madnovel Chapter 430 Successful Baton Transfer - A Deception
Chapter 430 Successful Baton Transfer - A Deception
Chapter 430 Successful Baton Transfer - A Deception
Upon hearing this, Evan naturally pretended to be greatly surprised and repeatedly declined.
His appearance naturally dispelled the slight strangeness that Maxim had just felt, and he no longer had any doubts about him. He directly handed the mirror to Alice and began to explain in detail that he should explain things clearly.
"I don't have anything else to say. I believe you can handle it. The only thing I want to emphasize is this: be careful of the Aurora Society and those lunatics. Their brains work differently from others. Don't end up like me, getting tricked so badly."
Especially Mr. Z, whom you'll likely have a lot to deal with in the future, he's definitely the craziest one!
Even at the very end, Maxim could not forget Mr. Z of the Aurora Club, who had led him to such a predicament.
If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't find Mr. Z's whereabouts right now, Maxim would really like to have a real fight with Mr. Z, and it would be best if they could both die.
After listening to Maxim's words, Evan was somewhat displeased, feeling that it was an insult for Maxim to compare him to the brainless Aurora Society.
And when did he go crazy? He has a brain. Haven't you seen that Maxim himself hasn't realized something is wrong yet?
Although she had a lot of thoughts running through her mind, Alice still said solemnly, "Don't worry, Lord Maxim, I will definitely maintain the connection you established and will not let your hard work during this time go to waste!"
By the way, what are you going to do next? I heard that all the official forces in Backlund have mobilized to find you!
"Seeing Alice" At this point, she still managed to think about her own situation, which, to be honest, really touched Maxim.
"Give me your list of subordinates. I need to eliminate everyone who has seen you. This is also Lord Akhmatova Einhorn's request. He wants you to be absolutely safe in Backlund."
Evan had anticipated this, so he wasn't surprised at all. He immediately and without hesitation wrote down some people and assets that he considered unimportant, including some lists provided by Petrov Andrei.
After receiving the list from Alice, Maxim immediately knew that there were omissions, but he did not investigate further.
He only wanted this list to follow orders and to eliminate as many people and things as possible that could expose Alice, in order to protect Alice's safety.
As long as Alice was confident that she wouldn't be exposed because of this, Maxim was happy to turn a blind eye.
"Alright, after my business is over, you can recite the Lord's name to contact him, and he will guide you on your next steps."
Don't come here again. Just pretend you've never met me. Now, leave!
Upon hearing this, Alice bowed and left the Earl's Café.
Not far from where they had gone, the Earl's Café suddenly exploded, and screams and cries of alarm immediately filled the air, throwing the entire street into chaos.
Evan glanced back at the coffee shop, now reduced to ruins, a slight smile appearing on his face. Then he turned a corner and disappeared from everyone's sight.
After all that effort, Evan finally became Ahomatowa Einhorn's sole representative and contact person in Backlund.
From then on, all the information that Akhmatova Einhorn obtained about the Aurora Society, the Augustus family, and the Horn family would pass through Evan and would be provided to him by Evan.
In other words, Akhmatova Einhorn will be completely transparent to him, which will put Evan in the most advantageous position in the multi-party game.
To maintain this channel, Evan would never easily release false information to Akhmatova Einhorn, and would even provide top secrets that are difficult for ordinary people to obtain, all in order to better balance the Fusak Empire and the Kingdom of Rune, and in order to ultimately outmaneuver both sides.
As mentioned before, among the three parties—the Augustus family, the Einhorn family, and the Horn family—the Horn family is the weakest and in the most unfavorable position. Therefore, he plans to eliminate Maxim, seize his niche, and balance the other two parties through various means.
If the Augustus family is at a disadvantage, then they should attack the Fussac Empire; if the Einhorn family is at a disadvantage, then they should betray the Augustus family.
Add water if there's too much flour, add flour if there's too much water, and repeat this process.
In short, weakening these two families proportionally is the best option for the Horn family.
