Chapter 477 Deciding the Plan
The next few days, Daneel had a halo about him, with almost everyone looking up to him and even admiring him wherever he went.
However, that all went away when someone jealous leaked the fact that his 'specialty' in speed was actually a crippling weakness, instead of an advantage as it had looked like.
The true experts had already known this, and they started to gloat, saying that he had cut off his future for some temporary strength.
All in all, everyone's attitude went back to before: they felt that he didn't deserve his post, and they would wait a month for the next challenge, during which only those who also specialized in speed, or who were balanced would be the ones fighting.
This time, Daneel certainly had no intention of staying till then. He had gotten away temporarily, but he would definitely not be able to use the same trick twice.
So, Daneel started to carefully watch the Mad Doctor along with a very enthusiastic Drakos.
When he had asked Daneel about his plan, Daneel had told him that he was still forming it, and that it would require a lot of work.
To this, surprisingly, the Ancient Dragon that was supposed to be millennia old had asked if he could help, just like a kid who wanted to help the plumber because plumbing seemed so interesting, as he had never been exposed to it before.
This made Daneel agree with gusto, as there could be nothing better than an idle Hero helping out.
This also made him understand Drakos's personality a bit better: the man, or in this case, the dragon was interested in learning how to 'scheme', and he seemed to be convinced that Daneel was a master at it.
Daneel didn't know whether to feel proud about that or ashamed, but he had to admit that it worked, so he was happy.
So, both of them had started to keep a close eye on the Mad Doctor.
According to Drakos, even if the Hero-level members of the Sect of Hedon took casual looks around the Sect, they wouldn't be able to find evidence of him poking around, as a Hero couldn't detect another Hero, especially in this case when the Dragon apparently outclassed them by quite a bit.
So, Daneel now had an omnipotent watchman who could practically invade anything.
'This is awesome!', thought Daneel, when he found out from Drakos that Ashahell was calmly brooding on the top hidden floor of the Central Tower while being watched.
As for the formation, Drakos had called it a 'toy', saying that the formations he had seen and built in his heyday were so much more complicated and powerful.
All in all, Daneel now had the ability to keep a close watch on both his targets, and also find out where they were at all times.
The only place that Drakos couldn't breach was the core-most region of the sect, which was apparently something that was still simple, but would require more of an effort from him to break through undetected, which wasn't possible with the small part of him that was present with Daneel. Even with the large part, Drakos could only ensure that he would break through, as, after all, he was just a spirit right now.
Daneel didn't really care much about that, as this was more than he had wished he would have, and he was very happy with it.
Feeling very glad that he had allowed Drakos to 'possess' him, Daneel got down to carefully studying the Mad Doctor's movements, as Ashahell just seemed to stand there eternally, even letting the dust settle on his clothes.
The Mad Doctor's schedule was simple: in the morning, he would go to his son's grave, which was in a formation-protected glade to the east of the Central Tower.
While at the grave, he would vow daily that he would have his revenge, and that it would start with Daneel.
This only served to increase Daneel's wish to get rid of him somehow, quickly.
Then, the man would go to his office in the health department and brood while training, occasionally taking the time to shout at a few healers just for kicks.
After that, he would sleep, and his dreams would be filled with nightmares where he would repeatedly curse himself for being too weak to save his son.
And, oh, one other favorite past time of his that he occasionally engaged him had made Daneel want to burn his eyes out, as Drakos had been using a Hero-level spell(which the system had used the opportunity and copied) to view everything the Mad Doctor was doing.
He should have stopped when the woman undressed, but he had been a heartbeat late, which led to him seeing the Mad Doctor's…
Yeah, he didn't want to think about that, at all, ever.
Surprisingly, the Mad Doctor didn't kill the women after the act, almost as if he was currently…laying low, and trying to keep the attention off of him.
