Chapter 929 (2/2)

“He is Donnyton’s closest and oldest ally. A benefactor.” Mrs. Hamilton hissed. A thousand emotions were seething in her chest for this brave, black-haired boy she had watched shifted into a young man who now had to bear the weight of Donnyton’s stupidity on his back. And yet this twisted little shit…!

Mrs. Hamilton took a breath. “You alienated him. You broke the trust between him and us and then forced him to take responsibility for it so that Donnyton wouldn’t be completely locked out of the political posturing that is to come. And all you can say-”

Twist. Screeeech.

This time Mrs. Hamilton took Stan’s pinky finger and bound him by the wrist, pulling his hand upward and splaying his fingers outward with the thicker version of the metal wires he hadn’t noticed weaving through his limbs. The severed pinky dropped to the ground of the booth and rolled almost a meter.

Now Stan was even paler than bloodless. He seemed so flimsy that a gust of wind would rip the fabric of him to pieces. Trembling, he gazed with wide eyes at Mrs. Hamilton.

“...is trust me?” Mrs. Hamilton finished sweetly. She rid her heart of that wild anger with a chilling flick of her wrist. The severed pinky on the ground twitched. The anger would serve no further purpose than the threat and blood price already had. Her empathy too, for the cold weight that Randidly bore, needed to be set aside. He was past the point that she could help.

God help me, but that boy who pulled us out of the darkness needs to walk out alone into the wide world. Mrs. Hamilton closed her eyes.

When Mrs. Hamilton opened her eyes again, she was the spider who would protect Donnyton, personal attachments be damned. Her gaze focused on the man in front of her, a pale sheet of a person without any sort of resistance remaining within him.

“Let’s try again.” She said simply.

Stan nodded jerkily, carefully moving his neck to avoid cutting himself on any of the gleaming metal threads. “Ah- the two things that make Randidly almost invulnerable is his high Perception and his seemingly endless Mana pool. But the Mana pool cannot be endless and if we can’t overwhelm his Perception, all we need to do is cloud it. We can use his emotions to do that if we press the right buttons. So triggering his protective instincts was the best way to accomplish both of the prerequisites to defeat him.”

Mrs. Hamilton smiled sweetly. Her tongue tapped against the backs of her front teeth before she spoke. “What you are saying… those things about alienating our greatest ally… it was all on purpose?”

Apparently, Mrs. Hamilton achieved the desired sort of verbal execution, because Isabella gulped audibly.

The eyes in Stan’s head rolled around for several seconds like he was an oversized bug being smashed by the thumb of a child. But eventually, he calmed down. He was still trembling, but his voice was even when he spoke. “...Yes.”

Not a coward, at least, Mrs. Hamilton reflected. And a much better truth than him being the ignorant kind of fool…

“Then you are undoubtedly ready to explain why this challenge was so important that you would incur these disastrous losses,” Mrs. Hamilton purred.

That seemed to surprise Stan. He blinked and then glanced up at his bound hand before speaking. “... isn’t beating him here the most important thing? Can’t you feel it? He’s… taking the spirit of Donnyton. He believes our current spirit is too weak, which is hard to deny when you see what he is capable of. Yet he’s… taking something precious from us. I don’t think we can recover if we lose that… spark. It’s what makes us Donnyton.”

For several seconds, Mrs. Hamilton regarded the pale form of Stan. Then she wiggled her fingers. Like docile worms, the wires that stretched across the VIP came back to her hands and wound themselves around her arms and up her sleeves. Even though Mrs. Hamilton knew that humans feared to lose what they already had more than was logically correct, some part of her agreed implicitly with Stan.

Which meant she would at least wait and consult others to determine Stan’s further punishment, rather than taking his life immediately.

After all, it’s a bit too soon for these two to see the fangs it takes to lead Donnyton… Mrs. Hamilton thought with a glance toward the Cortez siblings. Both were pale, to the point that any more would leave a lasting mark. My way of guiding Donnyton cannot last forever. They need to see a better path. Hopefully it is Randidly’s figure they remember from today...

“It wasn’t worth it,” Mrs. Hamilton said lightly. “But the rest can wait until later.”

Then she turned to Clarissa and raised an eyebrow. “I assume you plan on running wild in this next challenge?”

Clarissa cracked her fingers with an expression of immense satisfaction on her face as though the whole interrogation had taken place far away. Unlike the siblings, she had been at the periphery of Donnyton’s leadership since the beginning. She likely was aware of the many greed-motivated individuals who conveniently decided to stop pursuing their personal agenda as Donnyton grew into a superpower.

Clarissa had seen enough to recognize that these decisions were not just lucky coincidences. Someone had intervened actively to guide Donnyton. So this level of threat didn’t even phase her. “Of course. Since Randidly’s been gone… well, it's tough being the most powerful spell caster in Donnyton. I want a challenge. I want to see how far these Skills can take me.”

Mrs. Hamilton smiled sharply. She had no doubt that Randidly would accept Clarissa’s challenge. She just hoped they glimpsed a path to beating him during it.