Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 513: Udara’s Deduction

CH513 Udara’s Deduction

***

Alex smiled as the call with Baron Belloc came to an end.

”Interesting...” His smile widened as a glint flashed in his eyes.

He had not truly cared about the hypothetical question he asked the Baron at the end. It had only been a probe — a way to look deeper into the man’s perspective.

And to be fair...

The Baron did not disappoint.

”I will side with whichever side brings me closer to my family’s ultimate goal — dragging the false deities from their thrones, and defeating the force that ended the Sorcerer era.”

’Spoken like a true noble.’ Alex chuckled to himself.

He turned from the projector and looked at the three women in the room with him — Zora, Udara, and Eleanore.

A perk of the Beta Bracer over the projector device he had given Kron was control. Alex could decide exactly who was projected.

Kron and Baron Belloc believed they had been speaking to Alex alone.

In reality, his wives had heard everything.

”What do you think about what we just heard?” Alex asked.

Zora crossed her arms.

”The Baron and the other guardian families will be sorely disappointed if they keep placing their hopes in the Safe Haven sorcerers.”

”I agree,” Eleanore nodded. ”They’ve been in isolation for so long that the current generation likely doesn’t feel any real connection to the main plane anymore. If they did, they would never have pushed the Bellocs to ’test the waters’ against the Navi like that.”

Alex smiled and turned.

”Udara?”

She blinked, slightly surprised to be called on. But she caught the encouraging look in his eyes.

She thought for a moment before answering.

”Because if they never intended to start a war, they had no reason to force one of their most important pieces in the outside world into a fatal position.”

She continued slowly, finding her rhythm.

”Not only did that risk the loss of a guardian family, it also risked exposing the existence of a larger plan.”

She paused.

”...If such a plan even exists.”

Udara frowned slightly.

”Go on,” Alex urged gently.

She shook her head.

”It is unlikely a greater war plan exists,” she said slowly. ”The move makes no sense from too many angles. There are better ways to test an opponent’s strength without revealing your own... card?”

She tilted her head.

”Yes. Without revealing your cards. You’re correct,” Alex confirmed with a faint smile.

”Then what do you think is more likely, given what we know?” he prompted.

Udara drew a quiet breath.

”If we assume the opposite — that the Safe Haven sorcerers, as a group, no longer truly care about the main world — then the order to House Belloc likely didn’t come from the safe haven’s higherup... but from a single individual.”

Alex’s eyes flashed with a sharp glint.

”Why?”

”’Sky Beyond Skies’...” she said. ”We know they send individuals out to roam the main world. Based on the normal... modos operenda...?”

”Modus operandi,” Alex corrected softly.

”Yes,” she nodded. ”Based on large organisations’ usual modus operandi, if the Safe Haven no longer sees this world as important, then the person they send out here is either someone ambitious... or someone seemingly being quietly punished.

”Because being sent here would be no different from being exiled from the Imperial Palace to the slums in their view.”

At some point, Udara stopped carefully weighing every word. Her thoughts began flowing naturally as each deduction led to the next.

”Whichever it is, that person would almost certainly carry a strong sense of superiority toward the people of this side of the world.

”After all, from their perspective, this place is filled with...” she counted on her fingers, ”...weak — or ’fake’ — sorcerers with no proper lineage, combat warriors that were originally creations of sorcery, and commoners who don’t even possess cultivation.”

She lifted her gaze to Alex.

”With that mindset, such a person would easily develop delusions of grandeur... and attempt to take over the world himself.”

She paused.

”...And House Belloc was simply a convenient tool for that attempt.”

Pausing for a moment, Udara continued,

”They likely used a writ that granted them authority to request aid from the Guardian families. With that, they could pressure House Belloc into rapidly expanding its strength, all while believing that — with their ’superior’ sorcerer lineage — they would be able to lead the family to supremacy.

”Or at the very least, use House Belloc’s rise to test the current strength of the world and report back to the Safe Haven that the plane had grown weak... ripe for the taking.”

She shook her head.

”But when it backfired, they must have immediately cut their losses. They would have salvaged what they could to protect themselves from punishment back home.

”And unfortunately for House Belloc... that meant being thrown to the wolves.”

Udara’s gaze sharpened as her confidence in her deduction grew.

”Instead of proving how weak the world had become, they would have proven the opposite. So, to preserve their influence, the Safe Haven’s higher-ups likely directed other Guardian families nearby to quickly divide Belloc’s lands and their vulnerable holdings before the true Navi-aligned houses could claim them.

”That way, their power base wouldn’t shrink too much— or at least, only shrink manageably. But more importantly, it created the illusion that they were still managing the situation... while in reality, they were too afraid to launch any real attack.”

Alex tilted his head slightly.

”Why do you think the Safe Haven sorcerers won’t attack?”

”Because if they were going to, they would have done so already,” Udara replied calmly. ”The longer someone waits to make a move, the harder that move becomes to make.”

She had unknowingly thrown Alex’s own words back at him.

A proud grin spread across Alex’s face.

Whether her deductions were entirely correct or not didn’t matter to him.

What mattered was that, from fragments of information, Udara had managed to construct a coherent and plausible picture of events.

’She’ll make a fine Intel Master yet,’ he thought.

***