"Tonight's operation went very smoothly, and I basically achieved my first and second objectives."
They were tasked with establishing connections between the Horn family and the Aurora Society with Ahomatova Einhorn, creating covert channels of cooperation.
Whether Maxim's value can be maximized next depends on the reactions of all parties involved.
Even though Maxim was on the verge of death, Evan still wanted to extract some last bit of value from him.
"I suppose Duchess Georgina has already received news of Maxim's appearance and is eager to see me!"
Because Duchess Georgina did not interfere in MI9's internal affairs, she must have received information about Maxim relatively late.
But no matter how late it is, they should have received accurate information by now.
Evan had just proposed the plan to contact Ahomatowa Einhorn to her, and now Maxim was in trouble. Duchess Georgina, who had placed high hopes on this operation, could not remain indifferent.
Sure enough, just as Evan returned to his viscount's mansion and was about to take a hot shower, Duchess Georgina's voice reached his ears.
"You actually have the mind to take a shower now? Don't you know that Maxim's whereabouts have been exposed?"
Evan turned around without surprise and saw Duchess Georgina, with a frosty expression, in his bachelor bedroom, making no attempt to avoid her.
"Good evening, Your Highness. I just inspected the Viscount Witte's residence and also visited MI9, so of course I know about this matter."
"Since you know this, why didn't you take the initiative to contact me and discuss the next steps? Instead, you went home to take a shower?"
Duchess Georgina's voice rose eight octaves; if the house hadn't been well soundproofed, Evan suspected that her shout would have woken up all the servants in the villa.
"The plan we discussed has been successfully completed. Maxim is no longer of any value, so I wasn't in a hurry to report to you."
Evan folded the towel in his hand, put it aside, and said very calmly.
"What do you mean? Explain yourself!"
Evan invited Duchess Georgina to sit down, poured her a cup of coffee, and then continued unhurriedly, "I met Maxim at the old dock warehouse outside the city tonight, and even met directly with Ahomatova Einhorn, who is behind him, and reached a cooperation agreement with him in the name of the Horn family."
"What? You've already finalized the deal? You're not kidding me, are you?"
Duchess Georgina looked at Evan in disbelief. They had only been working on the plan for a few days, and Evan had already advanced it to this point. His speed and efficiency were too fast and too high.
Evan raised an eyebrow, smiled at Duchess Georgina, and offered no explanation.
Seeing Evan's reaction, Duchess Georgina realized that her earlier reaction had been excessive and showed a lack of trust in Evan's abilities, so she quickly explained, "That's not what I meant. I just think your progress is a bit too fast."
"It's not fast at all, it's rather slow. Ahomatova Einhorn is much more anxious than we are, and he should be anxious, not only should he be anxious, we should be even more anxious!"
Evan wasn't in the mood to talk to her much, so he got straight to the point.
"What do you mean? Explain yourself. Did Akhmatova Einhorn say something to you?"
"The Sunia Navy of the Fussac Empire devised a plan to seize the Roside Islands and developed a high-ranking insider within the Roside Islands colonial government, the details of which are unknown."
However, in the words of the Fussac Imperial Navy itself, they might be able to take the Rothschild Islands without shedding a drop of blood.
Before Evan could finish speaking, Duchess Georgina stood up in shock, staring at Evan without even noticing the water spilling from her glass.
She quickly realized her lapse in composure, slowly sat back down on the sofa, and asked uncertainly, "Could this be a false message from Akhmatova Einhorn?"
Perhaps all He is doing now is to mislead us, to try and give us false information, and then to take the opportunity to carry out a conspiracy?
Duchess Georgina had previously been on the front lines of Wintershire and had witnessed Ahomatowa Einhorn's scheming methods firsthand, so she was very wary of him.
So when she heard that there were high-ranking agents of the Fussac Empire in the Roseside Islands, her first reaction was disbelief. Instead, she thought that Ahomatova Einhorn was using a double agent scheme, since there had been precedents for this.
