The God of Jesters
Chapter 192 - 3.14.2 I want in.

Chapter 192: 3.14.2 I want in.

"Would have preferred if I would have camped in the other points." Sheva made a snarky comment, to which Max could only shake his head.

There was no need for him to tell Sheva why he denied all those suggestions. Even though Sheva intends to help him, the coming battle will be a dangerous one. With individual ways out of his league, it would be harder for him to keep them occupied.

And although the distance would obviously ruin the amount of support that Sheva could provide him, it was better than dying.

"I will go to the north and keep a watch from there." With those words, Max disappeared from Sheva’s sight. Leaving her alone on her own while he took a different angle to keep watch over the small mansion that was situated over the hill.

An odd choice to choose is a safe house with a cemetery close to the house, making the surroundings emptier than usual.

For the dwarfs that loved to live in small closed places, the openness of the hill and the nearby dead had put many of the dwarfs out from this unoccupied land.

Even some of the houses that were prebuilt by some firm were left abandoned, most incomplete, and only two occupied, as there was no demand for a house here.

All of this amounted to a very empty area for battle, but also a bad area for a sniper to spot their target. Making it harder for Sheva. But not so much for Max, who, while sticking to the tree, absorbed its vitality, as his body started to gain some extra vitality.

Just a temporary boost gained through one of the new abilities he unlocked as the only scion of Lakram, feeding into its divine nature as a tree.

*****

No one knew when the enemies would strike, including Salvarez who had little sleep these coming days due to the threat that existed outside of his house.

"Are they aware of my recovery?" He pondered for a bit, before seeing how they might have come to such a conclusion.

If he was all alone, they might not have had such thoughts and would have attacked him by now. But that was all before it was found out who he was staying with. The woman was an annoying one.

With her next to Salvarez, anything can happen. It might be why a card as big as the CBI was used in this mission. Scaring her away before she can do any further harm to the plans of the company or their future.

Leaving only the last problematic part of their plans. Of course, that "only problematic" element that they knew about and could be tracked down.

The one who had been harassing their forces for the last few months was not any less annoying. The only reason why eliminating Salvarez was given more importance when compared to the annoying bug was Salvarez’s connections.

Salvarez worked in the light, belonged to a prestigious family, and had connections among the leadership due to being a kind of prince in Bothal. If he had found any concrete evidence of their little incursions throughout the city, their future might be forced into jeopardy.

But the very fact that Salvarez had chosen to turn turtle in his safe house meant that he didn’t have the proof in his hand yet which was good and all. But it didn’t mean that they wished to wait for him to find it.

Under such fear of exposure, they threw their card.

A group of dwarfs in civilian clothes walked toward one of the houses on the hill. An odd group that none would consider to be fighters, as the group consisted of a big family who just got out of the car when an old truck came and started unloading furniture and such.

"??"

A scene that didn’t go unnoticed by either of the three people here. With only thought in the mind of the three beings. "A trap?" They wondered, before shaking their heads. No matter what they did, they didn’t find anything suspicious about these people.

Salvarez also wondered why an unknown family came to live so close by, and from the side of the window. "This doesn’t seem like a coincidence... what are they planning?" He wondered.

But unlike the two from before, Max had some other thoughts in his mind after he heard them talk. "Although it’s on the hill, it’s good that we got it for cheap." The man’s wife said to her sister-in-law who was dragging her own kids into the house.

A simple banter of a happy family who felt that they had lucked out.

Which was far from the truth in Max’s eyes.

At this moment, he can go and scare this family away. Push them out of the danger that was to come, but it would be exposing his involvement and position to others who might be eyeing the family.

’Sacrifices.’ He thought to himself, before ignoring them.

Max was the kind that would try to keep the damage to the uninvolved at a minimum, even during his days as an assassin. But it didn’t mean he was kind to a fault. Sometimes, killing the uninvolved party becomes inevitable.

It doesn’t matter if they are innocent or not, it’s fate that led them into his path, so let fate carry the burden of their death.

Or so he had always treated all the collateral damages the innocents incurred.

It’s what kept his mind clean. And he hoped that Sheva could do the same again because she was a bit sentimental.

Emotions that he didn’t expect from someone of her background, but everyone is built differently. ’Stay there.’ He thought to himself, before looking at the small moving curtain in the house, knowing that his target also looked at this family for a bit.

’It will be your burden as well.’ Max said, before hoping that this happy family could survive the incoming disaster.

*****

"A family came to live there?" Red wondered, looking at the report, before asking Blue who was drinking tea, a simple question. "Did you know anything about it?" Red asked, causing Blue to eye him deeply for a bit, before shaking his head.

"Too involved with that Yakub guy... ask the chief of police. Didn’t we ban any house purchase in that area?"

"From the reports, the house was sold a year ago to this family. They chose to live here only after their old rented apartment was sold to someone else. This seems too coincidental."

"Then all we have to do is throw them out, along with the other family that had been living there since the start. We both know our meeting might turn dangerous."

"But I would suggest against it, if we start evacuating the men. Salvarez would obviously think we don’t have any good intentions. It would become harder for us to have any dialogue."

At these words, Red fell into some contemplation.

During these days, he had chosen to work together with Blue on the case and hence had learned some of the bizarre incidents that Salvarez was part of, including being with a potential foreign spy Fahna who had run away the moment they were dispatched.

Not to mention, his odd escape from the hospital. Making Red wonder what happened to the prestigious warrior he had heard about so much.

Even if he were to ignore the prejudiced view his partner held for Salvarez, it didn’t mean Red didn’t notice the oddities.

Something was bad, someone was hiding something or was it just confusion caused by misunderstanding?

Red didn’t know.

The only fix to it is having a dialog with Salvarez, the original person who had been hunting the assassins hitting the citizens on Bothal.

Even if these citizens are not so savory members of the society, including Yazmod. He might appear as a kind father on the surface, but he can’t hide his worry in front of the CBI officers.

"Hmm!" So, after thinking for a while, red nodded. "We will keep some officers close by on standby, their job would be to evacuate the family in case of any danger." red spoke, before turning to look outside.

"Just hope you are right, otherwise, our captain will skin us alive," Red said with a smile, causing Blue to cringe a bit.

Because he knew, Red was being literal here.

*****

"Jester O’ Jester, where art thou?"

"Silence boy, just tell me why you called me."

It was night time and I was in the middle of the alley, or at least the little boy who held my spiritual body in his ears was.

"Your promise, you keep saying that I will get to see something fun and interesting, but after the first time. Nothing as thrilling as that has happened till now... Don’t go back on your words now."

"Hmm, I did promise you that... and there is a super fun event that will happen in a while. Sadly, you are too weak to survive it."

"Did that mortal woman go there?"

"A trained killer and sniper? Of course, she would go there."

"I knew it, the last package you asked me to give her was too big. Something big really is happening." Krotal was smart, too smart for his own good. From the materials he was asked to transport, he was able to ascertain that something big might be going down somewhere.

Bigger than the one at his house.

"So I want in!"

"Forget it, kid... you didn’t even complete your apprenticeship, a knight like you can’t survive that fight."