On the largest path in the Sect of Hedon that led to the central tower in which the sect officials were housed, a large stall had been set up in front of which at least 30 Warriors were milling around.
Behind that stall sat a single man, wearing unassuming clothes and with simple features that would not stand out in a crowd.
One thing which did stand out, though... Was the huge pile of Ker Gems that were sitting behind him.
The two who had been talking before walked to this area and chose to wait and watch, first, unaware of the fact that they had attracted the infiltrator from the Church who was following behind them. He, too, chose a position on the street and chose to observe.
The 30 Warriors looked like they were waiting for sothing, and the man behind the stall was also sitting there while occasionally glancing at an hourglass he had placed in front of him.
The banner above the store was also striking, and the Warriors in front of the stall kept looking up at it, almost as if they sought to find inspiration regarding so topic. In bold, flourishing letters, it read, "Mad Doctor Association."
A minute later, the man behind the stall finally stood up, and when he spoke, pin drop silence appeared in the area.
"Alright. Another half hour has passed, and it is ti to accept five more mbers. The five who give the best reasons behind them wanting to join will get the offer, along with 50 Ker Gems."
Those last three words made the eyes of the two who had arrived shine, and they hastened forward to join the crowd, too.
Yet, they didn’t know what to say, but soon, they got a few clues.
"The Mad Doctor is... Handso!"
"The Mad Doctor is kind! He healed for free!"
"The Mad Doctor is insanely talented! He is my role model!"
"The Mad Doctor is..."
All kinds of statents in this form started being flung out, with one being more ’creative’ than the one before. It looked like all of those who had been waiting had thought about what they wanted to say, and after they were done giving their statents, the two who newly arrived also fumbled and finally ca up with sothing.
"The Mad Doctor is... Patient!"
"His clothing sense is aweso!"
Many statents had been said, but these two took the cake if there was a competition in how absurd they sounded. The Mad Doctor was publicly known for his impatience, and he wore the sa simple garb every day.
The others started to chuckle as they heard them, yet, the man behind the stall suddenly stood up and said, "Both of you, enter. You are right. The Mad Doctor is extrely patient in his madness - in fact, it is this patience to be impatient that allows him to harness the power of madness to be one of the strongest Champions in the sect. His clothing sense also displays his grasp of the world - he wears the sa grey clothes, every day, and they represent the bleakness of life which he wishes to drive away for all those who take him as their leader."
"..."
’What the &^$&)&^ kind of bullsh*t is this?!’
Along with thoughts like these, expressions of shock appeared on all those who waited, and they stared at the one behind the stall as if he was the one who was mad. Yet, his statents had just the right amount of logic that they seed intellectual, even though it was obvious that they were also the ravings of soone who was insane.
The infiltrator, though, got a glint in his eyes as he saw this.
Along with the two, three others who had also given ’creative’ statents were chosen, and as the rest watched with angry and even jealous expressions, the pile of Ker Gems was delved into in order to award them, as promised.
"Welco to the Mad Doctor Association! Let tell you how this ca to be. The other day, I wanted to see how difficult it would be to get into the profession of Healing on a whim, and I took the assignnt to tend to the Mad Doctor’s needs. Imagine my shock when I saw him! The incredible manner in which he was still alive even though anyone else would have been dead had they been injured in the sa way enthralled , and made rethink everything in my life. It was the mont when I was wiping the blood off of his slowly regenerating body that I had an epiphany, and made a decision. He is the God of healing of our present age! He should be revered, and we should all take inspiration from him! We should be honored to be in the sa Sect as him! This is why I made this association, and its only purpose is to make sure that his dignity is preserved, here, and in the whole of Angaria! The healer says that he is in a coma and that no one knows when he will break out from it, but if we try hard enough, I believe that we might be able to do sothing to help him! Well, this part is ambitious, and the healers called crazy, but I will still try! All of those who wish to try with will get these Ker Gems! If you want the chance again, then think more, and wait!"
The mont he was done talking, he spoke in a hushed tone with the five who were selected, and they all smiled and left. After that, the man resud his position from before, and those milling around began to scrunch up their eyebrows and begin to think, again.
On the other side of the path, the newcor kept his gaze on the one who had spoken up for a few monts before smiling slightly and turning around to leave.
What he didn’t know... Was that he was also being watched, yet there was no way that he could have found out about this.
Of course, it was by the system.
[Target had an expression that has a high probability of being the one which appears on one’s face when they have made a decision regarding sothing. Target has left area of surveillance.]
As soon as Daneel got this ssage from the system, he couldn’t help but smile inwardly, but he remained stoic on the outside as he had to keep up the appearance of the cool and confident founder of the Association which everyone wanted to join.
This plan had been based around the fact that Percy had been the first to be approached by the Church, and from his conversation with him, Daneel had found out that at that ti, he had been going around vehently supporting the Mad Doctor.
He had clearly been able to figure out the Church’s thought process behind this - they would want to find soone who was a supporter of the man, so that they would be able to get easy access that would hopefully not be as supervised.
