an unfortunate change in genre

Part 25

The best laid plans can, on occasion, go awry.

However, if one's plans begin to go consistently awry over a long period of time, it's only human nature to embrace paranoia.

Even for individuals for whom humanity was more like a far off fever dream than an actual tangible state of being.

Perhaps especially so for an individual such as this.

Paranoia could be a tool utilized to ensure that power is never too far from one's grip.

It's in the best interest of those who truly wish to obtain and consolidate power to be as paranoid as possible.

And, when you've finally uncovered the mysterious face of your enemy, to attack without mercy or hesitation.

Swiftly and cruelly cutting off any potentiality for future inconvenience.

It was a shame, the child might have been a worthy opponent if they'd lived a longer life. As it was, they'd managed to fare decently by merely throwing around money like a toddler mindlessly playing with food.

It was kind of sad in a way.

But Cale Barrow didn't have a need to keep the child around. They were merely a tool for the crown. From all of his investigations he had determined that the Crown Prince Alberu was the true threat.

Roksu Henituse was a mere warm up designed to set a tone for what was to come.

Cale Barrow, more commonly known as the White Star, was rather proud of the carnage left of the hotel after the mana bombs finally finished doing their work.

It was a bit foggier around than he'd like though, the smoke and fire already made it hard to see the results of his meticulously achieved victory. With the thick gray fog beginning to coat the area, it was nearly impossible to make out anything.

The White Star wouldn't normally deen to witness such pidley missions in person but he had a purpose in the city anyways. And besides, the precocious child burning to death inside had irked him.

He couldn't quite put his finger on why but there had been something distinct about the actions of Roksu Henituse that had just bothered him. He knew that Roksu was only a mere tool for the Crown Prince but it was still so irksome. It was good the child was dead now.

The White Star would sleep better at night knowing that the pathetic crown prince would wake up to the news that his precious little minion had burned to death while on an errand for him.

The White Star had never really had all that many issues with underestimating his enemies in the past. He was an ambitious person who pursued his own victory at any cost but he was still sensible enough to avoid letting those costs grow inconvenient for his own goals to succeed.

He'd easily thrown away a few pawns for his larger purpose but he knew better than to just throw them into the fire without gaining anything from the experience.

Besides, calculating the strength and reach of his opponents had very rarely been an issue because he was always more than enough to handle any given situation.

While it might be true that he'd underestimated an opponent before, it really had never been an issue. The losses were so negligible as to be nonexistent.

Perhaps that was why the obnoxious child had irked him so very much. Even his best calculations had been so rarely able to foresee the losses whenever the trail led back to Henituse.

It had taken him a truly annoying number of years to even make those links.

He'd be happy and willing to cut off Prince Adin of the Mogoru Empire when all of a sudden his much more valuable Alchemy Tower was collapsing.