The God of Jesters
Chapter 467 - 7.20.4 I have met you before.

Chapter 467: 7.20.4 I have met you before.

The lost puppies return home when time comes, but it’s also harder for these puppies to meld together with their companions easily, nor would their range of activity be higher.

This is what pushed me to abandon the prior idea, instead, I did something much simpler. "I apologize for the inconvenience," I say while killing a soldier who was just trying to relieve himself during the night. Followed by a bit of memory reading and taking his place.

This might sound simple, but with mages actively keeping a watch over the camp, things were much harder than one can imagine.

Hell, I was forced to make two of them take a simple nap of just ten seconds so that they don’t notice any oddity. Which was enough time for me to act.

"The message has been sent," I spoke to my superior, an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a while, before going back to messing with the radio. ’Still, why did he come here?’ I wondered, looking at my friend retreating and obviously visiting Amir.

’Even that fool is here... well considering what I saw before he does know Ludwig.’ Farhad my old friend, his appearance was surprising, to say the least.

And when I think of it a bit deeper, some more things start to make sense.

’But he chose him?’ I wondered what was going in Ludwig’s mind to choose Farhad for this job. There were better alternatives than Farhad, better individuals who could do this job without causing a scene.

’Giving it to a hot potato like Farhad shows that they are better friends than I expected... which is not good.’

For what purpose Farhad was here, it was easy for me to see. He was a good delivery man who brought the package to his rightful owner.

The issue was his pursuers, the questions that good old Amir would ask after his arrival. Who knows, he might just become an obstacle. ’Farhad did this purposefully, he could have remained outside, and I would have found him that way... but he chose to come inside.’

That old little rat of mine, always playing tricks on me, trying to find new ways to butcher me with his teeth.

Hah, there is a reason I love the little guy so much. But he can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.

’I have around four hours.’ The little lie I told my old friend would only work for a little bit, if they didn’t receive a response from the headquarters in time, they would obviously get suspicious and try to find the reason for the issue.

Meaning that I have to act now.

******

"What is your purpose for coming here."

"Same old question as before, but due to reasons you obviously understand, I can’t say it." Farhad was a bit moody at the moment, he looked around at the tasteful flesh around him and spoke with a simple smile while never daring to look directly into Amir’s eyes as he recalled the previous meeting where Amir honed in on him without an issue.

’He might find my true identity that way.’ He can’t afford it. But the same can’t be said about the future. ’I need to assess his true nature if he is worthy to know the truth and keep his mouth shut.’

The best scenario would have been to be outside and look for outliers that might be the shape-shifters in disguise.

Or maybe create a scene outside, leaving marks that only the shape-shifter would understand.

There were so many safer methods, but Farhad was not in the mood for a safer method. ’Chaos will make it harder for him to act.’

In his mind, Farhad was well aware that considering how the military operated, there would obviously be someone soon coming for him, although they might not know who he is, which buys him double the time before the Knights of Radiance arrive.

"If you can’t speak of that, then tell me what is your relationship with the Radiant Knights? How did you know about it?" Amir asked, looking at Farhad like a dead dog.

’He knows about the Radiant Knights.’ Farhad thought for a bit before saying. "About that, I am not under contractual constraints about that... all I can tell is that I was there when our fellow friend obtained it... one can even say that part of the reason he got it is because of me." If that fellow could give that precious thing to Amir, then Farhad thought that this friend of ours was somewhat dependable.

"You were the reason for it?" Amir came to a pause, looking at his captive with some scrutiny. ’Lies or truth?’ Amir really wished to bring out a contract at this moment and force the truth out of this man, but he understood the weight that contracts bring to an individual, and the greater contracts one uses, the more weight an individual’s soul has to handle.

For most mortals is no issue, but for Amir, that can prevent him from ever reaching a higher height, not to mention the fear of the soul corruption. Which he can’t afford.

As for his brother Ludwig... he obviously knows it, but due to his circumstances he never cared about this issue too much, to him living for a day more was already a miracle, so if he can assure his men’s loyalty through contract then he wouldn’t mind using them.

"I was along with another friend of mine, whose identity I can’t say, not like I would say it even if I was not under any constraints. That person had saved me too many times." It was a simple trick on Farhad’s end, a simple trick where he let Prince Amir more invested in his personal life, in turn earning a level of insight into his captor’s life.

Which would also make him care for his captor as well. Then there was the other issue, which is that with how vague Farhad was speaking, the curiosity of Amir would probably make him more invested in the story that Farhad was hiding.

’Though this tactic works on fools the most.’ And from the lips of Amir that was the only thing that Farhad dared to look, he understood that this man was no fool.

"Prince Amir, I understand what you are curious about, but let’s not talk about it. Let’s talk about something else, something serious." Knowing that simple words were not enough to catch Amir, Farhad changed his approach.

"Jester, have you heard of this individual?"

"..." A familiar name that caused the eyes of Amir to light up, but he backed off from Farhad and put a guarded stance while he asked. "Who is this Jester?"

However, Farhad, who noticed such a slight change smiled. "You are acting a bit too jumpy for someone who doesn’t know Jester... but oh well. I can tell you that much at least." It was surprising, to say the least, that a nobody prince would know about something that even Ludwig didn’t know about until he told him about it.

’Or did he learn from Ludwig?’

But the reply from Amir caused Farhad to rethink his approach."I have been warned about the Rat King, and with some research, I got to learn of some of his other names."

Rat King, a name that he didn’t tell Ludwig about, but he did tell Ludwig about Jester’s Habit to control little critters which might be useful considering Ludwig was planning to earn achievements on the battlefield.

This all changes things. "Prince Amir, seems like you are someone in the know of things, not as ignorant as I had assumed." Farhad came to a pause, wondering who was this Prince’s backing.

’Ludwig said that all royals were called to the city... hah, the bait. The ultimate trap.’

Farhad understood two things from all of this.

Either this was a trap devised by Ludwig in conjunction with the Cynark Military in order to obtain him for their own use. Which would explain what a royal was doing here.

But then there was another matter that he can’t just ignore.

’The trap is not made for me.’

’Can I trust him?’ Farhad thought for a bit, already making up some reasoning based on the available information at his hand.

"Ignorant? Is this Jester really some great thing to be feared?" Recalling Gazelle’s voice, the anamorphic face on the mirror, Amir turned silent with some nostalgia.

He knew she was a puppet sent to just enthrall him with her charm, and it did work to some extent considering he still recalls her voice from time to time. ’It’s like magic.’

"I would say no, if you understand him enough that is. Otherwise, the unknown is always scary." Farhad spoke with some fear of his own.

"Am I to think, you know about him?"

"No one knows him better than me, that I can say with confidence." There is no need to say who he was to Prince Amir, he can always use another identity which is also true to some extent. ’He holds interest in Jester.’

And Farhad understood he could exploit it.

"..." And Amir really fell for it. He really wanted to know what this Jester was in reality, what his goals were and what was his relationship with Gazelle.

’I am being led by my desires again.’ Amir stopped himself before looking at this fellow once again. ’Oh, now that I think.’

Suddenly things connected all at once. "You... I have met you before, haven’t I?"

"..."