Li Aoz, the Male Lead of a 103 Clichéd Wish-Fulfillment Fantasy Studio Novel
"It looks like the plan is going smoothly." In a corner of the banquet hall, several agents of Law Enforcement Division Three witnessed the farce and couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Our investigation was indeed correct. Apart from someone like Yanagimon Shinsuke, who is obsessed with the Red Arrow Li Aoz, it is difficult for other men to resist Li Aoz's powerful personal charm.
The whole plan was very simple and crude: find Yanagimon Shinsuke, a retainer of the Hojo Family, and tell him that Li Aoz is an elite of the Red Arrow Empire. Give him some benefits and Yanagimon Shinsuke will gladly go and make things difficult for Li Aoz.
However, that's not enough.
His Excellency the President's order is to Blade Kill the dirty work, to have the Heavenly Ring People people eliminate Li Aoz. But this mere instigation is far from enough.
After all, Li Aoz came as the inviter, and as Li Aoz who now opposes imperialism, he also needs to consider his image; he couldn't possibly make a move on the host's turf.
"Reputation is a shackle. The better a person's reputation and image, the less room there is for them to make mistakes in the public eye. If they don't take care to maintain it, they will fall into the criticism of the public if they are not careful. This is also the mechanism of the 'killing with praise' principle."
The intelligence capabilities of the Law Enforcement Division Three Agency are extremely strong. They had already collected evidence of the collusion between Sky Ring and Li Aoz, as well as evidence of their deliberate support for Grand's independence. However, given the current international situation, whatever Frostplate says is wrong, so it's better to keep this hidden arrow for later use against Sky Ring when necessary.
"While that makes sense," one agent couldn't help but complain, "There aren't many good pawns like Yanagimon. We spent a lot of effort to find such a useful guy. He's incredibly enthusiastic about anything related to the anti- Red Arrow movement, so we basically don't have to worry about him much. And now we're going to have to use him this time..."
"It's not just about losing this one guy." A colleague couldn't help but feel sorry for him when he talked about this. "We mobilized a lot of people to take down Li Aoz, and we even transferred that guy from the Frostplate headquarters."
"As long as we can successfully provoke them, things will improve." His colleagues comforted him, "The existence of Li Aoz is an unstable factor for Frostplate. This guy directly threatens the survival of us Frostplate Citizen."
"We have suffered heavy losses in politics, international reputation, Colonies, and military affairs, and we must retaliate. Moreover, as Your His Excellency the President has requested, we must also discredit Li Aoz so as to crush the Grantian's determination to resist."
Several people lowered their heads, and when the topic of patriotism came up, everyone became serious and earnest.
"Frostplate coats, crimson blood spilled on the ground."
"With our funding, it's a sure thing that Yanagimon will try to rip off Li Aoz in the bet."
"Yes, and based on our profiling of Li Aoz and the psychological assessment conducted by the [medium], Li Aoz has a volatile temper and cares a lot about his own personal interests. He definitely won't let this go. If we repeat similar provocative actions a few more times, Li Aoz will eventually lose his temper and take action."
"Hehe, when that time comes, how can the Heavenly Ring People, who are holding a grand event, just sit and watch Li Aoz fight each other at their own celebration? Given the Heavenly Ring People's consistent character, they will definitely have the Gamma-rank directly punish Li Aoz —just wait and see the show."
This method is not sophisticated, and the routine is not complicated, but in history, the simpler the conspiracy, the higher the success rate. Even the most common assassination method is to walk directly into a crowd and shoot the target twice from behind with a shotgun, and he will die no matter what.
This is often the case: the execution of a plan is always more important than its planning, and subtraction always reduces the probability of errors more than addition.
As for whether Yanagimon was a fool to accept such an arrangement, willingly becoming someone's pawn? No, of course he wasn't. It's just that his hatred for Red Arrow far outweighed his feelings of being used by Frostplate.
'Poor beauty, but what can you do? You're a dog of the Red Arrow Empire. Blame it on choosing the Red Arrow as your country!'
Yanagimon glanced at the catalog of master craftsmen in his hand and effortlessly selected exhibits from those master craftsmen. Although the rules of the competition between the two had already been heard by the public, not everyone was willing to accept it or fool around with the two of them. There were also craftsmen who disapproved of their behavior and refused to lend their exhibits to the two of them, which led Yanagimon to promise to buy them.
After a series of selections, Yanagimon found that he hadn't won over many people. Of the ten exhibits he chose, he had to promise to buy four of them before he could get his hands on them.
Even so, every single exhibit here is a masterpiece by a renowned artist; with their magnificent appearance and powerful brand name, the price is unlikely to be low.
As expected, before the items were presented to the judges, Frostplate had domestic experts conduct a preliminary appraisal. The price of these ten items was at least equivalent to 30 million derbies. Considering that prices at Nine Dragons Gathering are usually inflated, a conservative estimate would be over 190 million derbies.
