Conspiracy

"Based on what you've seen over the past half day, what kind of person do you think he is?" Lucia guided her patiently.

"Mm..." Guerel thought for a moment. "A little timid, but he's kind by nature, and his words and conduct could certainly be called humble and cautious. In short, he's far better than that rude magistrate of Kallen."

"If we set aside the 'timid' part you added through your own subjective assumptions," Lucia said with a faint smile, "then that's basically correct—whether it was his etiquette in dealing with people, his thoughtful arrangements for every aspect of this camp, or the various details later revealed in casual conversation, all of them can serve as proof."

"And yet such a 'kind, humble, cautious, and thoughtful' person didn't even try to persuade his superior to come out and receive us. In fact, the moment we met, he told us that this improper and contemptuous reception was entirely the result of that magistrate acting on his own. Isn't that a contradiction?"

He rested his hand on the hilt of the Dragonscale Blade at his waist and mused, "If I were as proud, impatient, and quick to anger as many young dragons, and had shown the slightest attitude of allowing no offense to my honor or dignity, he probably would have added more guidance, hints, even drawn a line between himself and the situation by appropriately playing the victim, waiting for a chance to stir things up... But after meeting me in person and probing my reaction a little, he wisely gave up on that idea and prepared to leave as soon as possible, to avoid exposing himself further to my attention."

By now, Guerel had more or less come to understand, but the more she listened to Lucia's words, the stranger they sounded, making her seriously suspect that the part about "many young dragons" had been aimed at her.

"So after that, all the way until just now, Your Highness turned the tables and kept probing him from all angles?"

"Yes and no," Lucia said. "Although we didn't spend long together, I discovered that there's one point in which he and I are very alike. We both trust our intuition—just as he relied on intuition to realize he had no ability to make use of me, I had already determined his intentions when I invited him to travel with us. Everything afterward was merely further verification."

"But there's still one thing I don't understand..." Guerel said in confusion. "He should have realized that Your Highness was deliberately probing him too. If so, when Your Highness asked about his family matters at the end, why didn't he keep covering it up?"

"You thought I was probing him then too?" Lucia gave a somewhat helpless smile.

"Huh?" Guerel felt the rhythm she had only just caught up to slip away from her again. "Wasn't it?"

"Human emotions are sometimes just that strange. I probed him a hundred times, and all hundred times he covered himself up very well. But when I unintentionally asked one question sincerely, it happened to touch something he was unwilling to hide beneath his mask."

He glanced at the girl beside him out of the corner of his eye. Although she was over two hundred years old, to him, who had lived two lives and had already built an understanding of this world from a higher dimension in advance, Guerel was still like a simple and childish child.

"I could hear that everything he did in Leyndell was true. On that point, he had neither the possibility nor the need to deceive us. Once we reach the royal capital, if we care to, we can naturally verify it," Lucia said, lowering his eyes. "If it is merely taken as a reason to save him once, then that is already enough."

"You're clearly not human yourself, so what do you know about human emotions!" Guerel secretly grumbled, but she did not argue out loud. Instead, she put on an expression of deep thought, and only after a long while did she give a slight nod. "I see..."

In any case, although she hated the vast majority of decisions this guy had made since breaking out of his shell, this time, she had no reason to object.

At the same moment, more than ten miles from the Sky City camp, Clareville, who should have long since returned to Kallen, confirmed that no one was following him, then took a wide detour and, under the gradually thickening night, slipped into a secluded grove north of the city.

After looking around, he put his fingers to his lips and blew the signal agreed upon long ago.

After three notes, branches and leaves rustled in a nearby tree. A vigorous, nimble black shadow darted down along the trunk, then swept several steps to arrive before Clareville's horse. By the moonlight spilling through the woods, one could see that it was a rather savage-looking human face.

A deep saber scar slanted from his left temple to the right corner of his lips, the stitched marks as terrifying as a twisted centipede. Beyond that, the faint chill in those iron-gray eyes and the Kaidan Longblade carried behind his broad shoulders all revealed that this man was a ruthless, troublesome character.

"Judging by that lost look of yours, the other side really didn't agree?" the man said with a cold laugh.

"Wasn't that within expectations?" Clareville replied just as bluntly. "What I didn't expect was that His Highness would be so seasoned he doesn't seem like a young man at all. If the people in Leyndell treat him as an inexperienced child they can manipulate at will, they'll definitely break their heads against him."

"Oh?" the man said with interest. "I didn't expect a newly born demigod to earn such a high evaluation from you. In your view, then, how does that little dragon compare with the highnesses of Leyndell and Caria?"

"I don't want to answer such a meaningless question," Clareville said coldly. "We don't have much time. It's best to get straight to the point."

The man shrugged and did not continue pestering him. "Everything on our side is ready. More than half of the demi-human tribes in southern Gelmir have sent their most elite warriors, and in addition, twenty adult Trolls are standing by at any time. Kruger told me to tell you that as long as you can make Hectorv and his guards expose themselves at a position more than fifteen miles from Kallen, we'll have enough time to wipe them out completely."

"More than half?" Clareville could not help being shocked by the other side's ability to mobilize. After thinking briefly, he said, "I'll emphasize this again. The equipment and supplies in Hectorv's unit this time will all go to you. Afterward, I'll also provide an extra batch of grain and medicine. But you are absolutely not allowed to target the farms outside the city. Otherwise, there's nothing to discuss."

"I know, I know..." The man raised both hands helplessly. "You've already said it many times. You know what kind of man Kruger is. Besides, even if someone had other ideas, with your skills, could we really sway you?"

"As long as you understand," Clareville said calmly.

"In that case, I will secretly control the scouts Hectorv uses to investigate military intelligence and, at the proper time, deliver the false information we need to him. At noon tomorrow, once the ancient dragon delegation has gone far from Kallen City, Hectorv and his troops will happen to pass through Sunset Pass, and I will be in the ranks to ensure everything develops according to plan—from the moment the vanguard passes through the pass, you will have thirty-five minutes to end the battle."

"Good." After hearing the final arrangements from Clareville, the man revealed a vicious smile. "We won't disappoint you."