Chapter 100: King's Trick
Chapter 100: King's Trick
Chand Gandraf waiting at the door startled everyone. Akash Tagar was calm, but he also didn't know whether his plan would work or not.
"Yes, certainly, Mr. Chand. Please, come inside."
Haji Tea invited him in.
The grey-haired old man came inside and sat on the nearby sofa before he looked at Akash Tagar with a side-eye and the rest of them one by one. At last, his eyes rested on Haji Tea as he smiled and asked.
"How is your grandfather, Baghi? It's been a while since I last saw him. He was a nosy little kid back when Abran was lively."
Haji Tea sighed.
"Grandpa told us you were a good friend of our great grandfather."
"Yes, I still remember the face of your great grandfather, Tarko Tea. He was a good friend and a brave tamer. To be honest, I envied him."
"Is that why you killed your friend's grandchildren?"
Akash Tagar said without a hint of hesitation. He knew why the mayor was here, so he thought it was best to not drag this out any longer. After hearing these words, Chand's eyes widened.
"What are you talking about, boy?"
Chand asked in a dominant tone, using his cosmic powers to amplify his voice, making it resound through the whole apartment.
"Cut to the chase, we already know everything. You are the one who hired Death Gate, your plan failed miserably."
Akash replied.
Chand Gandraf extended his arm and Akash was forcibly attracted towards it like a magnet. He grabbed Akash by the neck and squeezed. The latter was much taller than Chand in height, but Akash's was like a child in front of him because of his lower realm.
The Prime Paladins were about to attack but they were stopped by Akash's message. The king smiled at the mayor and moved his lips, Chand lightened his vise grip and let him speak.
"We know... you want Abran for yourself. Let's... make a deal."
Chand squeezed Akash's neck again and replied.
"Haji Tea is here for that, you do not deserve to talk to me."
"He is the King of Abran, I chose to become his follower."
Haji Tea corrected Chand, confusing him. He them let go of Akash, not out of fear, but rather out of curiosity. Chand was puzzled by this and wanted to figure it out while Akash Tagar coughed a bit before standing up straight.
"So, what do you want from Abran? You didn't give us this golden key just because you were once a friend of Haji's great great grandfather."
Chand looked at Akash with squinted eyes and replied.
"I want Abran city under my control, nothing less."
"Why?"
Akash asked.
"That's none of your business, I could have sent more powerful assassins to wipe out your whole family, but I didn't want to destroy your whole family's lineage because of my greed. I only wanted to kill Baghi as he was the most stubborn in the Tea Family. I hope you are not like him."
Chand explained and Akash smiled before replying.
"I am worse in some ways."
Chand glared at Akash and the others before uttering.
"But now, I've changed my mind. I won't show any mercy and will simply kill you, here and now. I have a hunch that you will become a threat in the future otherwise."
Akash laughed and replied.
"Haha, sure, you can try to kill me, if you wish for a painful death in return, that is."
Chand chuckled.
"Hehe, I am afraid of no one on this planet."
"Except the Rune Mountain Sect."
Sohrab Khan mocked Chand Gandraf, causing the mayor's eyes to turn fiery.
"There is no exception, you insignificant animal!"
He raised his hand to attack Sohrab but was interrupted by Akash.
"Cease, Mr. Chand. I am sent here by those you work for."
His hands stopped, there was a visible look of fear on Chand's face.
"What? I... I work for no one!"
Akash moved closer and whispered in his ears.
"Not even Slave Planet?"
Chand Gandraf was stunned, he would have never thought that they would send someone to this planet. He quickly asked.
"Prove your identity first!"
Akash Tagar tsked before replying.
"What a shame, you failed the higher-up's expectations and now you want me to reveal my identity?"
Chand gulped, only three people on this planet knew that he had failed to live up to the expectations of the Slave Planet. The governors of provinces near Abran and Chand himself.
Akash continued.
"Alright, I'll give you some proof. Have you ever seen or heard of the god race?"
Akash asked
"Yes, I have heard about them. They are one of the top 5 powerful races."
Chand replied.
"How do they look like?"
Akash asked again.
"They have red eyes, red hairs and..."
Chand went on to explain the god race while Riassuba, who was feigning sleep before, raised his head and greeted Chand.
"Beautiful day, isn't it, Mr. Mayor."
