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Chapter 285 - 284 - Belia's Next Plan

Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

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"Am I a genius or what!?" I exclaimed gleefully.

It was the day after the battle, and things were going great...I'd just gotten a couple of great ideas on how to proceed next.

"I'm gonna go with 'or what'...never mind that, could you please go talk to the summons? They're all depressed and shit," Sighed Shiro in a tired voice.

Ugh, he's been nagging me to do that for hours now. Oh, and as for the Silvland troops, Hacte was appeasing them...they seem to trust him, since it was his power that boosted all of their power levels.

"Later...right now, I'm savoring the fact that things went so well...almost everything went according to plan, but it was still chaotic as hell! The Rustlands just lost all their strongest Adventurers, which gives me a great idea," I grinned excitedly.

"Good for you...can you do it after you talk to the summons first?" Responded Shiro with disinterest.

"Aren't you gonna ask me what my idea is?"

"No, because I don't really care."

"Hey, that's so mean, Shiro! I let you fight for a decent amount of time this time, you know!" I exclaimed indignantly.

"Not really...and you withdrew me at a really unsatisfactory point, after those two weaklings dealt so much damage to me...it would have been nice to kill at least one of them in retaliation," He huffed irritably.

"Oh...well, none of that's my fault, so whatever. Anyway, here's my idea-."

"I said I don't care-."

"-We're going to attack Bronztan next, just me and you Chaos sidekicks, we'll leave out the Silvland pawns and summons for this, Bronztan doesn't have any especially powerful Adventurers, certainly no one on the level of Kuro or even close to that, so it'll be fun and easy! The only restriction is to not kill all of their S-Ranks...I want Bronztan and the Rustlands to team up, make it clear to both of them that they can't possibly survive against our forces unless they join forces! What do you think?" I inquired with a smirk, as I finished explaining my plan.

That's not the entirety of my plan, I've got something extra special for right after that, something really grand, but I'll keep that to myself for now, don't want to spoil the surprise, after all...

"...I guess that doesn't sound too bad. But what if they don't get the hint?" He replied, after a couple of seconds to mull it over.

"Hm, good point...ooh, I know, in the middle of the attack, I'll confront the Queen of Bronztan and tell her that if she doesn't move all her citizens and Adventurers to the Rustlands, we'll wipe out all trace of both nations!" I declared with a grin, before adding in a more serious, malicious tone, "That should certainly do the trick."

"Yeah, uh...that should definitely do it. So, about the summons-."

"Alright, fine, I'll talk to them, sheesh!" I huffed, getting a bit annoyed.

"Hey, you summoned them, stop making them my responsibility, and stop getting annoyed whenever I point out that fact!" He snapped in reply.

"You...kinda have a point there, I suppose," I admitted wryly, "Go tell the other sidekicks to get ready, 'kay? I'll work my magic, figuratively-speaking, on the summons, and then we'll leave."

"Sometimes you show incredible restraint, like going for hundreds of years without getting directly involved in anything and instead sticking to manipulating from the shadows...and sometimes, you have the patience of a child," He remarked with a shake of his head.

"You know what, you insult me way too much! You should be more careful, you know," I retorted with a frown.

"...is that a threat?" He inquired warily.

"Obviously."

"Well, the way you act, it's sometimes hard to take you seriously...and sometimes, I even forgot that you're actually one of the strongest beings in the world, you act like such an id-."

"Maybe you should quit while you're ahead...Shiro," I stated with an icy smile.

"Right...I'm gonna go now, to, uh...yeah, inform the other sidekicks. Let me know how it goes with the summons!" He said, as he left the room.

That was his way of saying 'go talk to the summons' without saying it directly...his passive-aggressiveness is annoying. Though he's even more annoying when he's being direct, so whatever.

Well...I suppose that I should go talk to the summons, they didn't do too well during this attack, but the deaths of two of them is sure to stoke the rage and hatred of the other four...I need to appeal to those emotions and exploit them...in their current emotional states, this is the ideal time to try and manipulate them...

...

A few minutes later, I was outside the door to the guest wing of the castle, where the summons were staying. Yeah, I could have just entered using my Dimensional Magic, but this way seems more appropriate right now. I'm starting to enjoy acting the opposite to how I really am, I guess I got motivated after Shiro masterfully won over the summons after I brought them to this world.

I knocked on the door, composing myself and putting on a somber expression on my face, along with a subtle illusion spell to make myself appear a bit disheveled and remorseful. Okay, that should do it, I don't want to overdo it, or they might get suspicious. I can't lay it on too thickly while avoiding appearing as if I don't care...I need to find a realistic reaction middle-ground.

