Four Split Personalities

"Very well, I like people who recognize the situation."

Jiawen nodded in satisfaction, looked away, and turned to the uncertain Baffi Marshall, smiling, "In fact, my boss had told me to return right after the trial had settled, but I stayed until now simply because I couldn’t accept it. After all, you’ve been very cooperative with my plans from the start, yet here we are. Whether you or the Marshall Family lives or dies is of no consequence to me, but I still don’t want to admit defeat just yet. So, before I leave, I want to make one last effort."

"Miss Jiawen..."

After Baffi helped Quinn, who had collapsed to the ground, regain his bearings, he furrowed his brows and said to Jiawen, "I don’t quite understand what you mean by what you just said."

"Please be patient, I’m about to make things clear."

Jiawen casually opened the chair beside Sylvia and squeezed her sizable buttocks into it, then looked up and said with a smile, "Let’s be frank, I am aware of your hidden forces aside from the Slave Capturing Group, Knight Order, Mage Group, and Mercury Guards. Bearing that in mind, I have a few modest suggestions to make because... frankly speaking, even though everyone here is exceptionally brilliant, compared to me, you might be considered shallow and foolish..."

She paused for a moment, noticed that the other three, despite looking offended, did not interrupt, and then continued, "Therefore, I sincerely hope Lord Baffi accepts my suggestions and seizes this last opportunity. Please note, by ’accepting,’ I mean ’following my advice,’ not the consideration and reflection that a superior might give to a subordinate’s suggestion, because I’ve reiterated that my position is that of a collaborator, not a subordinate, so you shouldn’t have too much pride to agree, right?"

Truth be told, her statement was quite a slight.

But Baffi Marshall, a true mastermind, did not burst into anger upon hearing Jiawen’s words; instead, relying on his own capacity and cultivation, he even managed a smile, "I would like to hear the details."

Although Baffi had previously faced repeated setbacks under Jiawen’s advice, whether in meetings or during trials, and ended up at a considerable disadvantage, he bore no complaints against her because he knew well that without her ideas, his failures would only come faster, earlier, and more complete.

Perhaps the catalyst was merely the annihilation of a rookie squad in Fire Claw Territory within Stacked Rock City, but that incident had brewed into a storm capable of completely annihilating the Marshall Family.

With Jiawen’s assistance in this process, Baffi had done his best, but still suffered utter defeat before Double Leaf—a seemingly dead representative from Fire Claw Territory—the enigmatic Bard Anthony Dabus, and Shu Bresen, who finally showed his fangs.

Additionally, Baffi had to admit that only this mysterious ’Miss Jiawen’ might help him weather this storm. As for Fujiki, Sylvia, and Quinn, whose visions were less than his own, they might occasionally have a flash of brilliance, but relying on them to solve his current dilemma was less reliable than relying on himself, and he was already out of ideas other than scorched earth tactics.

"Thank you for your trust, Lord Baffi. I am happy to tell everyone that the current situation has not yet exceeded my control."

Jiawen nodded slightly, then tapped the table twice, "First, since the enemy’s offensive has only slightly slowed but hasn’t shown any sign of chaos, we have enough reason to believe that those who went to assassinate Clive Bresin have failed, so we now need to immediately change our plan, call back the Ice Veil Mage Group and Baffi’s Sword Knight Order from outside the city, and temporarily hold back their offensive, at least buy us one night."

Sylvia threw a coquettish look at her and laughed, "Easier said than done, they are about to break through now, how do we buy time?"

"Overload the Winter Prism."

Jiawen provided the answer without hesitation, calmly saying, "I have investigated, and if we sacrifice the Natural Magic Guide Gem for an unlimited overload, we can strike at any location within a five-mile radius of Mithril City at a high frequency. The ice pulse released by the overloaded Winter Prism will also be more powerful. Relying on the city walls to temporarily repel the enemy shouldn’t be a problem. They are not fools; if they see that we are overloading the Prism, they would naturally prefer to wait until tomorrow to conquer the city with smaller losses, thereby buying us one night."

Fujiki wiped the cold sweat from his cheek, tremblingly said, "But if we do that, wouldn’t we be completely standing on their..."

"Opposition? Yes, but what of it?"

Jiawen smirked disdainfully and shook her head. "Letting two legions idle outside the city, allowing the enemy to approach as if we have no intention of resisting, and then having the Slave Capturing Group disguise as a third party to kill the emperor and clear the connection—this plan has completely failed. Simply put, if Clive dies, even though everyone knows the instigator is the Marshall, you might still muddle through with the help of the Dundis and Hussein families, and then have the Crown Prince—who forcefully took the throne after killing his own brother—play it off."

Sylvia nodded subconsciously, as this had been their initial plan, and Jiawen was still the one who proposed it.

"But..."

Jiawen shrugged and with a smile on her chubby hand spread, said, "This crude, obvious, yet effective plan must rely on one premise: the assassination of Clive Bresin being successful. However, despite cooperation from the Dundis and Hussein families, along with numerous inside allies, not only have we failed to witness the Lord’s Allied Forces falling into chaos, we haven’t even had anyone return to report. The result is clear, whether the opposition was prepared or if there was an error in execution, Clive is still very much alive. Under this premise, the attackers being our people can no longer be covered up, so even without overloading the prism and antagonizing them, we’ve already stood on their opposing side."

Baffy Marshall nodded slightly. "Go on, Lady."

"So now we must fight for time, preventing them from capturing mithril City. The force at your disposal need not be used yet, as there’s still a chance to kill Clive Bresin. There’s still room to muddy the waters." Jiawen narrowed her eyes slightly and whispered, "If things go as expected, they will retreat and regroup in Mithril City after the Winter Prism flaunts its power, and during this time, I can set another trap..."

The usually silent Quinn finally found an opportunity to speak. "Can that allow us to escape this predicament safely?"

"If successful, naturally."

Jiawen smiled leisurely. "However, the likelihood of success, from what we see now, even if everything goes ’according to plan’ apart from Brion not dying, is just fifty percent."

Baffy sighed, raised his hand to halt Quinn who looked like he was about to speak again, and softly asked, "But this is the best plan available, right?"

"Based on the information I have, yes."

Jiawen raised an eyebrow, struggling slightly to stand up. She looked around at Baffy Marshall’s scant trusted aides, flashing a mocking smile. "If you understand, then go do it. Anything else, we can talk about when I return from there."

Then she turned and left.

As the only one with full authority of the Mage Tower, Sylvia turned towards Baffy.

He sighed deeply, closed his eyes, and nodded slightly.

"Go ahead."