God of Tricksters

The next morning, they finally reached their destination.

Theo then moved back to his team.

"How is it?" Theo asked while finding Nella missing from the group.

"She is searching for them." Jeff pointed to the north where Nella went a moment ago. "Felix is with her, so there should be no problem."

"Okay." Theo nodded. "Have you prepared what I want?"

"Of course." Jeff took out his sketchbook and showed him his drawing. It was a drawing of an army consisting of numerous soldiers. "One page has fifty people. I've made four pages." 

"That should be enough." Theo nodded and looked at the terrain from the air. He then found a slightly elevated ground in the distance and pointed at it. "There."

When he returned to the ground, Ergene was looking down as if she was thinking about something.

After a minute, Ergene asked, "Are you planning to use the elevated ground to confuse the enemy of our numbers? And what's the drawing for? Is it an illusion or something? Are you going to create an illusion army to separate them?" 

"As expected of you," Theo admitted without hesitation. We'll use the terrain to split them into two." 

"But they won't move according to your plan. Instead, they might charge together."

"Yes. But it will be different with Felix and the others." Theo smiled. 

"Hmm…" Ergene realized something and finally understood how Theo would split them. "I see. It won't be perfect, but it's certainly good enough."

"Yes. If you win, you don't need to follow me and even get yourself an honor for serving your country. If I win, you follow me back to the US and join my group. That's the agreement between us." 

"Of course. I'm not going to take back my promise. If you can be faster than me, you're more than qualified to be my superior. Looking at your age, it's clear that you're younger than me. With your talent, you can surpass me sooner or later, so I don't see anything wrong with it."

"Great. The agreement is set." Theo extended his hand and Ergene shook his hand to seal the deal.

Meanwhile, Jeff furrowed his eyebrows and recalled what Felix had told him.

They were alone at that time. 

"What's wrong, Felix? You said you wanted to talk to me privately. What's this all about?" Jeff asked. 

"I call you here simply because I feel like I can trust you." Felix indirectly mentioned his willingness to sacrifice his life for Theo.

Jeff smiled. "It's nothing. That's what I was supposed to do. Besides, you should thank Isaac."

"Isaac?"

"You don't know? Isaac has been contacting me this whole time, you know. I am pretty sure he's been contacting Chris too."

"Really?" Felix was surprised as he never thought Isaac would actually help the group in the dark. 

"Yeah. Anyway, what do you want to say to me?"

"I just want to know that whatever you think about Joker right now is still underestimating him."

"Mhm? What do you mean?"

"I realized it not long ago, but can you see the reason why he killed the young man from the Bolhom Family?"

"Wasn't it to call all of them out?"

"No." Felix shook his head helplessly. He was shocked when he realized it. "What you said is true, but that's not all the reasons."

"Hoh?"

"The second purpose is to eliminate any person that wants to recruit Ergene."

"Well, that's true. The young man wanted to recruit her too, so killing him means there won't be anyone close to her anymore."

"Yes. However, this was also his way of showing Ergene his true strength. That's why Ergene even agreed with his arrangement."

"That's true."

"But don't forget the real reason why he comes here."

"Huh? Isn't it to recruit Ergene?"

"No. It's the Star Group's assignment." 

"!!!" Jeff widened his eyes and started muttering as if he could see the bigger picture. "Now that I think about it, Ergene herself hasn't joined us. So, she actually doesn't have an obligation to help us.

"That's why Joker proposed this kind of challenge. Even if Ergene won, he would have received free labor from a Mythical Rank Expert. After all, the one that would reward Ergene was the country, not him."

Jeff sucked a cold breath. It turned out Theo was actually using the free labor of the person he wanted to recruit to complete his own mission. He never thought Theo would be able to trap her this far.

Felix nodded with a serious expression. "Yes. Of course, Joker should have some assurance when proposing that challenge. That's why when I realized this, I thought Joker actually used Ergene herself to recruit her."

"Ahaha." Jeff started chuckling while closing his eyes. He realized that everything had been under Theo's control. Baltu was just a bonus. "It seems that I have underestimated him. How far does he see?" 

"I'm not sure. But as scheming as he is, I don't think he'll mistreat us."

"You don't feel him taking advantage of you?"

"No. In fact, I'm indebted to him."

"Well, I also investigated you a bit. Your daughter's curse…" 

"He helped her."

"I see. You don't feel bad about it? I mean, taking advantage of your situation to recruit you…" 

"No one could save her at that time."

Jeff felt silent for a moment. "So, that's the reason why you follow his words blindly."

"Yes. I know that his every decision is carefully thought out. There's no need for an explanation. The reason I call you here is that I want to ask you to fully trust him and do what he wants. You can ask the reason later, but just focus on doing the task first."

"I see." Jeff smiled. "No wonder that Joker trusts you that much. You're the one who trusts him the most. Now I can't really feel envious of your position… Anyway, don't worry. Now that you have told me this, I can understand what kind of person Joker is… On top of that, he has that golden Magic Power. The world will soon recognize him."

Felix nodded. "I know that not all the people under him won't trust him fully, but I just want you to know that if there is a traitor in our group, I will rally all the people to cut them down. I hope that you will help me at that time."

"Of course. There's no need to say it. I won't forgive any traitors. Right now, I'm watching Chris closely." Jeff nodded with a cold expression. "If he dares to harm Joker, I'll inform you immediately. Both of us can kill him."

"Yes."