By the time Magda woke up, she could hear voices echoing in the chamber that she was placed in.
"Well, that was the best approach to use, because her cooking really does have the fame of being G.o.dly. It hasn"t even been too much time since she came, but she still managed to gather that much of renown."
This voice wasn"t too familiar to her, but the one that replied brought back all the memories of what had happened before she blacked out.
"I should have guessed from that, but because I don"t usually partake of food myself, I could not see that her cooking was so excellent. I did see that the smells were extraordinary, but I didn"t think much of it. Well, we don"t even need to ask her to find her ident.i.ty. Meet Magda, the famous Gourmet Hero of Angaria."
These words finally made Magda groggily open her eyes, and that was when a splitting headache a.s.saulted her.
She could feel an angry swelling on the back of her head where she had been struck to knock her unconscious, and it had managed to penetrate all of the barriers on her body without even alerting her of its existence.
This wasn"t really surprising, though… As she was just an Amateur hero, while the Head"s level was known to all as one that was really, really hard to reach.
She had already decided her plan of action- she would act dumb.
"Head? What are you doing here? And who is this? What"s going on here? Why did you attack me so suddenly? I"ll have the High Council hear of this! You can"t flaunt your power around like that, you know!"
She started to get more and more agitated, but what the Head did even made Daneel feel pleasant surprise.
He made a trinket appear, and on it was the scene that had occurred right before Magda had blacked out.
The image was paused, and it zoomed in on the expression that was on her face. There was no mistaking it-she was looking at the King of Lanthanor as if he was her prey, and anyone would be able to guess that she was going to do something violent.
Making the display trinket disappear, the Head said, "Drop the act, Magda. I"ve always known that you are among the bunch who are not really keen on protecting the continent. Answer truthfully, and I might allow you to leave as this is just a minor infraction. You might not leave in the same condition that you came in, though."
For a moment, Magda had no idea what to think, but after that, she launched into an outburst.
"What the h.e.l.l do you mean? I have every right to go after someone who I think can give me power! If he"s hiding something, then he is hiding it from the continent, too! Whatever he has found can better be used in defense of Angaria, so I would actually be doing our homeland a favor! Besides, there was no indication that I would kill him! The rule is not to kill the rulers of the Central Continent, right? I just wanted to abduct him briefly! Rough him up a bit, at most! True, you can give me a warning for that, but you have no authority to attack me and bind me like this! Release me right at this moment, Head, or you will never hear the end of this!"
Until now, Magda had ignored the other person.
She had thought that he might just be some or the other a.s.sistant of the Head, but when he stepped forward, she suddenly felt something wrong.
Before she could say anything, he gave her a tight slap, and this shocked Magda so much that she could only keep staring.
"Like he said- drop the act. I won"t be so light-handed as the Head, here. We all know that "rough up" means that you would have resorted to a lot of mental torture that would have had plenty of long-term effects on the King. So, let"s not a.s.sume, even for a moment, that you are on the moral high ground. As for doing a favor to your homeland- can there be a funnier thing? If you really want to do favors, then why don"t you expose the fact that you have found an Inheritance that put you on the path of Gourmet Heroes, yourself?"
Magda didn"t think that she would feel any more shock, but when she heard that last statement of this man… It reached another level.
Her mind went blank, and with a smile, the man continued, "Don"t even try to deny it. It is a lost inheritance of one of the famous foes of the Emperor, and he was supposed to have hidden it very carefully while making sure that no one who sympathizes with the Emperor will ever obtain it. It was even set up so that it would self-destructive if someone like that really did get their hands on it! I suppose you pa.s.sed the test, and got his powers. Anyone who knew of the way he fights can spot the hints in the technique that you used to cook."
At this point, Magda understood that her shock had already confirmed what the man had just said- it would be an insult to her intelligence if she still tried to act foolish, so she said "So what? The High Council prevents anyone from forcing others to hand over what they have obtained. And this is a minor infraction, at most- many have targeted rulers or other famous members of the Central Continent, and all they got was just a slap on their wrists. Let me go now, and I will not insist on having you awarded with time to spend in prison."
As these words echoed in the chamber, the man and the Head looked between each other.
After that… They simply smiled and disappeared, leaving Magda alone.
…
They reappeared in the quarters of the king, and the Head said, "Like I told you, she is obstinate. What do you plan to do?"
