MMORPG: Crowd Control

After leaving the army camp, Lei Zhen already formulated a plan in his mind.

'Surprisingly, the soldiers in Yors Castle were far superior to most players I have seen in those live streams videos.' Lei Zhen thought.

He had thought players are superior to NPC, but that mindset shall be thrown out of the window after what he witnessed.

Unlike players who had their individual goals, the soldiers of Yors Castle only had one goal in mind, and that was the safety of their homeland.

In addition, their intellect and ability to listen to commands were far better than the average players, who only had their profits in mind.

"Howard, you saw those soldiers, right?" Lei Zhen asked him while being in a carriage.

He had Howard arrange a carriage for him to sit in after experiencing the swarming of the citizens. One time was enough already, and he wasn't going to be swarmed the second time.

Howard was sitting in the opposite seat of Lei Zhen and pondered for a while, seemingly thinking of an appropriate answer.

"I believe the soldiers of Yors Castle are capable of anything," Howard replied.

A clear political answer with no hint of his own personal opinion.

"Asking you was a mistake of mine." Lei Zhen sighed.

Meanwhile, Howard kept silent, acting as if he didn't hear what Lei Zhen had said.

Sometime later, they returned to the Royal Palace and Lei Zhen wasted no time to start working on his paperwork in his office.

There was no time to lose since he never knew when the black mage would run away to another area.

Preparation needed to start the expedition phase one was completed.

Establishing an information channel that is separated from the one that the Royal Family uses, and having army platoons to assist him.

"Finally, we can begin phase two." Lei Zhen muttered, stamping something in the document.

"Send these documents to Evan and have him get ready as soon as possible." He then ordered Howard to make a delivery.

Howard didn't bother saying anything and grabbed the document as he left the office.

Right when Lei Zhen was getting ready to work on another task, Griselda and Tie Longkun came in.

"Lei- Chancellor, we have found a suitable place for our headquarters," Griselda said, almost exposing his real name accidentally.

Despite almost spilling the beans, Tie Longkun remained ignorant as he found a nice spot on the couch to sit on. His carefree attitude sometimes shocked them both as it seemed like he had no sense of his surroundings.

"A-Anyway, it's a place near the Central District and the government people were so ready to give it to us when they found out it was you that wanted that place," Griselda smirked.

'So it's using my chancellor rank to get a place… could it be considered corruption then?' Lei Zhen wondered silently.

Nevertheless, he wouldn't complain about it if Griselda managed to get them a great place to set up the headquarters.

"Ok then, what's the price of it?" He asked.

"Price? We got discounted to a great margin and paid in full already. Construction work will begin in a few days."

"You sure are efficient when it comes to this." Lei Zhen twitched his mouth.

It hasn't even been one full day when Griselda set off to find a place for the headquarters yet she already found it and had construction work arranged.

Such efficient work was hard to find these days.

Sometime later, Lei Zhen changed the topic and said his plan of capturing the black mage had begun.

"Scouting soldiers are spying 24/7 and I already have the army platoons ready to be deployed at any time. All we need to do now is to wait for the right timing." Lei Zhen explained.

"The right timing?"

"Yes, the right timing. Did you forget about the Lizardark folks living in the swamp already?"

"What about them?"

"I have tasked them with something before we left, and I think they are about to be done with it." Lei Zhen stood up and glanced at the window.

"Ok, stop acting mysterious all of a sudden and spill the beans already." Griselda clicked her tongue in annoyance. She had enough of all this secrecy for no apparent reason.

"I was just about to say it." Lei Zhen subtly replied. "You didn't need to be so fierce when we're in the same boat now."

"Then hurry up and tell me the plan."

"Fine, I have tasked the Lizardark to ally with the nearby folks that reside in the swamp. If those other monsters agreed to ally with the Lizardark, then they shall be under protection by the Yors Castle. Otherwise, we would annihilate them and promote the Lizardark to be the king of the swamp." Lei Zhen explained.

And he continued, "Naturally the Lizardark was suspicious at first, but considering my position and reputation. It didn't take long for them to believe in me and agree to this plan."

Griselda raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What reputation do you have for those monsters?"

"Monsters aren't some low-life species without a brain cell in Magnolia. The war of Yors Castle was so huge and expanded throughout the forest. So how could they not know about me?"

"Wait a minute… so they are going to assist you in exchange to become the king of the swamp?"

Lei Zhen nodded his head.

"Monsters are similar to humans in Magnolia. Power and authorities are some very tempting offers. Those Lizardarks aren't fools to not know what was the better option to choose from."

Compared to facing the risk of annihilation, the Lizardarks would rather assist him in what he needed in exchange for long-term survival.

With their base currently being occupied by the black mage, his offer was just the cherry on the topping since the Lizardarks held a grudge toward the black mage already.

"No wonder why people feared and revered you at the same time. You look calm and amicable on the surface, but you are secretly a scheming devil on the inside instead." Griselda commented, clearly not expecting that he had made this secret deal behind her back.