This is no small sum. The added value brought by a famous artist is terrifying. Even Yanagimon, a Hojo Family, was quite shocked when he saw this number. It is equivalent to the price of a heavy fighter jet. And these exhibits are essentially some cold weapons.
At this point, the terrifying numbers made Yanagimon waver and a thought crossed his mind: if he lost, Li Aoz really wanted him to buy all of these, how many lifetimes would it take to repay the debt?
However, he quickly dismissed the idea and shook his head.
How could that be? With that kind of value, I'm definitely going to win.
Seemingly to solidify his idea, he turned his head, glanced at Li Aoz beside him, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Look at him! He actually chose two nobodys, three down-on-their-luck middle-aged men, and a newcomer who just made it big this year. Not a single master craftsman. Is he kidding me? With these, he thinks he can surpass my carefully selected exhibits? It's utterly laughable!"
He couldn't help but speak up and mock. In fact, not only him, but many people had begun to criticize Li Aoz's choice.
No matter how you look at it, Li Aoz doesn't seem like a knowledgeable person. He neither uses instruments to test it, nor does he try it out. He doesn't even know how to select a master craftsman. He just glances at it and then decides to buy it.
Li Aoz ignored everyone's opinions.
To others, he was simply being ridiculous.
In reality, he was just being ridiculous.
From the moment this clueless Japanese devil showed up at his door, clearly intending to cause trouble, Li Aoz didn't want him to have his way. Due to the effect of the "Aura of Goodwill," the other party wouldn't fight him, but being constantly annoyed by him made Li Aoz feel very uncomfortable.
Without even activating his [Eye of Truth], he walked straight to the door of a relatively unknown new swordsmith, casually picked up a short knife, weighed it in his hand, and if it looked good, simply tossed it into his shopping cart. The swordsmith didn't even have time to react; in fact, seeing Li Aoz's attitude, the swordsmith thought he was giving up and cautiously reminded him, "Why don't you reconsider? It might not be that good..."
"Have some confidence in your product."
—In fact, Li Aoz hadn't even looked at the craftsmanship of the knife, but his words made Yanagimon's face darken.
He was the one who just claimed to be 'upholding the dignity of Sky Ring,' but Li Aoz 'Yanagimon speech sounded much more approachable than his own.
"So what? Your reputation can't cover up the fact that you're destined to fail."
Yanagimon snorted coldly.
There were a few players at the scene posing as volunteers, wandering around and witnessing the whole farce. Some of them immediately offered sharp comments:
"What kind of brainless, simplistic plot is this? I can predict the rest of the story. Li Aoz definitely use his [Eye of Truth] to judge for himself at a glance, pretending to be weak while actually being strong, and then showing off and getting slapped in the face."
"While my wife, Li Aoz, is indeed beautiful, the plot is just too brainless. How about adding another beautiful auctioneer? Preferably someone who falls in love with Li Aoz at first sight; that would be much more interesting."
"Li Aoz! Aoneng, Level 3! Never underestimate a young man's potential, never underestimate a middle-aged man's potential, never underestimate an old man's potential—respect for the dead! Hiss, this kid is truly terrifying, we must not let him linger."
"If the game's scriptwriter can't write a plot, then don't write one. I'm speechless. I can tolerate a little plot or no plot at all, but I really can't stand this simplistic, amateurish plot. If I want to see simplistic plots, why should I spend money to buy a game to see this plot? You're just wasting the quality of our game, ' Star Abyss '."
Li Aoz took a few more steps, and this time, he found a knifesmith who was somewhat well-known.
Li Aoz specifically sought out this middle-aged swordsmith named Honda Isshin. He was a burly, sturdy man with a sallow complexion. Upon meeting him, Li Aoz didn't say a word. He directly pointed to a samurai sword that Honda was displaying, which had a jet-black scabbard, a snow-white cord, and a deep purple openwork tsuba, and said, "I want this 'Tsu・Shadow Edge '."
Honda Isshin didn't hesitate much. His booth had a lot of foot traffic, but there weren't many calls to buy. Since someone was willing to buy the knife, he was quite happy.
The Tsu・Shadow Edge is actually a very famous treasured sword. Legend has it that it is a demonic blade capable of 'slaying heavenly lightning', and has been passed down for at least several centuries. However, despite its long history, the price of this sword has never been high, and it has never been sold. One reason is that this sword contains certain radioactive minerals, which give it a 'demonic' quality that can kill its master. Many people come to see it but are just there for the spectacle and will not actually buy it.
Law Three Special Agent saw Li Aoz buy the knife, he simply said calmly, "1.3 million derby."
This price is quite low. The total value of the weapons that Li Aoz selected in this shopping cart is less than 6 million derby, and this one is even considered to be of high value.
Now, Li Aoz only has one spot left, and his defeat is basically inevitable.