A few minutes later, the same man who was on his way out of the Kingdom of Arafell had resumed his journey, but no one could tell that he was now a puppet of the King of Lanthanor.
He looked the same on the outside, yet, he had been given strict orders to keep reporting everything to Daneel whenever he could.
Daneel was confident in the Mind Control spell on this guy, even though the spell had been failing him recently when he used it to tackle this matter.
The problem was that these bandits whole life depended on reading people and finding out things. As such, Mind Control would cause a dissonance in one's mind that would cause one to act in ways that didn't fit with their original personality.
Hence, sometimes, when he had sent bandit scouts inside their camps, the bandits had been able to find that something was amiss even though Daneel had given express orders to the scout not to give any sign of anything being wrong.
All of these bastards were…just a bit too suspicious of each other. Hell, it looked like even those groups which had worked together for years still watched each member, trying to see whether there was any chance of someone choosing to backstab.
Again, it had been impressed upon Daneel just how tough this life was. Yet, he also knew how profitable it could be.
Apparently, there was one group which had managed to bust a small, unassuming caravan which everyone thought would contain nothing too valuable. Yet, it had actually had all the wealth of a merchant who was shifting Kingdoms, and that group had managed to rise through the ranks by using that money to buy better weapons and trinkets instead of retiring, like some others would do.
That…was the bandit group that this bandit leader with a bald patch belonged to. Daneel had 'downloaded' all information regarding him, but he had hesitated to impersonate him, yet, as he wanted to test first whether his skills were good enough to fool these people.
Regardless, he now had a direction he could pursue, which Daneel was very thankful for.
The rat had passed away after his piece of consciousness had exited it, and Daneel had asked for it to be buried on the grounds of the Kingdom, as it really had died in the service of the King, and, thus, did not deserve to have an unmarked grave.
Now, as he summarised everything he knew, he realized that there was still a lot for him to do.
For one thing, he still didn't know whether Queen Arafell was behind this. Even though Drakos had given a very good reason, he hadn't found evidence yet that that hidden man who was calling the shots wasn't related to the Queen.
As Daneel thought of who else could be the culprits, he sighed when he saw that there were a lot.
It could be Axelor, too, pulling strings in the shadows to stop him from raising satisfaction level.
It could be someone he didn't know from the Big 4, who might not want the alliance to grow stronger.
Or it could even be the damn Church, who was doing stuff covertly as they had already been burned once when they tried a direct approach.
Shaking his head, Daneel traveled back to Lanthanor, and as he did so, he couldn't help but pause over a spot on the highway to proudly see those who were utilizing it to travel between the Kingdoms or transport some kind of goods.
Smiles were on their faces, and even though they were still alert, this was nowhere near the anxiety and fear which usually followed a caravan like a cloud.
Using this moment to take a little joy in what he was seeing, Daneel called for a meeting in the Palace with all the planners, again, as he had just gotten an idea.
Although his main goal was to stop their chilling plan to incite race issues like many that were present on Earth, he had no method of finding out where they would be targeting the numerous elves who had started to enter Lanthanor as part of this process of development. Some were trinket designers, who wanted to see the real-life usage of their trinkets so that they could design better ones, while others were just fascinated about exploring new places and new people. Before, the prejudice against elves had stopped them from freely traveling where they wanted.
So, all he could do now was find a way to hasten the process of connecting the two by railway so that these people's objective could be rendered moot. They might still go through with it, but it was Daneel's idea that they might let something slip in their desperation to stop him.
When he sat down in front of Eloise and the rest of the Lanthanorians and proposed his plan, they stared at him as if they didn't know him.
Oh, right. Even though this was a simple scheme, not everyone was aware of his…capacity to scheme against his enemies.
Only Eloise had an amused smile on her face, and he had looked at her and shrugged ruefully on seeing this reaction, which had made her burst out laughing.
This broke the atmosphere and shock, and everyone immediately got down to implementing the King's plan, after reevaluating his 'honorable and just' image in their minds.
…
"150 soldiers. All wiped out. Dude, I heard that even their faces were beaten so out of shape that no one could identify one body from another."
"Man, what kind of psycho would use methods like those to kill people? The big boss is right. The King of Lanthanor must really be a devil from hell. My grandma always used to say that devils would come upon the land if humans didn't stay true to their roots."
"You dunce, your grandma said that that to scare you and to make sure that you wouldn't abandon her when she became really old! Your stupid ass even believed it and did that!"
"Oh…well, I was gunna do it anyway…"
"Wait…shut up! I hear something!"
These two bandits, who were lying prone on the ground while chatting with each other to avoid boredom, suddenly froze when they heard voices.
"It's our lucky day! These people must have not wanted to pay the small fee to use that damn highway! Contact the others! We might have a caravan to loot!"