The door then opened and Shin poked his head out, his eyes red with tear streaks on his face and messy hair...huh, no wonder Shiro kept pestering me to talk to them, he looks in pretty bad emotional shape right now...

"Hey...I know this isn't a good time, but I'd like to speak to all of you," I said in a slightly sorrowful tone, averting my gaze to make it seem like I feel guilty.

"Oh, it's you, Miss Belia...yeah, okay, come in," He replied in a weak voice, opening the door and gesturing for me to walk in.

Alright, now for the hard part. He led me into one of the bedrooms in the guest wing, where the other three survivors were all there. They looked up as I walked in with him, maintaining my expression as I did.

"Hi, everyone. I, um...I just wanted to apologize. I dragged you into this world without asking, and because of that-...," I began in a conflicted, apologetic tone.

"No, it's not your fault, none of us blame you," Interrupted Shin, placing his hand on my shoulder with a faint smile.

"Yeah, he's right...we agreed to help you, it's not like you forced us or anything. It was our choice, so it would be unfair to blame you," Agreed Dwayne with a nod.

"B-but I, i-if it wasn't for me-...," I started to say, before trailing off while shaking my head and making it look like I was about to cry, having my voice crack and tremble a bit.

This is so much fun!

"But nothing...if it wasn't you, the rest of us might have died too. You saved us," Chimed in Lily.

"I...I failed to save Skylar and Ren though, if only I had used my Observation Magic more efficiently!" I cried, clenching my fist.

Oh, crap, that felt kinda forced. Was that a bit too much? No, I don't think so, I think that was just about okay, none of them reacted to it in a suspicious manner. And I hope I got the names of the two that died right, I was only like, half-sure that I did. But based on their expressions and lack of reactions, looks like I got them right. Nice, I'm doing well...

"You can only view one area at a time with that magic, right?" Spoke up Kyle, "We've been through plenty of battles in our previous world, we know what war is like, we lost plenty of comrades there...it's our fault for underestimating the power scale of this world, you did more than enough just saving the four of us."

Huh, talk about forgiving...no, that's not it at all, they're simply not directing their sorrow and rage at me. Interesting, they're able to think logically despite obviously being heavily emotional right now...that's not something I'm used to with humans. I mean, just take Silvland...I doubt I'd find a single person who's capable of thinking logically at all, let alone when in this kind of emotional state.

Still, they're awfully naive...and that makes them just as easy to manipulate as the Silvland idiots, maybe even easier...

"I...I don't think I can bring myself to let you participate in the next battle...after what happened last time, I just-," I started with a conflicted look on my face, biting my lower lip in 'distress'.

"That's out of the question. We will avenge our fallen friends or die trying," Interrupted Shin with a look of determination.

"Yeah, we all feel this way, please don't stop us," Added Kyle with a grimace.

Ahh, now I see...Shin is the key here. This is actually only how he feels, and he must have unintentionally convinced the others that they feel this way too...he'd manipulated them without even realizing it. Of course, they might have had similar feelings, but not to the extent that he does, it's his influence that really got them on the same page.

And that works so well in my favor...it's a good thing I took my time in coming to talk to them instead of coming immediately when Shiro started nagging me.

"If you feel that strongly...then, as much as I don't want to, I promise to respect your wishes. But...," I trailed off hesitantly.

"But...?" Prompted Lily curiously, as they all stared at me.

"But only on the condition that you agree to let me power you all up, using this technique called Corruption Magic. It might be risky since your bodies are different to the humans here, but there's no other choice. After all, our enemies have grown a lot stronger than before."

"Yeah, by killing our friends and stealing their weapons," Remarked Shin, intense, fierce bloodlust emanating from him.

"We definitely agree to that...I mean, it's more like a favor than a condition, we experienced how powerful the Rustlands' forces are firsthand, after all...it's safe to say that all four of us agree that we need to get stronger," Said Dwayne with a determined look.

Heh...I think it's safe to say I've more or less gained most, if not all, of their trust. Eventually, I plan to reveal the truth to them...when that happens, I can't wait to see the looks of betrayal on their faces...

"Alright, then...if you're really sure, then tomorrow, we'll begin on that, okay? But if it seems like the risk is too high, I'll call it off immediately, got it?"

Hm, should I tell them that all the specific individuals that the four of them are currently harboring grudges against have been exiled or defected from the Rustlands? Nah, maybe later. I'll keep it to myself for now...after all, I don't want to ruin the burning hatred that's starting to accumulate amongst them...

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