After spending a few days within the Floato Region, Rain could finally understand Z's report in its entirety. Countless ruling-class families were trying their best to expand their reach and increase their strength due to the uncertainty the arrival of a new Great Family brought with them.
Yet, the fact that three distinct families were working together to topple the ancient Jaxith Family that had somehow managed to survive this long was still a bit unnatural.
As the difference between tiers grew exponentially as one went up, so did the power balance between ruling-class families, as such, the idea of weaker families working together against a more powerful family was absurd.
There was also no possible gain to such an alliance as each family would leave themselves vulnerable to be attacked whenever they decided to finish off the already crippled Jaxith family.
After seeing how some of the Jaxith Family's Elders were so strongly opposed to any talks of vassalage, Rain could easily surmise the rest and only needed Zelda to confirm her conclusions.
Thanks to that, she now knew there were more than a handful of ranked nobles already under the control of the Great Five, meaning even the three attacking families were most likely a result of the Great Five's interference, an extension of their power.
With the appearance of Citrus in the 5th Princess' chambers, the Brimstone family's involvement was already confirmed but even Rain could predict who the other families involved were.
She didn't believe the Morningstar family was a part of this as they've never shown any interest in participating in things like this so the most likely suspects were the Zoraks, the Mereotti family, and the Alcar family, which was also an unlikely suspect giving what Rain understood on how they operated.
Well, the identity of the masterminds was not really a factor in Rain's plans as the only thing she needed was the identity of all the compromised nobles within the Floato region.
This was one of the reasons why she had accepted the invitation of the Korver family this evening. She had hoped to slowly gather the information she needed from the nobles at the party but to her surprise, Zelda had also confirmed another suspicion of hers.
Knowing that Athena was the one that had pushed for an invitation to be sent to those households that had been greatly affected by the war, families like the Heartrails and the Korvers, connected the dots in the puzzle.
Confirming that was a delight for Rain as her connection with Citrus meant she would do her best to make the Jaxith family a vassal of the Darknar family as a trojan horse play for the Brimstone family.
Knowing the recently appointed heir of the Heartrail family was obsessed with Dark elves meant the 5th princess had flawlessly manipulated the events to her advantage, pushing for the Heartrail family's heir to encounter Rain and expecting his obsession to get the better of him, causing him to make a move.
Having a ranked noble orchestrate an attack on the diplomatic party from another region was the same as declaring war on said region, and would give the visiting family a reason to resort to force, thereby taking the decision completely out of the hands of the family's Elders.
A brilliant plan no doubt, one that was not easy to execute yet she had flawlessly controlled the outcome from the comfort of her room, accounting for every variable almost to the absolute.
Rain smiled.
This must've been why Z had referred to her as the Glasshouse princess in his reports. She was most definitely a genius-level intellect even amongst the standards of Demigods but that was all.
She was clearly able to seamlessly manipulate everyone around her with a level of intellect that surpasses most Demigods but within the fragile body of an ordinary demon and that was the problem.
This was not the Human continent, despite the fact that demons have become more docile over the years, this was still the Demon continent where strength matters almost as much as knowledge, and with Zelda's ability to bypass even the senses of Demigods with her stealth, her intellect was meaningless in the end.
After all, everything that had happened up to this point was exactly as she had predicted simply because of how accurate Z's report had been.
Having only spent a few days here with Nessi, he was seemingly able to find out about everything going on in this region. He knew about Athena's connection with the Great Five, he knew most of the elders were already in leagues with the Great Five and even some of the ranked nobles were rooted in corruption.
A few were being manipulated by Athena and some were in league with the two secret organizations operating within the region. This was why Rain had simply just played her role as an envoy till now, there was no need for her to personally take any actions.
From the looks of it, more than 50 percent of the ranked nobles in this region were corrupt, including the elders, this was a true infestation, one that cannot be eradicated easily and without backlash.
Not unless one had the information network of a vast underground organization like Numbers. The existence of several high-level concealment spells underneath the city had confirmed her suspicions, the only thing she needed to do now was find a way to bypass the spell without destroying and exposing the family's secret to the world.
Rain turned her head as she stared seriously through the tinted glass window, seemingly in thought. She would have to play alone with Athena's games for now if she wanted to locate the base of Numbers and free her fellow dark elves before investigating the secrets of the Jaxith family.
It was about time she began to take action as well, for now, she needed to get through the plans of the desperate noble driven by lust.