Any task would always be carried out better by soone who wanted to do it, rather than soone who was forced to. That was also the Church’s motive behind approaching Percy - they had thought that he would want to do it, but they couldn’t have known that he was just putting up an act.
By imitating what he had done and taking it up a notch, Daneel had made a scenario where there was quite a high probability of him being approached, and it looked like he had succeeded.
Well, ti would tell.
For three more hours, Daneel sat in the stall and suffered through more and more creative statents. He kept giving illogical explanation, and he found out that he was quite good at that, even though he didn’t know where he had acquired this skill.
Finally, after the pile of Ker Gems that were a part of what had been accumulated by Vance with so much effort were completely depleted, he trudged to his dorm and instantly did sothing in preparation for the arrival of the one from the Church.
He split his consciousness again, and took control of Vance’s original body instead of using a camouflage spell, as it would be the dumbest thing he could do to allow that...thing by the Church to invade his own body.
Daneel didn’t have to wait long. It looked like that guy had been following him, as there was a knock on the door not even a few minutes after he was done with this.
Bracing himself for the excruciating feeling that Percy had described quite vividly, Daneel opened the door, which led to the newcor giving the sa excuse as he had done before when he targeted Percy.
And of course, as soon as the door closed, he shot that thing toward Daneel. It was 10 tis more painful than Daneel had imagined, as there was just sothing so visceral about feeling a bug-like creature crawling through one’s bloodstream and arriving at their mind while destroying everything in its path.
Finally, after it was done, he spoke up.
"Don’t panic. That’s just a-"
Daneel had no intention to listen to the whole thing again, so he imdiately shouted, "How dare you! I’m an avid supporter of the Mad Doctor! If you even dream about hurting , he will take revenge for as soon as he is awake!"
The newcor paused and looked at him with surprise as he shorted this, and that expression of surprise was followed by a smile as he realized that he had co to the right place.
"You mistake . I am a secret supporter of a secret organization that also has the sa purpose as yours, and this was only a precaution to make sure that you are not so enemy in hiding who might be a threat to the man we all admire. He does have a lot of enemies, you know."
Oh? It looked like the thods of the Church had also changed.
Nodding profusely, Daneel said, "Of course! Those cretins! That Ashahell should be put to death for what he did! But how can I believe you?"
In response, the one from the Church did sothing that Daneel couldn’t have expected, and this made it clear that whoever this was was also quite smart, and that they shouldn’t be underestimated.
He held up a display trinket, and as it was activated, the exchange between him and Percy that had happened before where Percy had agreed to help the Mad Doctor was played.
"I started this along with Percy, but he was attacked by the enemy, who knows that him succeeding will result in our Saviour awakening before they want him to."
After thinking for a bit, Daneel shouted with wide-open eyes, "You have a thod to wake up?!"
"Of course! Here it is..."
Seeing so, he took out a small trinket that was shaped like a pyramid with golden, shining sides.
"This is a trinket that I found in an inheritance site that I did not tell anyone about. It is supposed to be able to awaken anyone in a Coma, and it’s a Warrior-level trinket. The Hero watching the Mad Doctor is an enemy, though, and there is a formation that scans all trinkets. The rule is that all Warrior-level trinkets are forbidden, so I am looking for a way to sneak this in. If you agree to take that responsibility, I will find soone else to deactivate the formation, which will be quite difficult. It is the main reason behind this being delayed for so long, though..."
As the man from the Church vented his frustration in this way, Daneel almost smiled as he had found all the answers he was looking for.
Right now, he needed to find a way to change the trinket, though, or at least study it to see what it did. For this, he knew that he would have to suggest so way to sneak it in without having to deactivate the formation.
Thinking hard, Daneel tried to co up with an idea for this. After a few monts, he suddenly rembered a scene from one of the movies he had seen back on Earth because the kids from the orphanage had insisted that they wanted to see it.
In it, a gun had been dismantled to sneak it onto a plane, and instantly, Daneel knew what he had to say.
"Have you tried dismantling it into multiple Human-level trinkets and then assembling it into a Warrior-level one on the inside?", he asked, and the infiltrator’s eyes instantly lit up.
He knew that this was the best mont, so Daneel decided to strike when the iron was hot.
"I am a formation master, so if you give the designs, I can try and make it happen. How about that?"
As Daneel said this, he could almost hear the gears in the mind of the infiltrator turning.
Indeed, the man loved the idea.
Both of them who had been stationed on Angaria had no idea about formations, and requesting soone from the Mainland to take a look would take too long.
Instead, why not use this guy? Even if he saw the designs and suspected sothing, he would be killed afterwards, anyway. Besides, the designs were so complex that anyone would only be able to maybe take them apart in that way, but no formation master even at the Warrior level on Angaria would not be able to modify them in any manner.
With a smile, he made the decision to go ahead with it and he handed over the trinket, and as he did so, he saw the flash of happiness that crossed Vance’s face.
Taking it as joy due to the fact that the man would be saving his ’Savior’, he rejoiced as it looked like he would finally be able to finish his mission.
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