The next morning, Lan woke up to news that spelled trouble.

A lot, lot of trouble.

Four prominent trade families had come together to announce that they really appreciated the Viscargo family’s actions, and that they wanted to help. Instead of offering monetary help or resources like the other families had done, these four had just gone ahead and chosen what they wanted to do.

And that was... To take the duty of transporting all the orphans who would be housed in the orphanage over.

With the speed of construction being that once it began, it would be done in barely a few days especially because there was talk that the family would be contacting one of the foremost organizations in the continent which had also constructed the stadium in which the Olympics had taken place, it made sense that the work to bring the orphans over should begin.

Yet, the whole plan was that because there would be no orphanage, there was be no purpose in doing this and that it could be postponed so that it wouldn’t be a strain on the present resources.

historical

Only, this action of these four families changed all that. With possibly thousands of orphans arriving, what was he supposed to do with them all?

For a second, Lan considered whether he should contact Crazy, but he chose not to as he had been told that he had to handle all of the problems that popped up. The mage was only responsible for any spells that he might have to cast, and he had already done his bit for now. He had made this exceedingly clear, and Lan had seen the hidden undertone that he was hired basically to handle things exactly like these.

Hence, he couldn’t even argue that he hadn’t signed up for this.

All he could do was go along with it, and so, by the afternoon, the orphans began arriving.

In the continent of Angaria, many of the biggest families always chose to have their main base outside of the jurisdiction of Kingdoms, so that in emergencies such as transition of rule, they would not be at the mercy of armies that might be set free to do as they wished. They employed extremely expensive defensive formations, and their mansions were also designed such that if they were really going to be overrun, then the evacuation of all personnel and wealth to a secure location could take place in the matter of minutes, which would result in whoever was attacking sacrificing their forces for nothing.

It was the same with the Viscargo family, which had a huge mansion that could house over 300 people in the outskirts of Lanthanor.

There were sprawling grounds which were attended to carefully by legions of gardeners, but right now, they were all occupied by tents in which children ranging from the age of 2 to 10 were milling around.

Standing on the balcony of the mansion while looking out over the same, Lan didn’t know what to think.

They had just arrived, and the representatives of those four families had arrived with them, but of course, Lan had had no option but to thank them for this and say that they would definitely be recognized for their help when the time came to launch the orphanage.

Until then, the orphans would all be placed right here, and he would tend for them until it was time to shift them over.

It was already a logistical nightmare, but the mage had thankfully also left a pouch of Ker gems exactly for situations like these. When Lan had taken the job, the funny thing had been that the treasury of the family had been almost empty, and when he had asked the real Dominic the reason behind this, the man had just said the word ’pyramid’ and shuddered as if it had some sort of meaning which terrified him to the core.

Lan had also found a warehouse filled with Network trinkets, but because this whole thing didn’t really matter to him and because it was something that apparently no one else knew about, he didn’t dig too deep as there was no need to.

Right now, he was supposed to be checking the video surveillance of three other targets that he would soon have to impersonate for this operation, but Lan was currently stuck staring at all of these children who had hope shining in their eyes.

Some of them had lost their parents in the many wars and skirmishes that regularly took place on the continent. Although there were systems in place to take care of such children who had become orphaned due to their parents fighting and dying for the kingdom, corruption had been rampant in this area, and even though things were expected to change with the new administration, it was a steady process. Hence, the orphanage was still the best place for them, and it was a fact that many of them found solace in others just like them, and a chance to live among those who would not remind them of their loss every day was something that they couldn’t help but jump at.

Not all thought in this way, but Lan could see that many did.

And in fact... He had seen it in that way, too, back when he had been stranded on the streets.

No! Don’t think of that!

Again and again, he had been trying to stop himself from associating himself with what he was seeing, but with every second, he was failing.

It was almost like a dreadful miasma that had been hanging over his head ever since he had taken up this operation because he had no choice, but it had become strengthened and it was now pulling him under because of the images he was watching.

A kid had just taken food from the butlers who were passing it around and had carried it to a sickly little child who did not seem to have any relation with him. He carefully fed the child, and this reminded Lan of his own friend who had done almost the same thing for him. In that case, that friend had starved so that he could eat, as he had been very weak from a sickness.

