Chapter 341: A game of chess

Rudra was walking down the palace halls , on his way out , with the divine nine Tailed Fox in his arms , when suddenly Furball leaped out of Rudra's hands and started to growl at the ground. 

At first Rudra did not understand the reason behind furballs actions , but upon furballs repeated growling , Rudra paid close attention to observe faint traces of dark mana around him. 

Rudra immediately activated eyes of truth . 

[ Tracker undead ] : High level undead ideal to spy on any opponent , nearly undetectable , although they have no combat prowess , they are the perfect audio and visual relay back to the caster. 

Rudra's eyes widened in disbelief , Aman was tailing him , meaning he suspected Rudra of some foulplay. Rudra picked Furball up , as the guards gave Rudra a stern look for the misbehaviour of his pet. 

Rudra patted Furball and told her to be quiet. Furball immediately obliged , not growling at the tailing undead anymore. Meanwhile Rudra's brain started to work like a super computer , making a ploy within a ploy.

His enemy had played a hidden card , and now that he knew about it , his mind started to make a plan about how to convert it to his advantage. He wanted to play Aman using his own spy. 

Within seconds , the ultimate schemer , thought of a sinister and intricate scheme to play Aman..... And probably profit a little bit from the endeavour as well. 

Rudra used guild chat to inform the gang that he was coming back to the guild , and that the next entire conversation was going to be a ruse , which Rudra had no time to explain and that it was imperative that everyone played along. 

Rudra also told Karna to go invite Patricia over back to the guild. While he purposefully stalled his time in the palace , acting like a man who accidentally kept taking wrong turns and going into restricted areas he was not supposed to. 

The royal guards gave multiple warnings to Rudra , who used his weight as a duke of the kingdom to press heavily on the guards , who had no choice but respect his nobility. 

Rudra found a suitable spot for the gang to mass teleport , as he whispered into Furball's ears to memorize the location. By the he was back at the guild , his teammates had all assembled , even Patricia was there , who was giving Rudra worried looks. 

Prince Aman was intently looking at the development through his magic crystal , he was annoyed when the pet started to bark at his servants, but Aman did not believe Rudra could see through tier 4 concealment magic , hence thought nothing much of it. However Rudra intentionally getting lost within the palace aroused his suspicions that he was upto something. 

The moment Rudra entered the room , he started his great acting mode as he said " Emperor Aman is too wise , he instantly figured out that we are short on money to sustain our massive projects , such expenditure can only be sustained if someone robbed the entire royal treasury. Else it is impossible. Our gold mines are almost running dry and I have already borrowed everything I could from my sister. We have to do this guys we have no other option ". 

Everyone looked at each other seriously as they gave Rudra a nod. Karna said " are you sure you want to rob the Hazelgroove national treasury? ". 

The moment this question escaped Karna's mouth , Aman raised an eyebrow. It all started to make sense to him now ..... Rudra was short on funds and acting sneakily to try rob golf from his treasury. Aman scoffed , " How naive ". 

Patricia pretended to look aghast " How dare you , it's blasphemy , us Won knights have been loyal to the throne. We cannot commit such crimes ". 

Rudra looked at Patricia and said " Once my teleportation array is completed , I promise to pay back double the amount I stole. But right now I need the money and don't you forget sister , that you owe me a favour. You cannot go back on your word now. You need to help me on this one occasion ". 

Patricia pretended to be conflicted and depressed as Rudra said " I swear by my honor I will pay every grace Prince Aman bestowed upon us back with interest. I am only borrowing from him , to improve the lives of his citizens. I am sure he would not mind sister , it's a loan and I will pay it back ". 

Finally Patricia nodded , and Rahim who saw this via the crystal was instantly disgusted , as he said " This is disgusting your majesty , trying to steal from you .... It's treason .... Allow me to bring them to your feet in chains for this crime ". 

Aman rubbed his chin , as he said " No Rahim , let them come , it's better to catch them in the Act. It's circumstance that forced them into becoming thieves , I am sure they have loyalty for the kingdom at their core. But I can use this incident as leverage as finally bringing Patricia into my fold as a enlisted member of my army. I will use her to wage many great battles, and strip the von knight's of their dukedom , stripping their land and their standing army adding them to the state forces. Even then , people will praise me for my magnamity and generosity. These simpletons wont even know that I played them. 

I stand to gain a lot from this encounter Rahim , lower the guards on patrol tonight. Let's lure them deep into their acts ! ". 

Rahim immediately bowed and started to flatter Aman for his genius plan. Little did they know , that they were actually playing right into Rudra's hands. As Rudra had a terrific plan in place. 

Either way , when the clock struck midnight , the group started their movement. Wether they would succeed in their mission or wether they would loose , now all depended on how far Rudra's strategy took them. However one thing was for sure , wether they won or lost , a storm was going to come in Hazelgroove come tommorow! 

/// Bonus chapter for hitting the powerstone target, good job everyone!!! ///