Paltering a Gambit

"Oh, you're pretty good with this."

"Thank you, it's alright," Tyre replied modestly.

In the camp, there were some witches that were surrounding her. She was someone that came from outside, brought over by Nightingale. There were always some that curious to those that just newly arrived, and a lot would ask for some stories. If nothing else, it was to relieve their boredom and broaden their horizon by sharing experiences with each other.

Tyre was very patient. She began telling them some stories as they wished. While it was unknown whether they were real, she managed to make those hearing her convinced. What she told them was not exaggerated, yet at the same time, it was not something so plain that they would get bored in the middle. She would constantly whet their appetite.

"You're from King's City? To escape from there, you're really good." Someone said with a sigh.

For witches, cities with a powerful church influence were simply a nightmare for them. While there were some witches that had history escaping from such places, it didn't change the fact that it was far harder than walking away from an obscure place like Border Town. Some older witches even had a horrifying experience or two from confronting the church directly, which made the story even more impactful.

Tyre quietly nodded to their comments, on her face was hanging a light smile and a tinge of blush would appear on her cheeks from time to time when she was praised. It was hard to believe she was deceiving them with such calmness, though, technically she was not really lying and rather leading them in the wrong direction by using their own imagination by purposedly blanking some parts of the story.

For example, she described her life in King's City. How she escaped from there by masquerading as one of the maids that followed Roland Wimbledon for his quest of throne trial. After a while, she gained his trust and became an attendant maid. The process was not particularly tense, but it was a rather unusual story for the listeners that it grabbed them firmly.

The story was not false but she omitted the part where she was actually a spy or she was not as simple as a mere attendant maid; she was actually the head maid. She also didn't include how Roland used to get attracted by her like a pig to feed which made her entry easier. Yet, for the witches, when they had their assumption that Tyre was one of their kind, the story became a rather heart throbbing journey.

She also made an attempt to sow seeds of their plan by making Roland the main character in her stories.

Gossiping the royalty was something that came naturally. Even though they were now witches, many of them used to be just normal citizens. With the majority of them came from the Graycastle Kingdom, they were more or less aware of the rumors about the infamous Roland Wimbledon, the black sheep of the royal family and had a great expectation to his detailed activities.

Tyre described him to be someone not only good looking, but he was also a homely type of person that unexpectedly very good at cooking unlike the regular nobility and never, to her knowledge, slight his subordinates on a whim. He also later emptied his personal saving shortly after he came to Border Town, and telling how he bravely placed himself in the opposite of Duke Ryan by decisively cutting the monopoly Longsong Stronghold always had that made the Border Town populace repeatedly suffered and even had the tragedy of mass death from starvation two years ago.

With her position as an attendant, it was inevitable that she would often talk about him. She covered her bases well by making his presence seemed natural in her story.

To make things not so obvious that she was clearly selling his face, Tyre also mixed in her descriptions of him with some glaring flaws. She deliberately slipped in a hint of frustration to her voice when she was talking how Roland was quite lazy and usually only waking up from his sleep in the middle of the day, making the attending maids' schedule completely unpredictable. While he was not lecherous, he often made her awkward because he seemed to be very appreciated of her butt. The prince also made his workers worked more than they expected, at some point even the knights had to do grunts type of work because his demands were a lot more than the workers available.

Because what she told them was basically the truth, her descriptions were vivid and said very earnestly. To make it even more appealing, her expression would also often changes along with her tones of voice, depending on which part she was talking about.

After listening to Tyre, some of them had only disbelief written all over their faces. The notoriety of Roland had been engraved to their mind for so long after all. However, after thinking more of the rumors, they made up the reasons for that by piecing together what Tyre said. For example, Roland was known to be lecherous, but Tyre had said he was never being blatant about it. Regardless, whether he was appreciating them like a piece of art or not, it can't avoid that some would report he was being a pervert.

Someone called him a pervert gentleman that invited a string of laughter, everyone agreed it had a nice ring to it.

But what appealed to them the most was how he saved Anna from the unjust trial, treated her nicely and reprimanded those saying otherwise. As she brought up Anna's history, her character quickly garnered sympathy. She also quoted what Anna once said to Nightingale that she heard from, but regardless of the reason, the fact was that Anna didn't follow them to the camp despite Roland gave her the freedom to choose.

Tyre was in conflict whether she should tell them that Roland apparently never wore god's stone of retaliation or not, and ended up keeping silent on that part. While it might be the truth, it would be something hard to swallow and would bring a needless suspicion instead. Tyre knew where to draw the line before it became strange and she cleverly stopped just before the witches about to saturate from her stories.

They were already so enamored by it anyway.

In an even bolder move than what they previously thought of, Tyre joined both Nightingale and Nana to the camp. According to Roland, witches had a subtle difference in atmosphere and aura compared to those normal women, but as Nightingale supplemented, without those that have the ability to see the flow of magic, it would be still difficult to say with absolute accuracy whether someone was really a witch. Even if the appraiser was a witch herself.

She didn't have a supernatural ability, but she made up with her atmosphere forged by professional training. If one asked what she could do, she simply answered them that she had keen senses and enhanced physical abilities. This was not a lie and she could prove it because she had indeed better eyesight and hearing than most. While her sense of taste can be said normal, she had tasted so many exotic spices and rare ingredients she doubted witches living in the wilderness could challenge her in that aspect. As for something like her physical capability, it didn't even need to be said.

While it was not as exaggerated, like twice as powerful than normal, it was enough to mislead people in the camp after a simple display. Many witches were still young, they were quite naive even if they had suffered from some kind of oppression in the past. In fact, they were even more vulnerable to those they thought was from the same side.

Tyre took advantage of that, but she didn't dare to be careless and carefully wove each of her words after putting some thoughts. She might be able to deceive dozens of them, but she didn't count those with years as they grew and learned to be suspicious.

For example, the leader of the witches. Roland had said with a grave expression that Cara had lost sight of herself and was possessed with obsession. People with that tendency was very careful with anything foreign and would not hesitate to act first before assessing the situation later.

She had been watching Cara from the corner of her eyes from time to time. While the snake witch looked calm, she actually listened to her story with great attention. If she didn't hear the precaution from Roland, she would believe that she was simply curious like any other when in fact she was silently observing.

As for her observation, Tyre had no fear. While she was still puzzled by how exactly Roland saw through her identity, she believed her facade was at least a professional level. The only problem was whether there was another witch that could tell whether someone a witch and unknown to Nightingale. So long without such people present, with Nightingale's guarantee, she should be able to easily assimilate herself.

It might take some time, but like what Roland said to them as parting words, haste made waste.

Her, their goal was clear from the start.

Save the witches from Cara and her Holy Mountain and bring back as many witches as possible.