Chapter 431: Second Top Priority
It had been several days since Conner had returned to the Capital City of Gladiolus to manage the affairs of the Hellan Kingdom. Working beside him was none other than the son of the Prime Minister, Brendan.
Conner liked the boy’s work ethics and even thought about formally inviting him to be a member of Deus because of his outstanding management skills. However, he didn’t do that because he still didn’t trust him completely.
For now, Conner decided to observe him and see if he could find any weaknesses that he could exploit to make the teenager become a loyal member of Deus.
“How is the migration of survivors coming along?” Conner asked.
Brendan stood and bowed respectfully before giving an answer. This earned him a nod of appreciation from Conner who liked obedient and capable subordinates to work under his wing.
“Sir, the majority of the survivors are now making their way towards the capital,” Brendan reported. “The migration is being delayed because the teleport gates can only be used at fixed intervals everyday.”
Conner nodded. He was also aware of this inconvenience, however there was nothing he could do about it. The one who had complete control over the settings of the teleport gates was none other than King Noah.
The Royal Family has a unique artifact inside the castle that they could use to manipulate certain things within the Hellan Kingdom. With this artifact, the King would be able to change the settings of the teleport gates, barriers, defensive mechanisms, and attack runes embedded in the capital city’s walls to resist any kind of invasion.
Conner had tried to make Prince Lionel tweak the settings of the teleport gates, but the Crown Prince was unable to even activate the unique artifact.
The Leader of Deus cursed King Noah for not even teaching his heir the basics of controlling this important tool that could have made his life easier.
“What about our food reserves?”
“The food reserves we have can last up to five years.”
“Good. is there anything else you would like to report?”
Brendan looked like he was hesitating to say something, so Conner urged him to speak his mind.
“It is about the Princes of the Hellan Kingdom,” Brendan said. “What are your plans for them, Sir?”
Conner frowned as he looked at the teenage boy in front of him who returned his gaze fearlessly. He could see the ambition in Brendan’s eyes and the Leader of Deus chuckled internally because he thought that he had finally found out Brendan’s desire.
“You don’t have to worry about Prince Lionel and Prince Rufus,” Conner replied. “They are no longer here in the capital.”
“May I ask where they are now?” Breandan inquired. “I am feeling restless knowing that the two of them could return anytime to take my authority away from me.”
Conner smirked internally because Brendan had just confirmed the hunch he had in mind.
‘Your appetite is big, boy,’ Coroner thought. ‘Still, I guess making him the puppet ruler is still better than having a moron sit on the throne. At least, I don’t have to worry about the Kingdom suddenly collapsing because the one at the top is giving stupid orders to his underlings.’
Conner pretended to be deep in thought before answering Brendan’s questions. “Both princes are currently in the Anaesha Dynasty. Do not ask why they are there because I won’t be telling you any more information about them. As for the youngest Prince, you also don’t have to worry about him.”
Prince Ernest had disappeared and was nowhere to be found. The members of The Organization assigned to monitor him were unable to locate his whereabouts. It was as if the Prince had disappeared into thin air a few days before the Continental Spell was unleashed.
Even so, Conner wasn’t bothered. A Young Prince without any followers was no longer a Prince, but a helpless child. Prince Ernest didn’t pose any threat to them, so he was less inclined to waste any manpower to look for his whereabouts.
Brendan sighed in relief before returning to his seat. He read the reports of his underlings who had also participated in the migration of the survivors. Ezio had instructed him to gather any information that he could get from The Organization.
Since the Shadow Assassin had decided to check the movements of the Elves, he decided to let Brendan take charge of the information gathering in the Hellan Kingdom. This way, they would be able to maximize their strengths and do their individual missions respectively.
Suddenly, the ring on Conner’s hand started to glow. He ordered Brendan to leave the room and return after an hour. The latter obeyed and left the Leader of Deus to his devices.
“Report.” Conner ordered as Calum’s image projected in front of him.
“Sir, there are no signs of the Young Knight Commander in the Hellan Kingdom,” Calum reported. “We’ve already asked around using our vast network and no signs of him have been seen anywhere.”
Conner tapped the top of his desk as he thought of what to do next. Having William as an ally would allow him to form a Non-Aggression Pact with Princess Sidonie and the Kraetor Empire. This was tantamount to having a possible ally in order to attack the Elves using the Hammer and Anvil military strategy.
Conner would act as the decoy and allow the Elves to focus their forces on him, while Princess Sidonie and the Kraetor Empire would hit them from the back. When their prey had been cornered, with no place to run, that is when Conner would unleash his trump card and annihilate all the pointy eared bastards who dared to step inside his territory.
For that to happen, he would need to talk to William.
At that exact moment the door opened and a man who seemed to be in his early thirties entered the room with a smile.
“Sir, there is something that I’d like to discuss with you,” the man said as he walked towards Conner.
“Floyd, you should really know how to knock before you enter my office,” Conner replied in displeasure. “I am in the middle of an important talk. You barging in like this makes things difficult for me.”
“Important talk? Sounds interesting,” Floyd’s smile widened. “Go on, Sir Conner. Tell me the details of this important talk. Perhaps, I can be of assistance to you.”
“Before that, can you tell me why you are here instead of focusing on the task that I have given to you?”