This was evident from the expressions of extreme relief on the faces of the women who were unlucky enough to find themselves in his clutched, and when they saw the pile of Ker Gems they were given each time, they were even downright shocked.
That was basically it. For 10 days, Daneel used all of his time to nail the Mad Doctor's routine down to the tiniest detail, just to be sure that whatever plan he came up with wouldn't hit any snags.
On the 11th day, Drakos spoke to Daneel in the morning with joy in his tone, as if he was happier than he had been in a long time.
"So what are we going to do today, Young King? More tailing? If so, we must hurry! The Mad Doctor must already have finished his morning routine by now!"
"No, Drakos. We are done with the tailing. It's time to decide on the final plan."
"Great! Err, I mean…Interesting. What are you considering, Young King?"
The tone of excitement was hard to miss, and Drakos was now exactly like a little kid who had found a new toy.
Sighing, Daneel asked, "You do know of the classic method of framing someone, right?"
"Yes, you use a complicated spell to weave their tapestry and…"
"No, I mean frame as in make them look like they committed a crime they didn't!"
It wasn't even a good joke, thought Daneel, as he ran his hands through his hair.
"Oh! No, I do not. Like I told you, dragons are…I mean, were, just beings that were the most righteous of all. The Emperor even took special care not to expose us to any of the flaws that were inherent in the characters of other species."
This was the first time Daneel was hearing about this, so he was quite puzzled.
Why had the Emperor taken such a special interest in that aspect of the dragons' lives?
To Daneel, it felt like…the dragons were the Emperor's children, whom he wanted to protect from all the wrongs of the world.
So, he hesitantly asked, "Were you…somehow related to the Emperor?"
"Of course! I was his vassal! He trusted me more than-"
"I meant physically."
"Physically? What do you mean?"
How should he frame it?
Sighing again and complaining that he didn't have time for this, Daneel said, "I meant to ask if you were related by blood!"
"By blood? You mean to ask whether I am a product of his copulation? No!"
Ew.
That was what Daneel thought when he heard Drakos answer, and he actually felt glad after hearing the answer for some reason.
However, it seemed that Drakos wanted to continue.
"Although we were a liberal empire that allowed relations between those of all genders and species, copulation between humans and dragons was impossible, mainly because of the size diff-"
"ALL RIGHT, STOP! I got it, ok?"
"You were the one who asked, Young King. What made you think of that, anyway?"
Even more flummoxed than when he had started this conversation, and quite a bit creeped out, Daneel said, "Forget it. The classic way is to put evidence in the other person's abode, before giving a tip to the concerned party about that evidence. It is always harder to prove that one is innocent when one is caught red-handed, and the evidence would pit our target against anyone we wanted. Yet, that's too simple to use here. I need to get creative."
After a few seconds of silence, Drakos spoke in the tone of one who had had their minds blown.
"Incredible! Such a cun-, err, I mean, witty way to trap someone! I don't see how anyone would escape from that! Why would you need something better, Young King? I would definitely be incriminated easily if someone used that against me! I wouldn't even be able to claim that that evidence wasn't mine, as it was found in my home- a place that I frequent. Amazing!"
Tuning out Drakos, Daneel started to think hard, going through every detail he remembered from Earth, along with everything possible he could do, especially with Drakos, the innocent Dragon's help.
His objective was for the Mad Doctor to fight against Ashahell, and either get the former injured or killed, while putting the latter away for clear, verified suspicion of colluding with the Church.
Ashahell was smart enough not to leave any evidence. But how would he contest against fake evidence?
As for the Mad Doctor, Daneel decided to take an approach he had already used once.
The best way to deceive someone or manipulate them was to make them think that it was their own idea.
With his decision made, Daneel chalked out the details, all while Drakos continued about how 'smart' he was.
However, when he was about to interrupt the innocent Dragon to tell him the plan, he felt like a senior in school who was being a bad influence on a cute, young schoolmate.
Taking a deep breath and ridding himself of that image, Daneel proceeded.