Daneel still had that smile on his face. He had been told by the Head that they should not resort to extreme measures that they did not want expose to the High Council if they were not sure that they would work and that they were worth it, and he had decided to listen to this advice.
Hence, it was important to first figure out exactly what they were dealing with, before deciding on what they would do. After all, even Daneel did not want to go into full revenge mode without really understanding what the objective of these people was.
An option was to forcefully Mind Control the Hero, but that would be a very, very tough task. Consciousnesses, themselves, were usually like forts which could not be intruded into unless one used extreme brute force surpa.s.sing their target by multiple levels, and that was even more true in the case of Heroes.
Even the other options were too drastic, so after thinking for a bit, Daneel decided on the simplest one.
"I guess it"s time for impersonation,", he said, and the next moment, he was an exact replica of the thickly-set woman who was supposed to be preparing to be the judge of a cooking contest in the Network of Angaria at the moment.
The Head walked around Daneel, looking at him from all angles, and then he admitted, "I don"t know your means, but you are somehow a perfect copy. Listen, I know that you said that I do not need to call you my senior disciple brother, but that doesn"t mean that I will take liberties with you- it is obvious that you have secrets, and I will not ask anything about them until you choose to reveal them to me by yourself. All I ask is that you do not lie, as I despise them."
Daneel looked at the Head with a frown before nodding.
He considered whether he should just expose everything right away, but he stopped himself.
The main reason behind this… Was that the Head had just come under him, and it was just as the man had said - there was no need to tell him everything right now.
So, deciding to take a call on it later, he disappeared.
With that, the days of masquerading as a woman began. Daneel had already tapped into the communication means used by the woman, and he kept sending messages in the same way. Because of her callousness, he had managed to use the system to find out everything about her, including her micro-expressions.
Right now, it would not be a lie if he said that there was no one in the entire continent who could call him a fake.
It was a week later that what he had been waiting for finally came - a summon for a meeting.
Daneel and his sovereigns had talked about this extensively before - they had considered whether they should wait for this eventual call to appear, before tailing the woman and finding the meeting place for themselves.
Yet, it had become obvious right away that this was a safer option, as it was always possible that the meeting place could have many more defensive measures. Instead of that, if they directly infiltrated it, they could find the information they needed without much ha.s.sle.
Besides, it would be dangerous to go into a situation without even knowing exactly what they were dealing with, and hence, choosing this relatively safe option was for the best.
The only problem now was that he did not know the location - but for this, there was another simple solution.
Daneel sent a report saying that the target had arrived, which led to the instant response that two people would be arriving.
He had expected this to be so - if a completely covert kidnapping was supposed to happen, then it would require multiple Heroes, a.s.suming that the King would not be foolish enough to act as bait. Mainly, they would be needed to disable the formations, activate barriers to cover what they were doing from the outside world and overpower a Champion instantly. Even if a talented Hero could do all of these things by themselves, Daneel had already guessed that this woman was not capable enough because of her level.
Two seemed like overkill, but it didn"t matter. As soon as they came, he gave the report that their target left right away, which made them all grit their teeth. She joined the men in their cursing, and after that, she simply followed them.
The meeting place was beneath a random mountain, and there was no problem with masquerading as the Gourmet Hero. Even her own mother would not be able to spot the difference.
This was all because of these Heroes, none seemed too strong- they looked like they had all broken through recently, and there might not even be a single Eminent Hero.
This was definitely unique, and Daneel looked forward to finding out what their motive would be.
The very moment that the meeting began, he found his answer.
"This is taking too long, and the value of the one who stopped the Church"s plan as a bargaining chip is fading quickly. It may be time for more drastic measures."
With a sigh, Daneel saw that his suspicion had been right- there were people looking to betray the continent, albeit in a way that would see themselves valued.
He had heard of these people long, long back- back when he had found out about the Big Four, itself. Heroes who had achieved their level, but wanted more and did not care for Angaria.
Unlike the family of Perfect whom he could not find, these Heroes were right in front of him, and he memorized everything about them.
As a bold plan began to form in his mind, the meeting continued, and by the time it was done, Daneel had made his decision.
He hadn"t been kidding when he had said that everything they did from now on was crucial. So…he had decided to go all out.
With his jaw set in determination, the King returned to the house, and then disappeared.