Godfather's System 101

After leaving Zolast and the youngster alone at the basement of the headquarters, I decided to stick around the inner town, despite several signs of skirmish clear at the outer town. 

Ordinarily, I was planning to go around the outer town to poke around a bit more, making sure I had revealed a couple extra safe houses for the Night Blades, but at the meeting I listened, they had been talking about Zolast’s ability to set up a dungeon as a great problem. Which meant, they were about to lose quite a number of assets in the town. 

And, if I were them, before leaving, I would have enacted my plans for sabotage before leaving. 

I climbed at the roof of our headquarter, the high vantage point allowing me to see the outer town — particularly my casino, which was currently surrounded by palisade, safe from the scuffle going on the town. 

The casino was important, just not as important as the dungeon. Especially not when Zolast and the rest were inside. 

As I watched the city, I wondered what kind of a place was a dungeon. I was curious … just not as curious to step into a magical location that was integrated with the power of the gods. 

No need to make their job any easier. 

As I thought, I stayed on the roof of the building, my gaze bouncing between the magical construct at the center of the inner town and the outer town, trying to get a sense of how the battle was going. It was hard to catch the developments perfectly at a distance, but I could still see the general gist of it, particularly when I noticed several of the hidden bases I had discovered surrounded and burning. 

It was more than I would have ordinarily expected, but after the meeting I allowed the Night Blades to burst, that was not too surprising. The Night Blades might be too ambitious and careless with their expansion, but they weren’t incompetent enough to miss such an obvious trail. 

Too bad it still left the Greens that managed to slip into the inner town guards. 

That hadn’t been a random thought. I noticed a group of guards hurriedly moving toward the main dungeon area, their speed significant. Even under ordinary circumstances, their movements would have been suspicious, and now, it was even worse. 

I couldn’t identify them from such a distance with their helmets on, but it wasn’t hard to guess that at least some of them belonged to the Greens, using the opportunity for one last mischief.

There was still a chance that I was misreading the situation and they were just the reinforcements, but it was not a risk I was willing to ignore. Luckily, their movement speed was not high — the guards couldn’t just run in the town without creating a spectacle which they wanted to avoid, limiting them to a nervous walk — enough so that I could still catch up with them without revealing my Speed. 

I had no doubt that every single agent of the mysterious force behind the Greens was observing the situation carefully, and I couldn’t be sure that one of them didn’t have the Perception to see my tricks. 

That was the reason I didn’t disguise myself. Well, one of the reasons. The other reason was that I was afraid of distracting the current guards and making it easier for the potential saboteurs. 

I arrived at the dungeon construction area a few minutes before the guard regiment could, and searched the guard commander busy guarding the dungeon area. The guards were just lazing around, not showing any sign of alertness. 

However, rather than talking to the guard commander directly, I waved to a familiar figure near the commander. 

“Hey, Euon,” one of the guards had waved to me, a familiar face that I often talked to while making the deliveries. “Another batch of materials?” 

“Not this time, I’m afraid,” I answered with a worried voice, louder than necessary. “Have you heard anything about the mess that’s going on?” 

“Just bits and pieces. It looks like the Night Blades are having some trouble. I’m sure you were happy to hear that.” 

“I would, if they hadn’t discovered a bigger conspiracy,” I said loudly, enough for the other guards to hear. “Apparently, they caught some spies working for House Maell, and they were preparing to sabotage the dungeon!” 

Of course, as far as I knew, they had nothing to do with House Maell, but that was far easier to explain than a possible mysterious organization that had been following them. An immediate threat was much easier to believe.

“What nonsense are you talking about! Who would dare to target a place that’s under the rule of Duke Yoentia! Do you think a mere lesser house would have the courage!” the acting commander immediately intervened, rushing toward us. He was one of the new hires, but he was clearly happy with his new identity enough to be affronted.

Weak men reacted to prestige the same way. 

“Sorry about that, commander!” I said respectfully, bowing my head, my attitude the exact opposite of my thoughts. “Of course you’re right. It’s just some gossip that I heard, but I just wanted to alert you to what I had gathered, just in case it’s true. I just thought that Knight Artmiss would be quite annoyed if the dungeon construction was delayed for any reason. But, if you think that’s not a risk…” I explained, letting the slightest tendril of Charisma trigger a hint of worry. 

