The Author's POV
chapter-172

"I think I've got it..."

Standing on top of a tall flat house, with binoculars in his hands, Kevin stared towards the distance. Towards a rather inconspicuous house that looked like any other one present in the city.

…As he looked at the house in the distance, Kevin tried his best to hide his presence. Although he was far from it, it was never wrong to be extra cautious.

The reason why he was being especially cautious was because he had finally found where the food supply was located.

Squinting his eyes as he looked through the binoculars in his hands, slightly lowering his head, Kevin whispered towards his watch.

"I've found the food storage..."

Just like Ren had told him two days ago, Silug was indeed demoted and made to guard the food storage supply.

...thus, following Silug from the distance, Kevin was quickly able to find the location of the food storage and from there, he spent the last few days observing.

From Silug's behavioral pattern to the time he spent guarding the storage space as well as how long his break took and who replaced him when taking breaks.

He knew everything.

As his thoughts paused there, thinking of Silug, Kevin he couldn't help but be impressed by Ren's analytical skills.

Just from a couple of clues, he was able to figure out Silug's demotion.

...and from there, basically, deduce the location of the hidden food supply that was supposed to be unknown by almost everyone.

It was honestly, really impressive...and Kevin knew that compared to Ren, he was far inferior to him in that aspect.

After a short pause, snapping Kevin out of his thoughts, Ren's voice echoed from the speaker of the watch.

[Oh? Where exactly is the food storage?]

"Southern area"

[Southern area? hm...I see]

Still staring at the house in the distance with the binoculars in between his hands, Kevin asked.

"When should I proceed?"

After a short pause, Ren's voice once again echoed from the speaker of the watch.

[You can do so now maybe? I'm pretty much done on my side as well, or do you need more time? We must act together or this might not work]

"Yes, my preparations are almost ready"

Pausing for a second, Kevin carefully asked to make sure he understood what he had to do.

"...You only need for me to destroy the food storage right? Not sneak in and take in something?"

[No, just destroy the food storage]

Nodding his head, Kevin responded.

"Alright, I'll start operating in two hours, I'll give you a heads up when I do"

Two hours.

Staring at the building in the distance, Kevin decided to act after two more hours passed.

The reason for this was because that was the time he estimated Silug would take a break.

Having seen Silug's strength first hand, Kevin knew it was best to operate once he was gone as he was simply too powerful.

Once Silug was out, Kevin had about fifteen to thirty minutes to operate.

...any more than that and he would risk having Silug discover him, which he couldn't afford to do.

Especially since Ren specifically told him that he couldn't be seen as that would pretty much ruin all of the plans.

Although Kevin didn't know what he meant by that, he knew that he had to complete this mission without leaving a trace of himself behind.

Taking note of when Kevin was going to take action, Ren's voice once again echoed through the speakers of the watch.

[Great, two hours sounds good...good luck]

"Alright, I'll message you soon"

-Tack!

Turning off his watch, Kevin slowly closed his eyes and took out a small black drone from his dimensional space. Thereafter, putting the binoculars down, Kevin activated his skill [{F} Mind cleansing] as he threw the drone in the air.

-Fwaau!

Shortly after the drone left his hand, it disappeared into the distance.

Staring at the area where the drone used to be, Kevin softly muttered.

"It's about time I moved..."

...

On the northern side of Gud Khodror, quietly resting on the rooftop of a building, I looked towards a certain building in the distance.

With black being the most prominent color, a rather unique-looking infrastructure appeared in my vision.

From the outside, the house looked grandiose and intimidating. Using dark oak wood to build the frame of the house, sharp bone tusks protruded from the side of the house as large red banners fluttered in the air further adding to the intimidating feeling.

"Huuu..."

Staring at the building before me, I took a deep breath.

The building I was currently looking at was the place where the young chief, Zornaraugh, lived.

...and probably the last place he'll live in.

That's right, the next part of my plan consisted in the assassination of Zornaraugh, the next orc chief.

Only by assassinating him will everything go as I envisioned.

After they realize that their young chief had died, the orcs would naturally not standstill.

Perhaps the orc chief may be able to still remain rational after his son's death as he couldn't wage war with the demons because of his personal feelings...however, that was only if his son's death was the only thing that happened.

...Unfortunately for them, Zornaraugh's death wasn't the only thing that will happen today.

Staring towards the southern side of Gud Khodror, a faint smile appeared on my lips as I softly muttered.

"I'll leave it up to you Kevin..."

