I'm Trapped Inside a Prince as the Most Powerful Entity-Chapter 34: Big Plans

For a long moment, Bryan was completely silent. His face, usually showing a mocking smile, was blank. Then, his expression twisted into anger. His eyes narrowed into slits, and he glared fiercely at Billy.

"That mission," Bryan growled, his voice low and dangerous, "was not our mission. It belonged to the Roland Kingdom. Remember that." He spat the words out, clearly furious that Billy seemed to be taking responsibility for the failure.

Billy flinched slightly under Bryan’s glare. He nervously ran a hand through his messy black hair, looking stressed. "But, Captain," Billy argued, his voice less confident now, "they gave us the job of setting everything up! We found the assassins, gave them the poison, helped them get into the palace... How is that not our mission too, in a way?"

Before Bryan could explode again, the third man in the room finally spoke. This was Oliver, the middle-aged Syndicate operative who seemed calmer and older than both Bryan and Billy. He had been leaning against the stone wall, quietly observing. Now, he pushed himself off the wall and stepped forward slightly.

"Enough, both of you," Oliver said, his voice calm but firm, cutting through the tension. He looked first at Billy, then at Bryan.

"Billy, calm down. Bryan is correct. Officially, that mission was contracted by Roland Kingdom, using Karlos as the middleman. Our part in it ended the moment we connected Karlos with those specific assassins." He waved a dismissive hand.

"Whether that particular assassination succeeded or failed... it doesn’t directly concern the Spider Syndicate’s primary objectives."

Oliver paused, his gaze sharpening as he looked directly at Billy again. "What does concern us is the real reason you were sent to the capital. Did you gather the intelligence we actually needed? Forget the failed assassination for a moment."

A small smile touched Billy’s lips, chasing away some of his nervousness. He straightened up slightly. "Don’t worry, Oliver," he said, sounding more confident now. "I got everything. All the information we were looking for." He tapped the side of his head. "And that’s why I told you about the failed mission first. Because that failure? It’s actually a crucial piece of intel for us. It directly impacts whether our own mission here succeeds or fails."

Bryan stopped glaring and looked at Billy with confusion mixed with his remaining anger. "What are you talking about?" he demanded impatiently. "Stop talking in riddles. Tell us the whole story. Now."

Billy took a deep breath, organizing his thoughts. "Alright," he began, speaking clearly now.

"Here’s the situation. A few hours ago, I received a coded message from our contacts inside the palace walls in the capital. The attempt on Prince Eric’s life failed completely. Not only did he survive, but the assassin was captured."

He paused for effect. "And the assassin talked. The Royal Family now knows for certain that Sir Karlos orchestrated the attack and betrayed the kingdom."

Bryan frowned, still looking confused. He scratched his bald head. "Okay... so the King knows Karlos is a traitor. Karlos already fled. How does any of that help us? Sounds like the King will just be more careful now."

Billy leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "That’s the key, Bryan! Because the King knows Karlos betrayed him – one of his most trusted nobles – he’s completely lost trust in all the nobles!" Billy’s voice grew more animated. "He’s paranoid now. He thinks there could be more traitors hiding among the noble families. So, guess what he did?"

Billy didn’t wait for an answer. "The King called an emergency meeting late last night. And he announced a kingdom-wide crackdown! He has ordered a full investigation of every single noble family in the entire kingdom!"

As Billy said the last words, both Bryan’s and Oliver’s eyes widened in shock. They stared at Billy, then at each other.

"Investigate everyone?" Oliver breathed out, disbelief clear on his face. "Has the King gone mad? That will cause chaos! The nobles will never stand for it quietly!"

"I don’t know if he’s mad," Billy replied, shrugging slightly. "But my contact said the King seemed deeply shaken by Karlos’s betrayal. He looked furious and suspicious of everyone in that meeting hall. It seems he’s decided to burn the whole forest down just to find the few rotten trees."

A slow smile spread across Oliver’s face as he processed this incredible news. The shock faded, replaced by a look of cunning calculation. "Madness?" he murmured, almost to himself. Then he looked up, his eyes shining. "Perhaps. But for us... this isn’t madness. This is a golden opportunity!"

