The First Con

Ever since the night he overheard the conversations between Dio and the other member of the Troupe, Bork's attitude changed for the worse.

Although he was already an aggresive guy in general, he never directed his temper towards the people of the Freedom Troupe. As he considered them the people closest to a family to him.

But presently, the reserve members of the Troupe who went together with Bork to guard the hostages started to feel the changes in Bork's behavior.

The changes were eerie to say the least.

Firstly, any sorts of smile were wiped away from his facade. Almost as if a mask were molded in the shape of his face as he himself put it on.

The difference in interactions was more subtle. As he was not a friendly guy from the start, the only noticeable change was an increase in his aggresive behavior to members and outsiders alike.

Bork himself didn't know what to feel towards his current situation. All day, what he did was only to vent his irritations against the people around him.

This time too, he got out of his tent to vent his anger, but just when he was about to turn a corner on his patrol, a loud voice rang out loud from afar.

"LIEUTENANT!"

As the voice resounded, all people around the vicinity turn wide-eyed with surprise and fright. The only people within the Troupe who'd dare to yell towards their lieutenant were probably only their captain Gunther.

One must realize that even with the lack of respect they had towards Bork, he was still the strongest man in the Freedom Troupe. Coupled with his temper, not even the captain would dare to provoke him in a one-on-one situation.

When the people around turned to identify the source of the voice, the stunned silence in the air remained still. Even Bork, whose veins on the face were initially about to pop turned silent when he saw the man who shouted his name.

It was one of the hostages tied up inside their wooden cage. Even though the man's unkempt appearance with disheveled black hair and beard made him look older, his face showed the appearance of a man in his mid-twenties.

And yet, as if opposite to his outer semblance, his eyes looked more alive than the other captives, and even the Troupe members guarding the cage.

"Hn?" When Bork noticed the man, he remembered that the guy was the runaway slave they found on their way here, and one he decided to keep alive to sell to slavery later.

After he fully identified the man, he let down his guard and his expression loosened greatly. After all, it makes more sense for someone to be brave enough to shout his name if the one in question doesn't realize the gravity of such action.

He decided to entertain the man's bravado as he walked slowly towards the wooden cage.

***

Walter stood at the edge of the cage with his eyes looking directly towards Bork. He didn't seem to feel any pressure against such situation with all eyes fixated on him.

This was his disposition since long ago, although he could feel pressure towards certain situations, when he was executing his plan, any outer influences seemed to disappear from his mind.

When his former partners discover this specific trait of his, they all admitted that Walter was born for the job.

Even when Bork walked closer towards him until their distance were only seperated by the cage's bars, Walter still maintained a soft eye contact that didn't back down nor provoke the lieutenant.

"Oh, I see you've woken up, you slept quite soundly before didn't you, have you realized the situation you're in?" Bork asked with a contemptuous smirk.

"I did, thanks for the hospitality, I felt like being born again when I woke up." Walter replied calmly.

If he looked back, he'll realize that the other captives were all looking at him with disbelief. Even Krelian had the urge to run when he saw his actions.

"You got quite a mouth on you young man. What do you want!"

'Hn? Young man?' Only at this point that Walter had a slight reaction to Bork.

He then realized that he hadn't had the chance to examine his appearance ever since he woke up in this bizzare situation. After all, although most people confirmed that he looked younger than his age, he was still a 47 year-old man, there's no way for him to be mistaken as a young man.

"You have three seconds before I make you pay for wasting my time, I figure the prices won't go down too much for a man losing some of his toes..." Bork's patience started to reach the limit when he saw Walter staying silent while looking at him.

"Oh, right! Sorry." Walter snapped out of it pretty quickly.

He straightened his body a bit and continued, "*cough*, lieutenant, may we speak privately for a moment?"

The expressions of both the members of Freedom Troupe and the captives had become quite unsightly as they watched up to this point.

'What sort of person is this!!?' This sort of thought ran through the mind of most people watching the scene.

Walter's behaviour was truly unbecoming of a kidnapped guy about to be sold to slavery, furthermore, the way he spoke was as if he were a guest to the Troupe.

When that sentence were let out, even Bork who were asserting his pressure and dominance got silently stunned for a couple seconds.

