Chapter 698 Lan 1
Two days later.
In the mansion of the Viscargo family, the head butler and the servant who was in charge of taking care of the personal needs of the Lord were talking between themselves secretly while looking as if they were going about their daily chores.
Typically, these chores would have involved just caring for the family of the Lord and any others who might be lodged currently in the mansion, but right now, the majority of them were concerned with cooking food for the hundreds of orphans who had already arrived, and the few hundred more who would apparently soon be arriving.
Inside the mansion grounds, there was already not enough place to house everyone, and preparations were being made right outside the walls. There was no risk of anyone daring to target this place, as it was currently the talk of the entire continent.
A day ago, representatives from the Network of Angaria had arrived and they had been clearly showing everyone the happiness that was present in the faces of all the orphans who had been gathered. Along with this, there had also been multiple interviews with their Lord, and in them, he had extolled that this is something that he is not even very proud of, as he considered it as his duty and something that he was simply doing to honor the memory of his great-great-grandfather.
The butler knew that all of this was probably just hogwash, mainly because he knew the true state of affairs of the family.
They were almost bankrupt, and he was pretty sure that even the money that the Lord was giving him to spend every day was what he had borrowed in preparation for the what was mostly going to happen.
Right away, the butler had understood that this was probably a plan to take a large part of the money that would be given to the family while only using very little to build the orphanage. This wasn't something that was very rare in the trade families, and even the Viscargo family, itself, was famous among those who knew about such things for a major scam a few years back where a large mercenary group had been outfitted with cheap quality weapons for which they had paid all of their accumulated money due to the promise that they would only be getting the best. This had led to the group being wiped out by one of their rivals, and it was later found out that this group had also given extra money to the family to make sure that this would happen.
Hence, making others trust them and then using that trust to result in their downfall was something that shouldn't be very new to them, yet, the butler had a frown on his face due to the current situation.
The reason behind this… Was the weird actions of the Lord that he had noticed these past two days.
Typically, the Lord had the aloof behavior that befit him and his status, and he would normally not have talked to the orphans any more than what was necessary during the times when others were present.
Yet, instead of that, the Lord had actually… Gone out to seek them on his own, even if there was no one else, and he had talked to them for quite a long while. As it was his duty, the Butler had accompanied him, and he had watched as the Lord had listened to all of their stories of poverty and filth, which he had turned his nose up against.
Only, to his shock, the Lord had looked like he was actually listening intently and even taking their words to heart, and he even repeated this action on the next day.
For a moment, during all this, the Butler had even wondered whether the Lord was the same person he had been all these years, but he could only hide that suspicion deep in his heart as everything else was perfect. Could it be that there was some sort of recording that was going on without his knowledge?
In fact, the whole reason he had come here was so that he could confirm this, so he put forward his question to the man who was currently helping him to take care of the logistics concerning all the food that had to be served.
"Did you see the Lord obtain any new kind of recording device, perhaps one which can be hidden while he does things?"
The other man was of much lower status than the Butler, so he knew that he should answer to the point. Hence, he scratched his head and thought for a bit before saying, "There was one additional thing that I saw when the Lord was getting dressed this morning. As always, I was present to drape his cloak over his body, but after affixing it, he switched out a button with something else that looked like a button, but wasn't. Is this what you were referring to, Sir?"
Lan was listening to the entire conversation while standing hidden behind a pillar a few meters away from the room in which these two were going about their work.
As he heard the servant give this answer, he used a handy trinket that worked like a mirror but didn't give off a shining reflection to see the expression of the Butler.
After seeing that it shone with the realization that his actions were probably to record his actions to show that he cared for the masses, Lan smiled to himself and returned to his room.
Indeed, the past two days, he had been going to the tents, and he had needed a reason to be able to do so openly while not arousing any suspicion in the multitude of servants and Butlers that were present in the mansion. He couldn't possibly impersonate them all, so using a different option was the best thing to do.
This was what he had come upon - the original Dominic was supposed to be someone who craved attention, so it would make sense that Lan was doing those things to record them and then showcase them at a later date.
With this matter handled, he reached his room and dwelled on what had happened so far.
His mornings had been filled with his job - his studies into learning about those that he needed to impersonate had already finished, and the grand total of the number of people that he would be acting as had become 11. This was pretty unheard of, but because a few of these characters were minor ones where he would only have to spend a little time, such as in the case of a contractor where the man had to ensure the person from the bank that the contract was ready and that only top quality materials would be used for the construction, the entire thing had gone smoothly.
