After explaining to Siesta the story of the Willful Hero, Keven moved away to further contemplate his newest plan. The entire time he had been on this planet, he had forgotten one of the most valuable lessons, don't underestimate a human. All he really needed to do was send one or two of his troops down to the palace, bum or work around, and perhaps convince some minor noble to tell him what goes on in the court. Of course, he was prepared to sacrifice a small amount of his treasury for it, but would prefer if he didn't have to.
He could also memorize the times that the court was held, and attend himself from the shadows. He had ways, and though he could do it himself if he had time, he needed to keep time free, to give him time to plan and plot. For that reason, he needed a way to see into the courts of the kings, and use the information. The fastest way, would be to do it himself, but the smartest way, would be to use a small amount of money, and ease the time he himself needed to spend on his plans.
He couldn't use his current brutes, and instead needed intelligent, but loyal minions. For that purpose, he could hire some of his lower ranking kin, but would probably find it too expensive. He could look to the many servants he had gained, and have them payed, or somehow rewarded to create his spy network. He would spare a few to actually clean, and make sure his base of operations was working properly, but this way he could expand much earlier than his previous plan.
If needed, he could simply scout out a few choice jobs, and have them work there for money, if he needed it that badly and couldn't raid another noble. He could also use his spies as recruiters, and set up a few choice, out of the way, spots to have members officially join. It could be done. Keven decided.
In fact, though it may not be the best immediate option, it would help establish the concept and focus of the his organization, as well as give his followers something to do. If he was correct about how humans thought, which he was pretty sure he was, it would inspire a sense of worth, and thus loyalty.
So, plan now decided, Keven was now faced with his next big question; What to do for the familiar exhibition. He could do any number of things, in fact, he could just teleport repeatedly. Still, he wanted to use such a well known event to benefit him, and though he could promote his newly made organization here, but that might not earn him the first place, and could reveal that particular secret. In fact, openly displaying his powers and winning might very well be the worst thing he could possibly do.
Sighing, Louis looked at the door to Louise's room. He had been thinking, planning, almost non-stop throughout the time he had been Louise's familiar. Still, he had an actual plan now, and if he was truly honest with himself, this was the perfect time to gather power, being rather out of the Enderdragon's path and will eventually be almost complete out of his mind.
In fact, if made his moves carefully, he could make his false king know exactly what was happening at any given moment, and thus not have any consequences if he was caught, and still take the false king by surprise. If he was careful enough, he could even managed to overthrow the false king, possibly even managed to create a subserviant race out of the humans on Halkeginia. Keven shook his head, falling down to his small pile of coins, not quite enough to create a proper covering for a lair, but enough to create a small bed.
Closing his eyes, Keven thought about what to do. Perhaps I'll find some inspiration between now and then, and plan accordingly.
As it turned out, that was exactly what happened. Reading over some recent reports in about the inner workings of the strongest anyone had to worry about, that the Imperial Guard of the Underworld, the Black Knight himself had recently began to both grow a human-like covering, and some form of emotion. It was strange, now that he thought about it. The Black Knight was created with a high-def body, but only now started to show signs of gaining magical powers, only now stem from the cycle?
Most that strayed were immediately destroyed, or renewed to make sure that they didn't ever managed to danger the lich, or his daughter. Though, there wasn't much one could do about a spellcaster so powerful, even if he was brought down to mortal levels. Still, it meant that either the lich valued the knight so much that he was willing to take the risk, or that, for some other reason, such as foolish love, the daughter had saved him from being recycled. The fact that the Black Knight had apparently become quite the looker, with perfect, smooth and flawless skin, pitch black hair, and never had to sweat, only seemed to solidify that theory.
Which brought him to giving a once-over the the list again. His own profile, neatly placed at the twenty third strongest in their world, had hardly changed at all, only updating that he had moved to become an inside on a new, possibly invade-able world. His strengths and powers, as well as his general estimates had yet to show any signs of recognizing his new runes, and what they did, and it generally showed only a slightly smoother form of what had been on last weeks report. Sighing, Keven decided to watch his own profile for when they correct that error.
Turning to the swordsman again, he carefully judged his newfound abilities and looks. The brief summery he had read in the actual news hadn't really done the knight justice. He had managed to grow some unhealthily pale skin and muscles, at least in the areas he didn't have covered up by heavy clothing and golden armor, as well as a full head of incredibly healthy hair. Overall, he looked like a knight, one that needed to be fed a bit more, and maintain his hear to be just a bit shorter, true, but like that a fully proper knight.
His abilities had grown to actually manipulating his bones, now capable of making small swords at will at the cost of most of his ability to fight. He also seemed to develop a habit of killing zombie pigmen, especially those close to his protected area, and those that weren't controlled. He also seemed to have picked up a habit of storing several potion making materials. That in and of itself wasn't so hard to believe, since at this point it was likely he was just seeking any magic he could come across, and the benefit of the gold and necrotic energy freed by killing them.
The newly higher ranked knight aside, Keven looked back to his true target. Now, normally Keven didn't get his news at the first possible moment, instead waiting for the price of knowledge and ability to drop down into the second, easier to make and establish, and thus pay for release. This time, he had gotten it the first available opportunity, just to make sure his master's ability didn't make the cut. Luckily, it still seemed she wasn't rated, though her bizarre power to absorb Ender Energy.
If that was known, no matter how weak she was rated she would count within the top thirty, but just to make sure he had checked all one-hundred names. It seemed that they truly did not know of his new advantage, and he could exploit Louise's potential to it's maximum potency. In fact, sense he hadn't even told the false Enderdragon himself, Keven could only assume that he didn't know either. Great, absolutely perfect! Keven though excitedly.
