Magda looked with disdain at the vegetables on display in the marketplace of the capital of the Kingdom of Lanthanor.
In her mind, she tried to convince herself that these were the same exotic meats that she was used to having in her castle, but no matter how much she tried to do so, the rank smells of sweat which felt so magnified to her and the buzz of conversation that was ever-present in this bustling destination of the continent kept distracting her, until she had no option but to agree that these were what she had to eat.
Being a foodie all her life, she had made it so that even her Champion and Hero Path were all about food, but for this assignment, she had had to forsake that love of her life, which was so all-encompassing that no other love had managed to captivate her enough to take part in her life.
All of this lasted only for a second, though, after which a bright smile came on her face and she began to bargain for the prices just like the housewives and husbands beside her.
A few minutes later, she returned to her cottage, which had been newly purchased under the name of Hildegard, a widow from the Kingdom of Arafell who had arrived here for a fresh start, after seeing her husband and son die in the event of a burglary.
She had liquefied all of her assets, and she was currently one of the most sought after ladies in her street, mainly because of the vast wealth that she was supposed to possess, and the fact that there was no one to spend it. She spent her days either knitting in the courtyard in front of her house, or roaming the streets of the Kingdom of Lanthanor and making herself familiar with this new place that she found herself in.
Of course, this was all a sham, and what she was actually doing was collecting information that she kept passing back to the makeshift headquarters that the Heroes who had banded together in this mission had made.
They had actually drawn straws to select who would go on surveillance, as it didn't really matter which Hero did so. In a normal Kingdom of the Central Continent, the Hero level was legendary, and even their means would seem completely Godlike to those who resided in this backward place. Hence, anyone who knew basic spell casting could get away with anything, and at most, they would have to care about making their presence known by showing arrogance which did not befit anyone in this area.
The others had laughed when she was the one who drew the short straw, as it was her whose arrogance was usually the one which caused problems. She was famous for upending a bowl of soup on a very powerful Hero who came to her house for lunch on finding out that she was one of the most excellent chefs on the continent, and that had resulted in her having to call in many favors to dissuade the man from insisting that he beat her black and blue for revenge.
Still, she knew what the stakes were. They had always known that if they wanted to pursue their dreams, they needed to have something worthwhile to present to the Church that would put them on a pedestal and allow them to get whatever they wanted in the shortest time possible.
So, with great difficulty, she was trying to make new recipes with these common ingredients and normal methods while doing her duty of keeping a close eye on the Palace.
As she thought about what she would make today, Daneel was looking at her from right across the street.
If he were someone normal, she would have spotted him by now, but his spells were actually a level above what she was using. This was mainly because she seemed to not care too much about acting with professionalism, as she had only slapped together the most basic Hero level spells.
From this, itself, it was clear that whoever was attacking them seemed to still think of the Central Continent as a rural place with the weakest of people. He didn't really blame them- even the power that he has shown so far was limited, with his realm on the outside still being that of a Warrior level Mage and a Champion level fighter, but with the 'useless' Bloodline of the Divine cockroach.
Hence, there was really no reason for people who had had a certain impression of this place for a long time to change it, and this was actually a boon.
The first thing Daneel felt was relief after he found this out, as it meant that he was not going up against another extremely intelligent foe who might lead him to have to use some of his trump cards. He had really been hoping that that would not be the case, as dealing with Heroes would already be something very difficult - it would actually be his first attempt at doing so, and he wanted something easy.
Well, it looked like this was the easiest target he would get, as an overconfident enemy was often the easiest one to handle.
Taking a deep breath, Daneel teleported back to the Palace to find all of his sovereigns waiting for him.
It almost felt like they were back in the old times when there was no Order or Golden Lightning to think about - they had their Kingdom, they had their enemies, and all that mattered was whether they would be able to outsmart or overpower them to gain victory.
With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Daneel said, "All of you were right. She does seem quite haughty, and I could tell that even though she was trying to hide it, she has quite a lot of prejudice against our dear Central Continent. Well, we can look at that two ways- we can look forward to a time soon when that will no longer be the case, or we can feel angry due to it. I choose the former, and I'm really looking forward to it, but before that - what to do with these Heroes?"
