Walking back to his mansion, Daneel had a very sad expression on his face.
If Stefan and Jaggrv could see him now, they would have thought that he had failed in his mission of obtaining the support of one of the top assassins.
However, if they knew that he was sad despite succeeding at his task, they would have been dumbfounded.
Reaching the mansion, he entered and went to his room before taking out one of the wine bottles that were still remaining after the drinking session with Skkrag.
Pouring himself a cup, he downed it in a second and poured one more.
As the spicy liquid went down his throat, the burning sensation that it left felt good, distracting him from his thoughts.
Never could he have imagined that the most reliable and steadfast commander of Lanthanor had such a tragic past.
At the tender age of 8, he had been left behind at the foot of the mountain by someone unknown. He had no memories, and his cries of fear had attracted a sect member who had been going up the mountain, making him contact the sect to ask what he was supposed to do. They investigated the villages all around, but did not find the parents of the child.
Finally, he was taken up to the sect.
He grew up with no parents in a place where people learned to kill as their profession. The sect had tried to recover his memories to no avail, so he was left alone. He wasn't very talented as an assassin or a Fighter, so he wasn't valued by the sect. Still, he was pitied and given leftovers.
When he was old enough, he began to work as a sparring partner for young assassins in training. No matter how many hits he took, he would always stand up and be ready for more.
Alas, he didn't reach the standards of the Hidden Kill Sect to be trained as an assassin. Yet, the instructors took a liking to his qualities and still taught him a bit in their spare time.
Still, most of his day consisted of being beaten up and then mending his injuries while learning whatever he could.
His luck changed when he was noticed by one of the then most talented assassins in the sect: a man called Agmar. He was officially adopted by him, as Agmar was, himself, an orphan who had been left behind in the sect.
They were together for five years, and they became closer than son and father.
Trouble came when Agmar's wife gave birth to a son. She had never liked the relationship between Agmar and Luther, so she had never been close to him, but she supported her husband grudgingly as he was someone who really wanted kids.
However, now that they had their own child, she became envious of the relationship that they two had.
She felt that her own son would be ignored, so she plotted against Luther.
She struck when Agmar was out on an assassination mission, calling Luther to her room and threatening him that if he didn't leave without giving any explanation, she would plant evidence that Luther was trying to steal the sect's techniques, which would break Agmar's heart and also implicate him, as he was responsible for whatever Luther did.
Luther cared about his adopted father's feelings more than anything else, and he was also very grateful for everything he had done for him. After talking to Agmar's wife and finding out how she really felt, he knew that there was no future for him in this sect in which his father would also be happy. So, without hesitation, he left.
He had gone to Lanthanor as they were actively recruiting then, and he had stayed there ever since while keeping the memories buried inside his heart. Of course, he couldn't help but pine for the only man who had cared for him, but he never considered going back.
Back in the sect, the woman that was the cause of Luther leaving had made up another story. She told Agmar that Luther had only been with him to become strong enough to fend for himself in the outside world, and with his goal accomplished, he left the sect as he knew that with his limited talent, he would not have risen much there.
Of course, Agmar was completely heartbroken, but after some time, he managed to become normal. He raised his son well, but due to a botched assassination, the died abruptly.
This completely destroyed his wife, whose every hope had been pinned on the boy.
She died due to heartbreak, but before she took her last breath, she told Agmar the truth due to a guilty conscience.
This shattered Agmar, who blamed himself for not noticing the jealousy and scorn in his wife. He felt guilty for letting down the kid whom he adopted and promised he would take care of, so he completely dedicated himself to his assassinations before finally retiring.
Even after retirement, he spent his days teaching young assassins, as he could never forgive himself for what had happened to Luther.
Now, when there was finally a chance for the two to speak, both of them had poured out their true feelings.
Luther had never blamed Agmar all these years. Instead, all he did was miss the man and hope that he was living a good life.
When Agmar realized that he had been foolish all these years by not looking for Luther, he completely broke down into tears in front of Daneel and thanked him profusely for letting him mend the biggest regret of his life.
As for the matter of support, he had said that he owed Daneel a favour that he would repay any day even if it meant giving up his life.
That was all that Daneel had needed, and he had left the communication trinket linking Luther with him before going out the door.
The two had continued the tearful reunion, but Daneel couldn't help but feel sad because of their tale.
It was a typical story of jealousy, but the fact that it affected someone so close to him made Daneel keep drinking until the bottle was empty.
Finally, unable to even squeeze one more thought of his head, he fell asleep on the bed, all while Stefan and Jaggrv continued to desperately search for backup plans.
The next day, Daneel woke up and washed his face before walking to Jaggrv's cottage.
Opening the door, he saw a peculiar sight.
Jaggrv was slumped over the table on a book, while Stefan was lying on Jaggrv's back, treating his friend's thick robes as a pillow.
The sadness had mostly receded due to the alcohol, so Daneel was in a better mood, especially due to the fact that he now had the three votes he needed.
Thus, playfully, he knocked loudly on the door and said, "From next time, lock the door!"
Startled awake, both assassins immediately materialized weapons made of elements that they thrust in Daneel's direction.
This time, it was Daneel's turn to be startled as he immediately ran back and resolved never to disturb sleeping assassins again.
After they realized it was him and hastily stopped their attacks, Daneel walked back inside after wiping the sweat on his forehead.
These two weren't at the top for no reason, as he would definitely have been injured to within an inch of his life if they had called back their attacks even a moment later.
After giving both of them a little time to freshen themselves up, Daneel was about to ask what the next step was when Stefan spoke in a voice filled with disappointment.
"We've been looking through the rulebooks, but we found no backup plan. You didn't contact us yesterday, so I guess that you failed in your attempts? It was a long shot, anyway."
It was when he heard this that Daneel realized that in his grief, he had forgotten to contact the two to tell them that he had managed to get the vote they needed.
Awkwardly rubbing his nose, Daneel replied, "Er… About that. I have Agmar's vote. So, what's our next step?"
As both of them stared at him while gawking, Daneel tried to ignore their scorching gazes.
After another two seconds passed, both of them started screaming at him at the same time.
"You [email protected]@king maggot! We were searching throughout the night! A single hint would have been fine! Screw the prophecy, I'll kill you right now!"
"Way to be reliable! And we're supposed to give the sect to you! Even I'm having second thoughts!"
They were right to be angry, so Daneel let them go on and on until they exhausted themselves and just stared at him while huffing and puffing.
Finally, he said, "Done? Now, let's get back to the matter at hand. What is our next step?"
Well, he was a haughty expert anyway, so there was no way that he was going to apologize. It was already surprising enough that he had let them scold him without retaliating.
It seemed that the both of them also understood this, as they only sat down and glared at him before Stefan said, "Our next step is to wait. The sect needs to be in an actual, full-on crisis for the vote to be called. The burning of the food stores pushed us towards it, but getting the weapons from the formation will still save us. Actually, even if you don't manage to open the formation, we can resist Axelor for quite some time. Of course, not as much time as before, because the choking strategy will work better now. According to the prophecy, there will come the time when the sect is definitely going to be destroyed. Till then, we wait. Trust us, it'll come."
What?! So what he had done wasn't enough? Things needed to be even more dire?
Realizing this, Daneel fell into deep thought once again.
To be frank, he didn't really believe the prophecy, so he wasn't prepared to throw his hands up and wait like these two.
He had to do something to make it happen.
He had to take matters into his own hands.
As the King of Lanthanor got a bold idea, a cold look came on his face, as he decided that it was time for drastic measures.