Clovis finally received the message from his father. They immediately arranged the meeting.
Several high-tier humans were already standing by, watching the perimeter to ensure no one was watching them.
"So, have you figured anything out?" Gerald asked.
Clovis nodded. "Melody."
"This is our current situation, sir." Melody projected a few images. "Right now, there are seven Tier 8 humans, twenty Tier 7 humans, and sixty Tier 6 humans. We have spotted the Tier 8 humans, but we are still unsure about the whereabouts of the rest."
Gerald looked down, contemplating.
"Dad. How many people have you brought?" Clovis asked.
"Three Tier 8 and seven Tier 7. A total of ten people," answered Gerald. "There may not be many Shadow Guards, but theyâre capable."
"It wonât be enough against all of them." Clovis shook his head helplessly.
"Thatâs true. How many people can fight against Tier 8 humans on your side?"
"I can take one myself. Christina should have no problem stopping one. I will ask Jay and Kanaria to handle the other one."
"In that case, if we include me and my people, we can handle all the Tier 8 humans by ourselves. However, the problem will be the weaker ones.
"With enough numbers, they can fight Tier 8 humans." Gerald crossed his arms.
"Yes. I believe five is more than enough to stop one."
"The biggest problem is definitely the sixty Tier 6 humans. The moment they are restraining all our Tier 7, the rest will mess this up."
Clovis raised one finger. "Should we kill them before this starts?"
"We canât afford to alert them yet." Gerald shook his head helplessly. "It looks like the Prophet is going all out on this one."
"Thatâs what I thought too." Clovis scratched the back of his head. "I currently have no idea how to tackle this problem. Most likely, there might be a third party that will interfere."
"Agreed. Right now, you are at an event. If you are suddenly ambushed by them, the fact that theyâre still coming for you means they have a method to stop the military and all the people youâve brought here."
"Yes. They must be assuming we are still working together. Thatâs why I have cooperated with another country to boost their numbers." Clovis nodded.
Gerald looked down. "It looks like we will have to apply an unorthodox method."
"An unorthodox method?" Clovis tilted his head in confusion.
"Yeah. Iâm still thinking about it. A plan that they wonât even expect." Gerald crossed his arms. "However, we shouldnât fully expect that this number is a correct one. We should assume that they have more than this."
"I know that." Clovis thought for a moment. "If necessary, my people can take on two or three Tier 7 by themselves. Erwin, Aileen, and Ragna."
Clovis didnât mention Rin or Luci. Luci might be strong, but her focus was on support. She would handle the injured, so it was better not to push her too hard.
After all, Clovis didnât expect they would be able to escape unscathed from this attack.
Meanwhile, Rin might have a pseudo unique ability, but that ability was not related to combat.
At most, she could fight one or two people due to the equipment from the mall.
Reolf and Rea could probably do it, but Clovis didnât include them, as he planned to have them act differently depending on the situation.
Gerald said, "I think I know how to get several people on my own, but at most 10 people. Iâm not sure about their strength, though."
Clovis tilted his head. "How?"
"Do you forget my pseudo unique ability?"
"Ah!" Clovis almost forgot about it. "So, youâre going to ask for someoneâs help in exchange for perfecting their techniques?"
"Yes. I have to find the people who arenât in the spotlight, so I have to be careful."
"Indeed. It will be dangerous for them because this event involves their countryâs dignity."
"Well, thatâs for me to worry about." Gerald put down his hand. "Letâs assume that we can handle the people at Tier 7 and Tier 8. There are still sixty Tier 6 people. Their strength might be low, but their number is considerably high."
"No reinforcement from the Dark Moon Mercenary. I donât have any information about great-grandma, so I donât include her in the plan."
"Great choice. Itâs unreliable to rely on something unconfirmed. But we still have to think about it."
Clovis closed his eyes for a moment before asking, "Should we cause a beast outbreak?"
"No. They will probably be the ones to start it. They wonât send those beasts to us, but to your people. This way, Absalom will have no way to reinforce us, but they donât know that we have no intention of getting them involved."
No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldnât find a suitable plan. "Sorry, but I canât come up with anything."
"No need to apologize. I canât either." Gerald shook his head helplessly.
"Since there is still one more day, how about we meet again tomorrow night? During this time, we will try to come up with a possible plan."
"Sounds good." Clovis nodded. He could take another gamble, but there was no guarantee it would be possible.
So, it looked like he had to try first and see what would be possible.
"Alright. Letâs cut the meeting short. Itâll be bad if someone sees me right now." Gerald stood up.
"Ah, right! Mom asked me to tell you that you will have to sleep on the couch."
"..." Geraldâs body shook as his step halted. He might have expected this, so when Clovis said it, he turned around, not to Clovis but to Melody.
"Melody, was it? Look at this guy, having several girlfriends already. You better control him, or he might end up becoming an emperor with 3,000 concubines, and he wonât even have time to pay attention to you anymore."
"W-What?" Clovis dropped his jaw.
Melody chuckled. "Iâll keep that in mind."
"Dad!" Clovis slammed the table in embarrassment.
"Hahaha." Gerald laughed and ran away. It was as if he was trying to say, "If Iâm going to suffer, you will suffer with me."