"Zelda, there's one more thing I'd like you to investigate for me if you will."
"Understood."
???????
—Back underneath the Heartrail family's estate.
"Hey! Don't you dare! She's mine! You Bastard!!!"
Seeing the brute of a lion kin about to touch the emissary's blossoms sent Armin into a fit of rage as he screamed at the top of his lungs. His eyes were bloodshot as he let loose whatever meager aura he possessed and charged.
He couldn't allow such a filthy beast to lay his hands on his most prized possession to date, yet, even his best was far too weak to stop anyone here as his face planted into the outstretched arms of Number 77 and his body was forced to a halt.
Even Ms. 10 had been so enamored by what she saw, that she had completely failed to react to her subordinate's careless actions.
Perhaps even someone like her had also harbored thoughts of taking the Dark Elf for herself or maybe she was just awestruck.
As for Number 77, he didn't particularly care either way but couldn't just stand by and allow a common Numberless to taint their most prized merchandise in front of the client so he decided to interfere as he moved to intercept the stupid beastman when.
*Slice.
*Thud.
Before anyone could even react, much less follow what happened, the hand of the Lion-kin that was about to touch the emissary suddenly dropped to the ground with a dull thud, as it cleanly fell off his arm leaving the one who had just lost an arm more confused than anyone else.
There was no blood. The wound on his arm for not suddenly gush out blood neither did the hand on the ground.
Raising his arm to look at it, it seemed as though it had been cut so thinly and so fast that his blood cells had instantly coagulated before any blood could spill.
The idea that his hand was gone slowly registered as his mind almost instantly went blank with pain and rage as he instantly glared daggers at the Dark elf on the bed in front of him. For a mere slave to take off his arm, this was utterly unforgivable.
'Huh? Empty?'
Indeed, the bed the emissary had been on only a moment ago was now empty before anyone could understand what had just transpired.
'This— this is bad.'
The first one to understand the implications behind this was obviously her, Number 10, the strongest person here.
A cold thrill ran down Number 10's spine as she sharpened her gaze yet still found it difficult to follow what happened next the Lion-kin beastman soon fell to his knees, and then, like a lifeless doll, his headless body dropped to the ground without spilling any blood.
"If this had been the me of a few months ago, I wouldn't have so despised the idea of using my body to complete my mission. After all, that is simply what it meant to be an assassin. However..."
The magic lamps in the room flicked rapidly as though they were responding to the drastic change in the air around them as it became increasingly difficult to breathe to the point where Armin was forced to his knees, gasping for air.
"That's no longer the case. I'm no longer simply just an assassin you see... hehe. Wow, I can't believe I've only just thought about it. I'm really no longer just an assassin anymore. I have to admit that's a bit strange..."
The stiffening air in the room disappeared almost as fast as it appeared as Armin was finally able to catch his breath before he lost consciousness.
The soft and pleasant voice strangely emanated from behind them, yet, none of them could turn their heads around to look. No, none of them was confident enough to turn their necks else, it fall off.
They were all still staring at the cell where the Lionkin beastman's body was laying lifelessly on the ground, the cell doors in front of them that no one should have been able to come in and out without their notice yet here they were.
Paralyzed by fear, not even an elite member of Numbers could resist as they all silently listened to her drifting voice suddenly filled with emotions as her presence altered the atmosphere around them between being stiffening and pleasant.
"To think, I even have a last name now, even my first name feels more like a name than it used to. I even have a title, a rank, and even a job. I'm like, totally a normal girl right now ain't I? Hehe... I think Liz would laugh if she heard me saying such things. I just never thought such mundane things could make someone so happy you know."
Number 10 was at a loss for words, she had known the emissary from the Darknar region was strong but hadn't expected it to be to this extent. This was why she had been against this mission from the start yet the Single Digits decided to underestimate her might and now she was being forced to pay for their foolishness.
"This body of mine now belongs to my darling husband, but he has yet to touch me you see. I'm guessing he's waiting for us to be officially married to take my first time. Aww... what should I do if he decides to take it sooner, I might not be able to control myself, hehehe... So—"
Seemingly in her own world, the voice continuously giggled to herself as her fantasies continuously escalated until they suddenly stopped, and so did the flow of air.
"To force me to reveal such an expression to insects like you. How absolutely infuriating! I'll have to wipe your memories, a quick blow to the head should do the trick."
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