Her reaction was the normal reaction for most people. If Evan didn't have the identities of "Alice" and "Mr. Z" and knew more about the inside story, and could verify the information with each other, he would also have this suspicion.
But now that he had more information, Evan was completely certain that Ahomatova Einhorn was not lying about this matter. After all, this matter involved the very foundation of his reputation, and he dared not play any tricks.
But Evan couldn't say that much to Duchess Georgina, so he could only dispel her doubts from another angle.
"I had previously been skeptical of Ahomatowa Einhorn's words, so when I spoke with him, I made a very difficult request of Him, one that I demanded He fulfill!"
"What are the conditions?"
"We demand that He instigate a military clash involving tens of thousands of people on the border of Wintershire!"
Evan's words confused Duchess Georgina again. She was about to question him, but then she realized what he meant and exclaimed that it was brilliant.
"According to Akhmatova Einhorn, the Fussac Imperial Navy will take action against the Roside Islands within the next month or two."
If He were to provoke a conflict on the border at this time, He would be seen by the Fussac Empire as a deliberate sabotage of naval plans, and the pressure on him at home would increase dramatically.
But if He doesn't comply with the conditions I've proposed, it will be difficult for Him to gain our trust, and allowing the Fussac Empire's navy to achieve success would be even more detrimental to Him.
Seeing that Duchess Georgina believed his explanation, Evan quickly explained it again to reinforce her impression and make her believe him even more!
"Therefore, in order to avoid falling into a more unfavorable situation and to gain our trust, He must provoke corresponding disputes on the border!"
In that case, we have another handle against Him, right?
Duchess Georgina eagerly finished Evan's sentence before he could even finish.
"That's right, that's exactly what I meant. You're quick on the ups and downs; I hadn't even finished explaining, and you already understood the whole plan!"
Seeing that Duchess Georgina had taken the bait so well, Evan quickly offered emotional support, sparing no praise, which Duchess Georgina clearly appreciated.
This is not to say that Duchess Georgina is a vain person who enjoys hearing praise from others.
Rather, it was through these numerous encounters that Duchess Georgina came to appreciate Evan's skill in devising schemes, as well as the sense of superiority and disdain for her intelligence that Evan occasionally displayed when communicating with her.
Therefore, the praise from Evan had special significance for her.
What Duchess Georgina didn't know was that her mindset was actually the result of Evan deliberately creating it using the PUA rhetoric he had learned in his previous life.
Seeing that Duchess Georgina was getting a little carried away by his praise, Evan immediately pressed on, saying, "So, given the current situation, I suggest that this message not be sent to the front lines in Wintershire."
On the one hand, this was to give Ahomatowa Einhorn the illusion that he was indeed cooperating with the Horn family, not the Augustus family.
This would help him relax his guard, since the Horn family and the Augustus family were not on the same level.
On the other hand, we need to firmly grasp this weakness of Akhmatova Einhorn so that we can use it against him later!
Duchess Georgina snapped out of her reverie, thought about it, and agreed with Evan's reasoning, nodding in deep agreement.
In fact, the two reasons Evan gave were not the reason why Duchess Georgina nodded in agreement.
Instead, Duchess Georgina suddenly realized that doing so was actually in the best interests of George III, and even more so in her own.
As mentioned before, there is an angelic branch within the Augustus family, which is stationed on the border.
Especially in the counties of Silavis and Winterfell, which directly face the empires of Intis and Fusak.
However, because Wintershire is also the location of the Church of the Goddess of Night, the Church of the Goddess of Night has always been in charge of the resistance against the Fusak Empire. Therefore, the angels stationed in Wintershire are not as famous as Duncan Augustus of Silavisshire.
Even so, the angel's branch had taken root in Wintershire, which still displeased George III, who represented the central government.
Therefore, if there were truly such a legitimate way to hold local forces accountable and crack down on them, George III would certainly be very happy to see it happen.