Chapter 748: Chapter 120 What is Overall Planning?
The next morning.
It seemed that they had received a message from the Queen, the Demigod who was in charge of guarding the prison happened to have “business outside” today, and had also spoken to everyone in the prison about The Azure Longsword.
Thus, with the Demigod away, everyone returned to Fire Island where Aske arranged a new mission.
“Assassinate?” Eleanor was somewhat surprised.
“Yes, assassinate,” Aske calmly said.
“Do you all remember, back in the Swabian Duchy of the Divine Luo Empire, when we accepted the ‘persuasion mission’ from the Falcon Family? Actually, the situation with the Lusitania Half-elves now is quite similar to that of the Falcon Family back then.”
“On one hand, they both face severe external crises: the Falcon Family encountered a power vacuum in the Swabian Duchy, forcing them to contend with the surrounding military Nobles, fighting over territory and resources; the Lusitania Half-elves, meanwhile, faced the Iberian War period, where Undead Spirits and humans fought outside, and the Half-elves had to choose sides during this period, or else they would fall into a diplomatic dilemma after the war.”
“On the other hand, neither side had fully integrated their internal power; there were numerous conflicts and divergences. Because the Falcon Family was a community of interests, the contradictions were relatively simple: whether to expand aggressively or to defend conservatively?”
“While the current problem with the Half-elves is more complex. Their mixture of isolationism, conservatism, and racial discrimination makes it naturally difficult for the Half-elves to trust the external human world sufficiently. Before this, Lusitania maintained neutrality on the Iberian Peninsula with an aloof attitude.”
“Therefore, before they can take action, they must first integrate their internal factional powers. The solution initially chosen by the Falcon Family was ‘persuasion,’ which is Medea’s Mind Persuasion technique, built on the Falcon Family’s novelty to Mind Mages.”
“However, the Half-elves, having a deeper understanding of Extraordinary Power, could easily leave loopholes and flaws if using ‘Mind Persuasion,’ so I consulted Her Majesty the Queen and decided to use ‘assassination’ as the method.”
“Wait, Squad Leader, did you actually have a private meeting with the Half-Elf Queen? Why didn’t we know about this?!” Peggy exclaimed incredulously.
“Shut up, that’s not the point,” Aske said, irritated, “The reason we chose assassination is also because Her Majesty the Queen’s political enemies had first used the despicable tactic of assassination, attempting to pin the blame on us.”
“Therefore, we retaliated with assassination tactics as well, cleanly taking out the important upper echelons in the opposing camp, then Her Majesty the Queen will launch a public opinion campaign, pinning this blame on external Undead Spirits, thereby helping her achieve both power consolidation and motive washing.”
“Wait, you mean…” Thira asked puzzled, “Pretend to be Undead Spirits to assassinate the conservative members within the Half-elves?”
“That’s right,” Aske said composedly, “Currently, our employer, Her Majesty the Queen, is the leader of the reformist camp that advocates for openness, while her political enemies are isolationists of the conservative camp.”
“They try to incite hatred among Half-elves towards humans by framing us, so we will similarly frame them to shift the Half-elves’ hate from humans to Undead Spirits.”
“I understand now,” Eleanor also chimed in, “everyone, don’t forget, humans and Undead Spirits are fundamentally different.”
“If the opponent is human, the isolationists among the Half-elves will tend to avoid contact because they lack trust in humans; but if the opponent is Undead Spirits, even the most stubborn conservatives know that war is inevitable.”
“Because Undead Spirits do not accept the surrender of living beings,” Peggy suddenly realized.
“That’s right,” Eleanor said solemnly, “Half-elves and humans can coexist peacefully, but there’s no such option with Undead Spirits.”
“By initiating similar Undead Spirit attacks, it intensifies the Half-elves’ hostility and fear toward the Undead Spirits, forcing them to forsake any wishful thinking, recognizing the fundamental differences between humans and Undead Spirits, and thus prompting more Half-elves to lean towards cooperating with the outside human world, even if it is forced, reluctant, and distrustful.”
“I see,” the girls also came to understand.
“That’s right,” Aske took out a list, “Having finished the background, let’s talk about the assassination mission itself.”
“Half-elf political structures differ from those of humans; they lack a complex bureaucratic system, which means their hierarchy is relatively flatter. The power base of those in higher positions relies more on their own Extraordinary Levels than on connections and prestige.”
“Therefore, on our list, most are Law Level Transcendents ranging from Lv.10-19.”
“They aren’t demigods, but that doesn’t mean the assassination mission is easy because the key to an assassination is that it must go completely undetected.”
“I understand,” Peggy said. “If someone witnesses us, then we kill the witness too.”
“That’s pretty much it,” Aske nodded. “But let’s not forget, we are operating within the Royal City of Ailola.”
“If a witness sees us and starts shouting, by the time you go to kill that witness, more witnesses might spot you. This chain reaction can be extremely dangerous because soon, the number of witnesses may increase to a level you simply can’t handle. So, the safest way is—to ensure no witnesses spot us at all. Understand?”
“Understood,” the girls nodded in unison. Kind-hearted ones like Nora and Eleanor felt relieved at the thought that they wouldn’t have to murder innocent bystanders.
“Besides, we are officially still locked in prison, providing us a natural alibi. As long as we are not spotted, no one can pin the deeds on us.”
“As for how to get out of the prison, you all know, right?”
The girls unanimously pointed at Mia.
“Good,” Aske said with satisfaction. “So, we shall…”
“First make a plan?” Eleanor pondered.
“What plan! Without any information apart from an assassination list, what plan can we make?” Aske was almost speechless. “Just get on with it and adapt as things happen.”
“Next, we will divide into teams,” he looked at the girls, thought for a moment, and said, “Let’s split into two teams. Mia, Nora, Eleanor, and Sigrdrifa will be Team A; Miel, Medea, Thira, and Peggy will be Team B. I will assign specific targets from the assassination list to each team.”
Thira silently pondered, quickly grasping the reason for such a team division:
Team A’s primary assassin is Mia, whose assassination method is instant teleportation and close-range assassination, therefore her partners Nora, Eleanor, and Sigrdrifa, are mostly skilled in mid-short range control/defense/offense;
Team B’s primary assassin is Miel, specializing in long-range sniping, while Medea and Thira can perform ultra-long-range manipulation/attack. Although Peggy is a melee fighter, her high mobility and expertise in covert infiltration (Flesh Transformation, transforming into bats or rats) make her a perfect support for Miel.
Reflecting on this, Thira couldn’t help but admire the Squad Leader. Looking at Medea and Eleanor, they seemed to have also understood the rationale behind their team division.
The rest of the girls appeared thoughtful, or indifferent, ready to follow the Squad Leader’s command. Only the naive Mia raised her hand to ask a question:
“I have a question! Team A has 4 people and Team B has 4 people, does that mean the Squad Leader is going to be lazy again…”
“Kids who don’t understand shouldn’t talk nonsense!” Aske quickly interrupted her. “I’m strategizing! Do you understand strategizing?”
“What is strategizing?” Mia looked bewildered.
Aske signaled Medea, who then patted little Mia on the head and explained via the Mind Communication Channel:
“Strategizing means, if Aske were to act, he could quickly take out all the targets on the list. So, he chooses to stay back to give us a chance to train.”
Oh, that’s it! Mia suddenly realized. With the Squad Leader’s ability, that’s indeed the case! The Squad Leader is indeed very thoughtful!