I don't think we are on the same wavelength of thought here, but it wasn't like i can just ask him to elaborate more or anything like that, so i just kept staring at him wide-eyed .
But as if my action triggered some sense of accomplishment in him, his frowning ashen face was beginning to turn a bit more brighter and he even has a victorious like smile plastered all over his face, i for some reason felt annoyed by the weird face he was making, i felt a bit uncomfortable being the only one oblivious to what was he implying, i was even beginning to wonder whether was this some sort of a psychological trap he wanted he was trying to set or it being some trick he wanted me to fell for, but luckily he began to elaborate on his own while giving me a knowing look .
Saying :
So you first allowed those lame group of bandits to trap you first, just to lure us in as a result of seeing something out of ordinary during our patrol, then you acted weak and played dead for the most part of our interaction with those bandits, so to not get your cover to be blown off, then when i was asked to check you out, you fooled me by tempering with your aura and the information you had in mind, so that i won't become able to differentiate between what was true and what was false and due to the fact that you acted like a weakling and most of us took that for granted, you were able to continue playing your role, even though i already figured that you were awake, i didn't find that there was any need for me to say it directly at that time .
Then your plan really came to fruitation, as we all came to acknowledge you as nothing more than a loser human like so many others, unaware that you were the strangest wolf in a sheep cloth, you even masked the fact that you came from the domain of Bloodlords, i mistook your aura and physical body to be both that of a human, but knowing the traits of that race, it wouldn't have been hard for you to mask and disguise yourself as anything you like, we were justifiably beaten through and through .
We thought that everything was under our control that entire time, that you are of no threat to us, no matter how strong you are, or how many attacks you could withstand, your end nonetheless will be the same, we weren't aware of the fact that all that took place to this point, was orchestrated by you and we were merely playing and performing our roles that you designated perfectly to suit each and every one of us, we were like the dolls playing on the palm of your hand, from the headstart, i can't help but want to bow down to you in awe of your well orchestrated plan, but as you can see, i'm completely bound in place, might i ask to which Bloodlord i was currently in presence of, courtesy is one of your strongest features if i remember correctly .
After he finished saying all of that, he bowed his head a little bit as if he was declaring his respect for me, but i was still there staring at him in silence for what i could possibly call the longest time in which i was so shocked and dumbfounded, i felt my cheeks burn a bit, which shouldn't have been possible, but it was probably related to the psychological burden that i felt after getting appreciated for something that i didn't do, heck i didn't even know any information about most of the things that he mentioned me knowing about beforehand, i'm ashamed so i turned over my back to him, to hinder him him from seeing how i currently looked like .
I am having no doubt that he was overestimating so much, most of what happened today was out of pure coincidence, i had no clue about how was he able to link those dots together and how would that even made any sense, but i guess since he was beginning to believe me a bit more, i won't say anything to refute him, after all there was no need to waste an advantage that was delivered to my door, especially if it was delivered by the hands of an enemy .
But still it was a bit uncomfortable to act nonchalant about what he said, it was like " when you are in a group of smart people, be smart and when you are in a group of idiots, still be smart but a special kind smart " kind of situation .
But at least i got some clues about the internal structure of that place they call Real World from his words, like the fact that in that place there were actually humans living there and from the way he spoke their life conditions weren't good, but i can't ask him to elaborate since that will most likely raise his suspicions once more, but how should i answer him, i didn't know any useful information about that Bloodlord from before, but i guess he too might not have more knowledge about them, just like me .
I coughed the bit of discomfort that i had accumulated over time and said :
Are you worthy of knowing my name little fry, but since your flattery appeased me a little, i will have you known that you are in the presence of the newly promoted Ruler of the Bloodlord race, Blue Bloodlord, you are somewhat a bit worthy to at least stay in the presence of this borrowed body of mine .
The moment i finished my words, i composed myself then turned to look at his face, wanting to discern whether he bought my words or not, but his face was impassive, not giving any hints about what he was currently thinking, i was beginning to get a bit anxious, but his next words gave me a bit of hope, he said with a genuine carefree expression :
I did hear a few rumors about a new Ruler appearing in the ranks of the Bloodlord race, but to have a chance in meeting a prodigy such as yourself in person, was something that i never forsaw, please accept my snicere congratulations on your successful promotion, but why are you treating me like this, we demons have some affiliation with you and we even share some common allies with each other, like the vampires in the Section Of Liquid Blood .
