Chapter 68: Chapter 68
There was a long spell of silence as both parties watched the proceedings with different thoughts coursing through their minds. On the side of the homestead, there was relief and reverence, whereas on the side of the bandits, there was horror and anger.
Shanks, for that matter, slowly approached Darius. He knelt down and inspected the state of Derek, his stiff smile lightening when he found that his son was - as a matter of fact - much better than before.
Once he rose to his feet and locked gazes with Darius, his smile widened further as he nodded towards the lad.
"You have my sincerest thanks, Lord Darius. I will never forget this," Shanks stated happily.
Darius responded with a humble smile. "After providing me with shelter for the past few weeks, this is the least I can do."
Darius' eyes suddenly sharpened as he revealed a strange grin towards Shanks. "However, I plan to thank you for your generosity even more. How about cleaning up some rats?"
Shanks' eyes gleamed in much a similar manner to Darius as he heard the lad's suggestion. "Lord Darius doesn't need my permission for doing a good deed. Everyone from the homestead would be glad to have your help."
The duo simultaneously turned to face the bandits who had sneakily begun to retreat. After all, the situation had gone to shit. They had lost their only advantage and trying to continue the fight would be utter foolishness.
Darius noticed that Jorge and some of the Garwen bandits had already escaped, while Diato and Foldo's brother were still trying to extricate themselves somehow.
With Shanks' attention on them, they immediately broke ranks and a panicked full escape began. The sheer chaos from over a hundred or so bandits trying to run away was quite a funny sight to behold.
Shanks lifted his axe and rushed forward, his speed far outstripping any of the runners as he cut them down one by one, surgically and methodically. His strikes never surpassed a single one, and there was nothing but the sound of flesh being split or shattered.
His targets didn't even get a chance to scream before they died.
Darius nodded to Gunner. "Chase after the Garwen Bandits who fled. I'll handle the Diato Bandits."
Gunner clapped his palms and beat the earth as he used that force to propel himself forward like a bullet. With his greenish energy surrounding his form, and a crazy smile on his face, he looked really dangerous.
Darius activated his Blink spell and disappeared from the area.
* * *
Jorge was currently flitting through the forest as fast as she could, her body covered in sweat as she felt her panic subside only marginally the farther she got.
The moment her eyes had locked onto Darius as the young boy stepped forth to save Derek, Jorge had had an epiphany, allowing her to see through everything.
That height, that voice, and the fact that he had been disappearing and re-appearing earlier… why did it hit her so late?
That boy was the same mysterious mage who had paid them to attack the homestead!
In those few seconds, it had been as if time had stopped for Jorge as her cognitive functions spiked.
Foldo himself had not been present and had instead sent out his unruly brother. It was an open secret that the fool wanted to usurp the position of his elder brother.
Garwen and his crew had remained hidden at the back, while there was also the strange outbreak of monsters timed with their attack provided by Foldo.
What if... What if after visiting them, Darius had visited Foldo next? What if, knowing that old fox, he and that boy had struck some kind of deal to get rid of them all?
Alas, just like bees to honey, they had fallen for the trap. None of them were supposed to survive this day, they were all expected to be killed by that mage for some purpose Jorge couldn't yet discern.
Yet, the little she had gleaned of the entire picture was enough to horrify her. To play both sides so deeply, how could that mage be so… horrible?
He had presented them a gold coin, all to spark their greed!
To Darius, this gold coin was just a piece of metal since he could easily Transmute more, but to any Andrato citizen, the gold coin represented so much.
To Jorge, Darius was a monster who could even sacrifice the mighty Gold Ando Coin just to achieve his aims in orchestrating both sides. He was a master deceiver and tactician that must never be crossed.
And yet, this was just a pretty basic scheme in Darius' book. Anybody from Earth with more than room temperate IQ could have thought up something of this degree. Still, actually going through with it would require someone of a certain mindset.
To him, this was only phase 4. Although it might seem like the climax, the true climax lay in phase 5, the aftermath of this entirely orchestrated event.
It was there that Darius would strike for his goal and achieve the target he had set out for himself.
Jorge jumped from branch to branch, trying to reach her rendezvous point with her handler on the frontier when she discovered to her shock Darius seated on a branch in front of her, his handsome face smiling genially towards her direction.
However, to Jorge, that smile was that of the devil himself. Her movements slowed as her body lost steam, coming to a stop on the tree directly opposite Darius.
"My name is Darius Stone, and I'd love to make your acquaintance." Darius greeted pleasantly before his eyes shifted to serpentine slits as he added. "Your real acquaintance, Georgina."
Georgina shivered then shuddered strongly. She had never felt so naked as she did now. It was like, before those hazel eyes, all her secrets were nothing worth mentioning.
Georgina gave up. She surrendered to her fear and despair, her mind telling her that it was impossible to escape. He could just use his magic to chase her and her identity had already been seen through.
Rather than fight back in futility, why not give in? What was the worst thing he could do aside from killing her? Whatever it was, it was far better than dying so young, not when she hadn't achieved any of her personal goals.
Darius just watched the disguised woman have a breakdown right before him with an amused smile. He hadn't expected her to be sharp enough to piece everything together, but it made things easier from here on out.