Bryan and Billy looked at Oliver, confused for a moment, then realization slowly dawned on their faces as well. They watched Oliver intently, waiting for him to explain.

"Think about it!" Oliver said, starting to pace back and forth in the small room, his energy suddenly filling the space. "The King is about to turn his entire attention, and the attention of his Royal Guards and most loyal troops, inwards. He’s going to spend weeks, maybe months, digging through every noble family’s business, searching their castles, questioning their retainers, looking for any sign of disloyalty."

He stopped pacing and looked directly at Bryan and Billy, his smile widening. "While the Royal Family is completely busy tearing the nobility apart from the inside... who will be watching the borders? Who will be paying attention to petty crime, smuggling rings, ... organizations like ours operating in the cities?" He spread his hands wide.

"No one! They’ll be distracted! Their resources will be stretched thin!"

Oliver’s eyes gleamed. "This is our chance. A chance like we’ve never had before." He leaned forward, his voice dropping to an intense whisper. "We need to expand our plans. Immediately. We need to think bigger."

He started outlining his idea quickly. "Forget just taking control of Crestport City. That’s too small now. We need to aim for the surrounding region. Target the seven major towns and cities closest to Crestport. We move fast, use the chaos caused by the King’s investigation as cover. We install our own people, take over the local guard posts like Bryan already started here, control the trade routes."

He wasn’t finished. "And at the same time," he continued, his voice urgent, "we need to increase our infiltration of the capital city. Double our efforts. Get more agents inside the palace walls, inside the noble manors being investigated, inside the Royal Guard itself if possible. Gather more secrets, cause more confusion, sow more distrust."

He looked from Bryan to Billy, his expression deadly serious. "Our goal just changed. We are no longer just trying to carve out a piece of this kingdom for the Syndicate. We are going to use this opportunity, this internal chaos the King himself is creating, to try and take effective control of the entire kingdom from the shadows. We do it piece by piece, city by city, while everyone else is looking the other way." He slammed his fist softly on the table.

"We have a window – the duration of this investigation. We must use every single day."

Bryan listened intently, his earlier anger forgotten, replaced by excitement. But a flicker of doubt crossed his face. He thought for a moment. "Oliver," he said slowly, voicing his concern.

"This is a huge expansion. Seven cities, plus the capital... that requires a lot of movement, a lot of action. What if we make too much noise? What if, despite the investigation, the Royal Family does notice what we’re doing? What if the King decides to pause his noble hunt and sends the Royal Army after us instead?"

Oliver didn’t answer immediately. He looked towards Billy, who had been listening carefully.

Billy stepped forward again. "Bryan has a point," he acknowledged, "but even if that happens, we still have advantages." He looked confident again.

"Let’s say the King does send the Royal Army into these cities to hunt us down. What will they find? They don’t know where our hidden bases are. They don’t know who our secret members are – the shopkeepers, the guards, the merchants who work for us. They’ll be chasing shadows." He smiled thinly.

"They might catch some street thugs, raid a few warehouses, but finding the heart of our operations? Finding us? It will take them a long time. And all that time they spend chasing ghosts is more time for us to complete our real objectives, to solidify our control, and to disappear again if necessary."

Oliver nodded in agreement with Billy’s assessment. He looked back at Bryan, then at Billy. "So, the risk is there, but it’s manageable. And the potential reward is enormous." His gaze hardened.

"Which means your workloads just increased significantly." He pointed a finger towards the corridor outside, where the prison cells were located. "We need more resources. More manpower, more leverage. Start grabbing more people. Anyone useful – merchants with debts, guards willing to look the other way, skilled artisans we can use, even children we can sell later. Increase the kidnappings significantly. We need assets." He then added, thinking aloud,

"We also need to get this new plan, this intelligence about the King’s investigation, to... headquarters." He used a neutral term for the Syndicate’s leadership.

Bryan immediately puffed out his chest, eager to prove himself after being sidelined on the capital intelligence mission. He grinned, showing his teeth. "Leave the gathering work to me, Oliver!" he declared confidently.

"Nobody runs the snatch-and-grab operations in this city better than my crews. We’ll fill those cells." He thumped his chest. "And I’ll handle the intel delivery myself! I can get the message to headquarters faster and safer than anyone!"

