บท 171: Chapter 168: The Demon King’s Staging for the Underdog’s Infiltration

It all started when Jinma contacted me through [Telepathy], and I mean the 'original' me, not my clone who's currently in Palocaesy. What Sammy had told me once was that if you use [Telepathy] to contact a person who has clones active in different locations, the skill automatically hones in on the one closest to you, regardless if they're a clone or not. It would be a different story if you focused your [Telepathy] on a specific one if you know where they are. At the end of the day, though, the skill only requires you to think of the person you want to communicate from a distance, and it will lock onto the closest mana signature it recognizes that matches the user's intentions. Sammy has tested and proved this herself, and she doesn't skimp out on things like this, so I can trust her statements to be legit, especially when I've experienced it myself.

I was working on my usual royal duties when Jinma's voice came out of the blue, putting me in a totally flustered and vulnerable position. I honestly couldn't believe I managed to fool Jinma into thinking he was speaking to my clone. To make sure he wouldn't catch me lying, I had to be especially careful of my wording and not trigger his [Intuition], and that wasn't easy to do in my off-guarded state.

As soon as I got the details of Jinma's and Noire's plan, I immediately made a clone to unlock the door to the emergency room. That door has a high-level enchantment that even someone with a [Lockpicking] skill couldn't hope to unlock. It could only be opened from outside the room with a specific key to undo the lock. My clone made sure to lock that door again as soon as Jinma and Noire came into the castle and was far enough away from the emergency room.

After I sent my clone, I had Por, the guard stationed outside my office, to get me two cups of pudding from the castle's cafeteria so he wouldn't see my last-minute guests arrive. I would normally have a nearby maid or butler do it for me, but I acted impatient and practically scared the guard into fetching them. That was definitely one of the worst decisions I wasn't proud of making, with altering Jinma's and Nyra's memories being at the very top of that list. To make matters worse, when I was worried Por would come back too soon, my clone had to trip him, dropping the pudding and making a mess on the floor. He had to hastily apologize to the service staff nearby for his blunder before sprinting back to the kitchen to get some more. Por was a straight-laced, good person, too, so I felt terrible for putting him through all that.

*DON DON DON!*

"Y-Your Majesty! I have returned! With pudding!"

{Speak of the Orc,} I thought after hearing the loud knocks on the door. I straightened up and put on my 'royal mask', "You may enter."

Opening the door was the very Orc guard I sent out on my selfish errand, Por, gasping for breath and sweating buckets. A silver platter with two cups of pudding and spoons was resting on one of his hands.

"Y-Your Majesty, I sincerely apologize, for the wait," Por said in between breaths while carefully putting the platter on my desk. He then rested his hands on his knees while trying to recompose himself, "I … ran into some trouble, and spilled some pudding on the way. I apologized, to the maids nearby who cleaned it up, but I'll accept, whatever punishment you have of me."

I tried to give the best sympathetic look I could muster, "No, I realized too late that I came off too harsh. I was admittedly on edge earlier, and you did not deserve that. It is I who should apologize to you, Por. I hope that you can forgive me for my unsightly behavior." I lowered my head to show my shame. What I said was definitely the truth, considering how hasty I was to prepare Jinma's and Noire's arrival.

He seemed to have gotten some energy back from the shock as he spoke in a panic, "P-Please, Your Majesty! There's no need to lower yourself like that for the likes of me! I understand your duties as Demon King must be stressful! Your apology is enough!"

After I quietly pulled something from my [Storage] under my desk, I raised my head back with a relieved smile. "Thank you for your understanding, Por, but I do feel I must repay you for going through the trouble. Come on over and give me your hand," I gently beckoned him to my desk.

Slightly hesitant, Por followed my demand without resistance. Turning his palm up, I placed the object in his hand before closing his large, stout fingers.

He checked to see what I placed in his hand before his eyes bulged, "Uh, Your Majesty? This is a half gold coin, right?"

"You're not mistaken," I answered.

"This is 5,000 karos."

I nodded, "I know. Go ahead and use that little tip however you like after your shift. I hope you will continue your service to the kingdom moving forward, Por."

