In all honesty, Xenos calling himself a genius there was far from him being egoistic; the plan he concocted, though simple, was pretty... out there.
Earlier, before meeting the Lyacons, he and Eris thought themselves before a land war, one over a fallen Rune, only to meet bandits who came to assassinate some dumb kid.
This time, though, he'd go and search for one, a real one, pushing both sides into killing and tearing into each other, just letting them bleed each other dry while he went off to grind out monsters and level up.
That would be his waiting period, until eventually...
His dish would be ready, and Calamity would trigger, killing two birds with one stone, or maybe a hundred if he wanted to be realistic.
At the end, or near it, when both sides wanted out, he'd swoop in and do his magic...
'Talking~.'
Xenos had heard of a certain yellow-haired talker, but that kid had nothing on him.
He'd snatch the prize, leaving them with nothing but blood and death, something that was gloriously fun, cruel, and precisely the kind of plan Xenos loved.
His personality was G-ranked for a reason!
...
Xenos spent the next hours and then the next day doing exactly what he said he would:
Searching the unclaimed lands.
He didn't stop much.
Sleep was for people who trusted the world to wait; Xenos trusted nothing but his own instincts and the fact that he had no time to waste... perhaps he'd trusted Eris as well.
Nearly all of his time was spent walking, scanning plain fields, half-hidden valleys, dusty streams, and forests with many a familiar monster.
Xenos ate monkey meat between paces, sometimes chewing while sprinting, absolutely devouring his reserves.
He fought the occasional monster that popped up, small things that liked the taste of flesh, and bigger things that barely gave a better experience but easily doubled the effort.
Each fight acted much like a small rehearsal for the real one, and every time he got bloody, he wiped the worst of it off with a hand and thought about showering properly in the very near future, calming his want.
Xenos, being the clean freak that he was, wanted to shower by the second day's evening, itching to take out what stood for soap in this realm and scrub away, but again...
He stopped himself.
Besides his issues with time, inventory water was finite; if he used it on a proper bath, he'd stare at a puddle in regret later while fighting monsters that came to check his naked self out, finding his meat tantalizing.
The same would be said for those chasing after him.
He was sure that they weren't following him then, but a delay might change that.
And the reason for them losing him was simple.
Though hidden, they had limits they couldn't cross, and those were the areas Xenos casually walked through, but still, he wanted to be safe; he wasn't sure how seriously Veynar was taking this... he was sure doing a few illegal things wasn't at all unusual for him.
So yes... priorities.
Still, he kept himself decently tidy by current-outlaw standards, or at least tried to, scrubbing mud and the like off his person.
By the time he stopped thinking about that, evening had bled further into the night.
And before he realized it, night had bled into day, returning the sun's light.
He barely rested, napping in ditches and leaning against trees, one hand always in position, ready to summon his sword while his heart remained ready for the next noise.
Xenos tracked tracks, counted footprints, and learned paths people seemed to prefer avoiding, slowly getting better at searching.
On the third night, when the moon hung bright, he finally found what he'd been hunting.
Hidden high up on a hill, behind a few trees, his breath slow and careful, Xenos peered out across a clearing and saw two banners.
They stood opposite each other on a grass plain, while between them, a Rune floated, glowing faintly in the dark.
One banner read: House Gift.
Their sigil was a hand holding a lantern....
A House that Xenos certainly didn't expect to see.
'So Theodore's playing a little~.'
Perhaps seeing one of theirs, i.e., Gaia, becoming a Primary Element made him and his people more confident and daring.
Or perhaps they simply went all out, betting on their Primary Element, wanting to find her as many Runes as possible so that they could hug her thigh and climb up their Noble hierarchy.
Opposite them was another Lower House, one that Xenos didn't recognize, probably a scrappy, regional family:
House Vespera.
The banner bore a silver moth over deep blue, wings stained with battle—'suitable...'
Xenos's thought came while he scanned them.
Both sides were far from healthy; many of their injured propped against trees.
Their bannermen were limp, their blood staining the grass.
It was an unfortunate sight.
There were more of them dead than alive, and many of the dead lay scattered across the plain... an ugly harvest.
Reinforcements hadn't come; that was obvious enough from the ragged edges of their lines and the thinness of their numbers.
Xenos counted quietly in his head and found fewer than a hundred men between them, if that.
Maybe fifty on one side, thirty on the other.
Both exhausted, wounded, and hungry.
"Good."
Enjoying seeing his plan take shape, he slunk deeper into the trees, blending into bark and leaf.
While the Houses continued to kill each other, he'd go do something actually useful and maybe gain a level or two.
"May the grind continue."