I made it seem that my expression darkened at the mention of those common allies he mentioned, i even go to the extent of showing my killing intent as i berated him angrily by saying :
Don't dare lump us with those bloodsucking bat, that my first and last warning to you .
His expression was difficult to comprehend, but if i guessed correctly he did have some basic understanding of the external matters related to the Bloodlords, so it was in someway nothing but a mere final test on his part, as he tried to exploit such a common knowledge, yet even though it was common, something like this was very difficult to be found out by an outsider, his expression once more turned grave, but i concluded that this could only mean that i successfully passed the test .
Without giving him much time to comprehend anything else, i followed directly with asking him to provide an answer for my previous request about them going back to where they came from .
He said :
I for myself have no more business here, if you allowed me, i would not hesitate to order the people affiliated with my family to directly retreat, but the other 9 main families and the emperor of ours will probably continue in their pursuit of the Shard as they were ordered .
That conclude the mystery of that guy Ludo's identity and why was he being treated the way, his position was a member of the 10 main families, but wait what about the other 13 founding families here then and did he said ordered and what business did he have here and was now finished, i need to dig deeper .
So i asked in unhurried tone :
What about the other 13 founding families who took refuge in this part of the area ? .
Oh those guys are merely some high-level members of the 10 main family's branch families, our Dalor family have 2 branch families, the other 9 families each had 1 branch family with the Emperor having two branch families under his authority and name, alone, even though he belonged to one of the 10 main families in the first place .
For some reason he became a lot more cooperating as he explained everything throughly, i listened passively to what he said, acting as if i had already had known about this before or at least know something about it, i then asked :
You said that the Emperor and the other 9 main families will continue to search for the Shard as they were ordered to, at whose order ?.
The great Grand Emperor of the monsters, you probably haven't heard of this yet, but we demons are working with the monster race now, we have made an alliance, but they tasked us with the search for the Shard, how annoying .
For some reason i felt there was something else other than an alliance at work here, he even looked to be a bit annoyed by the whole idea,but i already got what i needed the most so there is no need to delve any more deeper into that, but now i have a much bigger question in mind that have been irking me for quite sometime, so i decided to ask him about it, saying :
The Shard, what do you guys intend to use it for ? .
I don't know much of the details, but my Father said that the monster race goal will bring more prosperity to the entire Real World, but the most of those blessings will befall the monster race first then it will extend to the rest of the realm, but i'm curious to what the Bloodlords going to use it for ? .
I shook my head at his sudden inquiry and told him that i was merely tasked with bringing the Shard back as for what my Elders do with it, i have no idea, luckily he bought this excuse of mine and nodded his head as if he understood everything clear, but to find out that the title Great Emperor actually existed, took me by quite the surprise, i used the title Grand Emperor as a bluff against the Bloodlord before but to think that it was actually real, if that was a true level of strength then how strong was the guy who claimed such a title be, what kind of monster was he, i was beginning to feel everything was becoming clear, but now i'm beginning to believe that i have only scratched the surface .
But i couldn't help but wonder how strong was the monster race in the Real World was to be able to order the Demon race around like this, they must have at least two or more Emperor like figures at minimum, to keep everyone under check, not to mention the existence of that Grand Emperor was quite the deterrent in itself .
But that Bloodlord previously mentioned that they were the third powerhouse in their domain, was that before or after the alliance between the Demons and Monsters had been made, if after then everything would be fine with that ranking, but if it was before and from the way that guy was speaking in, then there was some unknown powerhouse that should have taken the second place in this ranking, well and that was another touchy subject i can't ask him about .
Let's wrap everything related to this subject up, so that i can ask about something else, i came out with a a question that i already have an answer for but i still wanted to check how would he answer it, i said :
You said that you have already finished your business here, what were you exactly doing here ? .
He tensed slightly at this question of mine and he try to cover his alarmed reaction quickly, but it didn't escape my eyes, i still waited for him to answer, a few seconds he lowered his head as if admitting defeat and said :
I was sent here to look for the Shard as a first priority, then to experience the harsh world here, or that what i was at least instructed to , he was lying there was no doubt about it, he may be telling the truth about his first reason, but i was completely certain that he fabricated the second reason on the spot .
So i couldn't help but wonder what he was really after by coming here, but i was then struck by a sudden realization, the Dorell family member's spatial equipment, yes that must be what he was really after, or at least it may be just connected somehow .
Huh, what happen to my clothes, where is my belt, give me my belt or else .