As a commander, Luther cut straight to the chase as he asked the most important question.
"What is their purpose?"
With a shrug, Daneel said, "The mosquitoes, of course. It was the most obvious link that could be made - the individual who used mosquitoes to defuse the ticking time bomb that was going to blow up our chance of winning the War used mosquitoes in an innovative way, and the art of tampering with the biological make-up of living beings in order to create new species is an almost godlike one that anyone would want to have. In fact, I, myself, have been foolishly neglecting the potential that can have, but I can say that if I expose it, it will bring down wrath like no other upon me. Well, I had no other option but to do so in this case. In the Central Continent, I am famous for my various types of mosquitoes that I deployed both during the fight against those fools in that forest, and the events that happened during the Olympics. From these, an argument can be made that there is at least some sort of a connection between the individual who acted in those caverns and me, so they must be here to find out just what this is. Because of their attitude regarding the Central Continent, I guess that they, assuming its a group and not an individual because of the fact that she is sending some information repeatedly, think that it is my master, which is what I've always wanted them to assume, anyway. Because of this, we don't really need the Head's help in convincing them that the King of Lanthanor is not hiding extremely explosive strength and skills, but we might need the man here with us for a different purpose. I'll get to that soon. Before that, the most important question now is to find out why these people want to do this - is it simply to increase their own power, or is it to obtain a sort of bargaining chip with which they can negotiate with the Church? Or…are they directly agents of the Church carrying out an assignment? That is what we need to find out, and for that, our plan is simple- catch that Hero, and make them spill the beans."
A brief silence hung over the room as Daneel made that last statement, and after that, all of his sovereigns stared at him as if he were a madman.
It was Eloise who was able to put her thoughts into words first.
"But Daneel, that's a Hero! The last time you tried to take on one by yourself, you almost died! It's not worth it!"
It looked like that was exactly what the others had thought, too, and Daneel actually didn't blame them. He was chuckling on the outside, but on the inside, he was wincing due to the memory of the pain that he had had to undergo when his consciousness had split into a thousand pieces.
Raising his hand and making a cutting motion in the air, he said, "Oh, there's no damn way that I'll do that for these pesky fools! Yes, with my current power level, handling a Hero directly will be difficult, but we haven't actually been idling away all the time until now, right? Head, get in here!"
In the next second, the man who was treated with the utmost respect throughout the continent appeared respectfully in the room.
He nodded to all those present and said, "I've had a look, but I can't recognize her. Even though they are not trying too hard to conceal the fact that they are here, they have taken great pains to make sure that I cannot spot the exact identity of the one who was present. As for their power level… I have a general estimate, and I should be able to subdue them if they entered an area from which they cannot leave."
The simplicity with which one of their major problems had been solved almost dazed the sovereigns, but then, they remembered that their king was not the stupidly arrogant type who would insist that he achieve everything with his own power. Domination did not need one to always flex their muscles- they could do the same with their mind, and still awe all with their actions.
In this case, it was a simple idea to use their ally, but the sovereigns had not considered it as they had still not gotten used to this newfound status of theirs, where they had such a powerful Hero on their beck and call.
Only Luther and Robert seemed to have at least thought about it for a little bit, because they shared a smile between each other when they heard the king, and they were the first to recover.
With a nod, Daneel spoke in a firm tone.
"I expected as much. Head, and my sovereigns, let me tell you something. This might feel like a trivial matter on the surface, where someone is simply probing to obtain information that will help them, but I am taking this very, very seriously. We are approaching closer and closer to the war, so our objective right now should be to remove as many uncertain factors as possible. Right now, I classify this Hero and their group as one - and I intend to deal with them with full force due to this reason. There is no more kidding around. From here, each and every action that we take must be one that has been decided on while keeping the upcoming War in mind, and hence, in this mission, we shall take no chances. I will act as the bait, and all of you are the hunters. Head, accept your nomination and appointment as the 10th, and currently strongest sovereign. Who were once nine have become ten, but I expect that number will soon increase, which will allow us to once again reach one that is in line with the sacred numerals of this continent. For now, sovereigns, let's move out!"