The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 268: Chapter 263 — Fair?

Nedra scoffed before turning back to Zephyrion. ”Oh, don’t tell me this is another one of those ’my mind operates on a different plane’ things. What, are the rest of us too stupid to understand?”

Finally, Zephyrion lifted his gaze from the map and looked at her.

Nedra immediately fell silent, swallowing slightly. His stare was piercing enough to make her tense, yet despite herself, she couldn’t stop the faint thrill that coursed through her.

Zephyrion regarded her silently for a moment before speaking.

”Think back to the rules. What was the first one?”

Fiona readily answered, ”The resources?”

Zephyrion nodded.

”Resources will be distributed periodically, and every house will have an equal opportunity to acquire them. What does that tell you?”

The room fell silent as everyone considered his words, their expressions gradually turning thoughtful. Even Nedra’s irritation faded slightly as she began thinking.

A moment later, Kaiden spoke hesitantly.

”...we’re supposed to fight over them.”

”Exactly.”

Zephyrion gave Kaiden an approving nod. Kaiden simply returned it, his expression remaining unchanged, but Zephyrion caught the slight tightening of his jaw and the fist clenched beneath the table.

Zephyrion glanced around at the others. ”So how do they make sure that happens?”

There was a moment of silence, then Nedra’s eyes slowly widened in realization.

”They drop the resources between our territories...” Her gaze shifted back to the distant markers. ”And make us fight over them.”

Zephyrion nodded.

”We have enough food for one day and barely any relics. If we want to hold this fortress, we need whatever they send us. Securing those drops comes first.”

Realization slowly dawned across the room, followed almost immediately by disbelief. Several of them stared at Zephyrion, unable to hide their shock.

How on earth had he thought that far ahead?

’He’s insane.’

Nedra could hardly believe it herself. Zephyrion had shown countless times that his mind simply worked on a different level from theirs, but even this seemed ridiculous. Worse still, everything he had just said made perfect sense.

However, whether out of spite or a simple unwillingness to admit he was right, Nedra still clung to the faint hope that his prediction would turn out to be wrong.

She folded her arms, a skeptical look crossing her face.

”Fine. It sounds clever when you say it like that, but what happens if you’re wrong?”

Zephyrion met her gaze.

”I’m never wrong.”

Nedra scoffed. ”Oh, please. Fine. When the first resource drop comes and you’re wrong, don’t pretend you never said that.”

”I won’t.”

Nedra’s brow twitched as Zephyrion calmly looked away and began giving out orders, apparently already done with the conversation.

’Hmph! He dares ignore me. Just wait. When you’re wrong, I’ll make sure to laugh right in your face!’

...

By midday, Nedra stood atop the fortress walls, staring into the distance with a visibly strained expression.

She wasn’t alone. Zephyrion stood nearby, along with Draven, Kaelion, Tobias, and Fiona, all of them staring at the same sight.

Several kilometers away, deep within the forest surrounding their territory, a tiny speck was slowly descending from the sky. It was difficult to make out from this distance, but with a closer look, they could clearly see what it was.

A large crate suspended beneath a parachute.

A resource drop.

Zephyrion glanced at the visibly shaken Nedra.

”You told me not to forget.”

The words struck like a blow. Nedra’s jaw clenched, but no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t come up with a single retort. Her silence was practically music to Zephyrion’s ears.

The others weren’t much better at hiding their satisfaction, several of them wearing broad smiles. Nedra’s words had planted a few doubts in their minds earlier, but this had proven once again that doubting Zephyrion’s judgment was rarely a smart thing to do.

Strangely, however, Zephyrion didn’t share in their excitement.

He quietly watched the descending crate as it gradually disappeared behind the towering trees, a faint sense of unease suddenly creeping over him. Almost immediately, he raised the binoculars to his eyes and focused on the drop, carefully judging its distance.

His brows furrowed.

’How...?’

Before he could think further, Horus’ voice sounded from his rune tab, confirming his suspicion.

”Prime! We have eyes on the drop, but something’s wrong. It’s nowhere near us. It’s falling deep inside enemy territory!”

”...wait, what?” Tobias frowned. ”Wasn’t this supposed to be fair?”

It was. That was precisely what Zephyrion couldn’t understand. The rules had explicitly stated that every house would be given an equal opportunity to acquire the resources, yet this drop was nowhere near equal.

