which had various businesses all over the continent.
Dominic Viscargo, the head of the family, spoke at the appointed time that he had bought after paying a hefty sum to the Network of Angaria to telecast this in the display trinkets present in homes all over the continent.
"It is with great pleasure that today, I announce the plan to set up an orphanage for all the poor children in the Alliance who do not have any one to call their own. I understand their plight because my great-great-great-grandfather came from the same position, and I…"
Dominic was known for long speeches, so no one was surprised when he droned on and on about the values that represented his family.
What he was announcing, though, was pretty prominent, so the people listened with patience, following which a session of QnA began with a few people who had congregated at his mansion for the conference.
This session covered the details, but toward the end, it was a certain question that stood out to all.
"How do you hope to finance such a ma.s.sive project? Will you be fully funding it by yourself?"
This had resulted in the man getting a difficult expression, and his answer made many feel admiration for him.
"I do not know yet. I have already pledged all of my a.s.sets, but it is not enough for what I have in mind. My family does have some reputation, though, which I am prepared to put on stake to take a loan from other trade families…I do hope they acquiesce."
This statement had been spoken with a tone that struck the hearts of those watching, but they began to instantly rejoice, as someone in the crowd had just given an idea that sounded great.
"The Bank! The Bank of Angaria should give the loan! It is for the Alliance, so they should give it!"
What everyone didn"t know, though, was that that voice…belonged to the King of Lanthanor, who had, ironically, taken on the central role to kickstart this entire plan.
As others began to take up this shout, too, Daneel couldn"t help but already feel impressed with Lan, whose entire script for all of this had worked out quite well.
Seeing a little bit of himself in the man, Daneel couldn"t help but cough, as he had no intention of naming himself a conman.
Yet, he knew that it was the truth, and this…made the King of Lanthanor blush slightly, before he left to do his other duties.