Rise of the Godking - Chapter 145

Barely a minute later, Daneel and all the others who had been in the cavern were back at the central mansion of the town, standing in front of a familiar five-pointed star made of crimson crystal that was glowing softly, heralding the coming of the one who would disrupt all of their plans.

They had all just reached. The old man had been carried by Alex, who was panting due to the way they had run until now. Daneel had carried Seline, but he wasn't really out of breath.

After glancing at the others for a moment and pursing his lips as he just hated it when things like these happened abruptly, he stretched his hand forward and touched the crystal, causing a voice whose familiarity made his eyebrows shoot to the top of his head to appear in the large, open courtyard.

"Your proposal to sell your island and slaves to the family has been accepted. I will be coming in a couple of hours to check the status of everything. Keep it all tidy, and be ready to be examined. Any tardiness will be communicated to the family, and besides… you do not want to displease me."

Those last few words had a hint of warning to them that might have been much scarier if not for the youthfulness of the voice that said them. More than anything, arrogance was what filtered through, as it had sounded as if each word had been said in a way that made them understand that they were lucky to even be hearing it.

Daneel frowned. He had a question to ask, but he didn't know who to ask it of. Finally, not knowing whether he would get the answer, he turned to the slave who had brought the message and asked, "Do you know whose voice that was? Is it a little brat with spiky, blonde hair, accompanied by a bald guard three times his size? A snotty little guy who looks at everything as if there is dung under his feet, and he wants to keep his head as far away from it as possible, up in the air?"

The flash of realization in the slave's eyes was more than enough for him to understand that it was the same person. It had been the same voice, after all, and the system would even have confirmed that there were the same intonations and usage of inflections if he hadn't asked the slave.

This was a simpler way to confirm it, though, and with his answer found, he looked all around him, not knowing how the hell he was supposed to make the town appear normal so that they would pass the inspection.

Seeing that he was getting ahead of himself, he laid down Seline who was still on his shoulders in one of the chairs. Alex mimicked him, and a moment later, they looked at each other, wondering what they should do.

It was just the three of them, again, and the slave seemed knowledgeable enough to answer any other question he might have. Daneel had none now, and he wanted some privacy, so he said, "Let us walk. That way, we can take in the status of the town and try to get an idea about what we can do."

Alex and Mors soon caught up, and their eyebrows were drawn down in the same way as his, their brows knotted due to the worry that all three of them shared. They were soon at the killing ground, which was still being scrubbed by the few slaves who had been assigned the task. The slaves weren't really hurrying about it; they stopped sometimes to chat between themselves, but even then, due to how assiduously they were used to working until now, most of the work was done.

Still, there was a certain feel to the place that wouldn't be missed by anyone familiar with death. After pausing for a few seconds and understanding that this was definitely true, he looked to his left and right, at the mansions that were now populated by slaves, and even if they could all be sent down to the pits once again… Larefa was just too different from what one would expect of a town being run in a completely normal way.

He ground his teeth as he remembered the havoc that the little kid had caused in Graiton, and his attempt at finding a reason so that he could target Daneel. Ever since he had obtained enough power, there hadn't been many times when enemies had been left with the capability to bother him a second time, so it rankled within that this was exactly what was going to happen now.

He let the anger fill him up for a moment so that he could sweep it aside, then, to achieve a cool mind that could think of a solution…but the moment he was about to do this, an idea struck him.

It was borne out of the frustration he had just felt due to the thought that had come to him that the kid was too powerful for him to target him in any way. He hated such feelings, and as his very core had rebelled against it, he suddenly found a way that was risky… but might just succeed in solving all of their problems, and a few others that he hadn't thought he would be able to address here, too.

"Anyway I see it, we have to get the fuck out of here. We have a couple of hours, so we can sink this place and get away before he arrives. I know of this brat; he is in charge of many of the islands in this quadrant. I've also heard that he has the meanest steak among all the others who represent the family. Unlike them, he likes his visits here. The rest just focus on collecting crystals quickly so that they can get back to their training, but for whatever reason, this kid takes his fucking time. Lives are lost on each and every one of his excursions. Why did it have to be him? Dammit!"

Daneel's eyebrows rose, and a smile came to his face as he heard Alex give him some of the information he had just been about to ask to flesh out the plan that had come to him. He turned to Mors, then, guessing what the man would say, and sure enough, without looking at him, the elf kept his eyes on the ground and replied, "It's too risky. There has to be some gap in time between the sinking of the island and our departure. If there isn't, and if a powerful mage is called upon to investigate…they will be able to find out exactly what we did, and they might even succeed in picking up the trail. I like the plan to sink the island as it will erase all our traces��but for it to work, we need time. Time that we apparently don't have, right now."

Daneel's smile widened. Finally, Alex looked at him and scowled when he saw his face, and as if he had heard the thief's displeasure, the elf also looked up and humphed, eyes squinting as if he had gotten a hint regarding what was on Daneel's mind.

"You have a plan, don't you? Well, spit it out! You're seriously a bag full of cunning and bum-fuckery, aren't you?"

Daneel smiled as if he was being complimented, as that was exactly how he took it. The elf's suspicious eyes were enough to show him that the ancient being had the same opinion, so after folding his hands behind his back, he laid out what they were going to do…and grinned when he saw both his companions look at him as if he had suggested that they should drown the sun as it was too sunny for his liking.

"I hate this little prick because he came to our island, too, and almost ruined many of my plans. I think that he's going to make trouble for us even if we pay up whatever is expected of us at the end of this month…so now that I've gotten a chance, I want to deal with him. I hoped that others might not be as bad as him, and Alex has confirmed that this is how it is. Well… we're going to break him so thoroughly that even his mother won't recognize him when he goes back. After what's going to happen today…he's never going to come back to any of islands. And trust me…we should be pretty safe, and it'll also give us the time we need to sink the island and flee. Interested? Good, because this is what we're going to do…"