Horus’ panicked voice came again a second later.

”Prime! We found the landing point, but the enemy’s already there! They’re waiting for it! Kaiden and the others won’t make it in time!”

Aside from Horus and his scouting crew, Kaiden and several elites from the striker group had been stationed around the guardian pillars, ready to move the moment a resource drop was spotted.

Zephyrion’s eyes narrowed.

’They were waiting?’

”Brother!” Draven thumped a fist against his chest, grinning broadly. ”Send Draven! I’ll bring back the resource and leave them with enough trauma to remember us!”

”Fool. By the time you get there, they’ll be back inside their fortress eating whatever’s in the crate.” Kaelion clicked his tongue, his expression darkening.

”But we can’t just let them take it!”

”Obviously not,” Kaelion said, glancing knowingly toward Zephyrion. ”Our Prime looks far too calm for someone whose brilliant plan just failed. You have something prepared, don’t you?”

Horus’ panicked voice echoed again. ”Prime! Orders! What do we do!?”

All eyes turned toward Zephyrion.

Feeling their gazes settle on him, Zephyrion exhaled, realizing that now wasn’t the time to dwell on what had happened. He hadn’t lied earlier. That resource was something they needed to acquire no matter what, which was precisely why he hadn’t left everything to assumptions.

Like Kaelion said, he had prepared several contingencies to ensure that, regardless of where the resource landed, it would fall into their hands.

Zephyrion tapped several commands on his rune tab, then spoke.

”Lumi. Get it.”

There was no response.

A deafening bang erupted through the line, followed immediately by the violent rush of wind.

Horus’ startled voice came a moment later. ”W-what the—something just flew past us! A blur! It’s moving ridiculously fast! Who the hell is—”

”Lumi.”

Horus fell silent at the name, but Zephyrion could practically feel his shock even from here. Several seconds passed before his voice finally returned.

”She... she actually made it!”

Almost simultaneously, a thunderous crash erupted through Lumi’s line, and in the distance, a cloud of dust and debris burst above the forest.

”What the hell!?”

”Who are you!?”

”...wait. That’s a child!”

Another violent rush of wind tore through the line, followed immediately by the startled screams of the enemy cadets. The sickening cracks of breaking bones rang out one after another, and soon their shouts of confusion had turned into agonized screams and desperate pleas.

Zephyrion and the others stood utterly silent, listening as Lumi’s light footsteps pattered through the chaos on the other end.

One by one, the screams stopped.

Before long, there was nothing but silence.

Tobias, Fiona, Kaelion, and even Nedra slowly exchanged uneasy glances, none of them quite sure what to say. Draven, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear, looking ridiculously proud as though Lumi’s accomplishment somehow belonged to him.

Soon, the silence was broken by a new voice.

Kaiden.

”We made it!”

Another silence followed, this one lasting several seconds as Kaiden seemingly took in whatever brutal scene Lumi had left behind.

Then his voice returned, noticeably less steady.

”...Right. Okay. Grab the crate. Let’s... let’s just go.”

His words finally brought a measure of relief to the group.

With this, they had secured the first resource drop of the war.

...

It took several minutes for Lumi, Kaiden, Horus and the others to return with the resource drop. As they walked through the gates, several of the cadets atop the wall and gathered across the courtyard cheered loudly and hurled several praise.

The reactions varied amongst them. Lumi unceremoniously ignored all the cheers, moving her eyes around the crowd as though searching for someone. Zephyrion realized what, once their eyes met and she smiled at him, as though expecting praise. He frowned, unsure of what to do. Wasn’t she keeping her distance from him? Then what.. was this?

Kaiden seemed to swell as the cheers went on. His chin was so raised they seemed like they would pierce the sky. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Horus was the opposite. Scratching the back of his head with an awkward smile, he looked like a shy little boy.

Along with the others, Zephyrion approached them.

”Good job.” He nodded approvingly, making sure to smile.

Lumi nodded.

”We really didn’t do anything.” Kaiden said, throwing a cautious glance at Lumi.

Horus, instead, fisted his chest.

”It’s our honor prime!”

Nodding, Zephyrion fixed his eyes on the resource crate. It was massive and entirely metal, sleek without any imperfections.