Chapter 86 - A new problem (2/2)
”Apart from my representative who is considered my protector, they might say that the commander I chose isn't skilled in direct combat and that you need to prove yourself.”
This gave quite a shock to Balthazar. He was thinking that he didn't need to fight any contenders. He managed to defeat Max by pushing him out of the ring, but this wouldn't probably be a similar situation.
”I just managed to defeat Max because he was negligent and didn't put me in his eyes. I can't do the same with other contestants,” said Balthazar quickly. If it came to situation that he needed to fight physically, it would best that Robert chose someone else for the commander stuff.
”No, you misunderstand. I told you he is an adrenaline junkie, right? You won't be in the fighting competition, but Herbert is representing himself as the commander and you being in the same generation as him, he could technically ask you for one on one,” said Robert hastily correcting Balthazar's thoughts. He needed Balthazar to stay cool on this one. Though he has other candidates for it, they were all people who worked in secret and their achievements can't be shown to the elder council openly. This position required men of fame and experience, so his best bet was Balthazar. If he could contact Walter, he might actually find another solution, but no one has a decent clue on his whereabouts.
”Haha, you mean I just have to fight Herbert? Why did you sound so serious about that? I am sure I could take him on,” said Balthazar as he realized that his cousin had him worried about a simple issue. He was only against fighting elders and men who were in a generation above him because they definitely had more experience in fighting than him and probably were stronger and completely mature. But he was sure that he had learnt a lot more than Herbert in his past life. At the worst, he believed that he might end up in a draw in a fight against Herbert.
”Don't consider him so lightly,” said Robert as he realized his cousin wasn't putting Herbert in his eyes at all. ”As I told you before, he is an adrenaline junkie and has been involved in few explorations and other things. Moreover, he manages the security personnel of his father's businesses and also was a champion in his college at boxing and mixed martial arts. He isn't an easy one to handle.”
”So, you are saying that he is strong at close combat?” asked Balthazar understanding that it might be better if he researches his opponent properly. ”I can't take anyone lightly. That would be my own undoing,” he thought reminding himself of how he underestimated Jane.
”Yes, of course. He is very well known for his fights. He had been one of the top contestants three times for the annual tournaments held at the stadium in Entora. What rock have you been living under? You used to be in the mansion at that time,” said Robert angrily. He couldn't believe that his cousin didn't know this about Herbert. This was the main reason that he was afraid of the possibility of a fight between them.
”It is all right. It isn't as much of an issue as you are considering it to be. I am sure there will be recordings of his fights. I will look through them. That would give a basic idea of his foundation and tactics, but it wouldn't be enough,” said Balthazar as he was think about how to counteract this scenario when he realized that the fighting is still considered of the most crude ways to determine ones capability. The answer was in the problem itself.
”You are worried that the opposition would say that your commander might not be able to protect himself and they would use this chance to request a combat. This is an opportunity for them to at the very least humiliate me. But if they do this, they are digging their own graves. Simple close combat hardly ever happen in real life, we can also ask them to conduct a competition for shooting and use of warframes,” said Balthazar giving him a hint on how to handle this scenario.
”Are you crazy? This is just something that would be requested on the spot. A simple direct combat is easy to arrange and that is the reason they have the advantage. Otherwise, me and others supporting this would have already thought about this option and simply informed you,” reprimanded Robert harshly in a loud pitched voice. He felt his cousin's suggestion to be entirely ridiculous.
”Under general circ.u.mstances, I would agree with you. A shooting contest long distance or a large number of targets can be quickly arranged, but he might be pretty good at that. War frames or combat suit training would take a bit of time to set up and are quite dangerous. The same goes for using weapons, which Herbert wants to use to his advantage,” said Balthazar unaffected by his cousin's rebuke.
”I am pretty sure that I would ace any shooting contest. That we can use to show them up. I said the other things as we have a way for it too, but it might require some effort from a few others,” continued Balthazar.
”What?”
”We can use the somnium technology, the samsara framework to develop the scenario for war frame and many other combat scenarios. It can be not only used for this, but also for competition and to test the eligibility and capability for any recruitment scenarios. We just need to be prepared and you should pick the proper time to suggest this in case Herbert and others play this game,” answered Balthazar.
”That might be actually possible,” said Robert as he fell back on his bed. He was looking at the ceiling, thinking about it and realized that as his cousin told, he could actually use the same kind of tests for recruitment. It would save a lot of resources and also time if they used this method. The tests could also be much more comprehensive.
As soon as he realized it, he started to create a mail and sent it to Richard Shrike. He was someone that Walter recruited and became one of the few knew about the secrets of the Blyth family and the table of Ouroboros. He was never usually at Asklepian, but after the near death that Robert suffered at Max's hands, he came back to guard over Robert.
Richard was Robert's representative for the fight and had been following Robert in secret daily. He was always monitoring Robert and also had his room bugged. He was listening to everything that the two cousins were talking about. ”Hmm, that boy is surely adapting fast to technology. A good trait for an agent,” thought Richard as heard them.