"Besides, I know your family na. You're from a noble family that is in an opposing faction to my Eris Family.
Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of being killed by the undead and here you are, trying to turn this into sothing political?"
The Major visibly flinched upon hearing Evan's words, with Luke sending him a side glance filled with annoyance which he unfortunately noticed.
Evan, however, ignored this and spoke to all of them at once, deciding to end this farce and get back on to more important issues.
"I know that besides these three, there are others among you who have one or two 'issues' with but decided to put those aside for now and prioritize the wellbeing of the people who would be affected if the undead we are planning to take out were to attack the cities and towns nearest to them.
For that, I give you my respect.
I also know that so of you have given so thought to what I'm about to say but I'm still going to state it.
The Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum and the High Priests of the Church of Artemisia dispatched Grand Magus Czac, one of their highest-ranked Paladins, Sir Heinr, and even their future cardinal, Bishop Alie, all because of .
Because I asked.
I was the one who asked for them to co over here, I was also part of the reason the Emperor dispatched thousands of soldiers on active duty to the Duchy.
There's also the Pri Minister who dispatched a battalion of Knights, and the Duke of Cheverton over here, who actually takes my words and opinions seriously.
Take a mont to think about why these people with higher identities, authority, and more power, are actually listening to ."
The young hero ended his speech, taking out a new set of files from his inventory and sharing them with the Duke, Ralphie, Dasyra, Heinr and Second Sword Luke.
"Now that's out of the way, let's go over everything once more before we conclude this segnt."
Duke Charles spoke up as he collected the files from Evan's hands, tacitly giving his approval to the young hero for his handling of the situation.
They went over their plans for attack once more, before ending that segnt of the eting and terminating the magic projections.
On a side note, those who were contacted were all made to swear oaths of secrecy so that the fact that Ralphie and Luke were currently in Cheverton would not get leaked.
And besides Evan's weird insistence on them having more than two backup plans, nothing too strange happened till they were done with that segnt of their eting.
They then moved on to the next segnt where they discussed Evan's plan to deal with Count Falos, as well as the other mbers of the demonic hand hiding in his territory.
"Your plan is quite flawed.
How sure are you that the Count would react exactly how you want him to?"
"About 70%.
If he doesn't, then I'd have to go with plan B."
Evan shrugged his shoulders as he replied to Luke's words, with the Duke frowning lightly as he looked at the description of Evan's 'Plan B'.
"These 'Plans' of yours, none of them take into account the safety of the tens of thousands of people living in the County's capital city."
From the things he saw in the description, attacking Count Falos would require a battle between thousands of soldiers and undead monsters, the kind that civilians with an average level of 20-30 would not be able to survive being in the vicinity of.
As the Duke of the Duchy, it was simply impossible for him to agree with such a plan that placed citizens at risk.
"I know, this is where you co in, Duke."
"What?"
"As at the ti of the attack on the 24th; 'Duke Charles would not be in Bultom City anymore, but in the Capital of the Duchy'.
And due to the information that you 'received' that there might be undead from Paglad moving in on the Falos County's capital, you would order an evacuation of the city, 'from the capital of the Duchy', which the Count would have no choice but to comply with since he doesn't want to blow his cover yet."
Hearing Evan's words, Duke Charles instantly understood what the boy was aiming at.
"That's how you intend to clear out the County's capital, huh?"
"Yes.
If things go as planned, then the battle should not escape the Count's estate, with the exception of the occasional stray attacks of course."
"And when do you plan to have this carried out?"
"On the 25th, with soldiers and adventurers that would not participate in the attacks on the undead on the day before.
I also plan to have Ralphie co over with as a masked 'S-rank' adventurer."
Upon hearing his na being called out, the blonde man alternated his gaze between Evan and the papers in his hands, before pointing out sothing he found odd.
"Are A ranked adventurers not enough to deal with the Count's Demonic Hand contacts?"
"Oh, they can.
You're insurance in the event of a worst-case scenario."
"And what is this worst-case scenario?"
"The 'Eighth Finger' appears in person."
Sir Czac tilted his head in confusion as he listened to the two talk, voicing out a question right after Evan spoke.
"Is this Count that important to the Eighth Finger?"
"You could say so."
Ralphie looked at the young hero with narrowed eyes while the boy stylishly avoided the man's gaze. Noticing this, he instantly arrived at a conclusion.
'There's sothing else he isn't telling.
Is it because he can't, or he just doesn't want to?'
Despite noticing that Evan was still hiding things, Ralphie said nothing and let the discussions proceed calmly, with them moving on to other important things.
Of course, Evan still insisted on them having multiple backup plans, just in case things went haywire.
By the ti they concluded their eting, the stars were shining brightly in the night sky. The attendants behind each of those present were dismissed, leaving only the nine of them who were seated in the room.
"After capturing the Count, he'd be tried and punished according to the Empire's laws. Then we can start discussions for when Vazgan decides to move in on Bultom City."
Just as the Lord of Bultom was about to ask why Evan was so sure that the Dullahan King would attack the city, the boy lightly slamd his fist into his open palm and exclaid as if he had just rembered sothing.
"I almost forgot.
Duke, Ralphie, Sir Luke, any of you would be okay.
Can you guys tell the Emperor that after this undead situation, he should place more grandmaster-level guards around Laurene?"
"Huh?
The Princess is already guarded by multiple grandmasters."
"I know.
And I'm telling you to double or triple it if you can."
"What?"
Evan sighed when he heard Luke's confused voice, tossing everything in his hands into his inventory as he spoke.
"I'm a bit tired so I'd just go straight to the point.
Since Laurene publicly revealed her… 'special eyes' a few months ago, she has inadvertently made herself a target for the Demonic Hand. Placing herself at the top of their hit list."
The expressions of Luke, Ralphie and Duke Charles turned strange for the nth ti today as Evan casually dropped another bomb.
"Sure, it would help both 'us' and the Great Western Empire in the future, but that action was a double-edged sword."
Evan stood up from his seat and stretched his body before continuing with his words.
"Laurene and I are potential threats to the Demonic Hand.
The difference is that while the Demonic Hand are aware of Laurene, they don't know about as I have made sure to keep my 'identity' hidden, with all the mbers of the Demonic Hand who have recognized my eyes either dead or 'captive'.
As such right now, I'm at most, a kid with 'strange eyes' to them.
However, that would change when I and the Eighth Finger et for the first ti while my eyes are active.
The man is not stupid, he would recognize my 'identity' and definitely have this information sent back to their headquarters.
And since it is common knowledge that Laurene and I are close, it would appear to the Demonic Hand that two potential threats are close and that's not sothing they'd like
As such, they would move to take us out in earnest.
While locking on to won't be so easy given that I'm always on the move, it's not the sa for Laurene.
Everyone knows she's in the capital, so it'd be easier for them to get a handle on her movents and plot against her accordingly."
When he was done speaking, he yawned lightly before taking out a juice pack from his inventory and sipping from it.
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