The God of Jesters
Chapter 352 - 6.04.2 The flash.

Chapter 352: 6.04.2 The flash.

It was day two of the rat incident and Amir just learned something absurd today.

"Did the plague reach here?" No, that shouldn’t be the case, the plague in Wortham was brought under control albeit at a cost. So, spreading to a colony in the middle of nowhere seemed absurd, not to mention hard, considering that each individual is properly certified before they get entry to it.

So what was this? Just a preventative measure?

And yes, it could have been just that if not for the rat at his locker not too long ago. "Does the Colony have too much money that it would give it out to the commoners for free?" Amir asked his Butler who was making some tea for him.

"I have no hold over how the finances of the Colony are handled, so I apologize for my ignorance."

Another non-answer. But no worries, Amir had more or less some idea of what was going on. ’High chance the rat really might be infected. Taking these steps before a plague spreads is good."

After his breakfast, the day went as usual, after training in his Knight’s method, Amir went back to his work, checking up on magnetic pulls and trying to funnel as much electricity his generator could into the motor.

But as usual, there was no success.

’Better materials, at the end of the day, this is not a man project, I have my own specializations.’

Amir thought, sighing for a bit before he heard a knock on the door. "Come in." He gestured the figure out of his door. "It took you a while," Amir said, washing his hands of the oil and then taking the file that was in the woman’s hand by force, without giving a single weight to her looks anymore.

"Good job." He said to Uzma, his own Knight who has vowed to him as her master. But he didn’t care, he was more interested in the report. But then, thinking deeply for a while, he turned to her figure that was turning around leaving with a sad face, and said. "People are after me and they might go after those close to me as well. So be attentive, you are the weakest and inexperienced among my Knights, I suggest you stay with your family in the coming days."

"Yes sir."

Looking at her receding figure, Amir sighed and opened up the file again. "A total of 11 thousand women in this age range, and one-fifth among them having siblings, most of which are kids..."

It was good, this list would help him get some idea of who his admirer in the mirror is. Or at least her cover.

"The brothers can be lies, to distract me... she might not even be in the city." To find the suspicious individuals, the force at his hand was too small, not to mention, with the size of the list, it would obviously take a few days before he could shorten the names in the list.

’This is too much work... it’s good that I don’t have to do it all alone.’ Amir placed the list on the table and then called For Hemant again, this time, his request was a bit more absurd than last.

******

"Our target is someone among this list?" Reading the report, the chief Military officer put it down in frustration. "A little girl, do the higher-ups think a little girl is the cause of all of this?" Obviously, they didn’t know where this information came from. All they knew was that the cause of all the weirdness in the colony might be related to some girl.

Or she might just be the cause of it.

"It’s better to not think too much, let’s just do what we are asked to."

"They’re paying us less than the ones who are earning through catching rats... why even bother at this point."

"Just ask your kids, my boy is already going around hunting rats in the streets and had earned around 50 Dirium last day.’

The colony has been in chaos since the prize program started. All people had to do was submit their kills to the designated workers before the time for the program is up, which was actually only twenty days.

But the colony still went into a frenzy, with kids roaming the streets and some men even jumping into sewers after coming from work, just to put up traps and catch some rats.

As for why the limit of 20 days?

It was just to prevent anyone from exploiting the situation and breeding the rats to create a money-making machine.

Rules were specifically made to prevent any extra losses on their side, while also keeping the hands of officials and military personnel clean of doing such dirty work.

"They have given an answer, Duke Wortham has shown some interest in the matters." Black Sun sighed while recalling his meeting with the Duke.

"Did you tell him about Prince Amir and his meeting with some weird woman?" Twilight Flower asked, watching the festival-like mood of the colony below her.

"Not yet, it’s never good to be too steadfast when confronting Duke." Twilight Flower understood her husband very well.

Many might think that Black Sun was like other Fire mages, arrogant and prone to anger. Which was a side effect of the magic he practiced, but inspired by all his magic, Black Sun at heart was a calculative individual who never made a single move unless he was sure of it.

He was kind to change his approach depending on the problem that was in front of him.

"So what did he say about it? The chances of the so-called Rat King being here?"

"Nothing to me directly, but I have some inkling on what is going to happen." Black Sun said while looking towards the insects hunting even smaller insects below him. "The rat is in the cage" Black Sun spoke with a bright smile, while his wife just took her husband in her hands and sighed. "Why always give us such troublesome missions?"

"Don’t worry, we won’t be alone in this one... there must be reinforcements coming here soon enough."

"... Is he sending those two?"

"Yes, they are more knowledgeable about him than us. So those two should arrive here in a few day’s time." What Black Sun didn’t say was that this might be his opportunity.

This was his chance to prove the two wrong. And in case they were right, this was his chance to make up with those two and even earn some extra credits in Duke’s eyes.

’No matter what happens, we would owe the Duke.’

Meaning that no matter what happens Duke Wortham will win no matter what.

*****

"You have turned bold... was it you that was looking for me?" A voice came from the mirror and Amirr was not as surprised as he used to anymore.

"Only I have some idea of your existence, so it’s true that it was I and those who were aware of my search."

"Hah, wasting your resources to look for me might be the greatest mistake of your life."

"Why, do you consider yourself untraceable?" Amir said, without looking. He was too concentrated on his research to take care of the thing inside his mirror.

"I don’t consider such a thing at all... there are various wonders in this world that no one could explain. But considering who my current opponents are, it’s virtually impossible for you or your men to find me."

"Hmm, is this how you and your people have hidden yourself for so long?"

"Are you curious how? If you were to join us..."

"Just tell me why you are here... it shouldn’t only be to inquire about the search?" Amir asked, obviously looking for clues over why the colony would put out such a bounty on the rats. But there was no answer to such a question in the mirror’s words.

"Why do you have to make things difficult for me." She said, before creating a face. A face that Amir was somewhat familiar with. "Your Combat Trainer David, beware of him." She said and then disappeared from the mirror, without giving any context or answer to the question he was most looking forward to.

’None want to tell me anything.’ he said before he focused on her words properly. ’David is mixed up in stuff like this?’

That crazy trainer of his was evil in Amir’s eyes, but not a bad person. He was just a battle maniac who just wanted to beat his students to a pulp.

’One with such outgoing personality being a spy?... There are powerful contracts in place for someone of his identity. Something odd is going on.’

Amir didn’t know if he should believe a single word that the woman in the mirror said. But that thought disappeared as something flashed in his eyes, causing him to turn his head towards the distance.

"Thunder?" He thought for a bit and walked to the window and opened it properly.

And what he saw, left him speechless.