"You did not let me finish what I was about to say, father." Lucius said. "I may not be taking any personal guards, but that does not mean that I'll foolishly head there alone."
"Of course, of course." Count Gabriel relaxed a little at hearing his son's words. He was wrong to assume that his son would make the same mistakes as he did before.
Or that he'd become like 'Rancor' and attempt to get vengeance by himself.
"Yes, I'm not strong enough as you are, father." Lucius replied evenly. "Even if I've managed to train my physical capacities with Lieutenant John, I don't think that I have the same prowess you have in swords, so of course I'll be bringing people with me. Surely, it's clear to me that using my head is how I'll be able to get what I want."
Count Gabriel noticed the underlying annoyance in Asher's voice and knew that he overspoke this time.
"My apologies. You've changed quite much over the past months, but I still can't help but worry." The Count said.
"Do not worry about it. I appreciate your concern." Lucius said. "But I won't always be relying on you, father. A time will come where I'll handle things by myself and I need to be prepared for that day."
"I know." Count Gabriel nodded.
Lucius sighed inwardly.
If there was anything that Lucius found himself getting a little exasperated with was the concern of the Inanis Family with Asher.
Of course, it was all to Lucius's benefit, but it did grate on his nerves. If these people weren't so useful, he would have reacted differently and gotten rid of them before.
"Who were you planning to bring?" Count Gabriel asked, deciding to focus back on his conversation with Asher.
"I'll be taking Kiana alongside Gellor's mercenaries." Lucius said. "Bringing guards from a foreign territory such as ours will cause panic and arouse suspicion in the Aisse territory, but no one will care that much about a mercenary group."
"Not even Bergan's Band?" Count Gabriel asked. "They are a mercenary group coming into Aisse territory which is the foothold of theirs."
"Gellor's group is too small to be a threat." Lucius said. "While they do have some notable gifts, it's unlikely for Bergan's Band to pay attention. If anything, there might be an assumption that Gellor's mercenary group would be trying to join Bergan's Band, but I'm sure that it's a common occurrence for them, so there will be no thoughts about."
Now that Lucius thought about it, if there was actually a powerful member in Gellor's group that grabbed Bergan's Band's attention, he could have sent one of them as a spy to be able to get information from the inside.
However, Lucius doubted that anyone was talented in becoming a spy and so it was an unnecessary risk.
"I'm relieved to hear that, but where is the group right now?" Count Gabriel asked.
During the battle against the Drew army, a lot of mercenary groups had participated and the Count did not recall seeing the presence of Gellor's group.
"They are currently undergoing a mission, but they should be back soon enough." Lucius said.
He may have wanted to get revenge on the Bergan's Band and cripple the enemy from increasing strength further, but Lucius knew how to bide his time.
It was how Lucius managed to wait to enact his plans during his time as a servant in the Great Barrom Clan.
Of course, things didn't turn out perfectly due to the lack of information about an unborn baby being involved, but this time, he intended to accomplish his goals.
"Can you tell me more details about your plan, Asher?" Count Gabriel asked. "The Plow Beast is an enormous creature, solitary as it might be, there might be some innocent people who'd get affected once it strikes."
"Do not worry about that, father. I will take care of it." Lucius said. "It's my intention to prevent any casualties."
"Good." Count Gabriel said, his expression turning serious and even regretful. "It's easy to get consumed by rage and wrath, I know that from firsthand experience, so I do not want you to make the same mistakes as I did."
"Thank you, father. I'll take your words in mind." Lucius said.
As much as Lucius couldn't care about the victims who might find themselves in trouble once the Plow Worm strikes, he knew that the Plow Worm going on a rampage would alert the Bergans Band and allow them to take countermeasures.
Not to mention that Lucius planned to retrieve a rune crystal from the Plow Worm once it was dead, so exposing it to more people was not in his favor.
"One out of five chances of there being a crystal." Lucius reminded himself. He'd take those chances, but was also prepared to make new plans again if he was unlucky.
Either way, Lucius remembered that his father also wanted to discuss something.
"Father, you said that there was something you wanted to talk about?" Lucius asked, rather curious of what the man might bring up.
"Ah yes, there's something that I wanted to give to you, Asher." The Count stood up and went for the safe located behind his desk.
Lucius remembered that this was where the Wind Scar Sword was formerly kept when the Count wanted Asher to train prior to wielding the weapon.
However, it wasn't the only weapon within the safe.
Lucius watched Count open up the safe and revealed two weapons, one of them was a sword and another was an axe.
When Lucius had first seen them, he actually wondered if they were precious artifacts like the Wind Scar Sword but hadn't been able to check on them before.
"Now, I would have normally waited until you were a bit much older… or if I had known that you were going to Gisir in the past, then given it early, but this sword and axe is valuable to us. These were once the heirloom of of the Inanis clan."