It was a weak sensation, but that was the most I would dare under the circumstances. 

I turned my back, only for an order to hit me. “Stop!” the order rang, his tone nervous. It was backed by Charisma, probably around five points. Not a lot, and since I could still feel the fluctuations radiating in the order, acquired quite recently, and was not a benefit of his class. 

It was probably the benefits given to the ranked commanders. Having Charisma while working for a noble house, he was effectively a knight. Five points weren’t high enough to make people spill their secrets, but it was enough to trigger their natural habits. 

No wonder he was this arrogant. He would receive a title as long as Duke Yoentia recovered his power, and as long as as he hadn’t screwed in the process.  

Like failing to protect the extremely important dungeon construction. 

“As you wish, commander,” I said, bowing like I was completely under the control of his Charisma. 

“Tell me about this gossip,” he ordered, once again using his skill, his Charisma flailing to show that it was not fully absorbed yet. 

“Yes, commander,” I said very respectfully, unable to use my Charisma to increase his worry further while he kept the pressure on me without clashing. Luckily, cheating with Charisma wasn’t the only tool in my possession. 

“I have received some news from my spies from the Night Blades,” I said, revealing my ‘source’ immediately. After all, I was under the control of his Charisma. Such a quick surrender was only expected. “They have just discovered several spies in their midst and they are cleaning them. But…” I added, then paused, letting signs of fear appear on my face. 

I was acting too meek, it was enough to alert anyone but someone who had just recently received a huge promotion. 

“Continue,” he ordered, the worry in his voice even thicker. 

“… they think that those spies already have some contacts in the inner city, and they expect those saboteurs to act urgently. They even found some evidence of collusion with the guards,” I admitted. 

“Lie. Why wouldn’t they alert us if that’s the case.” 

“I … I don’t know my lord,” I muttered, acting even more afraid. “Maybe they believe if the sabotage happens, they will have the chance to get a knight’s post to protect the new dungeon.” 

The realization on the face of the knight commander was comical. Some of the things I had said were simply absurd. Combine that with my chain of success, building a very successful casino that generated enough money to make nobles jealous, even a moron shouldn’t have believed my words that easily 

Yet, he clearly believed all of it. 

After all, how could I lie under the effects of his incredible Charisma? 

“If that’s true…” he murmured, and I felt the weight of his aura disappear. The moment I felt that, I stretched a tendril of Charisma of my own, fueling his worries even further.  His eyes slowly widened. “What are you doing, you waste of space. Guard the dungeon properly,” he started shouting. “Be more alert, patrol it properly.” 

The guards seemed to be surprised at the sudden change of attitude, but under the weight of his Charisma, they weren’t able to argue, and soon, they were patrolling around the dungeon with a renewed passion. 

Barely a minute later, the other group of guards arrived, but they did a double-take the moment they saw the alertness of the camp. I carefully watched their reaction, and saw most of them showing signs of panic.

 “Good, reinforcements, just in time,” the guard commander said. “Come forward. We’re dealing with an emergency.” 

I barely kept myself from slapping the idiot. “I’m impressed, commander. You managed to alert the headquarters and ask for reinforcements, and they come here to support you two hours in advance,” I said, reminding him that the sudden appearance of the guards was unexpected. 

“I didn’t call them,” he murmured, then the realization hit. “Are you spies!” he shouted, his Charisma rising once again. 

A strategy that was destined for failure, as my training with Karak had already displayed it was possible to train people to resist Charisma. It was reasonable to assume that the spies had some resistance to it, or they could never passed the screening process in the first place. 

It should be obvious that they could never be affected by Charisma which was as muddled and weak as the one the commander was using … but that fact seemed to be lost on his arrogance. 

It seemed that I needed to help him once more. I flared my Charisma and blocked his. “You’re using Charisma, you traitors,” he said as he drew his sword. “Arrest them.” 

The guards moved toward the Greens, while I used my Charisma once again, this time on them. “Which of you morons used Charisma,” one of the Greens growled in anger as he pulled his sword, revealing his identity. 

With that, the ploy was resolved successfully, so I pulled back, letting the guards handle the arrest while I walked around to see if there was any other threat. 

I just hoped that whoever was responsible for their interrogation was someone more competent.