“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. Assuming for the moment that Geese’s letter was trustworthy, he’d said he was after me. It wasn’t hard to imagine myself running straight into the jaws of a trap if I went out alone. Or he could play divide and conquer. “Thanks to Sir Orsted’s bracelet, I can avoid the Man-God’s surveillance. Geese and the Man-God can’t detect me, Sir Orsted, or anyone near us. Geese will probably turn to analog methods to try and locate me—plain old information gathering. That’s why I’m going to disguise myself and get the magic circle in place quickly before he catches me.” Trap or not, it was better I didn’t go advertising my presence—hence a disguise. It would only be a matter of time before I was exposed if Geese looked for me, but I could at least avoid being surrounded and taken out the moment I arrived in the country. Provided luck was on my side and things went smoothly, I’d be the one getting the jump on Geese. If there was no trap, that meant neither Geese nor the Man-God had predicted being seen by Kishirika’s Demon Eye. If that wasn’t part of their plan, Geese would probably run unless his business in the Biheiril Kingdom couldn’t wait. He might stay until the last possible moment to try and finish whatever it was before I arrived. If he disguised himself to delay me finding him, he’d buy some time before he had to make a run for it. There’d be no downside for him. “It might be worth staging a diversion if you want to stay hidden, Rudy,” Roxy suggested. A diversion. In other words, I’d make them think I’d suspected a trap and decided against going to the Biheiril Kingdom. It’d throw them if they laid out the bait and only caught small fry instead of the big fish they expected. “A diversion? Do you have a specific plan in mind?” Roxy nodded. “I do. Why not have one of us go to the Sword Sanctum? Queen Ariel said she’d deploy reinforcements whenever you need them. That’d include Ghislaine and Isolde, right? Those two know the people at the Sanctum well and should be able to hold their own in a fight. The current Sword God doesn’t serve the Man-God, if what you told us is correct. I think finding someone there who can help us and bringing them back could work. Sword King Nina, for example.” Nina. Eris had personally tried to bring her over to our side. She was no substitute for the Sword God, but given she could go toe to toe with Eris, she’d Page 4 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com