Chapter 146.2: Welcome to the Kingdom: Plotting

Chapter 146.2: Welcome to the Kingdom: Plotting

PART 2/2

“Do you think I would lose to you in a fight?” Asmo asked Keiki.

“Yes,” she responded.

“Why?”

“My weapon has been fitted with higher-quality Enchantments, and I have a slight Level advantage above you. These two pieces of information give me the upper hand, and in addition to that, I believe I have more fighting experience, I am more tactically-minded and could outmaneuver you in the battlefield, and my Dexterity-based build counters yours as an Archer, as I can dodge and deflect attacks with my sword. These compounding factors would lead to me having overwhelming dominance in a combat encounter.”

“Well analyzed,” Asmo nodded. “Now prove it.”L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

Carison scooted his chair back, clearly anticipating a fight to break out. He was Unclassed, so Asmo understood his concern of collateral damage, but he was incorrect in thinking Keiki would attack.

She stared at Asmo. “I cannot. Killing or even harming you would surely lead to my arrest and execution by the Demons.”

“So if we were to fight, you would die?”

“...Yes, in short.”

“So I would not lose. At worst, we would draw.”

“That is hardly a fair scenario. In a true battle—”

“A true battle is one that happens in reality, yes? Not in some imaginary realm? In a true battle, Demons would rush into this room the moment they heard something wrong, seize you, and kill you before you could scratch me. If your build counters mine, my position counters your build.”

“Having guards is hardly an impressive feat.”

“And yet I do, and you do not. As I said before, you have a specialized set of skills. That specialization is in fair strength. It is appreciable. However, what I lack to you in fair strength, I have in unfair strength. I scheme, and plot, and take over. And us schemers need you fair fighters. And you fair fighters need us schemers. We work together, each making up for the other’s weaknesses. Like two soldiers fighting back to back. Can you respect that?”

Keiki tilted her head to the side, considering Asmo’s question, before finally saying, “I suppose so.”

“Good.” Asmo turned to the healer. “Jon.”

“I suppose you have a question for me?” Jon said in a patient voice. “You want me to tell you something about yourself?”

“No. For you, I want you to tell me something about you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “A pleasant surprise. I was beginning to think you were self-centered. What do you want to know?”

“Why do you do what you do?”

He looked at Asmo, now clearly amused. “That’s quite the broad question.”

She then drew circles around a few of the outer cities she’d drawn. Tapinsouth, Fronttown, and Carth.

“How long until this is the case? How long until these cities are also under our control?”

Keiki spoke up first. “To oust the Demons and enact a full military takeover would be...costly. We would need armies, which would mean we would need resources. Weapons, manpower, Classers to fight off the Demons, who would obviously want to take back their own captured territory...perhaps three years.”

“A fair estimate,” Asmo said. “Any other guesses?”

“I would say it wouldn’t take so long,” Carison said. “Asmo never said anything about a military takeover. This would simply be a location where we control what decisions are made more prominently than the Demons do. If we could seize the production lines for each of these cities, the monopoly we could gain would effectively do just that. Personally, I don’t think it would take much longer than six months, if we made the right decisions and formed the right connections.”

Asmo nodded. “Anyone else have any better ideas?”

Nobody spoke up.

“Two weeks.”

Everyone looked at her, intrigued.

“By my estimate, it would take two weeks to own these three cities,” Asmo repeated. Then she turned back to the illuboard and drew a circle around the palace itself—not just the war room, but the entire building. “How about how long it would take for this to happen? Or,” she drew a circle around the entire capital city of Kingstown. “This?”

Jon leaned forward. “Are you suggesting a coup?”

“I am not suggesting one, I am already planning it. How long?”

Nobody answered her question.

“Four weeks.”

They all seemed completely on the hook at this point.

“And how about,” Asmo turned and drew a circle around the entire kingdom of Koinkar. “This?”

“...”

“That is a question whose answer depends entirely on your performance,” Asmo said. “But I do believe that it, like the answers to the questions before, will be shorter than you anticipate.”

“One does not simply take over a kingdom,” Winic said. “You would need...Do you even understand the artifacts this country has to back up its power? Do you understand what it can do when threatened?”

“And where do we come into all of this?” Carison asked.

“I do not believe you would be able to seize control of the kingdom at all, much less in such a short time,” Keiki challenged.

“We can,” Asmo said, looking at all of them. “Would you like to know how?”