Chapter 171 Animals

A creaking noise greeted me as the royal dolls pulled their halberds to the side. Their arms reached towards the doors as they opened it. I couldn't help but notice the intricate designs for the first time, the rivers of gold scolding the peasants as a royal king watched on. The inscriptions tell a story of rebellion.

I was broken from my thoughts as the guards finished opening the door. I watched as the opulent display of wealth was shown to me, the thrown room was made out of pure gold enchanted to the maximum amount of durability the court mages could handle, though other than that there were also other precious metals that were used to enhance the shine of the gold.

"Approach." A commanding voice spoke from the room, a bill of my throat showed my nervousness but I did not let it affect me.

'No, march on. Die with dignity' I heard in my head. It was different from my usual voice. It was one unfettered by the patriotic thoughts, of the gratefulness to my creators. It was my only unique thought.

As I approached the throne, my resolve was iron unshook by the weight of my next actions.

I kneeled down, my head looked on to the floor as I showered my subservience. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the scroll but I also pulled out the device that that Devil had given me.

I sighed and with a final resolve I pressed the button.

An echo, the faint clicking resonated throughout the room as I felt unimaginable pain. It flew through my nerve endings and would not stop. In the moment between life and death I found myself thinking only of the pain. The agonizing sensation of my body frying itself inside out.

Then bliss as my consciousness could no longer hold my body together. The world had turned to nothing as I embraced the void, the sweet death.

…

I sat by the side of the castle, my eyes watched as the explosion silently echoed throughout the castle. It consumed all living matter in the room. The king, the spy, even the guards outside were all killed in moments.

'3… 2… 1…' I thought to myself counting down the seconds until the guards that had not been killed rushed into the throne room. And at the signal of one I saw them break down the doors, a panicked expression on their own faces.

It was my time to grab and go, the massive amount of chaos that I had caused would allow me to get in and out without any problems. The major problem of being watched was dealt with which meant that I didn't have to hold back anymore.

With a leap I was in the castle, the place that I had landed being a ledge that overlooked the city and more importantly direct access to the king's office.

I walked in while making sure that my eye scanned every corner of the room and put it to memory.

All the drawers, the tables, even the slight specks of dust were accounted for and memorized.

I walked around, my hand reached into every single nook and cranny looking for any information that I would deem useful making a copy of it in my database then putting it right back in the exact same way it was before I had touched it.

Within moments I was done and gone, the room made in such a way that it looked completely untouched.

…

All around the city was chaos, the guards were scrambling to emergency positions while the citizens sat back in fear and curiosity. I watched on as they hurriedly scrambled to do what they were assigned, honestly, the sheep. To do what they were told without context in the meaning of compartmentalization. It was understandable to an extent and it was not as extreme as other examples but it was still an example of what a herd mentality and indoctrination can do.

It gave me ideas, not only how to integrate these people into Darwin's realm but how to control them. It was honestly pitifully easy to do what I had thought of.

Through extreme force and a couple of well placed leaders that we would give faux power we could control them by giving them the illusion of control.

I shook my head, the ideas flew from my mind as I focused on more important matters. Matters such as keeping the chaos away from Aoif and Darwin's date. It was cute, the way that they interacted on the date, the large smiles, the lingering touches, every small movement made in such a way as to initiate intimacy. Not in the steamy way that I had noticed them indulge in, no a different intimacy, one of love and devotion.

A jump and I was on another roof, my eye peering through the walls as I watched them walk into a… was that a stuffed animal shop. I couldn't help but be surprised, the walls were lined with intricate dolls in the shape of unknown animals and creatures. Though they were not realistic they captured their likeness well and also worked to enhance the cuteness.

'Cute' I couldn't help but think to myself, my finger idly touching at the pocket of stickers that I held in my pockets.

'I'll wait' I thought to myself as my eyes scanned around the room that Aoif and Darwin were browsing. Darwin, while he couldn't understand the supreme cuteness of these stuffed animals, seemed to still be indulging Aoif and having a good time himself as he watched the joy of Aoif.

It took a while but after some time Aoif had decided on a stuffed animal that she wanted. It was one that looked a lot like an otter

'I didn't know that she liked those.' I thought to myself but quickly shook that out of my mind as I saw them leaving. I had my eyes on one particular stuffed animal and seeing as how Aoif and Darwin had left I finally fell from the ledge that I had been watching from and walked into the store.