Newfound data aside though, Keven had decided between one of two things to show off. One would be his proficiency in combat, perhaps with a spar with the Black Knight himself. The other was a show of accuracy and dexterity, something he would fare much better in, but also be much less showy. He could set up several targets and hit them, perhaps showcasing his ability with daggers as well as his teleporting ability, perhaps ending with something as flashy as the infinitely famous dragon's roar. It would probably weaken him down enough to be unable to fight with full power, but it would be worth it to boost his master's self esteem and showcase his less human aspects.
Now, it was really up to decide which he would prefer to do, and truly weigh the pros and cons of each side.
Sighing, Keven stared at the green court in front of him. It was bright, not quite big enough for a full blown grassland, but big enough to require a ridiculous amount of care to actually maintain as well as they did. It spoke of a deliberate neatness, an unnecessary neatness, thus assuring him he was in a sophisticated area, with developed culture.
Sighing, Keven teleported to just outside the kitchen, hoping to get a decent lunch without having to actually pay for the decent lunch. After some light conversation, a satisfying meal with new dishes he had never tried before, such as onions, whatever those were, Keven learned only two new things. The first, was that the staff would be busy the next few days, and they would likely not have enough time to chat like usual. The second was that the exhibition would allow a small, but decently exploitable, gap in the academy's defense.
It would leave the treasures of the school unguarded by humans, only the spells on the academy as a whole. Knowing this, Keven knew that his men would want to attack, and that they would have no chance in winning. But, the reason that the academy was doing that, was to properly protect the princess of the nation, an honorable goal, that was hopefully unnecessary.
Which brought Keven to the question of why the princess didn't bring a proper guard herself. Did she dislike traveling in crowds? She would undoubtedly have a guard anyway, why not bring more? This, of course, brought Keven to the conclusion that it was likely that the princess's throne was unsteady. Perhaps she had nobles wishing to take the seat for themselves? It wouldn't be uncommon for his own Endermen society, but it would be for others, and thus Keven hadn't expected it when it came to humans.
Nevertheless, Keven simply compiled it as a side note, and returned to Louise's room. Right now he needed to do three main things. First he needed to an information network in at least Tristan. Second, he needed know when and where he could strike, what nobles, and information required to proceed. Lastly, he needed to figure out how to wake up the talking sword he owned. Of course, the last one wasn't necessary, but it would probably help him to know what his own weapon could do, and if it had any information.
It turned out, that after putting his mind to it, it didn't take long. His first attempt was to drip some blood on the blade, and then move on to dropping it, wielding it, and so on. It seemed that by the first drop of the small cut he healed almost immediately, it woke up though. Turns out, his sword had amnesia, and though dipping it in lava got rid of most of the rust, it actually didn't get rid of all of it, for which he had to carry it around in his hand for almost a full hour while it soaked up the power from his runes.
As it turns out, shortly after that, that by getting more magical power out of Keven and his beloved summoner actually reminds the sword of memories. It's a surprisingly good plan, for keeping memories, and keeping them hidden. It also reminded Keven that the energy the sword was sucking up was very similar to Ender Energy, and thus should destroy the sword slowly. Instead, it seems the sword uses it to fix and repair, as well as change itself.
Keven had a sneaking suspicion the blade may have been crafted by his true king in his quest to restore his wing.
You see, after the Willful Hero had his fight with the Enderdragon, he managed to live, and recover from most of his wounds with healing potions and time. That said, for some reason his left wing, chopped off by the Willful Hero right before he died. Since it never stopped bleeding, no matter how much it should, or long he waited, the Enderdragon actually had to cut off even further into his wing, and stop the blood loss there.
After that, the Enderdragon could no longer fly, and told his 'brother' the fake Enderdragon to take care of his kingdom, making magical, priceless artifacts that brought the fake king up to almost a full forth of his power, at the price of his mind while in effect. It was as good as he could do at the time. It was said that the true Enderdragon was always weary of humans after that, and decided to learn every type of magic he could until he could fix his wings, and that then he would come back. That said, not even the brother of Notch, Herobrine, could get around the strange power of the Willful Hero, and though it has been almost eight thousand years since then, it was safe to say their true king would not be back for a very long time.
So, in the mean time, the people of his kingdom still tried their best towards their true purpose, to gain power, and populate existence with more Enderdragons. This was the sole reason Keven was different from any other Enderman, an experiment to see if the blood of a untainted human, a powerful Enderman general, and the Enderdragon himself would create anything worth mentioning.
So far, besides the Enderdragon's blood increasing the power he was born with, and his human-like shell protecting him from the sun, not much.
That said, there was still almost none anyone could call close to being able to accomplish their now primary goal, and so nothing had really changed, and the fake Enderdragon was still in charge, with only temporary spells of control over his mind.
Now, the real reason that was important, was for two reasons. One, their king, having not been seen for thousands of years, had apparently temporarily stopped destroying worlds, and at some point had started to create artifacts of power. These ranged from better versions of the fake Enderdragon's crystals, to cloaking devices, and experimental formulas. Each was worth a fortune, and many Enderman would gladly kill their own to achieve such artifacts.
That only meant that their king had massive amounts of power an knowledge. Thus, Keven did not doubt one bit that his true king would learn how to create such a weapon. Which brought Keven to question why he would create such a weapon. As much as he wanted to gain a sound mind about his theory, he could think of no greater reason than a simple desire to do so. Not solid evidence at all.
Sighing, Keven looked to the sky. Perhaps I've been questioning a bit too much.
Random Sentence!: The moment when you realize you accidentally used a term from Game of Thrones.