Telephus was absolutely shocked.
He could not make sense of what Griffith was thinking, but shocked was the only word for it.
"I believe I may have misheard.
You perhaps meant you want to join Troy's side? Is that right, Griffith?"
"No, no, no. Greece."
Lol.
The two gods eavesdropping from above found the scene in front of them endlessly entertaining and were practically thinking of recording it to show Heracles later for an even better reaction.
"You just said you wanted to help me teach the Greek alliance a lesson."
Telephus stopped himself from pressing further, though he was barely holding back, nearly bursting to ask what kind of help this was supposed to be.
Was this meant to be taken the opposite way?
But then he caught the look in the other party's eyes, so composed and unhurried, as though everything were already anticipated, calm as the surface of the Rhine in stillness.
Steadied by that presence, Telephus found his own mind settling and began to wonder whether there was still something up his sleeve.
'Griffith must have a deeper reason for doing this. Perhaps I should trust him a little more.'
"Who says joining Greece means you are necessarily helping Greece?
Telephus, I have a plan."
And with that, keeping his expression blank, Night finally began laying bare his true ambition.
He laid out the plan he had long since prepared, step by step, on how to help Telephus tear the Greek alliance apart from the inside.
Bring Greece crashing down, and one day march on Olympus itself and have the king of gods, Zeus, personally crown you the new king of Mycenae!
What Agamemnon, that so-called ruler of all, can do, why can't you, the son of Heracles, do the same?
Well, that last part was a joke, of course.
Night would never actually say that to Telephus directly.
But the encouragement did send Telephus's heart racing, and after hearing the full plan out,
This is actually how it can be done?!!
Telephus, a straightforward Greek who had never encountered anything like the undercover approach, sat there with his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg, even more stunned than before.
And yet this absurd, outrageous plan, he somehow felt, seemed, just possibly, workable?!
At this point Telephus was even a little excited and genuinely moved.
Griffith had come up with such a world-shaking, completely unprecedented plan for his sake.
"This is too dangerous! Griffith,
I cannot let you take this risk. Let me go instead!!"
Telephus suddenly had the sudden impulse of a novice player hearing a master's strategy and immediately wanting to try it himself.
Damn, something this fun, why leave me out?
Although he could not join Troy because of the mysterious voice, he could join Greece.
So it turns out that joining Greece did not necessarily mean helping Greece. You could be stabbing them in the back all along!
As long as he was helping Troy by sabotaging Greece, that was not betrayal against his father-in-law at all!
Telephus had arrived at this realization entirely on his own, instantly grasping the spirit of serving one master while loyal to another.
But of course Night could not let Telephus come along.
He needed Telephus to make the introduction but absolutely could not have him present in person.
The moment someone vigilant got suspicious and started asking a few more questions about how Telephus came to know him, the chances of exposure would go up dramatically.
However, if Telephus himself was absent, the room to maneuver grew considerably.
And Agamemnon and the others were not about to go out of their way to verify things with Telephus in the middle of a war.
For the sake of this grand achievement, Night was going solo on this one.
So bro, it's not like I don't want to bring you along; it's more like I can't.
Well…next time for sure.
"No, Telephus. You cannot go.
A letter of introduction is one thing.
Your kingdom was just invaded by Agamemnon. If you immediately and eagerly show up yourself to fight in his war,
What do you think he would make of that?
With Agamemnon on guard against you, you would not be able to do anything at all and might only end up tipping him off."
....
Night stopped just short of pointing at Telephus and telling him outright that his presence would be deadweight and actively counterproductive.
Telephus paused in embarrassment, then realized.
After further persuasion, Night succeeded in convincing him, and Telephus agreed to write the letter of introduction, vouching for him to head to the Trojan battlefield under the identity of a son of an Argo hero.
And with the way he had been deliberately, casually vague earlier, cultivating the impression that Uncle Kratos and Telephus's father were apparently quite close (one-sidedly close)
(Night: So I have technically not lied!! Even if Heracles heard about this, he could not accuse me of blasphemy.)
The relationship must have been a good one.
So in the letter Telephus went into enthusiastic detail about his admiration for Uncle Kratos and even noted that his own father had held that hero in very high regard. (Heracles: ???)
And the descendant of Uncle Kratos, Lord Griffith, was a person of exceptional talent who, upon hearing of the difficult situation at the Greek front, had expressed deep concern.
With this in mind, Telephus had suggested Lord Griffith proceed to the front to offer his support, and out of his love for the Greek lands and devotion to all of Greece's stability, Lord Griffith gladly agreed to go.
Telephus showered him with praise in the letter to the point where even Night felt goosebumps rising.
He quickly put a stop to it. Know when to stop.
"I know you want to help me! But if you write it like this, instead of joyfully welcoming my support, Agamemnon is going to be wildly suspicious and convinced you sent me as your own spy."
Night was really worried that if he walked in the door with this letter, Agamemnon might have him locked up before he could say a word.
Some things needed to be done in moderation.
It was not that it could not be written, but that too much undid everything.
After his persuasion, even though Telephus was left a little reluctant and regretful, he started fresh on a new letter.
It was obvious he really wanted to play a bigger role.
Even if only in the letter itself, he wanted to give as much help as possible.
Telephus practically wanted Agamemnon to value Griffith as highly as could be so that when his dear friend Lord Griffith started working against Agamemnon from the inside, the effect and the payoff would be even better.
...
...
Time passed to the next morning.
After a night of open conversation, having successfully made a genuine friend out of Telephus and obtained the letter of introduction,
Night slept the night in the palace at Telephus's invitation.
Telephus also sent over twenty beautiful women to attend to him, hoping to offer him some sensual pleasures, but he declined.
Well ...Night had no habit of sleeping with second-hand goods.
Of course, he didn't have some virgin obsession in the beginning, after all, men and women are equal in relationships, and since he himself was not one, who was he to demand the other party be one.
However, no that he's got to experience something so miraculous in his life, can't he let himself go.
He didn't want to be a hypocrite but, if a chaste beauty, who hadn't even held hands with any other man, offers herself to you...wanting to only belongs to you, it's hard to refuse.
He refused one, because she only wanted to repay him and he didn't want to invite trouble.
But he wasn't an Eunuch.
However, this time, it was even easier to refuse.
After all, even though Telephus insisted they were freshly prepared for some esteemed guest who might visit, the thought of how Greek heroes slept wherever they went with anyone available was enough.
Sometimes they even held group parties together.
Night had no desire to one day count himself among those people, so he refused firmly.
He believed a man could be driven by desire but should never let himself be indiscriminate about it.
Otherwise, what separated him from livestock?
If they were someone who belonged to him, like two maids back in Rome, or someone like Helena, Night might've had some interest, but since he was not taking the women with him, he had no intention of sleeping with them either.
In the end, Telephus had no choice but to withdraw the gesture of sending him off in that particular fashion.
Seeing how much Griffith had done for him, Telephus wanted to entertain him properly as a gesture of gratitude, but it turned out the other party simply would not accept any of it.
And the most disappointed at that moment were not His Majesty, the king himself, but the women who had been eagerly looking forward to their union, especially after learning who the man they were to be with was.
Each of them had been anticipating it with great excitement, among them even several of Telephus's daughters, princesses of the kingdom.
.
.
.