“It is exactly because of this task that I came here to see you Sir. I’ve run into some difficulties along the way and I require some more resources and, perhaps, an audience with the creator of the Super Soldier Project.”
Conner frowned as he eyed the Scholar that had joined their organization not too long ago. Floyd was the one responsible for building the laboratory in the Barony of Brandford, which William had ransacked.
“Resources that I can give you,” Conner replied. “However, an audience with the creator of the Super Soldier Project? Just what do you want to discuss with her?”
Floyd didn’t wait for Conner’s invitation and directly sat on the chair beside his table.
“What she wrote was truly amazing. Only a true genius would be able to come up with a way to turn ordinary beasts and humans into killing machines that are very hard to kill. I want to discuss with her on how to enhance the capabilities of the Super Soldiers and further increase their fighting prowess.”
“You want to meet the creator to discuss a way to make the Super Soldiers more powerful?”
“Exactly.” Floyd nodded. “Now that I’ve told you the reason for my visit, tell me more about this important talk that you were having with Sir Calum over there.”
Floyd waved at Calum’s projection and the latter snorted back at him. Conner and Calum both didn’t like Floyd’s disrespectful attitude, but they had to admit that he was a very capable individual.
This was why the two tolerated him to a certain extent even though the scholar always brute forced his demands on the two of them.
“We are talking about how to have a dialogue with the youngest Knight Commander of the Hellan Kingdom. Do you know him?”
“Isn’t he the Disciple of the genius who created the Super Soldier Project?” Floyd’s expression became animated.
“Yes. William Von Ainsworth is also Celine’s one and only Disciple,” Conner explained. “We have been looking for him, but his whereabouts are currently unknown. Because of this, I plan to head over to Lont to talk to her personally.”
“Nonsense!” Floyd replied in a righteous tone. “As the branch leader of our Organization, you don’t have to go out of your way to meet with Celine. Since I also want to meet and talk to her, why don’t you give me this task? With this, you will be hitting two birds with one stone. I’m sure that you have many important matters that need your attention. Right, Sir?”
Conner eyed the Sorcerer as he considered his proposal. Floyd idolized Celine and had read all of the research documents that she had worked on while she was still active in the affairs of The Organization.
Floyd had always wanted to meet his idol. Conner and Calum were aware of this, but since Celine had secluded herself in Lont and asked not to be disturbed, they didn’t tell the scholar about her whereabouts.
“Can I trust you to do this task properly?”
“Of course, Sir. I promise that I won’t let you down. Give me all the information about this William and I’ll handle this task perfectly.”
Conner pondered a bit before passing a few documents to Floyd for him to read and understand the things they know about Celine’s sole Disciple.
“I’ll assign people to accompany you. Just make sure to be polite and don’t use any kind of thre–“
“It’s fine, Sir.” Floyd waved his hand to cut off Conner’s reminder. “I am a meticulous person. I’ll make sure to accomplish this task without fail. As for the men you are going to assign to me, I don’t need them. I’ll bring my own subordinates to meet with Lady Celine.
Conner reigned in the anger that was starting to rise in his chest. The only reason he was holding himself back from giving Floyd a slap on the face was due to the fact that the Super Soldier Project was in its final phases.
Conflicts at such a crucial stage would not benefit his Organization, so he decided to just clench his fists under the table to stop himself from beating up the man in front of him.
“Well then, please, send these resources to my laboratory sir,” Floyd said as he placed a scroll on top of the table. “I’ll be taking my leave, and no, you don’t have to see me to the door. I can do it myself. Have a good day, Sir Conner.”
Floyd left the room in a hurry. He seemed to be very excited about the opportunity of finally meeting Celine.
Conner watched him go with a cold expression on his face.
Calum who saw the exchange lightly cleared his throat in order to catch his leader’s attention.
“Sir, are you sure this is a good idea?” Calum asked. “Celine might not like Floyd’s pushy attitude.”
“Although he is annoying, it is true that the Super Soldier Project is important to us,” Conner said after organizing his thoughts. “It might be a good idea to let them meet once. Celine is his idol, so I don’t think that he will do anything to harm her or offend her.”
Calum sighed and reluctantly nodded his head. For some reason, he had a very bad feeling about Floyd’s meeting with Celine.
Conner also shared his opinion, but he believed that the scholar wouldn’t overstep his bounds. Afterall, Floyd wasn’t much of a fighter. He was a scholar, so fighting was something he let his subordinates do. As long as Floyd didn’t do anything stupid, Conner was confident that he could patch things up with Celine if he gave her suitable compensation.
The leader of Deus rubbed his forehead to ease the anxiety he was feeling. Their first priority was to find the monument that would lead them to the Undying Lands. The second was the Super Soldier Project that they would use to fight against the Elves.
As long as these two things were in his control, he wouldn’t have to worry when the temporary alliances fell apart after dealing with the Elven Army.
Conner called for Brendan once again to continue their work in dealing with the current problems that the Hellan Kingdom was facing. If not for the fact that two foreign invaders had trespassed his domain, the entire continent would have already been under his complete control.
He didn’t care about the process. All he cared about was the result.
And the result he wanted was the one-sided massacre of the Elven Race whom he hated to the bone.