He suddenly realized the fact that he was currently only in his casual wear, his belt as i guessed before was the first thing he asked about, his demeanor have become surprisingly much more sterner than before as he kept yelling about wanting his belt back .
I closed the distance between the two of us and said :
Or else what then ~slap~ , i slapped his right cheek with enough force to knock a few of his teeth off, he lost his composure so i was helping him with regaining it once more .
He calmed down a little, but the strong image he was typing to keep in front of me, had now completely collapsed and he said in a wary and begrudging way :
What are you planning to do, i'm warning you the moment you try to kill me, i will be teleported out of the danger and a mark will be left on you, that will keep track of your movements and will allow our family to hunt you anywhere you will go, the Bloodlords won't be able to help you in escaping .
I can't act recklessly was what he was telling me, but i also was in a half believed state of what he just said, but either way i still have a use for him so killing him now would be pointless, but why he told me all of this though, won't be more beneficial to him if he had kept his mouth shut about that kind of information, oh i guess with me still holding that belt of his in hand, it was kinda beginning to make perfect sense .
You are lying about being here to enrich your experience and you telling me about what would happen if i were to try to kill is already an enough proof of that, but what you were really after is something hiding in that belt of yours, am i wrong, was acquiring that thing the reason you decided to negotiate with that team leader of your to allow you to have the lion's share of the late Dorell family member's belongings, right ? .
He looked at me with an incredulous expression and seeing that he was already found out, he nodded his head in resignation, but said nothing in return .
I already expected as much, so his silence didn't matter to me much, i began to lean the belt in hand towards his right confined hand, his expression at first seeing me acting as if i was going to hand it out to him was that of rejoicing, but then seeing me only putting it close to his still confined hand, his expression shifted instantly to one of bewilderment, not sure what was exactly the meaning of what was taken place in front of him, seeing his bewildered look, i couldn't help but release a bit of a chuckle at this, that small gesture of mine ended up rekindling his wrathful mode unintentionally once more, he looked at me with quite angry face and asked :
What is the meaning of this ? .
I answered, saying :
Nothing actually, i'm just a bit curious about the thing you scooped out of the storing equipment of the Dorell family member, so would you be so kind to open the belt of yours and let me take a closer look .
My humble request took him by surprise, but he didn't answer directly, only stared at me with his sharp gaze, he may be beginning to doubt my fake identity as a Bloodlord, after all from the expression on his face, he presumed that by now, i would have already inspected everything in that belt of his as a capable Bloodlord would have, so me asking him to do it, did indeed look suspicious, he may be just be refusing to comply and i was just overthinking it .
I didn't wait long to be presented an answer for my puzzlement, he gauged me up and down with his eyes before saying :
I guess you tried to forcefully refine the belt, but your tries were futile, this little artifact of mine have restrictions runes all over it, so not to allow anyone but me to access the content inside it .
Phew, i guess i was overthinking it a bit, i was saved once again by his self-centered way of thinking, so this belt was indeed more special than the bracelets at hand, so even if i was a real Bloodlord, i would have still failed to have access to what was inside it, he may be also be bluffing, but either way, things did end up working in my favor .
He without missing a beat, continued to say :
Why would i go and do such thing, give me one reason to why would i be willing to do such a stupid thing .
~Slap~ , since the gentle approach didn't seem to be working, i might as well try approaching him in a more aggressive way, after all i already have his back against the wall, so i once again raised my hand and slapped his left cheek and as a result of how strong my slap was, his left cheek instantly swelled and he winced in pain .
I said :
So you refused my request to take the rest of the Demons and return to where you came from and once again denied me from my other request of wanting to check the content of your belt, do you really believe that i'm a shameless person who doesn't have a face to keep .
I don't give a damn about your face, you actually dared to hit me again, you are finished, you better keep hiding for the rest of your life, there will be no safe place for you back in the Real World, mark my words .
What was that weird sense of deja vu, right, didn't that Bloodlord also threatened me in the same fashion, telling me that the Bloodlords will hunt me the demon king Blazan in every corner of the Real World and now the Demons are going to hunt me the Bloodlord in the same way, i kinda already see the two sides falling into a war with each other because of me, unbeknownst to the two sides that i manipulated both of them, but i won't lie that would be a great scene to watch, but enough with the fantasies, let's deal with that problematic guy first .
As he was finally done with his tantrum, i looked at him dead in the eye and said a bit begrudgingly :
SO YOU DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY FACE, HUH !!! .
~SLAP~ .