[VRMMO] Dead One

"Okay…. We have a problem." – said the paladin with bandana.

"The empire is on the move."

"Shit…. Just as predicted…." – said the pope king while using communication device.

"…"

"You are thinking that the Alamin plan is a sabotage?" – asked the paladin.

"Aren't you as well?" – replied pope king.

"Fuck! I really can't tell!"

"The plan does sounds good and perfect…. But….. FUCK ME!"

(Alamin isn't idiot. He is a smart guy!)

(Would he really betray us?!)

(But if he did…. Then his plan is a set up?! Are digging up our own grave!)

(The anteaters that we had interrogated said that Alamin confirmed that he is a traitor when he was corned by the demon lord.)

(But there is another thing that the demon lord said that struck adventurers as odd.)

(He said that Alamin isn't a idiot and he knows that he won't be able to create his own kingdom without a support.)

(He said that somebody outside this continent is out there, promising him to lend a support.)

(But whose word do I trust?)

(Our enemy the demon lord?)

(Or the trusted servant?)

(There are also adventurers all saying the same thing…..All saying that Alamin said himself that he is planning on betraying us.)

"…"

"How do you see it?"

"The plan, I mean. Do you think we should go with it or swap it?"

"…"

"Honestly….. I don't know." – said the paladin.

"I've talked about this with the others…. The ones we can trust that is to keep their mouth shut…. And they opinion is split."

"Even if Alamin is a traitor, the plan he proposed is a good one."

"Some say that we should stick to this plan…. While some others are saying that we should try and do something else."

"The empire army is on move, but they won't get here so fast…. However, they ARE on the move, so it is not like we have infinity amount of time left."

"We need to take decision now, or we will be forced to stick with Alamin plan no matter what."

"…"

(Should we change it?!) – thought extremely nervous pope king.

(The Tail city is extremely crucible for all forces taking part in this war, who ever controls it will have a huge advantage within the beastmen kingdom.)

(We not only took over that city, but we also had dealt a massive blow to the demon lord army, forcing one of his armies to straight up ran with tail between their legs.)

(But now they came back with a different army and this time there is also the demon lord taking part in that operation alongside the empress.)

(These two are the main problems.)

(According to the reports from the last battle, the empress took down countless angels all on her own, she is apparently a living arsenal not filled with some random weapons, but instead of legendary weapons. She is a weapon of mass destruction.)

(We did defeated her army, but apparently she herself wasn't defeated…..And there is also the demon lord.)

(Alamin plan was simple, but effective.)

(Holy water.)

(We would dig up holes and pour water inside of them before them blessing them and putting in remote controlled bombs that can be set off from afar.)

(The bombs would go off, blowing up the empire soldiers, while also spraying around holy water.)

(Obviously something like that would not really stop their army, but instead it would give us some advantage in the fight.)

(Not only that, but the plan is far too simple… So simple that the enemy wouldn't realize it. They would instead think that we would go with something more complicated, but instead we would hit them with something simple that would land a blow at full power.)

(There is also the second stage of the plan where we would use special cannons blueprints that Alamin managed to steal from the dwarves before the war had even started.)

(Anty air cannons.)

(From what I know, the dwarves anty air weapons were extremely effective against the empire flying monsters.)

(By using these cannons we will force their flying monsters to either retreat or fight on the purified grounds.)

"…"

(But can we be sure that neither of those things were tampered with?)

(He was the one that got the blueprints.)

(He was the one that suggested using bombs design made by his subordinate.)

"…"

"Fuck…. The bombs…. And the cannons. Are they both working properly? They were not tampered with or anything?"

"No… I've had my men check them before we started this meeting." – said the paladin with bandana.

"So far, they are saying they did not found anything wrong, but I've ordered them to check again…."

"…"

"Then how would Alamin betray us?" – asked the pope king.

"No, I mean seriously."

"If he didn't tampered with the weapons….. Then how would he betray us?"

"The adventurers said that he was planning to betray us after destroying the empire, but what if him getting exposed forced his plans forward?"

"How can we be sure that the enemy outside the continent that is supporting Alamin isn't coming here right now?"

"I maybe bit paranoid, but are we walking into the trap right now?"

"I mean, he planned on betraying us later and not now…. So maybe he wasn't planning on doing anything yet?" – replied the paladin.

"How can we be sure? Maybe he plans to make us destroy each other?!" – asked the pope king.

…

Distrust.

Confusion.

Chaos.

ClownFrog words of truth started poisoning both the paladin and pope king minds.

At this point, it is fair to say that they had lost their trust completely in Alamin…. And that makes them question.

Are they currently getting manipulated into self-destruction?

Who is the "ally" of the Alamin?

Was the demon manipulating adventurers? But if so, were the reports of Alamin betrayal fake?

What about the adventurers that fought the demon lord? Should they ask them? They could, but there is problem that during war the death penalty ban is extended.

The player ban is influenced by multiple factors:

-Their level.

-Their current affinization: Are they doing a faction war quest or some sort of special quest that contains a heavy death penalty.

-Did they died in the hostile territory?

-Were they under any special effects?

Not only that, but there is also the fact that one hour in real world is 3 hours in game world, meaning that an 24 hour ban would be equal to 3 in game days.

Obviously it would take time for ClownFrog to retreat, regroup and then send out an army, but can the holy empire wait? They need to start setting up their defenses and traps.

Not only that, do they know if Alamin would even show up? Would he try to defend himself?

Or would he just run away with his guild?

They could not wait, they needed to make decision now, since the empire was already on the move.

Alamin plan is good, but he is a traitor that cannot be trusted anymore.

Do they gamble and rely on the traitor plans? Or do they try to change their plan?

They checked the cannons and the bombs, but there were no sights of tampering…. However, again. Lack of trust. They didn't knew if they were not just walking to their own death.

The holy king maybe foolish zealot and everything, but even he can put simple 2 and 2 together…. And that what scares him, because he don't know the answer to the next question after the first one, he lacks informations.

…

This is poison.

Distrust.

You don't know if you can trust a person right next to you to watch your back.

Or… If that person you trusted was on your side in the first place?

Alamin words back then when he got exposed in the debate publicly forced him to confirm that he is a traitor in order to protect his own name…. Because if he didn't, nobody would ever trust him ever again.

However, him openly admitting like that? It may saved his own skin and his guild lives, but what about the holy kingdom?

Or their current course of action? The plan that Alamin helped in making? That he practically came up with?

Can this plan be trusted?

THAT IS THE PART THEY DON'T GET.

They lack informations and they don't have time right now to get the answer, since they need to start preparing for the enemy arrival NOW!

"…"

"We are abandoning Alamin plan." – said the pope king.

"!?"

"Y-you sure about this your holiness?!" – asked surprised paladin.

"Yes, I'm fucking sure!" – replied furious pope king.

"Even if the equipment wasn't tampered with, what if his plans fails!? What if he intentionally filled us informations about the empire not thinking about simplest method in order to make us lose that battle?!"

"I'm not risking it."

"Scrap the entire plan and quickly come up with something new, now!"

In the end, the pope king gave into the doubt and paranoia, ordering his forces to abandon Alamin plan and make something different on the spot.

…

And here is a funny thing.

Alamin current plan wasn't sabotaged.

No.

It was thought-out plan that he and his guild came up with.

The plan of defending the city? It was extremely good and it was really meant to hinder the entire empire army that is coming.

But now?

His plan is crumbling apart, all because of ClownFrog exposing him to the public.

His current flawless plan is being destroyed because of the trust he had forged being questioned.

But obviously they cannot change their minds now.

Since the empire army is already near Tail city.