Another kid had gathered a large group around him, and he was regaling them with funny actions and jokes. In him, Lan saw himself, who used to take on the responsibility to cheer up their motley lives whenever things got very tough.

It went on and on... Until Lan could see no more, so he forcefully tore his eyes away and marched into his room before holding his face in his hands.

What would be their fate when it would eventually be revealed that there was actually no orphanage, and that it was all a scam?

What would their expression be like when they found out that all of their hopes had been for naught?

What would they feel when they saw their dreams being crushed, as it had been repeatedly announced that the orphanage would have top-class facilities that would equip them with all the skills that they needed to go out and face life?

These were questions that would ordinarily have been shelved, but that miasma made him fate them.

Damn those four families!

Out of sight, out of mind.

Lan had been depending on this to not see why he never got involved in jobs that involved his past life, but there was no more chance of him being able to do that.

All of these were things that were buried deep, deep in his heart, but now, they were all being pulled out, which made him run his fingers through his hair with agitation, while he kept trying to tell himself that he was just a regular conman who should only care about making money.

The operation had already begun, and there was no changing it. This was a scam, and it would continue to be so. It was just foolish to think that he could change anything with his powerless self, and even if he could...

No, the guy on the other end was a legendary Warrior mage!

Yet... Lan had been in situations where the power difference was even greater, and where his opponent had had no apparent weaknesses.

His past was filled with him standing up when he should have been crushed, and he had used his skills to do so.

Could he do it now?

But it was so risky!

As this internal discussion continued, Lan could almost feel something inside him changing, but he ignored it.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and it was from his butler who had come to inform him that his next meeting was going to begin soon. Apart from that, Lan also had a finish studying those from the bank whom he would have to impersonate in order to smoothly finish the money transfer, as it was soon approaching the point where this operation would conclude.

And that meant... That he didn’t have much time.

With a calm face, but with his mind actually in turmoil, Lan, no, Dominic walked out of the room, with a dignity that befit one of his class.

Yet, in the back of his mind... Was a different person, who was continuing to consider each and every option in front of him, even while he unconsciously impersonated the one whose shape he had taken on, flawlessly.

...

Meanwhile, the King of Lanthanor was in his quarters, and if the sovereigns or if any of the officials or leaders of the other Kingdoms in the Alliance walked into the room, they would definitely be flabbergasted by the king’s actions.

In front of him were three bowls, and in those three bowls were clumps of insects which were climbing on top of each other to try and get out of the opening on top of the bowl.

The King had his eyes fixed on each of these bowls, and he was carefully watching each and every minute movement of these creatures which were so disgusting when zoomed in on that he felt his stomach getting ready to violently react if he continued in this endeavor.

Yet, he tried to control it, while he kept increasing tweaking the zoom spell to try and notice more and more things.

All three of the bowls didn’t have cockroaches- no, the third actually held a kind of beetle that was also known for its ability to survive a lot of situations, but after checking its properties, Daneel had discarded it.

It had been his other option, but the problem was that it only relied on its thick out layer to defend itself.

This was different for cockroaches, though, whose entire body was designed to allow them to live through almost anything.

Daneel’s whole idea here had come from what he knew about the World.

In this World, Will was paramount, and resonance allowed one to harness the Will to do almost anything they wished.

If so, to ’shapeshift’ into a cockroach and use its powers, could it be that all he needed to do was find a resonance with it?

Resonating with a cockroach.

Even though Daneel had been holding it in until now, he couldn’t help but almost puke as he got this thought.

Distracting himself for a moment, Daneel wondered whether he was going in the right direction.

This was all based on conjecture, and no one even during the Empire had tried something like this. Even the system had been helpless in giving him an answer regarding whether this would work, but Daneel was confident.

It was a confidence that had been born from the many situations where he had grasped victory where only loss had been in front of him, and he trusted his gut which told him that he was onto something.

Yet...as he thought about it, he suddenly realized something.

Wasn’t a cockroach too different from a human? So...wasn’t it like him attempting to pass the test for 10th grade when he was only in the first?

Then, why not try something...simpler?

As soon as this thought appeared in Daneel’s head, his gaze became fixed on something in the room.

And this was, of course...the last beating dragon heart in the continent of Angaria.