Chapter 69: Chapter 69
"Now, Georgina Esta De L'Orion, mind telling me what someone like you is doing all the way out here, in the Plains of the Green, far away from Ando City, hm?" Darius asked her playfully.
The moment her full name was mentioned, the young lass shivered even more as her fears were further reinforced. Gazing at the calm Darius, she took a deep breath and removed her hood.
Darius noted that Georgina was not bad looking, definitely much better than Portia. With golden-red short-cropped hair that was bound by a black headband, sapphire blue eyes, and a small nose, Georgina would have definitely attracted unwanted attention from her own compatriots had she ever shown her true visage.
Interestingly, she seemed to be around 16 or 17 years old and with her soft chin as well as reddish lips, she did seem a bit mature for her age. Darius noticed all this in passing, but he was more interested in her answer.
"I was sent here by my family to observe and report on the activities of the Poleria Homestead. I only chose to work with the Diato Bandits because they were the weakest and least professional bandit group of the lot."
"Oh? But why send out such a beautiful young lady like you to this wretched place when you are clearly meant for greater things?" Darius asked with his hand on his chin, multiple theories forming in his mind.
Georgina's face displayed an expression of grievance and anger before she quickly tried to hide it, but the opposite party did not miss it. Chuckling internally, he listened to her reply patiently.
"That's… well, I was sent here because of… personal reasons." She answered, struggling to find the right words.
"Please, don't insult my intelligence. To be foolish enough to send such an intelligent and skilled woman like you out here, your family must either be incompetent - which is unlikely - or there must have been foul play involved - which is typical in our circles - on your freedoms. So, Georgina, which is it?" Darius questioned gently.
The young lass reacted to Darius' soothing praise and nodded almost subconsciously. "It was... my elder sisters." She sighed deeply, as if a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "As the youngest and prettiest of us three, they were jealous of me and pushed for me to be given this 'simple' task."
"On paper, the reward appears quite lucrative and the work should be simple enough. But the struggle I went through to gain a footing in this wretched place could have seen me dead many times over, my body used by mere brutes to pleasure themselves!"
"Unfortunately, I couldn't reject due to their posturing and pandering to my family elders, I had to accept! I simply had no choice! Now, here I am, about to die in some unnamed forest."
Georgina vented out her pent up frustration due to a mixture of the circumstances, her boiling stress, and Darius' simple prodding. His eyes flashed as he put two and two of her story together and he recognized this as an interesting opportunity.
Darius leaped over to Georgina's branch slowly and non-threateningly, shaking his head as he did so. "While we all will have to die eventually, you will not die here today, Georgina, not unless I say so."
Jorge gazed at Darius with a mixture of relief, wariness, and confusion. Relief due to having verbal confirmation that she would live, wariness because she was smart enough to know that verbal confirmation could be rescinded at any time, and confused because of Darius' final words.
"What I mean is simple. I need you, Georgina. Your skills in stealth and espionage, your ability to deduce and rationalize as well as your connections, I need them all. I want you to join me." Darius elaborated.
Georgina's hunched shoulders and slightly raised hackles subsided as she heard his words, and curiosity began to rise in her, as well as some positive interest. "What exactly for?"
Darius smiled genially. "I wish for a person of your caliber to act as my shadow. As you've probably deduced yourself, my plan was to create a situation which would see me become a hero and use that to rub in with the Equality Faction."
Darius's eyes narrowed and their hazel glow intimidated Jorge easily once more. "However, now that I know your circumstance, I can make use of you to gain connections with the Superiority Faction."
Jorge trembled, but sighed after a second or two. In her mind, if Darius could cook up such a devious scheme, he had to have enough deductive abilities to ascertain that she and her family worked for the opposite faction.
It was obvious enough if one thought about it deeply. There was no reason for a noble lass like her to be out here in the wilderness, spying on a mere homestead unless there was a conflict of interests going on in the background.
Since Shanks represented the Equality Faction, it stood to reason that Georgina - dressed as Jorge - would represent the Superiority Faction who wanted to mimic Fraterina and turn the Andrato Kingdom into a sexist, matriarchal state.
Darius patted Georgina on the shoulder and gestured to the ground. "Let's head down and talk a bit more. There are some things I need to inform you and teach you."
Jorge hesitated for a split second before nodding. She had already come this far, so there was no use pretending to be tough or spunky. She wasn't the hot-headed type anyway.
Both parties landed on the ground and Darius took the lead as he spoke to Jorge calmly. "First things first, we need to make the Equality Faction think you've disappeared. That's why I chased after you in particular, because you'll need my help with this."
Jorge froze and question with incredulity: "They know of my existence?"
Darius nodded with an amused smile. "Of course. Probably for a long time at that."
Jorge shook her head, only partly believing Darius at best. "How? How do you know this?"
Darius chuckled playfully. "Oh Georgina, just think about it. They've sent one of their agents to this frontier to form a homestead and see if there is anything of interest they can develop. Not to mention that we are close to the Plains of Death too."
"But at the end of the day, Shanks is merely an agent and his main goal in coming here was to live out his retirement with his family. They can't force him to fulfill their objectives, but they also can't leave him to his own devices."
"So Georgina, what would you do if you were the Equality Faction?"
She answered with eyes glazed over in realization. "I would send spies to monitor his activities and use them against him."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
6 Power
stone 
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