Even he felt that he couldn't quite follow the pace of this strange man. After a couple more seconds had passed he realized that he had lost his momentum in the conversation.

'Is he...?' Bork thought for a bit.

"...Speak!" Bork considered torturing him so badly, but as he thought that the guy were probably trying to rile him up on purpose, he calmed down and tried to reveal what he had up his sleeves.

"No, I mean privately, just the two of us." Walter made a gesture of pointing at Bork then back to himself, 'Sheesh, how dumb are you!' He almost blurted out.

From the start, he never planned to provoke him in any way, it was only Bork's own conclusion that led him to believe that he did.

The veins hidden on Bork's face reappeared when he heard his words, 'Does this guy has some screws loose?? Does he think I'm gonna let him out just because he asked?'

'Is he just a crazy guy or was he planning something?' As Bork was facing this ridiculous turn of event, he can't help but thought back to Dio's previous caution.

Even though he didn't take Dio's warning seriously when they catch the guy, looking at how the guy was acting made the warning seemed more plausible.

'Does he have something to do with the plan?' It was quite normal for Bork to follow this line of thought. Seeing the importance of their plan, not only Bork, but everybody on the Troupe were on edge at the moment.

On the other hand, the man in question, Walter, could only stand there looking quite confused. He could clearly see that the lieutenant were trying to suppress his anger, but his escape plan hadn't even reached the first step yet.

"...What's your plan?" Bork spoke slowly with gritted teeth.

"Ah, that. I have some important information to tell you, it might be connected to your group's operation." He replied.

Bork's temper which seemed to have already reached its limit turned cold at the statement, and so were everyone else's from the Troupe.

Despite not knowing whether the guy were spouting nonsense or telling the truth, when it comes to their current ongoing operation, they couldn't really take any chances.

Not to mention that even among the captives, all they knew were just the fact that they were attacked and kidnapped out of the blue. Even coupled with the revolutionists rumours that were flying around, the word 'operation' that came out of Walter's mouth couldn't be weighed lightly.

Walter himsef thought that he was quite lucky to be acquainted to someone with high enough position to be aware of such rumours on his first encounter. He figured that in any structurized society, any rumours regarding revolutions would surely be suppressed by the governing entity as soon as it was discovered.

"You must truly think we're fools if you thought we're just gonna let you out just because of your nonsense!" Bork's expression was one that already didn't make light of the situations anymore, his intention to just kill Walter directly was rising by the second.

"Why not? Is it because you're not the leader here?" Walter asked casually while stretching his neck out to the side as if looking for someone.

The cooled down temper rose back up, Bork's expression became really ugly at that remark.

'Hn? That's weird...' Walter thought, realizing that something was off.

'By the way, this guy truly hates his captain huh?' Of course what he felt off was not Bork's reaction to his words. It was something else he couldn't quite describe.

[Mind Mastery Lv.2]

Mental Capacity 47.8%

MENTALITY 3.0

'Is it related to this?' Walter referred back to the weird stats he'd been able to access whenever he thought of it. Of course he also took note of the ever falling percentage of the Mental Capacity.

Walter already had some idea as to what it indicated, after all, it had quite the literal meaning. But he didn't want to jump to conclusions without testing his hypothesis.

*BLAM*

The cage bars were struck hard and the whole wooden cage trembled for a second, Bork huffed a bit of air through his nose while his right palm grabbed the cross section of the bar until it cracked slightly.

"Let us see if I'm the leader or not by slicing you up shall we!?"

Walter shook his head a bit and promptly continued his argument before the lieutenant blew up in a rage and struck him dead.

"Come now, I think you're a smart guy. What are the chances of me, who are tied up, and surrounded by your men with weapons, getting out alive if I try to escape during our private talk?"

"..." Bork, of course, turned silent at those words.

He couldn't dispute the fact that just letting him out and talking with him wouldn't account to any danger with their operation.

"See, on the other hand if I truly can't prove my previous statement, you can just kill me right there and then. What have you got to lose?" Walter asked as he gestured by raising up and opening his tied up hands.

'The guy did say that he had something to say about our operation. If it turns out he's trying anything funny, it wouldn't be too late to kill him then...'

