Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1277: Strategic Confusion

As Evan flew through the skies of the Elven Empire, Eliza, seated on his back within the wind barrier Laurene had created with magic to shield them from the intense pressure of his high-speed flight, asked a simple question.

"Where to next, Evan?"

Evan, who’d heard her clearly due to being enclosed within the same barrier Laurene had created, its tip narrowed to cut through the air more easily, responded.

"Tharvoria. We’re going to meet up with Leoniel."

Before heading to Jine-Alora, Evan had told Leoniel to make his way to the Barbarian nation of Tharvoria, the nation that Agnes, whom they’d gone to Jine-Alora for, was from.

As for why he’d told Leoniel to go there, it was so he could use Leoniel as both a cover-up and a scare tactic.

"Scare tactic? Who are you trying to scare?" Laurene asked.

"The Demonic Hand," Evan replied casually.

For a moment, silence followed, with only the muffled sounds inside the barrier reaching them instead of the violent rush of wind beyond it.

Eventually, Eliza spoke.

"Evan, can you explain a little more?"

Evan chuckled at the request before obliging.

"Of course. Over the past few years, I’ve been stopping the Demonic Hand’s disasters on the Alpha Continent in order. ’The Seven Deadly Sins Massacre’, the ’Dullahan Attack’, the ’Lizard Lord’s Outbreak’, and the ’Fall of The Desert Country’ were all stopped in the exact sequence they were meant to happen.

First disaster first, second disaster second, third disaster third, fourth disaster fourth.

But now, on the Beta Continent, I want to change things up while also confusing the Demonic Hand, who have, at this point, concluded that I know all of their plans. They aren’t stupid, after all."

He paused for a moment before continuing his explanation.

"After establishing a pattern of going after their Disasters in sequence, they’re likely expecting me to disrupt the first disaster they planned for the Beta Continent, which is the ’Basilisk’s Stone Festival’ targeting Isolon, Leoniel’s country."

The two young women nodded, already aware of this part of Evan’s plans, and Evan continued.

"But while I absolutely intend to do that, I don’t want the Demonic Hand knowing that’s what I intend to do, because if they know, they’ll commit the manpower and resources necessary to stop me from preventing that disaster.

The Beta Continent houses the higher divisions of the Demonic Hand. The Fourth to Second Divisions are completely intact, and goddess forbid there are Senior Members of the First and Second Divisions on this continent."

He went on.

"Bottom line is, if the Demonic Hand knows exactly where I’m going to act, the amount of force they can gather against me will be significantly greater, and I don’t have nearly as much political influence on the Beta Continent as I do on the Alpha Continent. I can’t move international military forces here the way I can there.

So if the Demonic Hand manages to gather all their forces in one location against me, that becomes a major problem. They would absolutely succeed in stopping me from preventing the Disaster, and that would be bad for Aidos, so I want to confuse them and make sure they don’t know exactly where I’m planning to strike next."

"But you’ve already made contact with Leoniel, and it’s no secret that the two of you are fairly close now. They know you’re going for Isolon next."

When Laurene said that, Evan shook his head, inclining his body slightly to the right to avoid a mountaintop before responding.

"That’s definitely what they’re thinking, but while that is exactly what I intend to do, I want them confused, like I said earlier.

Right now, we’re heading to Tharvoria, and once there, I want us to attack and completely decimate the third most important base of the Third Division of the Demonic Hand, which is located in Tharvoria."

Evan revealed his true intention of heading to Tharvoria, and it went without saying that Eliza and Laurene were dumbfounded at the audacity of his intention.

Whether he noticed their surprise or not, Evan continued to speak.

"So basically, here’s the plan. I’ve already made contact with Leoniel, so the Demonic Hand is assuming I’m going to stop the Basilisk’s Stone Festival next.

But then I suddenly appear in Tharvoria and attack what used to be the headquarters of the Third Division of the Demonic Hand, before they relocated it a few years ago after uncovering a major clue tied to their greatest target in Tharvoria, the Crown of the Barbarian King, Morass.

And what’s more, I execute this attack on their base with Leoniel, whom they’re likely assuming I’m getting close to because I want to stop the Disaster targeting Isolon. Then afterwards, I take Leoniel and head back to the Aelum Kingdom’s capital, where I need to meet someone Kayla has finally found for me."

Only now did Evan finally explain to the two young women where Kayla, who would normally be around him in her cat form and staying close by his side, had been this entire time.

She was still in the Aelum Kingdom, searching for a particular person on Evan’s orders, and she’d finally located that person and informed him.

Evan planned to go to the Aelum Kingdom to retrieve that person, and he intended to do so together with Leoniel, after the two of them had already attacked a Third Division base of the Demonic Hand in Tharvoria.

"What do you think the Demonic Hand’s going to think when I do all that?" Evan asked.

"They’ll be confused. They already assume I’m after Isolon, but then I hit Tharvoria, and after that, I return to Aelum. That’s three countries on the Beta Continent they’re targeting.

It’ll leave them guessing which of those three countries I actually intend to target. And since they won’t know what’s really on my mind, they’ll split their forces so they can block me from interfering in any of them, and that’s exactly what I want.

