Polymath Redux

Chapter 52: Secret War (5): Belated Banishment

Before the forewarning sun even had a chance to take its place in the sky, Mordred and Del effortlessly navigated through the dark and complex max that was the capital's convoluted ally system. Their destination was a small but famous clock tower on the western end of the city. The reason that they had chosen this ungodly time of day was to reduce the amount of potential witnesses.

Hoisting a suspiciously large sack over his shoulders Mordred carefully surveyed the area before him using the [intuition] passive skill. Of course this entire endeavor would've been much simpler if he had used his stealth skills but he decided to hold back on revealing too much information to Del. Even if he did trust her enough to reveal his identity he still wanted to keep her guessing on just how deep the depths of his abilities were. It would be much easier for Del to work with him if she thought that he was her equal or at the very least she thought she wasn't too far behind.

It was important to place himself as a reachable cliff rather than an indomitable mountain.

"We're here."

Mordred told Del as they arrived at the modest clock tower that spanned about a dozen floors. Their purpose here was simple, to place the false corpse of Del up high on the clock tower.

"I don't really understand the point of pinning my fake corpse up so high. Isn't it fine if they just find my corpse down at the Royal Alchemy Labs?"

Del questioned their Mordred's motives on doing things in such a roundabout way. 

"For normal people that would be the case, but I can't be sure about the First Prince. He's displayed some impressive levels of insight over the past few days I've been keeping an eye on him. Unfortunately this false corpse was made using my power and my own imagination so it's likely the measurements are a little off."

"Measurements?"

Del tilted her head in curiosity.

"As in your physical measurements; height, chest size, waist, etc. Since I don't know your true measurements I've had to make do with my own imagination, and I'm not so crass as to ask a lady her measurements so directly. That's why we have to place this corpse in a hard to reach location, so that even if the prince finds this corpse he won't have the chance to closely examine it for any discrepancies."

"But it would be a simple matter to lower my corpse and have a closer look then."

As Del commented it would indeed be easy to examine the corpse after being lowered making this entire charade useless.

"Certainly it's as you say but by the time he finds your corpse he won't have the leisure to mull over it so intently, because by then the final battle for the life of your uncle, Pierre Granate will be well under way. For now, I'll have you go into hiding until this entire situation is over, whilst I need to get to my next target."

Hearing those words Del swallowed to clear her throat, 'next target' meant someone who she had considered a comrade for the past few years. Once Mordred was done with them she would never get the chance to talk with them ever again, a fact that made her slightly hesitant. It reminded her of her sister, but that is exactly why she decided to follow Mordred's instructions. Since the dawn of her sister's revival was so close she couldn't afford to falter now.

"I... see. So then who's your next target?"

Mordred gave a positive nod.

"Belita Lambert. Though fortunately for her I won't be able to kill her. As expected, even for me killing a neighboring country's sub-viceroy would be a little too much in the way of diplomatic headaches. No doubt it'd spark a conflict that I don't want to happen just yet. For now I'll have a little 'talk' with her to have her leave the country."