238 Actual Plan
"And you can trust me?"
"Yes," Jennifer replied more confidently than I expected her to.
I certainly wouldn't recommend that.
"What? Really?"
Why would she trust me when I have yet to give her a reason to?
"To be more precise, I trust Azell and my own intuition."
"You and Azell are quite close, aren't you?"
What are they, secret lovers? I doubt Lecia, Azell's possible long-lost sister, would like that.
But she's not capable of taking out Jennifer to have Azell solely for herself.
Not yet, at least.
I see an opportunity for a play here.
"He has helped me a few times over the years, and he has a keen eye for people. He trusts you, and I trust his judgement."
Over the years?
"That makes more sense. How long have you known Azell?"
"I was there when he made his debut."
Of course.
"I have no idea when he made his debut, so please be more specific."
"He made his debut at the age of 15, and he's 21 now. So, 6 years."
"6 years and he's already a Guild Master? Impressive."
Impressive from the standards of this world, that is.
"It's more impressive than you think; he became the Guild master at the age of 18."
"After killing the previous Guild Master and his supporters though, right?"
What a maniac.
I like it.
"You know about that?" Jennifer furrowed her brows.
"He told me right when I joined the Guild. Before we signed the contract, actually."
"...What was he thinking," she sighed.
"That's something only he knows."
Actually, all the wankers of the core team of the New Dawn Guild told me their unoriginal backstories in order to earn my trust (bullshit, I know), but I don't think there's any need to tell Jennifer that.
I don't want to die just because I couldn't keep secrets.
Now that I think about it, I still have no idea why I haven't died yet; considering all the horrible things I have done I mean the epic pranks I have pulled, at least one of them should have snapped and snapped my neck a long time ago.
I mean, sure, I did save their lives in one way or the other, but still, move on from your gratitude and end me, mate.
Show some emotional maturity.
"Aside from him, are you sure you should trust your intuition so much? As they say, trust but verify."
"My intuition, and to some extent, Azell, are the very reason I'm still here. So yes, I trust them enough to trust you."
"Trusting them and trusting me are still very different things, in my opinion."
I don't think I should be the one saying this, but I'm the ficklest motherfucker ever. I'm the type of person who would try to end the entire Universe one second then play a shitty indie game the second.
Handing me the responsibility of taking care of a single-digit-years old child would not be the most tactical decision on her part.
Who knows what I might do to her for my own amusement.
I probably won't do anything because I have already given her the potential to be a God so interfering any more would reduce the unpredictability and in turn the amusement factor, but still.
You never know.
"Don't worry, I have fail-safe measures in place in case you betray me," she sneered.
"Do those measures include killing me?"
A chance?
"No, they do not."
Sadge.
"I see. Well, in any case, I do not think I'm fit to be Dora's... caretaker."
"Why not?"
"I'm not that fond of children, to be honest."
"Even though you are an elder brother?" She raised her eyebrow.
"Huh? Since when?"
What the fuck is she talking about? Since when am I an elder brother?
Hmm, ah, right, I do have a younger sister back at the Eckart Ducal Estate, don't I? But if I remember correctly, fatally hurting my younger sister by stabbing her with a sword is why I was kicked out by them, so yea.
#notthebestelderbrother
"Isn't Clementine your younger sister?"
"Huh?"
What the actual fuck is she- ohhhhhhhhhh, right, right.
Clementine, the young Shadowlord we saved from that dungeon, is my so-called younger sister. She made that demand as a form of punishment for killing the Minotaur who she considered a family.
Wow, I completely forgot about that.
"I mean, yeah, haha, she's my younger sister, of course."
Phew.
"..." She scowled.
"Uh, anyway, my qualifications aside, how exactly do you want me to fulfil this role? I mean, Dora lives away from civilisation; it would be very hard for her to get a normal life."
"You are right," she nodded. "That's why she'll be moving in with me."
Ahh, so that's why she needs someone by Dora's side to protect her. After all, once Dora enters society and reveals her existence to everyone, no matter how hard Jennifer tries to hide it, some people would notice their relationship.
And once they do, Dora will become Jennifer's weak point. Someone would sooner or later go after her to get to Jennifer.
But if I'm with her, I can protect Dora, not to mention that as a literal child, I would be underestimated by the enemies, giving me a greater edge than your average bodyguard.
This would allow us to capture the would-be assassins/kidnappers, and Jennifer can then make an example out of them to deter others.
She can then use the precious time gained this way to train Dora enough to protect herself and implement some plans that would make her very undesirable as a target.
In other words, ya boi is just bait.
"Ingenious."
"You have already seen through everything?" A grin arose on Jennifer's face.
"Can't say."
I mean, it's entirely possible that Jennifer is a 10,000 IQ gigachad schemer and her true scheme goes far deeper than what I can possibly imagine.
She probably isn't, but it wouldn't hurt to consider that possibility.
"You probably have," she shrugged. "So, you just need to humour Dora for as long as you're here. In fact, you'll only need to accompany her when she goes out without me. Other than that, just teach her some common sense if you think she's doing something absurd. What do you think?"
Hmm, a scheme to slaughter her enemies is definitely more amusing than just taking care of a child. And as far as children go, Dora is more on the docile side; she's unlikely to cause me any trouble.
In case she does give me trouble, I have more than enough ways to teach her the consequences, like not giving her chocolate, or burying her in a coffin alive to permanently traumatise her.
And it's not like I have anything better to do.
"But would she move in with you? What about her parents?"
The Millers are probably her foster parents, considering their different surnames, but as far as Dora goes they are her actual parents who raised her.
"It shouldn't be a problem."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course," Jennifer nodded. "Dora doesn't like them much anyway, and the Millers cannot defy me."
Oh my.
A special thanks to Teddy_910 for the Magic Castle. In accordance with our deal, I'll publish 6 chapters in return-hmm? What deal, you ask? Simple. I'll publish 6, 12 and 18 chapters for each Magic Castle, Spaceship and a Golden Gachapon gifted respectively.
So, what are you waiting for? Send those gifts if you want to overwork me to death.
Anit666
CREATOR'S THOUGHT
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on fre(e)webno(v)el.𝒸𝑜𝘮