For help, he started to look around, and his gaze finally fell upon a puddle of water in the ground.

The grounds of the mansion had used to be perfect and immaculate with lush green gra.s.s, but the lodging of so many children on them had caused holes like these to appear due to the frequent footfall. The field had also been watered, so this was even more exacerbated now.

Children always found ways to amuse themselves, and this puddle had inspired a group of four to jump into it, one by one, while laughing heartily to themselves and then climbing out to let the next one enjoy that moment when muddy water splashed onto their faces refres.h.i.+ngly while their feet felt the soft embrace of the earth.

As Lan began to walk towards that spot, his retinue was puzzled, but they followed.

When it finally became clear just where he was headed, the guards immediately ran forward to stop the kids, as they thought that the Lord might be displeased with what they were doing.

The children obediently stopped and stood in a row beside the puddle with their hands behind their back while waiting for this group to leave.

Smiles lit up their faces when they saw the man who had come to them fo two days along with sweet toffees and candies to listen to their stories, but they didn't go forward to greet him as the elder orphans had told them not to do so unless they were approached.

Lan walked up to the puddle and stood in front of it, and his reflection met his eyes.

Of course, it was Dominic's face, but in it, he saw all the disguises he had taken on over all these years.

They flashed in front of him, one by one, with each showing him the process with which he had lost that most important thing.

Or maybe…he had never known it, in the first place, and all this had only made it worse.

After all those avatars he had taken up were done showing themselves, one last, strange image lingered, and it was actually…himself, without any disguises.

However, even it felt foreign to him.

As soon as this realization came, Lan walked forward, and he finally saw what he had been led to over all these days.

That step forward caused the reflection in the puddle to change from his to the kid who was waiting for them to leave, and the face of that kid…changed to his own.

Yes! This…was what he had lost!

Himself.

Who was he?

As soon as this question appeared in his mind, the answer was also presented to him, and his eyes went as wide as saucers.

At the same moment, it was as if something inside him…woke up, but before Lan could see what it was, a knock sounded on the gates.

Those from the bank had been waiting for quite a long time, so they must have wondered if anything was wrong.

Turning around, Lan confidently began walking in that direction, and as the butler and the guards saw him, they felt happy that taking that pause had helped their Lord immensely.

He seemed more relaxed and sure, and mostly, he was more…himself.

This was the man they had pledged their lives to, as he had had the charisma of one who could make the world his if they stood by him.

True, that had been back when he was younger, and even though they hadn't seen that side of Dominic Viscargo in quite a long time, they did now, and it made them feel bolder as they walked behind him, with their chests puffed out.

[Awakening process has begun. As it was listed in the records, awakening process is different for each Bloodline. Fluctuations in Elementary particles being studied and recorded.]

As soon as Daneel, who was standing in the balcony while watching all this with an invisibility spell cast over himself got this message in his mind, a wide smile greeted his face, as the second step of his grand plan to handle his situation was soon going to come to an end in a perfect manner.

Everything that followed went smoothly. It even looked like there had been a change in Lan's impersonation skills, as they seemed to have reached a different level. He had had an indication that that would happen, but it startled him, as before, his own dabbling in the art of camouflaging himself as others had allowed him to see very few minute imperfections in Lan's actions if he used the help of the Basilisk's Breath. Now, though, they weren't present anymore, and he was practically living in his role.

The money was in the form of a large levitating cart on which a wooden box had been placed to hide it from the sight of others. After being taken to an underground room in the mansion, the box was removed to reveal a huge pile of s.h.i.+ning Gold Coins and Ether Blocks. The Coins were still in the currency of Lanthanor, as the minting of the new currency had not begun yet. After checking that everything was in order, the official was invited to tea where he was promptly knocked out, and after an hour, Lan arrived at the room again in the form of the official and asked them to unseal the money, which they did so even though it was strange.

After that, Lan's job was to hide while Daneel, in the form of the Warrior Mage, would arrive to disable all the guards.

Until now, Daneel had been viewing all of the actions of Lan through the system, but at this point, he stopped that as he would have to spend a little time to disable all the Human level Fighters and Mages in the room. Lan ducked into a closet on the side which had been prepared beforehand for this purpose, while Daneel entered and simply walked among the Humans, making them faint and fall to the ground.

In a few seconds, he was done, and he waited calmly in front of that closet door for Lan to come out.

The moment that he had been waiting for was now, and the actions of Lan after he exited would decide his fate. True, Daneel had seen most of the signs which allowed him to guess what the man would do, but he wanted to see it for himself.

The first possibility was that he would say that they should leave, and would flee with the money.

Their original plan had been to part ways here, itself, with Daneel saying that he would teleport Lan to the place he wanted with his portion of the money.

So, if Lan chose this, he would find that he had unlocked the Path for himself to become a Champion, but that he would never have the chance to reach that level as he would be killed.

The second possibility was that he would try to attack Daneel with the crossbow which had a poisoned dart affixed on it. The Viscargo family was a major trade family, after all, and they definitely had precious poison which could kill a Human if it entered the bloodstream. Most Mages were said to be weak in body training, so the probability was high that he was only a Human-level Fighter, and that he would die if he was struck with it.

If Lan chose this, he would find out the truth behind everything that was happening, and Daneel would give him a spot in his posse.

Daneel hoped for the latter, as Champions were precious, and because he quite liked Lan, As the door finally began to open, Daneel put on a sagely smile on his face.

However…when it did, what he saw made his mind feel as if it was being battered with a tsunami of shock.

Behind the door…was himself.

King of Lanthanor, Leader of the Alliance, Killer of Champions and Saviour of Elves.

Using that moment where he was completely gobsmacked, Lan swiftly took out the crossbow and shot it.

He watched as the bolt smoothly hit Crazy's arm, following which the paralysis immediately kicked in causing the Warrior Mage to topple onto the floor.

With elation covering his face, he jumped out and exclaimed, "Yes! I knew that the image of the one you hated so much would make you pause because he can kill you easily! I don't know how the f*ck I was suddenly able to mimic someone even though I only saw them on a trinket, but blame that for your death!"