NOVGO.NET Chapter 385: Lowering their guard?
Chapter 385: Lowering their guard?
“Is he truly… that overwhelmingly strong…?”
Kayden questioned in an uncertain voice as he turned towards the Commander and Korvath…
His eyes stared at Kael, as if he was giving it a deep thought and then—
“Yes.”
He gave a simple answer.
An answer that both shocked and horrified Kayden.
“…really?”
He blinked, unable to believe those words.
“…”
And Korvath did not say anything else anymore, he just stared at Kael with an unreadable look on his face.
Did he truly think he, Morvain, and Kayden together wouldn’t be able to win against that child?
It was a difficult question to answer.
Yes, both Korvath and Morvain had witnessed what Kael did, but…
Truthfully, it wasn’t much.
His abilities were impressive, there was no denying that—forming those Flame Pillars, the Flaming Wall, and that transformation—the sight shook their very cores.
But…
In the end, that was not a display of proper strength.
Kael did not attack the Stonefang Chief, the only being who could have resisted him. He just targeted his subordinates that were around him.
So was Kael strong?
Yes, of course.
But…
Could he truly defeat the three of them alone?
Korvath did not think so.
Deep in his mind, the Commander felt like if he gave his all, stopping the Dragon Rider wouldn’t be impossible for him.
Adding Morvain into the mix and considering just how many times the two of them had fought together, making their teamwork almost perfect…
Korvath believed that he and the Matriarch would be able to take the Dragon Rider down. They wouldn’t even need Kayden.
Then why did he lie?
It was a necessary lie.
A lie that they needed.
A lie that their people needed.
A birth of a Hero. A Hero so ridiculously strong that defeating him would feel impossible. A Hero who had a solution to every single problem they faced.
A Hope.
This is what their people needed.
They needed something to believe in.
And since the Velmourns did not exactly believe in Feraos…
Korvath wanted Kael to become that hope.
An all-powerful, merciful Dragon God who protects people and values life more than anything.
Did Kael truly deserve to be placed on such a high pedestal?
Again, Korvath did not know.
It was a double-edged sword.
It gave Velmourns a ray of hope, something they could rely on and survive through the winters, but… giving so much power to a single being was… dangerous.
It could cause a divide in power.
’We are already letting them track and observe our private lives, giving them more power wouldn’t change anything.’
Soon, however, Korvath shook his head, not wanting to think through this matter.
Kael and Lavinia already had much more power than what should be considered normal, and honestly, even if he did not lie here, it was only a matter of time before Kael—with powers as flashy as his—would assume the role he was giving him right now.
He was merely… hastening the process.
In the end, Korvath closed his eyes and turned around. He came here because the soldiers seemed like they were causing a commotion. For a moment, he was worried that they might directly target Lavinia and wanted to step in in case anything happened, but since the soldiers took care of it themselves, he did not need to stay here any longer.
Kayden too stared at Kael one last time, as if thinking something, before he followed the Commander to continue his training.
He still hadn’t given up.
He would surpass Kael no matter what it took!
…
On the other side, Kael and Lavinia, who heard all the commotion around them, could not help but smile, especially Lavinia—
“Dragon God Kael, please accept this lowly princess’s bow.”
The Princess chuckled lightly as she placed her head on Kael’s shoulder.
“…are you alright?”
Kael questioned as he held her hand, slightly worried. After all, these soldiers were openly calling her a traitor. Yes, there were some defending her, but the number of people against her were higher.
“I am.”
Lavinia, however, just nodded without thinking too much about it.
“I do not particularly care about what people think about me.”
She spoke. She then moved her head on Kael’s shoulder, finding a more comfortable spot and—
“At least not anymore.
So their words do not bother me.
Rather, I like their reaction, especially the ones who fought together with us. I can use it in the future.”
“In the future?”
Kael momentarily frowned and Lavinia just smiled in silence, not saying anything else.