"Get this crazy bastard out and send him to my tent!" Bork yelled out the command as he turned around, feeling all the more irritated at the turn of events.

"Lieutenant!!" Dio, who had been watching close to the scene interrupted.

Dio thought that it was ridiculous how everything turned out, the man basically just asked if he can be let out, to which the lieutenant did as he asked.

Of course he would've preferred if the guy was killed directly rather than letting him travel together with them and the other captives.

But the thought of the lieutenant personally handling him without any supervisions unsettled him greatly.

Whether it was because he never had any confidence in the lieutenant or some other reasons. At the moment he was trying hard to think of a way to persuade the captain not to let the guy out and to let him stay in the cage.

'This guy is too weird!!' He thought to himself.

"What!!?" Bork yelled in reply.

The lieutenant already had some grudges against this subordinate. Ever since that night, he felt that every actions of his was done just to contradict his decisions.

"Lieutenant! It'd be unwise to let an unknown man like him out of the cage!" Dio tried to argue.

"Our mission this time is too important! Are you trying to say that we shouldn't listen to what the guy has to say when he blatantly bulrt out our operation??" The lieutenant replied in frustration.

"No! But..." Dio felt conflicted.

If he were in Bork's shoes, he would've done the same thing. The captain's plan this time around is a make or break for them. But the problem was that the man who'd be in charge of that guy was Bork!

"...Whatever he has to say, he can say it right here!" Dio desperately spoke in a trembling voice.

"I'm sorry, but this is a very sensitive information, I will only talk with the 'man-in-charge'." Walter replied while bowing slightly towards Dio's direction.

"You...!" Dio tried to retort.

"SHUT UP you bastard!! Do you have a problem with MY command!!?" Bork couldn't keep his patience any longer.

Walter tried very hard not to let out a smile looking at this, it was quite rare for a plan to go better than what he intended.

The appearance of Dio further instigated the lieutenant's emotions. Although he didn't know nor care what had happened between the two, he'd be foolish not to take advantage of it.

His last sentence not only reinforced his needs for private talk, it also served to stroke the lieutenant's ego when he mention the 'man-in-charge'.

When that Dio guy tried to retort this, the lieutenant indirectly took it as a way of saying that he didn't recognise him as the man-in-charge and offended him.

The lieutenant's last reply was his way to assert his dominance to the surroundings in response to his hurting pride.

'Oh Dio, my lucky star' Walter thought deep in his mind.

After that, Walter was escorted out by one of the members. Just as he walked out, his clothes were pulled by Bork and he was made to stand in the front while Bork pushed a knife at his back.

"Walk!" Bork commanded.

'How rough.' Walter rolled his eyes as he walked slowly away from the cage.

Back in the cage, a disbeliefing expression was plastered on Krelian's face, he thought back to the previous conversation between himself and Walter.

***

"...But how are you going to get out of this cage?" He asked.

"What do you mean, I'll just ask them?" Walter replied with a face that's asking 'what are you saying?' Back to Krelian.

"???" Krelian was dumbfounded at the answer.

"What? You think I'm gonna make up some lie? Listen, never initiate a complete lie unless you can back it up. The burden of proof always lie on the side that makes the first claim." He continued.

"Always keep this in mind and you'll be an outstanding businessman. Among other things..."

"..." Krelian tried to seriously contemplate the things Walter had said when he realized that Walter hadn't really answer his question.

"What are you going to say to them to make them willingly let you out?" He asked again.

Walter shrugged his shoulder at this and said, "I'll just say that I have some information related to their operation."

Krelian of course knew that Walter didn't have any such information, the man wasn't even aware of what was happening until he told him!

"But that's also a complete lie! How are you going to back those up??" Krelian started to feel frustrated at him.

"It won't be if you properly follow the plan." Walter grinned in response.

He always liked a clever guy, he could see that Krelian was not only clever but also quite observant based on these few exchanges they had.

***

'It happened exactly the way he said it would...' Krelian was truly impressed at Walter at that point.

'Now we just need to do our part of the plan, hopefully nothing happened to...' He could feel his blood boiled when he realized that the entire time they knew each other, he never really knew Walter's name.

'That mister, he didn't tell us his name...'