Rykard put on his clothes with haste. The goal was to look as if he had forgotten the time over all of the sex he had been having, which was partly true anyway. He gestured at the door. While Altana and Punk were a bit puzzled by that, Subana was swift enough to move to it and weave another spell. “No one is listening, Master,” she assured.

  Since the dimensional lock came along with the end of their guaranteed privacy, eavesdropping was now a fully valid strategy. “Good girl,” he complimented the goddess.

  “All for you, Master,” Subana answered with a broad smile. Truly, she was the patron deity of submissives… well, one of them anyway.

  “Final advice,” Rykard addressed the room. “What should my first move be?”

  “Gotta be partial here. If ya offer it to my dad, he’s definitely gonna take you up on it. Not sure what he can give ya though. We only have drugs, sex, and rave’n’roll back at the eternal party,” Punk gave her opinion.

  “I believe the offer should be made to Benhuldran,” Altana answered. “Honour compels me. He aided me during the st game.”

  “Tactically unsound,” Miyo remarked. The redhead had peeled away from worshipping Tess, now that the (hopefully) bred goth woman was taking her post-coital nap. “Benhuldran and Loran should be at the bottom of the priority list. Taking Subana’s earlier statements into consideration, I believe Cryo should be first approached. Not only does he have the most resources to offer in return, he also is most likely to suspect the correct answer first.”

  “All sound advice,” Rykard agreed. “Subana?”

  The goddess hid her purple eye behind a closed lid. After a few moments, the golden eye glowed, fixed at a point in an unknowable distance. She closed it as well, then smiled. The demonic tail of the stackylim waved. “I have foreseen that waiting may yield you great results as well, Master.”

  “Any details?” Rykard asked.

  “Thunderbolt and lightning, trembling and frightened by its own desire.” Her tail wagged with more excitement. “I believe this means Maliande is about to arrive. You could leverage this knowledge, perhaps leave this meeting with three Contestants taken out?”

  “That means I will have to obfuscate until she arrives.” Rykard hummed and rubbed his chin. Not impossible, but potentially difficult. He would have liked to consider this question for longer, but if he did not enter the room below soon, that would look suspicious in and of itself. ‘What will be my strategy?’

  After just three seconds, Rykard came to a decision. When there was a choice between 4 men and 1 brat, it was obvious what he would choose every time.

  “I’ll obfuscate things until Maliande arrives,” he said, to no one’s surprise. “I want the four of you to move to the baths. The story is that we had an orgy and that you’re too exhausted to join us downstairs.” It wasn’t too far from reality. If it hadn’t been for the mark on their wombs, they would doubtlessly have been too knackered to tag along. The constant, small increments of healing that spell provided just allowed them to recover faster.

  “As you say, Master.” Miyo rose from the edge of the bed and cpped her hands. “With me.”

  “Sure thing, harem queen,” Punk said and enthusiastically tip-toed over.

  “Oh, and feel encouraged to create the kinds of noises that make it believable,” Rykard told all of them. He kissed Altana as she passed him, gave Subana’s butt a smack, and then headed for the door.

  Immediately he went into a hasty step. His clothes sat just a bit wrongly and the sex had left his hair dishevelled. He definitely looked the part of someone that had been balls deep in his women until five seconds ago. Now he just needed to act the part of forgetting the time. ‘And don’t forget: if you do not win this game, you do not get your Princess of Yellow.’

  He heard the mumbling and followed it. He poked his head around the corner, as if he didn’t know what he would find there.

  Leaking oily blood from the deep wound on its neck, the corpse of the Butler id in the middle of the rge living room. The other four Contestants scanned it from a respectful distance. Benhuldran had come armed, but so had the other factions. Cryo wore a full power armour, Loran was accompanied by Ahdean, and Lord held a bottle of water. The st factor was the most out of pce of all.

  “Look who decided to show up,” the tiefling noted.

  “I forgot the time, orgies and all that,” Rykard answered and ran a hand through his hair. “Now I grace you with my sweaty presence.” He acted as if he had just realized that his vest was sitting crooked. Two swift pulls and he was more presentable. “Now, do me the favour and tell me what you have learned so far.”

  Eyes were rolled and Rykard went ignored from that point onward. He had successfully made his te appearance seem normal. From this point outwards, his goal was to dey investigation and to continue to appear honest. In this situation, appearing honest meant he had to look a bit shifty, which could only work to his advantage.