"W-With honor and pleasure, Your Majesty! Thank you very much!" Por thanked me while taking a knee.

Happy to see he's satisfied, I took one of the two pudding cups and spoons from the platter, "Good. Go ahead and help yourself to the other cup while you are at it."

He jolted his head up in shock, staring at the other cup and spoon, "Y-Your Majesty, you mean you had me get two puddings because of …"

I intended to let Por have one of the puddings from the start for the trouble. The money was my apology for tripping him. I made a mental note to add a little bonus to the service staff's next pay for inconveniencing them with my selfish actions, too, cleaning after the mess my clone had made.

"I will understand you turning it down if you do not like pudding, but it is there for the taking," I said while stirring my cup before taking the first spoonful.

"N-No! I actually like this cafeteria's pudding! Thank you for the meal!" Por exclaimed before graciously taking the pudding cup and spoon, not waiting to take the first bite.

"Is it good?" I asked.

He nodded quickly, "Very much so! Thank you very much, Your Majesty!"

"I am glad," I said, "When you are done, have one of the nearby servants call Gloria and General Alaster here. There are important matters I must discuss with them."

"Mmph! A-At once, Your Majesty!" Por exclaimed before shoveling the rest of the pudding. With another "Thank you for the meal!", he set the empty cup and spoon on the platter and dashed out of my office, closing the door behind him

"... You didn't have to be in such a hurry. Well, it may be better to not have him away from his post longer than he already has. Ah, I should notify 'Sue' about what happened so she'll be ready when Jinma gets back," I said before taking another spoonful of pudding, savoring the taste.

I then contacted my clone through my own [Telepathy] and we exchanged reports of what happened within the last couple hours. Unless I had my clone merge back into me, I can only get so much info on what happened to her through these reports. That's why the moment my clone made first contact with Jinma, I had her report her actions and what she's seen every few hours through [Telepathy]. She's currently holding 30 percent of my full power, which should be more than enough to look after and protect Jinma in case of emergencies while reporting to me regularly. I could honestly look after the kingdom at 50 percent of my power, if I wanted, but with plans for a coup on the rise, I had to be cautious for any surprises.

After we finished our report session, I thought back to the events that led up to this point. Whenever I wasn't busy, I'd try to process everything I learned and plan my clone's next course of action as soon as possible. With my [Hyper Thought Processing] and [Hyper Perception] skills, I could take about an hour's worth of thinking and planning time to be condensed to a couple minutes. What my clone has witnessed the last few hours, however, I had to really think this time around.

I'll admit, I was a little saddened that Jinma didn't want to see me when he got here with Noire, but it may have been for the better, since I had no idea what to do if I saw him right now. I had plans that would make his arrival to the castle more memorable, even a little fun, but the drama and nerves has given me second thoughts on this. From the start, I was genuinely excited knowing Jinma was in my kingdom, but after I heard what my clone told me, I had grown quite anxious. What I learned then may have answered some concerns I had from the start of Jinma's recent castle infiltration.

{It shouldn't be possible for Jinma to use [Telepathy] to contact me here. Moreover, he shouldn't have been able to leave the castle without getting back to the emergency room, either.}

This was all because of the magic barrier surrounding the castle. While it did prevent intruders getting inside it, it was the same getting out of it, too, as well as blocking contact with reinforcements from the outside. The magic field does get weaker if it gets constantly bombarded with magic spells, so it could be possible to break it by brute magical force before making contact. The magic tool that keeps the field erect is supervised and resupplied with the necessary mana from the castle guard's Magic Division, though, and their magic is not to be underestimated.

Only those who carry a special pendant like Sammy, Ramone, and myself could ignore the barrier to communicate and get in and out of the castle through magical means. There is also a magic tool Sammy designed that worked like a Messaging Crystal, but has multiple other functions. It was inspired by one of the advanced tools some Champions brought from their home called a 'smartphone', and Sammy designed it with the pendant's properties so we could communicate while ignoring the magic barrier's interference. Aside from her own, she's only given away a very limited number of other magic tools like this to trustworthy people, and unless they were a Champion, nobody would even figure out how it worked without instructions. I'm getting a bit off track, but the point is that the methods to penetrate the castle's magic barrier are quite scarce.

