Chapter 17: Strategems.


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    — Since the beginning of time, politics has existed. In a way, most people see politics as human actions; I see it as the actions of all living beings. Such a dubious meaning is exotic and particularly mine.


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    I put on a locket with a torn photo of a man and a woman—both members of the family I’d killed, obviously—and touched Riley’s head, imparting an ability that transformed him into a human with cat ears instead of human ears. Ironically, their family also had the last name Yuki, and the brat was also named Riley. I don’t know how these dimension things work, but it probably has some meaning.


    After that, I transmitted to his mind the entire layout and structure of the city, and of my mansion, and since we were going to communicate through a psychic connection that I established through my contract with him, we didn''t need to get too close; he just needed to put the medallion in his pants and go to a place close to a territory. He almost fainted from dizziness. After recovering, he looked at me, scared, because his nose had bled.


    I didn''t just run the whole plan through his head at once because he might faint here, which wouldn''t be good for me; I intended to start my plan today. Of course, I won''t do it all in a single day; it will take a week''s preparation, and that preparation will start today.


    Although my house plan and layout were not extremely complex, one of the main flaws in my skill was this: the difficulty in conveying information. Communicating with people I did not have a contractual relationship with over long distances was simply impossible; I had to touch the person I wanted to convey the information to.


    Furthermore, people who cannot yet manipulate nectar or mana die just from coming into contact with my information transmission by touch.


    Even those I have a bond with, I have to make a connection with an object and prepare a specific point of contact for them to communicate with me.


    In short, I can only communicate over long distances with people I have made a contract with, and through bond objects by being in a specific location prepared in advance in which I have established a psychic line. Ironically, I only have to establish a psychic line with people I have made contracts with; the communication objects only work with them.


    In short: the person I established a link with was the source of mana; the place I also established a link with was like a telephone line,


    Anyway, since there are already telephones in this world, and also some means of transport, they are just not advanced, and they use mana as energy.


    Well, even though cell phones and the internet exist, they can easily be tapped by tapping magic, so they are not reliable. Furthermore, my ability is imperceptible even to mana manipulators and nectar manipulators. Therefore, it is more reliable.


    The plan was perfect, as the people in my mansion wouldn''t dare betray me because of the contracts I made with them (of course, only suicidal people want their heads blown off). Plus, Vara Lol has a grudge against me thanks to a gang member who got his head chopped off after invading my territory.


    There was a war (if a small confrontation like that can be called a war), but no one won. His wife had to intervene and propose a peace treaty, which I humbly accepted.


    However, despite fearing Vara Lol''s power, I knew that the death of a mere gang member that I didn''t even know wouldn''t have a big consequence; in fact, that guy wasn''t even from an official gang and had already caused some problems for Vara Lol; he probably only kept him because he knew that he would invade my territory at some point; in other words, he just wanted an excuse to go to war with me!


    What a mean guy!


    “I have a question: what will guarantee that Vara lol won’t kill me after I give him the information you gave me? After all, even if I seem like a good dog, I still have no guarantee that I won’t die once I reveal all the information I have, right?”


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    “A great question, but I think the answer to it might be unpleasant, because even though the probability of him killing you is very low, you have no guarantee that you won’t die.”


    "… What?!"


    “Basically, it’s just a bet; you don’t have any information that’s important enough to cause me harm, since all my employees are required to make a contract with me before they start acting as one of my servants. In other words…”


    “There are no spies.”


    Riley completed my speech.


    “That’s right! As expected, you’re smart and you understand things quickly! But continuing what I was saying: none of the information you’ve acquired can harm me, only give the impression that I might be harmed. And because of that, even if you die, I’ll still gain something: they’ve started to underestimate me, even if it’s just a little. By the way, do you think I mentioned all of my eyes’ abilities? Hahaha, what a naive child.”


    I created an illusion with the intro eye skill on Riley, and inside Riley''s mind, my face has two eyes glowing blue, not just one.


    Well, sure, I could also convert Aria to my side, however, she is not a trustworthy person and, unlike Riley, who is still a person with no experience about this world, Aria is a studious person who would be able to, because her soul is old and experienced, the new body would be forced to evolve, inevitably breaking the contract in less than 5 years. Furthermore, even if I make a deal that does not involve slavery, Aria can betray me at any time, because she is driven by her own ego.


    Someone who is driven by their own ego is unlikely to have morals; they simply choose the option that will bring the most benefits, regardless of how many people will be harmed.


    “Did you understand everything I said?”


    This single sentence was able to make Riley''s body tremble.


    Now, you have become a little dog; a piece in a chess game played by masters that you don''t even know who they are. And like any good dog, you will obey me so as not to be sacrificed.


    With every syllable and every complete word I spoke, Riley sweated more and more.


    Personally, I took pleasure in this; this is proof that Riley was subjugated by me, and that above all, he knew it.


    I purposely only provided information that couldn''t directly harm me, and even provided false information about me having two eyes from the introduction and a few other things. Also, I didn''t provide all the information about my powers.


    If I were to summarize, the abilities of the eye of the introduction consist of: reading minds 5 times a day, making contracts of absolute slavery for a period of time, transmitting information by touch or through psychic connections, flying and floating, absorbing mana and nectar, sensing a dangerous attack in advance (within certain limits).


    Of course, when I said I could blow his head off, I was lying; it''s just a bluff to make him afraid of betraying me.


    He''ll probably think that just indirectly mentioning the contract will make his head explode. Besides, I don''t even need to tell you that he''ll probably die if he tells them that he has a contract with me that makes him practically a pseudo-slave.


    Furthermore, I made it obvious that I did not reveal all my skills with the eye of the introduction because if by chance he is lucky enough to get out of my contract.


    If that happens, he won''t attack me right away, because even if he can read minds, the eye ability from the introduction will block his mind-reading ability, unless he becomes 50 times stronger than me; which is impossible, because Riley is a monster, not a being of unlimited power.


    Simply put: he won''t attack me, as he won''t have enough information to judge whether a fight with me is advantageous or detrimental.


    When a lion and a tiger meet, they will hardly fight, after all, in a battle where both opponents have the same strength, no one wins anything, only loses! Unless one wants to dominate the other''s territory, but even in those cases, the lion or the tiger has to weaken the opposing territory... exactly what I am doing with the other families'' lands.


    “Great, Riley! Now, let’s go shopping. I was joking when I said I would accomplish such a feat today, or maybe I didn’t say anything. Anyway, it will take a week for my plan to actually come to fruition… or two.”


    Even though I said it in an ironic tone, Riley understood what I wanted to convey.


    “Will it be today, or in a week?”


    “Of course in a week!”