With Kevin taking care of the supply storage and me assassinating Zornaraugh at the same time, all the pieces that I had set in motion would slowly come together for the one play that I was looking for...an all-out war between the orcs and the demons.

As my thoughts paused there, staring at the ring in my hand, I softly said

"Are you ready Angelica?"

[Yes...]

"You know what you have to do right?"

After a short pause, Angelica responded

[...Kill the young orc using my powers]

Nodding my head, I reminded.

"Yeah, make sure you expose yourself once you are going for the kill..."

Only once they know that it was a demon that killed Zornaraugh would everything start to make sense.

...and in order to do that, what better way than have a demon actually kill him?

After a brief second of silence, Angelica asked.

[...does killing him mean that I've held my end of the deal]

Shaking my head, I responded.

"Eighty percent there, I'll need you for one more thing after that"

...she still had one more role to play. After that, she would pretty much no longer be of use to me, but that was fine...after all, once she finished with her parts, Immorra would be engulfed by the raging flames of war.

...and for that to happen I needed for Zornaraugh to die.

Hearing my response, Angelica agreed.

[Alright]

...as long as she could reach viscount rank, Angelica didn't mind killing an orc or even demons.

What mattered to her the most at the moment was her strength...anything else was secondary.

"Good..."

Seeing Angelica agree, the smile on my face deepened.

Naturally, killing Zornaraugh was the main reason why I had brought Angelica with me.

With her killing Zornaraugh through her demonic power, everything would be traced towards the demons.

...and although orcs couldn't detect mana, if I were the person responsible for killing Zornaraugh, chances of them pinning the blame on the demons was low.

They may assume that it was another orc who did it out of spite or in order to become the next chief.

The reason why they wouldn't like it to the demons was because when demons killed, they often left a distinct residual demonic energy in the air. Almost like a signature making it easier to understand that they were indeed the ones who were responsible for the incident.

...if I were the one to kill Zornaraugh then the orcs might have trouble connecting this to the demons specifically because I couldn't leave any demonic energy.

"hm?"

As I was in the middle of my thoughts, I suddenly sensed something in the distance. Soon a smile appeared on my face as I said.

"Ohh, he's coming...get ready Angelica, we're about to move"

Walking towards the house that I was observing from the building I was on, I saw the figure of a young orc accompanied by another orc slowly making their way towards the house.

...Zornaraugh and his bodyguard.

After having observed Zornaraugh's behavioral pattern as well as routines for the past two days, I pretty much got the gist of the situation.

...and I had to say, I was rather disappointed.

This was mostly due to the fact that Zornaraugh only had one bodyguard with him at all times.

One.

Yeah, just one bodyguard.

The fact that Zornaraugh, the next orc chief, only had one bodyguard with him was rather shocking.

...was he that confident of the fact that no one would target him?

Although his strength ranged around <D> rank which was amazing for someone his age, in the grand spectrum of things, he was amongst the weakest individuals residing in the city.

Regarding his guard, from what I've observed, I'd estimate his strength to be around C+ to B rank.

Which was honestly really low. Not benefitting the status of the person he was protecting, the next chief.

To make matters worse, the bodyguard didn't actually even enter Zornaraugh's house as he waited outside.

It was as though Zornaraugh didn't care at all about people assassinating him

...was he that confident in his strength and background?

Thinking thus far, I shook my head.

He was still a newborn chick after all...

Prideful and arrogant.

...the two recipes for disaster.

Though it sounded like a rant on my side, I was genuinely quite happy with this development as it made my life easier.

I had originally made a lot of preparations for this, only to be left speechless by how uncautious they were.

"huuu..."

Looking at the ring on my finger for a couple of seconds, I exhaled.

"...I guess it's time for me to make a move"

-Ding!

Feeling a slight vibration on my wrist, staring at my watch, I knew that it was time for me to move.

"...seems like Kevin feels the same way"

This was the most crucial step to my plans.

I couldn't afford to mess up...

Zornaraugh's death was the first and most important piece of my plan...once he died, everything would start falling into place.

Closing my eyes, a white hue shrouded my body for a split second before it slowly disappeared as if nothing had ever happened.

Standing still for a couple of seconds, as I opened my eyes, the world around me gradually lost its color.

My heart rate decreased, and all the distracting thoughts inside of my mind disappeared as only one goal imprinted itself inside of my mind.

...Ensuring Zornaraugh's death.

Taking a step forward, I softly mumbled

"Monarch's indifference"