The Mad Doctor was a loner-used to people staying away from him in general due to his disposition and image, he was quite surprised when he saw someone say that they wanted to join him in something.
Of course, there were always requests to learn medicine under him, from those who prepared themselves to ignore his 'madness' if he was willing to teach them.
He was usually inclined to say 'f*ck off' to them, so the only ones he taught grudgingly right now were those doctors in the room outside, who had been assigned by the sect to ensure that his post wouldn't remain empty if he perished.
Hence, hearing someone say something like this, he couldn't help but pause.
As the fluctuating elementary particles in the room died down and started to return to normal, Daneel heaved a sigh of relief, feeling glad that his plan had worked.
This reckless plan was due to a supposition that had occurred to him about the Mad Doctor before: usually, people who were highly affected emotionally about a matter would connect with someone who showed that they were being affected in the same way, albeit to a lower extent.
Not everyone could show true sincerity in emotion, either. It would require a certain level of ability to show empathy, which Daneel had due to his experience in acting.
Just like he had imagined, finding someone who shared the same emotion as himself made the Mad Doctor feel relieved for once.
His anger at the kid in front of him vanishing, the man redirected it to the culprit.
"If I don't bathe in that scum's blood, then I will renounce my name and my life. I am surprised to see someone who was close to Henry when he was alive. How did you two meet? Tell me about him. I was mostly busy with my work, and I neglected to spend time with my son. I want to know more. Tell me."
Daneel had initially been rejoicing after hearing the first part of the Mad Doctor's statement, but the second stumped him.
He had only hoped that the shared 'pain' would allow him to coax the information regarding the conflict that this man had with Ashahell out.
However, now, he found that he was in a dilemma.
The Mad Doctor had spoken in a dangerously low voice, so Daneel knew that rejecting was not an option.
Creating stuff out of thin air and telling it was also not advisable at all, as if it was later found out that none of the stuff he had told had happened, he would definitely face death, or worse.
Now, how the heck was he supposed to answer about that disgusting cretin?
Thankfully, the system came to his rescue.
[Certain conversations which were eavesdropped on during the time that host was searching for information before relate to the activities of the Mad Doctor's eldest son. Would host like system to replay those?]
"Yes! Yes!"
Fighting the urge to smile due to the happiness that he had been saved, Daneel waited as those conversations replayed in his head.
However, after that, he had to work hard not to let disgust show on his face.
Most of the conversations were about the way that kid had used to take advantage of those both in the Sect and in the border village using his almost untouchable background.
Others were about how that bunch of bullies would have been brought to justice long back if it weren't for their backing.
Taking a deep breath, Daneel realized that he would have to foul his mouth if he wanted to keep the ruse up.
He hesitated for a bit, but proceeded, as he knew exactly what hung in the balance- it was the fates of millions of people.
More and more, Daneel started to realize that he was getting prepared to do anything to reach the goal.
If this kept continuing, was it possible that he could become someone like Ashahell who wouldn't hesitate to commit mass genocide?
No. They were unrelated things. Surely, he was only having these thoughts as he was in a panic.
Telling himself this and taking a deep breath, Daneel started speaking.
"Of course! Henry was always the leader to follow. His ideas were legendary! Once, we went to the border village to a certain woman's-"
20 minutes later, the Mad Doctor's mood shifted somewhat to one of grief.
It seemed that until now, the man had been holding onto his anger and thirst for vengeance, but listening to some stories about his eldest son, who really had grown up to become just as despicably horny and detestable like himself, he couldn't help but begin the process of grieving.
Only, even his method of grieving was, well, 'mad'.
Standing up abruptly after Daneel's stories were done, he walked to a cupboard and retrieved a painting of that cretin.
After doing so, he sat back down and kept staring at the picture, while steam appeared near his eyes from time to time.
It seemed that he was crying, but as he was too proud to let anyone see it, he was evaporating the tears with magic.
Finally, after a few minutes, he set aside the picture and sat in deep thought.
As this continued for an unbearable amount of time, Daneel even began to wonder whether the man had fallen asleep or something with his eyes open.
However, after what felt like an eternity, the Mad Doctor finally looked up, and his eyes had a shine in them that hadn't been visible before.
"I will find a way to kill those two bastards, even if I end up dying after that."
W-what? Seriously?
As Daneel heard the Mad Doctor say this under his breath with a tone of bloodthirsty determination, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He was exactly the one that this Champion level powerhouse had sworn to kill, and at his level, he couldn't even hope to resist.
It seemed that his reckless plan had completely backfired and taken him from the frying pan into the damn volcano.
Before, he had known about the special decree that the High Council would be watching over the Central Continent, which had made him feel relieved that the Mad Doctor would at least not march out for revenge without any hesitation.
Somehow, he had made the man decide to do just that.
Well, when madness was involved, outcomes seldom fit the norms.
One step at a time.
He had created a disaster for himself, but before he could begin thinking about what to do to solve it, he had to first finish what he had come here to do in the first place.
As if he hadn't heard the Mad Doctor make that proclamation, Daneel spoke out hesitantly.
"S-sir, I didn't know whether you knew of this, so I wanted to bring it to your attention, as I couldn't bear to hear people speaking like this about my idol's father. They said that the Sect Leader was gloating due to your misfortune! That can't be true, right, sir?"
Although Daneel felt like washing his mouth with disinfectant due to using the word 'idol', he felt relieved when he finally received the answer he had been looking for.
"Humph. I never expected that he would still hold a grudge because I rejected his plan to decrease mining. Screw that obnoxious kid. Just because he has talent, does he think-"
As the Mad Doctor went on a rant about how the Sect Leader was the worst one to occupy that post in the past 100 years, the gears in Daneel's mind started to turn.
Now, he knew about the grudge, and knowing what he did about Ashahell, he could understand why that had affected the man so much.
With a twinkle in his eyes, Daneel began planning how he was going to use the conflict between these two, so that it could result in the High Council suspecting Ashahell more and completely putting a stop to his actions by imprisoning or killing him, instead of just keeping a watch over him like now.
Was this plan immoral? Yes, of course, as he was going to plant false evidence and take advantage of someone whose confidence he had won by exploiting his grief.
However, Daneel felt no qualms at all, as he knew that sometimes, actions shouldn't be looked at on the surface. Instead, what should also be taken into consideration was whether the targets deserved it, and whether the end result would be beneficial on the whole, while not violating any inviolable bottom lines.
After the Mad Doctor stopped speaking, Daneel just said, "Please do contact me, sir, if I can be of any assistance to avenge the man I looked up to most. I'll take my leave then."
As a grunt came in reply, he hurried out, and when he closed the door to the office behind him, he came face to face with the healer from before whose jaw dropped on seeing that Daneel didn't have a scratch on him.
"Wh-what?! Don't tell me it worked!"
"Why don't you go find out for yourself?"
As Daneel said this, the healer sputtered for a few moments before rushing to the office, as if he didn't want to let this opportunity slip.
Chuckling to himself in a rare moment of amusement, Daneel walked to the door.
Bang!
The next second, the healer found himself skidding across the hospital room, with his face having an extra addition of a bootprint.
When he tried to search for the blonde haired kid who had almost caused him to be skinned alive, he was nowhere to be found, which made the man scream with frustration before admitting himself and starting to treat himself in the medical ward, all the while grumbling about how he was going to make sure to have his revenge when he got his hands on that obnoxious bastard.