Kael did not question either. He knew Lavinia had a few plans of her own, and he trusted that what she was thinking was the best for both of them.
Yes, Lavinia wasn’t the only one trusting him with her life—he was the same.
It was quite amusing how two overly, unreasonably distrustful individuals seemed to have complete trust in each other.
“Do you… think we will be able to find the traitor in a week?”
Suddenly, Kael asked another question.
This was what worried him the most.
Because Lavinia told the Elders of the Iron Council that she was planning on keeping an eye on them, their reaction was obviously strong.
A week was all that was given to them, and if they couldn’t find the traitor within that time frame, winning the Elders’ trust again wouldn’t be possible. Heck, it might even create a rift between them.
It was a risky decision.
“Why didn’t we just use the Ants without telling them?”
Kael still could not understand.
A few Ants were already somewhat keeping an eye on the Elders, so he was sure that the Elders wouldn’t have found out.
They could have easily allowed the Ants to follow all the Velmourns without them knowing and found the traitor without any pressure. If they were asked how they found him, they could have come up with any random excuse. Kael did not feel there was a reason to say such things out loud and make things unnecessarily complicated.
As for their privacy?
For now, Kael could not care less.
His child was hurt because of a traitor—something like this could never be allowed again, no matter what.
Not to mention, he himself wasn’t peeking on anything—the Ants did—and they only told him something when it was important, something that might harm them in the future.
So this wasn’t exactly a privacy breach, even if it was.
At least… that was how Kael convinced himself.
But…
“We cannot.”
Lavinia shook her head.
“We needed to let them know.
We needed this to become a challenge.”
“Why?”
Kael still had the same question, and finally, Lavinia sat up and looked right into Kael’s eyes.
“There is a very thin line between mysticism and threat, remember that.
Yes, we want you to become a mystery.
A Dragon God with endless power. A Dragon God who knew everything. A Dragon God who people could rely on. Yes, we want all that.
But we also need the Velmourns’ trust.
If we simply reveal the existence of the traitor—the one they have been trying to find for weeks—on a random day, they might be grateful, yes.
But together with gratefulness, there will be suspicion.
How did we find him?
If we could find him all along, why didn’t we say anything before?
How much more do we know?
The more the Velmourn leaders think of these questions, the warier they would grow. Soon, they will be suspicious of us and our words.
Everything we say will be doubted and… if we are not trusted by their leaders, we will never hold real power over their people.
But turning it into a challenge changes things.”
“How?”
Kael questioned with a frown. No matter how he thought about it, this made no sense to him.
“Think of it as lowering their guard.”
“Lowering their guard?”
“You tell them what you plan to do. Like in our case, you tell them that we plan to keep an eye on them.
We do not even have to reveal how we do that—we just tell them we can.
This way, once we find the traitor, they will know how we did it, and there will be no reason for them to be wary of us.
After all, we did tell them that we were going to do it.
If anything, they would see this as us pulling off what we said we would.
In their eyes, instead of two strangers suspiciously giving them what they need, we become two people who are trying everything they could to help them.”
“So… basically, since we didn’t do it without telling them and asked their permission before taking an action, we earned their goodwill—and instead of seeing it suspiciously, they will see it as us helping them?”
“Yes, somewhat.”
Lavinia nodded.
“But wouldn’t they still have questions as to how we did it?”
Kael asked another question. Sure, Lavinia’s method might delay it for a few days, but… in the end, the Elders will still be wary of them.
Who wouldn’t be wary of beings who apparently have ways of keeping eyes on everything?
Lavinia chuckled at that question, but then—
“They will.”
She nodded, but before Kael could question anything—
“But for now, their suspicion will be suppressed by the relief of being able to find the traitor and everything that happens after he gets caught.
By the time this suppression is lowered and the suspicion begins to grow…
I will turn their attention to an entirely different topic, and I will continue doing that until they become used to our eyes and we become too important of an existence for them to suspect or go against.”
Lavinia revealed with a simple, gentle smile on her face.
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