I want them to split their forces."

"Ah, I see. That’s a rather nasty plan you’ve come up with, Evan," Laurene said with a light chuckle.

Laughing as well, Evan replied, "I know, right? Sometimes I amaze myself with my own genius."

Eliza silently rolled her eyes at his arrogance, and Evan flapped his wings once before saying,

"All right, girls, hold on tight. The ride’s about to get bumpy."

He activated his Blessing of Destruction skill, his body becoming engulfed in a crimson-gold aura.

Then he activated several more support skills and spells, all focused on increasing his speed, before flapping his wings once again and tearing through the sound barrier as he shot off toward Tharvoria.

◇　◇　◇

Dragonflight Evan-001, travelling from Jine-Alora of the Elven Empire to the Kudatha Region of Tharvoria, reached its destination within the hour due to its near hypersonic speed, leaving its two passengers needing several minutes to recover their balance and sense of orientation after the overwhelming speed of the journey.

Evan left the two of them in a hotel room he’d already booked, then headed out to locate Leoniel, who had already arrived in Kudatha and was awaiting Evan’s arrival.

It had only been hours since they left Jine-Alora, but Leoniel had already reached Tharvoria for several reasons.

The first was that Leoniel, despite being a Marquis of a minor nation like Isolon, was one of the planet’s Sovereigns. It went without saying that officials of the Elven Empire had fast-tracked his cross-border clearance.

Naturally, while the people of Tharvoria were likely wary of his reason for arriving and would’ve reported his presence to the Tribal Council of Arbor Felix in the heart of the nation, they wouldn’t want to do anything that might earn his displeasure, such as slowing down his entry.

Evan moved through the streets of Kudatha, glancing up at the skies where massive airships passed overhead, heading in different directions from the nearby airship field.

He crossed several elevated train bridges, noticed subways running underground, something not yet introduced on the Alpha Continent, and looked at the tall skyscrapers lined with giant electronic billboards.

Looking around further, he saw that seven out of every ten people he passed had a smartphone in their hands.

If one ignored the occasional adventurers carrying swords and the warriors of Kudatha’s police force walking the streets armed, it almost felt like he was on 31st-century Earth V.

But this was Aidos, and this was normal for a city of Tharvoria, the nation responsible for the development of trains on Aidos and one that had worked with Evan and the Utraria Republic in the early creation of televisions, as well as playing a major role in developing smartphones.

Tharvoria, known to the world as the ’Barbarian Nation’, was ironically the most magitechnologically advanced nation on the planet at present.

This level of advancement was exactly why they had been chosen as a target for the Demonic Hand’s sixth disaster, the Barbarian King’s Uprising.

"Bringing them down through civil war, huh?" Evan muttered as he walked through the streets. He shook his head, then looked in the direction where he sensed Leoniel’s presence before using Blink to teleport to him.

"I’ll do some sightseeing later," Evan said right after appearing in front of Leoniel, who was casually drinking tea at an outdoor restaurant.

At Evan’s sudden arrival, Leoniel looked up and spoke.

"You do realise I’m being watched, right? Are you sure you should be showing yourself so openly?"

Evan waved a hand dismissively, sat down across from him, and picked up a menu.

"Nah, I don’t really care. In fact, I want them to know I’m here. There are traitors in the Tribal Council, and if they find out I’m here, the Demonic Hand will know as well. That’s the point of this."

He ignored the passers-by who were starting to recognise him after seeing him in the news recently because of the mess with the assassination attempt on Princess Sharon, and called over a waiter.

After pointing out the items he wanted to the waiter, he instructed them to deliver another set of items to a specific table at the far end of the outdoor seating area.

"Make sure they know that Evan Eris," Evan said, tapping his chest, "and Leoniel Franco," he continued, gesturing toward Leoniel, "ordered this for them so they can cool off after working under this sun. And please, do let them know that they should inform us once they’ve told their superiors at Arbor Felix about our presence."

He dropped a few coins into the stunned waiter’s palm, patting their back as he urged them to carry out the order.

Watching this, Leoniel asked, "Are you trying to provoke them?"

"Yeah, I am," Evan replied. "A lot of the Beta Continent leaders think they won’t let me do as I please here, so I’m just letting some of them know I will, while also irritating the Demonic Hand."

After speaking, Evan activated his inventory and pulled out a paper map he’d bought earlier from a tourist vendor, sliding it across the table toward Leoniel.

"The mountain range marked there, west of our position, is our target. The Demonic Hand base is hidden inside those mountains, concealed by the fog covering the area."

Leoniel set his tea down and looked over the map, then raised his gaze toward the fog-covered mountains in the distance.

"I’ve heard of those mountains. The fog there is said to make even Legendaries lose their way."

Evan nodded.

"That’s right. The fog is created by a magic formation set up by a Senior Member of the Third Division of the Demonic Hand, someone skilled in trap formations and similar techniques. Its purpose is just to keep people out so they never find the base inside, but it’s useless before Laurene’s eyes."

The fog was a powerful deterrent, but it meant nothing before Laurene’s Mystic Eyes of Truth, which could reveal the correct path through the formation and lead straight to the heart of the mountains.