  The five Contestants now were all inspecting the corpse. Rykard took the time to walk a rge circle around it, inspecting it from many sides. ‘Tess really did masterful work,’ he thought. If he had not known any better, he would have assumed that the wounds the Butler had sustained had all happened where he had fallen. There were no other blood sptters around, nor was any of the furniture harmed. Even the pte the Butler had polished before she attacked him had been neatly cleaned up and put back on the table, where much of the dirty dishes still remained.

  There was no evidence to destroy or mess with. All Rykard had to do was lean back. Even if they had an inkling it was him, all that did was narrow things down. Now, if Rykard was a god in this kind of situation, he would gradually lower the level of proof required to win the game. That was a strategy he would only employ after a few days though.

  Rykard stopped at the point he had started. No one else had moved much. Some eyes were on him, but they did not linger. Several paths were open to Rykard to mess with all of this.

  Smirking mischievously, Rykard stepped away suddenly. “You take your time staring at that corpse, I’ll scan the rest of the mansion,” he gave his excuse. Quiet orders were given behind him, subordinates of each Contestant following after him.

  Rykard had a goal in mind but he knew how to hide that. He wandered through the estate, even visiting the garden, casting a few spells that highlighted fingerprints and opening closets. From mildly amused to annoyed, his facial expression shifted. At times, he threw something random he found at those sent to observe him. He did it just to mess with them, something he would have done even if he had been genuinely participating in all of this.

  “That fork holds the answer to everythi-” Rykard started, then suddenly stopped. His expression became contemptive. All of it a sham hiding that he had elected to finally find what he had set out to reveal.

  With certain steps, he marched towards a dark corner of the room. Located off to the side of the staircase that led up to their apartments was a door. A plinth with a rge vase on top hid it quite well and Rykard had only ever seen the Butler use it to grab whatever supplies he needed. Objectively, there was nothing wrong with it. The door was closed and no damage had been done to any of it. However, the harem king had a reputation of absurdity, so who would question it if he followed a sixth sense to open that door and find the knight kept within?

  Rykard gave the knight a once-over. Tess had said her poison would keep him knocked out for about three hours. It had been administered about an hour ago. ‘Best to sow more confusion,’ the mage thought and squatted down. Before any of the observers could catch up, he put two fingers on where the tilt of the knight’s head revealed a bit of the skin of his neck. A quick application of Restoration magic purged the poison from his bloodstream. ‘Now to use this to create discord.’

  The man stirred, coming back up from unconsciousness. “Wha-” he started. Eyes opened behind the lowered visor. “K-king Rykard!”

  “Well, at least you know manners,” he drawled sarcastically. “Now, what would a man of Ben be doing napping in a closet, mhm?”

  “I… what?” the knight sounded genuinely confused - because he was.

  Rykard raised an eyebrow for the crowd. All of the observers were now closely behind him, following the scene. One of them had departed already to report all of this. ‘Perfect,’ Rykard thought and dug a little deeper. “The Butler is dead in the living room and you’re down here, sleeping. That’s quite suspicious, I would have to say.”

  “I don’t know how I got here!” the knight decred.

  “Sure you do not,” Rykard drawled doubtfully. He heard footsteps. Most of them were of the military type, a rhythmic, fast and firm descent of boots.

  Benhuldran came around the corner just as Rykard got up. The two Contestants locked eyes. “Step away from my subordinate,” the conqueror demanded.

  “Ah, so he really is one of yours?” Rykard asked, as if he had just learned a convenient detail. “Here I thought that someone may have pnted him to divert evidence. Now I have to wonder why he’s here. Did he come out with all of you and slip out to take a nap? Doubtful, you run too tight a ship. Did he leave afterwards? More interestingly, was he perhaps here before any of us went out?” Rykard cpped with genuine respect. “If you subverted that dimensional lock, you have my genuine respect, Ben! I didn’t even bother trying.”

  All of that chatting changed nothing about Benhuldran approaching. Not all of the other Contestants were there, but representatives of everyone were. This would reach ears quickly. “Step - away,” the grey champion demanded again.

  “I believe our Butler was decapitated, wasn’t he?” Rykard asked with a gnce at the still floored knight’s sheathed sword.

  “I will not ask again, Rykard. Honour demands that I question my subordinate first.”