In the evenings, initially, Lan had resisted the urge to go see the life that he had left behind.
His earliest memories were of him finding himself in one of the streets of the Black Raven Kingdom, with no parents and no one to call his own. He was told that he had been found in a basket with no one nearby, and that he had incessantly cried through the night until the gang of orphans on the street had decided to take him in, because the only reason behind them being alive was that someone else had done the same thing for them.
He was raised among them with many brothers who came and went, mainly because times were hard, and food was limited. He had blocked out a lot of those memories, but seeing the images of those kids had unearthed them all, and they refused to be ignored.
The whole reason he had taken up the art of impersonation was that the street that they lived on was one filled with restaurants which only the elite could enter. The advantage was that a lot of food was thrown away, and they scavenged this to survive, but eventually, the gang grew so big that this food ceased to suffice.
That was when he had started to study what happened in that street, which was followed by the realisation that if he could just act like those entitled and privileged sons and daughters of famous traders, retired generals and ministers, then he, too, could enter and use their line of credit to take back food for all those who had fed him when he was little even if it meant that they had nothing for themselves.
They had used to say that as a growing kid, he should eat, but he had been able to see the bones sticking out of their stomachs which must definitely have been aching due to hunger.
He had never been able to forget that, and he had been looking for a chance to pay them back. That had been it.
Slowly, Lan had seen each and every minute movement of those young and privileged folk, and he used to practice at a lake nearby where he could see his reflection when there wasn't too much wind to disturb the water.
The rest of the challenges such as finding clothes which fitted someone of that stature had been carried out by the rest of the gang, but sadly, the first time had been a failure, and Lan had barely been able to escape with his life.
Their advantage was that they had used to live in hidden areas where they couldn't be found, and as the rest believed in him, he had tried again.
The second time, he had learned that asking them to pack one of every item in the menu was ridiculous, and it had blown his cover.
The third time, he had simply been unlucky, as the one he was impersonating had already been inside after entering through some secret path.
After learning from all of these, he had finally succeeded the fourth time, by saying that there was a party with his friends for which he wanted to take back food. That was one of the happiest memories that Lan cherished in the deepest corners of his heart, as he had managed to bring back a lot of delicious things that they had savored for weeks while tears ran down their cheeks because all of them had never tasted anything so good.
That was when he had understood that this was a skill that would allow him to gain things that he shouldn't have, and he had kept perfecting it until he became a skilled conman.
All of these memories had made him nostalgic, and that was why he had gone to those tents to hear the stories of those kids.
Each and every second he spent there, though, all he could think of was the fake orphanage plan.
Each minute he spent there seemed to chip away at the inhibitions that were holding him back from risking it all and doing something that would change what was going to happen.
At worst, he would die, but this entire line of business was something that one only entered when they didn't care about not even leaving behind a corpse.
One other thing that Lan had also started to realize… Was that these experiences were making him find something that he had lost.
The strange thing was that he hadn't even known that he had lost it, and even now, even though he had this feeling, he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.
Yet, the clarity that he just might not be able to go through with it all was becoming stronger, and almost unconsciously, Lan had already begun to plan what he should do.
Only, he hadn't taken the final step, and the final decision, yet. The fear that he had for the Warrior mage was still present, and even though it had decreased, it was preventing him from making the decision.
After reaching his room, he found a communication trinket flashing which meant that the message had arrived.
"The loan has been approved. The transfer will be done in the form of Ether blocks and gold coins, and they will be arriving with a bank official and a squad of guards. Please be prepared on your end to receive it, and to confirm the amount."
Finally.
Usually, Lan would have been overjoyed that they had reached the final step, but in reality, he was feeling more tense than ever, as he knew that that moment that he had dreaded, where he would have to no option but to make his choice, would soon be upon him.
Tomorrow, it would all be over.
But when the time came, which path would he take?
He could almost feel that the answer was deep within him, and he wished that he could reach out and grasp it, but no matter how much he tried, it remained elusive.
Hence, giving up, Lan went to sleep.
His dreams were filled with his face contorting, forcefully, into different shapes, and he even had many nightmares about him losing himself and forgetting who he really was.
This made him get up sweating with horror, and as he looked in the mirror, he almost couldn't recognize who was looking back at him.
Thankfully, this drove away the grogginess, and as Lan returned to his senses, he realized that it would be another sleepless night.
So, he went out into the balcony, and chose to stare at the little bodies dozing off comfortably on the mats that had been provided, while the stars faded into the light and the sun appeared to herald the final day he would be spending in this mansion.