Indeed, my acting was just part of a bigger plan because acting like I was devoted to the Empire would help me achieve my goals.
However, it was an essential part of the plan. After all, there were certainly strong individuals within the Empire, and even though I wasn't in the least scared of them, taking them head-on would be just pure foolishness.
The 'elite of the elite' act would certainly attract a lot of attention, but at least I would not antagonize those people. And even if some butthurt Lord attacked me, it would give me an excuse to crush them one by one. That way, I would be able to determine the power balance within the Empire, after all, only the fools would do such a thing and I would be able to narrow down the list of suspects, so I was killing two birds with one stone.
This way I would lead the newer generation of gift holders, becoming their representatives and their leader. Of course, I needed to appear as someone capable and charismatic, almost perfect, and doing such a thing was challenging.
However, if I got the support of the platinum generation, and control some rebellious Lords in the shadow while holding the title of a Guardian, achieving my goals was just a matter of time. I would save the world, at least temporarily, obtain a tree fragment, and strengthen my standing in this world.
If I could manage to use make use of the Empire's vast network of information, finding the other fragments would be easier as long they were in this universe.
Well, thinking about it that way, it felt like I could take advantage of everything but honestly speaking, the plan itself was more or less unrealistic and it depended solely on my ability to manipulate people's opinions of me.
Half-assed acting would just make me appear like a clown, and if I were to be beaten down by a random Lord, everything would fall apart.
The Young Lord act would be indeed easier, but I was not satisfied with my standing if I adopted that act, thus after a little bit of reconsideration, I decided to go for the hardest level.
Acting like myself wouldn't do the job, of course, because I know that sometimes I was how to say it, not stupid but my character is pretty inconsistent.
However, while acting as an elite, a human that stood at the peak, a leader of the new generation, I needed to be constantly close to perfect. Just by looking at me, people should acknowledge that I was a true noble but instead of feeling scared, they should revere me.
"Hahaha, this is just an insane thing to do, considering my background, but I would take it as a challenge. Theoretically, if I want to ascend to the next level of my existence, I would still need to stand at the peak of humanity, don't I?" I mumbled, talking to myself as if I was some important individual. People would laugh if they saw a fifteen years old kid sitting on a bench somewhere inside of a park and saying the words that I just said, but the way I was now, if I saw someone like that, I would probably believe them.
"Like this?" Blanca mumbled and appeared in front of me wearing the white costume.
"Mmm. You have a nice posture. Okay, raise your chin a little bit. Remember that you should never let someone look down on you from her, do you understand? You are an elite. Straighten your back. Yes, like this. And don't let your hands wander aimlessly, be graceful and elegant even when moving them," I said, instructing Blanca about how she should handle herself. She was a fine woman, but she was also a warrior, so her movements were a little bit rough.
Thus, I spend the next 2 hours explaining to her how she should behave when she was with me.
"Mmm. Perfect. Now you look like an Elite," I said, admiring Blanca's improvement. Her beauty was one of her strongest points, but the costume enhanced her charms to the next level without making her look vulgar.
"Okay, now I need to perfect my outfit too. The black cape is a bit too rough for the image I want to portray," I mumbled. "Mmm? You can do that?"
After hearing my words, the black on the cape peeled off revealing a dark purple color adorned with a golden touch on the edges. It also became a little bit smaller and fit me perfectly. Well, the design itself changed, but it was still too flashy for my taste.
However, I needed to put away my personal preference for the time being and focus on creating an impact that the people in the Empire wouldn't be able to forget.
After that, I created a black mirror with my power, and Blanca and I looked at ourselves.
"This is how we should look. People should never doubt our ability and authenticity when they look at us. We are the Elite of the Elite, and the Empire should be thankful to have us in their ranks. No one should look down on us, but we also don't look down on anyone, because we are already at the top and nothing would change that. Our goal is not to force people to acknowledge us, because we don't need them to acknowledge us. They just need to accept the fact after seeing us, without being able to argue back, the fact we are above them in everything. We are not showing off our power needlessly because of such trivial things or to prove that we are superior, and we don't ask people to revere us. Instead, people will feel safe when we are present, and our strength should make them feel strong, and in the end, they will kneel in front of us out of their own volition," I mumbled in a very calm but imposing voice.
"What was that? You sounded creepy..." Blanca looked at me with weird eyes.
"That's the definition of the Elite of the Elite so refrain from showing this kind of expression in the future," I said, but I understand why Blanca found it funny when I said it that way.
Being an Elite was easy for me the way I was now, but an Elite of the Elite was different. There were a lot of elites within the Empire, so trying to stand out from these bunch of elites without antagonizing the Empire and also without becoming their dog would be hard even for me.
By doing this, I would be challenging the Emperor itself, but that would also make the whole act more realistic. That was why, this was the most direct approach of all, and failure would lead to a lot of troublesome issues.
Moreover, I needed to adjust the plans every time I learned new information to not let everything fall apart. The responsibilities that came with this acting were also real and I couldn't take them lightly. For example, I couldn't betray people's expectations while I was in the Elite of the Elite mode.
"I get why we are doing this, more or less, but I still don't know what you are trying to achieve exactly," or so Blanca said, but I knew that she only cared about the part where I talked about her sister.
"To put it simply, my goal is to become a being that can create a world in which monsters or other threats can't harm my family and the people I care about, but my family would think such a world is weird if there's no other humans around, so I would need to save the other humans along with them," I said in a calm and imposing manner without any doubt or hint of hesitation in my voice. I was already perfecting my character.
"I don't if I should even ask you anything anymore. The more you answer my questions, the more I think that you are talking nonsense, and the fact that you look like you are serious about it makes it more, how to say it, frightening?" Blanca mumbled.
"Well, at least you understand that. Trust me, and in the end, you will see a new world. Blanca, there's one thing you need to know and remember. There's no room for failure. And If you think that you can betray me, I would consider you a failure. You see the end of this with me, or you die without me. Thus, this is your last chance to turn back if you want to," I said.
"I am already here. Do I look like I want to go back? I will find my sister and the truth behind that incident," Blanca said, and then she appeared like she was taking her character more seriously.
"Let's do this. There's no turning back," I said.
Of course, I was not taking things lightly and even though I decided to do things in the way I wanted them, it was by no means because I was joking around.
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com