I could only think of one other way for someone like Jinma to be able to bypass that barrier without those methods, and going by what my clone reported, I was worried.

{How much does Jinma know after speaking with Goddess Obina? How much does he suspect who … or what I really am? How much longer could I even keep up this charade? Do I even want to? But the moment I do reveal the truth … will he really see and know everything about me? Like I would have of him? I know there's more to him I don't know because I'm hiding the truth from him, but what secrets does he have that I couldn't see? What my ability couldn't see …} I trailed off while resting a hand on my bosom, feeling the anxious racing of my heart.

My [Size Up] skill may have seen his status, but that and some other skills could only gather so much information, and can only do so much on their own. A vague, flimsy ability of mine is supposedly able to do all that and much more when it involves one specific person, and that was Jinma. This ability was awakened after I confirmed Jinma's identity late last night, and I've just started learning its repercussions that are already in effect. One is that both of us must be fully aware of who and what we are as people in order for the ability to activate at peak performance, giving us a full 'connection' of sorts. From what I've observed so far, though, having only me know who Jinma is could only have my ability, our 'connection', perform at about 50 percent on my end. Evidence of that is the 'Pendant of Hidden Anonymity' I had my clone give to him and some of his girls. My ability supposedly would bypass that item's effects and still see his status and location, but that wasn't the case. There were also some things I wanted to know about him that I couldn't access out of those I did get answers to, like his favorite food, hobbies, and what books he likes to read.

My ability supposedly gave Jinma the same capabilities should it involve me, but as long as he doesn't know who I really am, our connection shouldn't work for him. Despite that, he was able to reach me with his [Telepathy] and escape the castle through his [Portal] when the magic barrier should have prevented both. For the latter, I had some idea that my ability was involved with the former as I spoke to him, but I wasn't sure whether it would work. That was why I asked him to contact me should he fail to escape through [Portal] without getting back to the emergency room first, as I would open one myself to take them back to Noire's cottage. His silence after Noire left confirmed that he was able to escape the castle successfully, and that my hunch of my ability playing a part in it was onto something. {Is it because I'm involved that Jinma was able to penetrate it? Or, is my ability working for him in ways I'm not aware of yet? Like how I can't lie to him?}

I promised myself a long time ago that I'd try to be as truthful and honest to Jinma as possible, and I—or I should say my clone who shares my will and personality—am genuinely trying to follow through when necessary as I speak to him. I've learned recently after a few attempts, however, that even with my maxed out [Deception] and a few other skills and items that would fool his fully-mastered [Intuition], he can still see through my lies. I could only guess my recently awakened ability was playing a part of this somehow. So, even if I want to lie to Jinma, my ability won't let me get away with it.

When I first saw that ability come to my attention last night, I was genuinely excited by its implications. It was like my connection with Jinma was that great to actually make an ability out of it. I've started to learn, however, that this ability is as much of a curse as it is a blessing.

{The situation right now is already complicated as it is. If I don't do something to really mend my bond with Jinma soon, I have a feeling … that something bad is going to happen, especially if Jinma's LUCK is as bad as 'Sue' was making it out to be.}

*Don don don.*

"Your Majesty, it is me, Gloria. I came as soon as I received word of your summons."

From my secretary's greeting behind the door, I took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure, {Well, it's a good thing I have a plan concocted for this situation. I just need to deal with these royal matters first and set everything up before I put it to action. It's a good thing I have Sammy made me supplements to prepare myself ahead of time for this moment. It's going to be a long night, but I must do everything I can now so I'll have little to worry about during my time off that I've stocked up. I want to put everything I have into spending time and getting closer to Jinma, even if it means revealing my true self.

{I'm sorry for troubling you and your harem with my selfishness, Jinma, but please be patient for a little longer. I swear, I will make it all up to you soon.}

Author's Post-Chapter Note: Sorry for the shorter chapter than normal, I couldn't find a better way to end this section. We'll be getting back to Jinma's POV in the next chapter.