The Goddess Made A Mistake Again

All heads turned towards the back of the table, to me.

I calmly sip on the coffee before slowly putting it down, "He won't attack."

"And how have you guessed that?" Seman asked, "It doesn't have anything to do with luck, right?"

"Luck has nothing to do with my words." I tell him, "I can say with surety that he won't attack, even if he learned that the Royal Army is coming to support you."

"Do you have any evidence or proof to support that claim of yours?" Klein asked. "Because right now, we don't have any choice but to act on certainty."

"No proof." My words make them sigh, "But I know Orion personally."

Their heads raise again, Seman's especially, "Meaning?"

"Let's say that my people have butted heads with that guy before. Orion is the type of person that's very arrogant." I tell them, "He believes too much in himself and thinks his plans are much superior than everyone."

"Orion will not attack you with his full power. He will first attack your ego, your pride… trying to slightly stab at places that would get you fire up unnecessarily."

"The guy likes to tease people in to attack first before defeating them." I raise the cup, "But that arrogance is not unfounded, he does have some strength to his backing."

"Which is why the bastard was able to whistle out at the last moment before I could arrive."

The captains all murmur to themselves, taking in my words.

"Hm, so he already has an encounter with him."

"Arrogant but cunning, simply just like his father."

"Like father like son, both are experienced at running away when they are about to be caught."

"Fortunately, we were able to grab his father this time."

"But that could also work against us." Klein said and turned to me, "With his father on our hands, he could instead have a reason to attack us so he can free his him."

"Or it could also be the deterrent that would stop him from attacking us." Nance said, "His father's life is on our hands now."

"Yes, that could be so too." Klein nodded and both men looked at me for direction.

"Well… adding his father to the game could topple it both sides… if Orion was like other fellas."

That raised a brow on both men.

"As I've said before, Orion is a lot arrogant and with that, his regard for others is very low. Even if it's about his father, I don't think Orion would care that much."

Klein was about to open his mouth but I stop him with a hand, "But that doesn't mean he'll completely disregard his father too… at most, I believe he won't try any tricks on us. He'll fear retribution for his father if he did that so it's actually good that we have him with us."

"So… he won't do nothing." Calvin said, feeling more confused than ever, "So what's the point?"

"He's not going to standby for eternity. If we don't respond to him at all, then he will come attacking us and that would be very bad." I tell them, "Then he will use the innocent people outside against us."

"So you want us to bring the fight to him?" Seman asked and I nod.

"Yes, but not until we are ready to actually fight the guy. Let's not forget, arrogant he might be, but he still has 50 thousand soldiers."

"We haven't confirmed that yet." Seman said, "We'll get news of it later and then we can discuss on how to take care of the threat."

"Until then, this meeting ends here." Seman stands up and we all stood up, "Go reflect and think of something… let's hope that the threat isn't real."

'Oh, but it is.' My eyes silently flash as the men saluted Seman.

"Commander!"

Seman nodded and they start to leave.

Klein started walking in my direction and I was about to greet him.

"Henry" Seman called me and we turned, "Klein, give us a moment. I want to talk with him personally."

"My Lord" Klein nodded and walked past me as Nance closed the door behind us.

I turn from Nance to Seman who asked, "You really know Orion personally?"

"Not completely, as I said, the guy bailed before I could get him."

"So you were close to capturing him?! How?" Seman said and gestured me to sit.

"My lord, you know that I have a sigmat crystal site which is quite successful." Seman nodded, "Success like that don't just bring in money but trouble as well."

"And one day, it did. Orion brought with him a motley group of hundred or so bandits and tried to capture my place." I make up a lie, "And with his cunning, he was close to success as well but in the end it was my men who prevailed."

"Still that didn't make him admit defeat and he instead tried to rob the place… which he also failed." I say, "And by that time, I was close to returning to my place and hearing my arrival the guy scrammed."

"Hm…" Seman took in the words and asked, "But what you said shows that you don't know him personally so how did you guess his traits?"

"Well it was my people who did. It took Orion a lot of time to get close to my cave and by that time, he used multiple tricks to raise resentment against him."

"Even after the guy left, he sometimes sent me letters, angering me and making me want to attack him."

"You didn't?" Seman asked.

"I would have, if that guy actually gave a right address." I fake sigh, "All the addresses he gave directed to either women's lingerie shops or a whore house."

"Oh…"

"Yes… as you can see, Orion is a tricky case. The only way to defeat him would be to crush him with your full strength and cut him in one swift attack. Otherwise, he'd run, make fun of you and give your brain a hemorrhage."

"Alright, you can go now." Seman said before turning to me again, "And Henry… what happened between you and Margaret?"

"…You two aren't breaking the marriage, right?"

"No" I shook my head, "What happened last night had to do with the leadership thing with our marriage."

"Oh?... OH!" Seman's face enlightened as he understood, "So that's what it was… here I thought it was something about a lover's quarrel."

"How could that ever be?" I ask with an innocent smile.

'What is wrong with this dude?... I put his daughter to bed with such injuries and he only asks if it was just a quarrel?'

"So…" Seman leaned in to me, "Who won?"

"I…" I look around to Nance and he turned around as if he wasn't listening, "…It was me."

"Really?" Seman took my hand and grabbed tightly, "You really defeated that manly- I meant domineering daughter of mine?"

"Yes"

It took Seman and Nance sometime to understand that before both of them told me I could leave. I didn't wait and left the two weird guys quickly.

Something about this felt fishy.

…

The door closed behind Henry's back as Nance looked at Seman with relief.

"To think it was that."

"Yes" Seman nodded as he sat down in his chair, "We thought too far ahead."

"You did," Nance smiled as he put back the large axe that he hid behind… for reasons no longer needed, "Told you we should talk with him first before doing it."

"Well, you can't blame me for worrying too much… I am her father after all."