As Chand was interrupted by him, he remembered his cunning fight before replying.
"You fought a good figh..."
The words got stuck in his throat as he realized what he was looking at, his eyes bulged and froze.
"You... you are from..."
"Yes, Riassuba Rosehip, is of the god race. This is Sacra Emilat, an evolved species of orcs called high orcs. And over there is the arena favourite, Daan Godlyn, an evolved lionman called a sabretooth. Lastly, that is a minotaur named Sohrab Khan."
Akash introduced them before asking again.
"Tell me now, do you think any of these races could be found on this planet? If not, then where could I have possibly found them?"
Chand was silent, forgetting what to say. Words couldn't find their way out of his mouth. Akash saw this and thought to add another flavour to this already spicy dish he was serving.
"Take out the weapons."
Akash gave an order and all five present brought out their weapons. Daan equipped his Hadda Gauntlet, Sacra wielded his Oronela Sword. Sohrab Khan held his Jeeth Axe-Hammer and Haji Tea took out his poisonous Duran Spear while Riassuba Rosehip was holding 6 slim short swords, his divine weapon, Kaliya.
Chand was bewildered. In his entire life, he had never seen such powerful weapons. He couldn't even imagine them being made by a human or any other normal species. Not even dwarves would be able to make such masterpieces. As he kept pondering, Akash waved his hand, and everyone returned their weapons back to their inventory before asking him again.
"Is this proof enough for you to believe that I am not from here?"
"Yes, I believe you."
Chand replied and asked.
"But... why didn't Master Rasha inform me about you?"
Akash guessed that Master Rasha was an officer from Slave Planet in charge of Planet Earth and then replied.
"Because our tasks and rank are different, lower-ranked subordinates are not allowed to know about the movements and missions of higher-ranked subordinates."
"I see. Apologies for mistreating you, Master Akash."
Chand's posture and manners changed in a jiffy.
"No, Mr. Chand, just call me Akash. No need to make anyone suspicious of us."
Akash said and Chand nodded before Akash questioned him.
"As for Abran, don't do anything there. That's where I will proceed with my mission. Our guardians will rule this planet as well."
Chand's little bit of doubt vanished, the Slave Planet was ruled by a coalition of races and each of them would send a representative. These people were called the guardians of Slave Planet.
"What is your mission, Mr. Akash? I know I am not allowed to ask this, but I believe exchanging some information would only be beneficial to us both. And it might even hasten our progress in our missions. We humans have to stick together, after all, haha."
Chand said in a welcoming tone.
The fairy race looked basically identical to humans whereas the god race had distinctive red eyes and hair which differentiated them. Thus, no one could could tell if one was one or the other between the former two races. One could only say that the fairy race was a perfect-looking version of humans. Since, Chand had never seen the fairy race to begin with, he could only think of Akash as an extremely handsome human.
"Alright, but you better keep it a secret. You would only call death upon yourself by leaking this information."
Akash warned him and Chand nodded before Akash began his explanation..
"The Slave planet is trying to expand their influence and businesses. They already have the slavery business but now they also want to open markets specializing in various materials and items like rare minerals, beast food and legendary ingredients for training. I'm in charge of creating and expanding this market, its process is already complete, and I will announce its opening after the tournament."
"What a marvelous Idea, who else could have such things besides the Slave Planet. I will do my best to promote it, Mr. Akash."
Chand Gandraf graciously replied.
"Now that I've revealed some intel, I'd like to know something as well. Why did you attack Abran? I doubt it was because of the higher-ups."
Akash asked.
"No, it was my own decision. I wanted to conquer this planet by using my business of slavery. Alas, I was unaware of you and ended up killing Baghi Tea and the others."
"Don't worry, none of them were killed. Tell me in detail about your plan to conquer the world."
Chand was shocked, realizing he had been fed another false report before sighing and explaining.
Akash Tagar moniker was the Sage Scholar and it wasn't for no reason. His wisdom and intelligence were higher than his physical abilities, he used his brain to get out of this situation. Otherwise, Chand Gandraf would have had enough power to kill all six of them right there. Akash remembered the information he had about Slave Planet from his previous life and used it to manipulate Chand. To his fortune, Chand quickly believed his fable. It was not the mayor's fault, every trick Akash used hit his weak spots precisely.