As one bandit said this and reached for the communication trinket in his pocket, he suddenly found that his hand had been grasped by the other, who was looking forward with an incredulous expression on his face.
"What's the matter?"
"Look! That's not a damn caravan!"
On the urging of the second bandit, the first focused on a spot on the horizon and felt his jaw drop when he saw those who were approaching.
Mages, carrying metal bars and laying them down one by one!
A damn train track!
But…why the hell was it here?
"Hey, are you sure we're at the right spot! Maybe we got lost and are in the path of the track our brothers are attacking…"
"No! That's impossible! Let's go! We need to talk to the big boss!"
Saying so, the first bandit scrambled to his feet and started to run, while the other followed.
After a few minutes, they were panting for breath inside a hole similar to the one Daneel and Faxul had 'invaded'.
Their leader had a very grim expression on his face, and as he waited for them to catch his breath, he kept glaring in a certain direction.
Finally, after a few seconds, the second bandit spoke.
"Leader! You won't believe what we saw! But I swear its real!"
Strangely, these words made their leader sigh and bury his face in his hands for a moment in frustration.
The bandit had been expecting to shock everyone, but when he saw similar reactions appear on the others, too, he still continued, but his tone was more puzzled now than shocked.
"We saw a train track…"
"THAT MAKES 8! THAT F*CKING BASTARD IS PLAYING WITH US!"
Sure enough, this outburst from the leader made the jaws of these two drop.
8?! 8 railway tracks!
Wasn't the whole point that the trinkets were precious, and, hence needed to be carefully laid as they needed time to be made? Wasn't their whole plan hinged on them being able to attack multiple spots of the singular track to cause troubles?
They were already shortchanged in numbers, as it was, as each attack was a kamikaze one! Yet, now, they had to stop 8 tracks?!
Impossible.
Immediately, the leader used a trinket to contact their big boss, who had already gotten the news from the others.
In the end, the final count was 10 tracks. 10 tracks were being laid, simultaneously, at a speed that didn't match what had been on display till now.
In his quarters, Daneel was smiling to himself while holding a communication trinket in his hands.
This was something that connected to the one that was used by the bandit leaders to communicate, and he had given it to the one he controlled just now after finding out that an emergency meeting had been called.
As Daneel prepared himself to finally hear the voice of the one who was behind all this, his heartbeat slowly started to accelerate.
He had already been told that the 'weird' one belonged to the hidden leader, but he didn't know what that meant.
Soon, the meaning of 'weird' became clear.
"The King has outsmarted us. He knows that we only have resources to stall one, or at most two tracks from being built. But 10? Impossible."
It was a garbled, as if the voice of the one speaking was being distorted because it was passing through some or the other layer.
"Young King, this is a simple spell to hide one's voice. Whoever they are are, they are being very thorough."
Daneel nodded as he heard this, and, honestly, he hadn't been hoping too much that he would find a clue with the voice, anyway.
Indeed, this hidden leader had covered all bases.
"Damn him! What should we do, now? How did he even make so many tracks? If they are completed…"
The garbled voice interrupted the other bandit leader, who had a gruff tone.
"I suspect that some of them are fake, but there is no way to tell which are fake and which are real. It doesn't matter. It would have been best if we stopped them from being built, but even if they start to function, nothing much will change in a week. Nothing too much, at least. The outrage that develops because of the massacre will be enough to drive these two apart. Actually, he bumped up the stakes, so let us do so, too. Stop all attempts at hindering the railway tracks. Ask all the bandits to disperse silently and covertly into multiple small towns and villages inside the two Kingdoms. Focus more on Eldinor, as Lanthanor has that damn ID system. When I give the signal, they should emerge and kill many, many unsuspecting elves."
Wh-what?
This definitely hadn't been what Daneel had in mind when he implemented this!
As he bent forward with his eyes widened, he realized that he couldn't even do anything to stop it.
Who the f*ck was this person?
"I'm leaving to give the order to the bandits under me. You two do so, too. Time is of the essence. I'll call for a meeting if anything else needs to be addressed. Do you two have anything else to say?"
As silence appeared after the garbled voice said this, Daneel ran his two hands through his hair.
All he had was a week, from now. How was he supposed to root out thousands of bandits hidden among millions of citizens in that time?
Thinking quickly, Daneel made a decision. It was time for desperation, so he threw caution to the wind.
Using the trinket that connected him to the bandit leader, Daneel gave the command.
After a moment, the leader, who was named Skylar, spoke.
"No. We've gone along with everything, so far, but I won't stand for this. If this happens, we will have lost for all of our forces. I think there are better ways. I officially call for another Bandit Gathering, just like when the three of us were placed in charge."