Oliver held up a hand, cutting Bryan off. "No," he said firmly, looking directly at Billy. "You," he said to Billy, "will deliver the report to headquarters. Your recent work in the capital proves you can handle sensitive missions." He paused, considering the timing.

"But not yet. Wait. Wait until the King’s investigation officially begins. Wait until the royal troops are visibly deployed across the land, focusing on the nobles. Wait until the border patrols are weakened because soldiers have been pulled away for the internal crackdown. Then you slip out of the kingdom and deliver the message. It will be safer then."

Bryan looked disappointed but didn’t argue with Oliver’s decision. Billy simply nodded, accepting the dangerous but crucial assignment.

Sunlight streamed through the tall windows of a luxurious bedroom in the royal palace, chasing away the last shadows of the long night. A new day had dawned in the capital.

In the large, comfortable bed, Prince Eric stirred. His eyes fluttered open slowly, blinking against the bright morning light. He lay still for a moment, feeling the softness of the mattress beneath him, listening to the sounds of the palace waking up around him.

He sat up in bed, pushing the thick blankets aside. The first thing he did, almost without thinking, was reach up and touch his neck, gently feeling the skin where he remembered... something bad.

There was nothing there. No pain, no mark, just smooth skin. It still felt strange.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat there for a moment, looking around his familiar room. Then, he spoke softly to the empty air. "System Window."

Instantly, a translucent blue screen shimmered into existence in front of him. It floated silently in the air. On the screen, a simple, friendly-looking emoji face appeared, its pixelated eyes blinking.

Text appeared beneath the face, forming neat lines:

[System]: Greetings, Eric. Do you require assistance?

Eric looked at the floating blue screen. He thought back to the chaos of the previous night – the fear, the confusion, the strange sense of not being in control of his own body, and then waking up unharmed.

"I..." Eric began, then paused, gathering his thoughts. "I didn’t get a chance to thank you properly last night," he said sincerely, looking at the emoji face.

"Thank you. For... for everything. You saved my life. Again. I don’t know how I can ever repay you." He felt a genuine sense of gratitude towards this strange, floating window that seemed connected to him somehow.

The emoji face on the screen remained unchanged. The window was silent for a few seconds. Then, new text appeared:

[System]: I actually used your own abilities. Whatever happened, you are responsible for it. Therefore, I see no reason for you to thank me

Eric blinked, reading the slightly confusing message. It sounded like the System was saying he had saved himself using powers he didn’t know he had, and the System just helped a little. It didn’t feel right, but before he could ask another question or try to understand, the door to his bedroom opened.

Roald, one of his personal guards, a sturdy man with a kind face, stepped inside. He saw Eric sitting on the edge of the bed and smiled in relief.

"Prince Eric! You’re awake!" Roald announced cheerfully. "Good morning, Your Highness."

Eric looked up and smiled back at the familiar guard. "Yes, Roald. Good morning. I’m awake."

Rold walked further into the room, but then he hesitated. He fidgeted slightly, looking at the Prince. He seemed like he wanted to say something more, something serious. He glanced towards the door, then back at Eric, clearly debating with himself whether to bring up the terrifying events of the previous night. Should he remind the Prince of the danger he had been in?

He took a shallow breath and decided to say it carefully. "Your Highness," Roald began, his tone becoming more serious, "about last night... even though you faced that terrible attack..."

But before Roald could finish his sentence and potentially upset the Prince by reminding him of the trauma, Eric interrupted him. Eric smiled brightly, a genuine, easy smile that seemed to dismiss any lingering fear from the night before.

"Don’t worry about it, Roald," Eric said cheerfully. "I’m perfectly fine! And actually, I was just about to get ready." He stood up fully from the bed, stretching slightly. "I’m heading to the training grounds. I wouldn’t miss my morning practice for anything!"

Roald’s worried expression immediately vanished, replaced by a wide, happy smile. Relief washed over his face. "Oh! That’s wonderful, Your Highness!" he exclaimed, clearly pleased. "I knew you wouldn’t let something like that stop you! I knew you wouldn’t skip your training!"

Eric smiled back, appreciating Roald’s confidence in him, even if he himself still felt confused about everything that had happened. He felt... strangely okay, despite the memories of danger.