”{Zoemi, perfect timing – I am back in the royal castle for a few days and the royal magician will begin testing the magic barrier any minute now so you might not be able to reach me – how the situation looks on your end?}”

His call was immediately picked up by the gold-haired first prince, Horeo, who didn’t waste any time and asked about the progress of their preparation.

”|Everything seems to be in order, puppets were a bit pouty because their body had to age back to their original state so that the three bandits in the backup hideout wouldn’t notice the difference, but thanks to that they are gathered and no one expects a thing. Same with the one supposedly infiltrated the Epsine castle. We are good to go.|”

The black-haired boy smirked to himself and reported.

”{Good. Victureo took a bit of time to convince, but apparently, Ehmi learned about the situation and demanded from her father to cooperate. Don’t tell Miriette but I think she has a thing for you.}”

Horeo sounded satisfied and even allowed himself a little joke.

”{To minimalize the loss of lives, the caravan will be protected by disguised knights instead of just normal bodyguards. Since their original plan was sure to kill everyone to not leave any witnesses, the three original bandits need to be knocked out as the rest will set things up so it looks convincing enough so when they come to, they will not suspect a thing, pick the wares and the artifact. One of your puppets has to be the one to get it. I already informed lord Espine about the whole operation, and it is alright to actually deliver the artifact into the Epsine castle, but we agreed it would be better not to. After that, we will have the week between the meeting of the bandits and the supposed lord Vantrel. If things go well, after that you’ll be able to kill the remaining bandits and take over them as you did with the rest, gaining access to the memories of their leader, and maybe learning a bit more about that crimson-haired mage. Still, with that done the only thing left to do will be to wait and see who will show up in the Espine castle to accuse them of stealing the artifact.}”

The first prince recounted the final version of their plan.

”|What we are supposed to do with the artifact itself?|”

Zoemi asked curiously.

”{I was thinking of doing something fun – for example, planting it on the person that will show up at the Espine castle, making it seem like they were about to plant it themselves…Or maybe hiding it in my mother’s private chambers in an attempt to push the blame on her. You know. If we will secure it properly and all, it would be a waste not to use it to our advantage.}”

Horeo answered lightheartedly, sounding as if he was grinning rather maliciously.

”|That does sound like a proper thing to do, doesn’t it|”

Zoemi responded while making the exact same type of expression.

”{And with that out of the way… Say, on a completely unrelated note – if Miriette and Ehmi ended up competing for your affection. Who would you bet on? I personally think that the winner would be…}”

”|Huh…? My prince…?|”

Horeo suddenly asked a rather shocking question – but suddenly got cut off without any warning, leaving Zoemi both confused and slightly embarrassed.

”…oh…! Lord Lazaram must have begun testing the magic barrier… Oh, well, we did manage to talk about the important stuff, so it’s fine.”

The black-haired boy thought to himself while undressing and going to bed.

Saved by the bell.

|Shut up.|

Ludier’s shadow snickered at him, making the boy furrow his brows and pull a blanket over his head.

Zoemi woke up long before the sunrise, too anxious about the whole plan going well. His corpse puppets fused with sentinels were completely self-sufficient but he just couldn’t help himself from making sure that everything would go.

He even sent out a few standard sentinels to have a better look at the situation – and a spot to teleport to – just in case.

Although the black-haired boy was up very early, the bandits were already preparing, tipped off about the time and the route that the merchants transporting the artifact would take.

The thing that Zoemi was the most worried about – that being the bandit leader and the other two bandits would recognize that there was something wrong with their comrades – did not happen even after spending more than a day together.

At first, the black-haired boy had his doubts about his puppets’ ability to pose as actual humans – a bunch of thugs to boot – but thankfully those turned out to be unfounded.

With the memories of each and every body at their disposal, and a few days of practice, the puppets were doing a splendid job.

The black-haired boy get out of his bed and began nervously walking around while nothing important happened.

Within the first hour, he realized that his plan to stay in his room for two days just to be absolutely sure that everything went alright was a mistake, so he began doing some light indoor exercises.

Within a half-an-hour until the sunrise, the group of unsuspecting bandits and Zoemi’s puppets were already laying in wait for the merchant, whom they expected to show up within an hour or two.

For them – and Zoemi too, personally – it would be best if the merchants showed up as early as possible because the later in the day it would become, the bigger was the probability of unwanted witnesses that might decide to join in and try to help.

…and that could lead to unnecessary casualties or complications to the plan…

In the end, to be absolutely certain that the crimson-haired mage the others addressed as lord Vanterl would not realize that something was off, at least the bandit leader had to be in his original form, preferably left alive and not as a corpse puppet fused with a sentinel.