God of Tricksters

The next morning.

Maya dropped her jaw when she saw Theo standing before her. Even Agata was impressed by his appearance.

Because of the event, Theo was required to disguise himself as someone else. And since they were going to an auction, Theo chose to become a bodyguard.

He wore a plain white shirt with a long black tie. Instead of a suit, he used a long black robe.

Since this was a different event, he had used his Metamorphosis to become a red-haired man, giving a more mature type than his usual appearance.

"Hmm… Quite good. I love it." Maya smiled and glanced at Agata. "What do you think?"

"It's good." Agata agreed without hesitation while Ava, on her arm, raised her foot as if having the same opinion.

"Yep, it's good." Stella's voice echoed in their ears as she walked toward them. "Are you both ready?"

"Yes." Theo nodded with a serious expression.

"There will be one Mythical Rank Expert and two Supreme Rank Experts with you in different cars." Stella smiled and clapped her hands. "In any case, have fun."

"Alright. See you, Mom." Maya waved her hand as she walked toward the car.

Theo also waved his hand to Agata and Ava, following her.

Agata and the others were watching the car until it couldn't be seen anymore before Stella bid her goodbye.

When walking, Stella remembered the last conversation they had.

"The real question is… why can't I?" After that question, Theo finally went back to his room to rest.

After everyone left the room, Stella frowned and looked at Bernard, who still remained as if accompanying her here.

"He has such confidence… But this situation is a bit trickier than his previous situations. I'm afraid the Griffith Family is not that easy to deal with. And with the Barbe Group in the mix, I don't know if he can do it…" Stella let out a long sigh, concerned about Theo's well-being.

Her comment was ignored by Bernard. She felt a bit weird and found Bernard's grim expression.

"Is there anything wrong?" Stella frowned, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"I think I have been underestimating him this whole time." Bernard covered his eyes with his hand.

It was clear that Bernard realized something important related to Theo.

Curious, she asked, "What do you mean? Care to explain?"

"I don't know how far he has planned it, but he might have some sort of secret organization."

"Eh? Is there any information about it?"

"No. I mean, just take another look at what he has been doing this whole time. I think he's planning to build his own influence… It won't be a big one, but it'll be a kind of an elite force."

"I can't see that happening, to be honest." Stella shook her head in confusion. There was no way Theo could make something like this. And creating an influence from scratch would take a huge amount of time and money, so Theo shouldn't be building something like that.

"Why do you think the agreement is that all the skill cards will be his and all material cards will be ours?"

"I don't know… Maybe just an equal exchange? The number of skill cards is less than material cards, but their value is higher. So, he just doesn't want to take care of so many cards. And the potential of people buying skills is higher." Shella answered.

"Then, what's about his enormous amount of money? He shouldn't be using that much money at once. Where does the money go? According to the information, he often buys a large number of skill cards." Bernard added another question that somehow struck deep in Shella's mind.

Shella didn't answer immediately. Instead, she looked down and contemplated Theo's role carefully.

Soon, her mouth was opened, her heart beat rapidly, and her face was aghast. "Influence?"

"Yeah. That's what I think. He can make money easily with his power or his reputation. If he became a consultant, he would be rich. His brain alone is among the top in the War God Family… not just their younger generations.

"Then, he often buys spells in Thersland. So, he should be using it for something… But what is the thing that consumes so many skill cards?" Bernard sucked a cold breath, seeing the intensity of Theo's plan.

"It's to train people with these skill cards. He's also enticing others with powerful skills. With so many skill cards, they will surely take the bait." Stella realized Theo had been building his own influence this whole time.

"Remember what he said earlier? Influence? I can create that one. Money? It's easy for me to make money."

"Yeah. Does that mean he's created his own influence?"

"Probably. There are three basic things your influence needs to have. The first is money. The second is skill cards. The third is weapons. These are the basics to make others join you. The rest like management, business and so on are just something that can be decided later on."

"Money is not a problem for him. He can easily create a small-scale company with what he has right now. Skill cards… He's been getting them this whole time, so he should have at least thousands of skill cards. Then, that leaves… weapon. Don't tell me…" Stella widened her eyes and stared at Albert.

"Yeah. As for weapons, we can supply that. It seems he's trying to bring us in as a partner. I don't think he wants an investor…" Bernard sighed. "And the best partner he can get…"

"Maya, huh." Stella nodded in agreement. "Well, isn't that great?"

"Yeah. Even without marriage, as long as they're friends, I'm satisfied." Bernard shrugged. "He's a pretty risky investment, but if the Wind Emperor dares to do it, why can't I?"

Little did they know, they had been overestimating him this whole time. The money was used to buy spells, and he hadn't become someone else's consultant this entire time. As for the skills, he simply stored them, so he had enough resources to rank up his skill.

Even influence was something that he recently came up with for Ava. Without him realizing it, his reputation had elevated his own worth.. And Ava was laughing with Theo when she told him about Bernard and Stella's conversation.