  “Isn’t that convenient?” the king asked, a grim undertone to his mirth.

  The two men stared across the two step divide between them. Neither spoke, both considering what their next move should be. Rykard weighed the various ways he could use this to further obfuscate and dey things. The knight being here was suspicious. Benhuldran’s sincere worry for his subordinates only made it appear like he had something to hide.

  ‘I think I can just let him dig his own grave here,’ Rykard considered, then took a half step away from the knight. “There’s no need for altercations at this stage. I would suggest that you allow a cross-examination by all parties involved. That way, we can clear this up.”

  Benhuldran pressed his lips together. Anyone with a brain cell would have suspected that Rykard was up to something here. Advancing one’s own interest was the name of the Divine Game. What mattered here was to make the conqueror believe it was also in his best interest to go along with this.

  “I’ll tell you what I will do if you just take him away.” Rykard stretched, casually conjuring a couple of fmes between his fingers. “I’ll make sure that I burn every piece of evidence I find going forwards after I take a look at it. If you aren’t cooperative, why should I be? I don’t think the others would like it either. If your knight here was the one to kill the Butler, then you have already won anyway, haven’t you?”

  “I did no such thing!” the knight decred.

  “Silence, Arameas,” Benhuldran raised his voice. “Fine, I will allow all of you to ask your questions.”

  (Falsely) appeased, Rykard stepped away. The knight was moved to the living room, where all of the Contestants formed a semicircle around him. The man gulped. He was one of Benhuldran’s elite, so he must have had strong nerves. Even such nerves must have been strained when surrounded by half of the most important people currently in the world. Especially since he had barely any idea what was going on.

  “I suppose our first question should be to you, Benhuldran,” Lord stated and fixated on the conqueror. “Did you get him out?”

  The conqueror considered the question for a moment, then sighed deeply. “Yes.”

  “My respect,” Rykard appuded.

  “I attempted the same, but my dimensional drill failed. How did you do it?” Cryo wanted to know.

  “That is beyond what I will disclose,” Benhuldran kept that secret. “Arameas, tell us what happened after you left?”

  “I made my way down the stairs… then I felt a little itch and then I woke up again with king Rykard looking at me.”

  “A highly believable story,” Loran spoke with soft sarcasm. “You must understand that I find it a bit too convenient. I have a blood mage in my employ. If you all would allow, I wish to take a blood sample from him.”

  “I can do it quicker,” Rykard stated smugly.

  “No doubt about that, but I wish for one of my own to do it. Your expertise is too scary, king of New Eden,” Loran delivered his distrust as a compliment. Even if Rykard had peered past his facade already, it was in the Diplomat’s core to speak with fttery.

  The other Contestants agreed to let Loran do it. They trusted him enough that his subordinate wouldn’t be able to hide any cheating from them. Of all the Contestants present, Loran was the least likely to be actually interested in winning.

  Of course, the cheating had already happened.

  “No foreign substances are in his blood,” the mage reported after the procedure had run its course. The news put a shocked expression on the face of the knight, his helmet now off.

  “I wouldn’t just nap in a closet!” the knight decred.

  “You had an hour to kill after doing the deed,” Cryo stated.

  Benhuldran was quiet, but held the question of his man’s discipline back, if he even had it. Most likely, he believed his knight that he had been poisoned or otherwise maniputed. That would lead Benhuldran to the logical outcome that someone else had left the room.

  Of course, that wasn’t the only expnation. Rykard knew what had happened, but for everyone else it might as well have been an outside force that invaded. They were tapping in the dark, arms outstretched in search for something to hold onto.

  “May I see your sword?” Rykard requested. After getting a nod from his superior, the knight unsheathed his weapon. Taking it carefully, the king inspected it and shook his head. “Clean.” He said and handed it over to the others to run their own inspection. “Sounds like we have five options here,” he said to obfuscate things.

  “Five?” Loran asked with a raised eyebrow.

  Rykard just grinned. One, the knight told the truth and he had been taken out by some outside force. Two, the knight was lying and had killed the butler. Three, the knight was lying and had not killed the butler. In case two, Benhuldran had already won and in case three, the knight was keeping his mouth shut to deliver vital intel to his general. One was the true path, of course.

  What were four and five? They did not exist at all. Rykard just said it to confuse everyone.