“Lord Reign has requested that you enter the dungeon and acquire the item.”
“Eh?” I looked up, seeing just a ray of hope in the murky sky. “Me?”
“Of course, you’ll be escorted by my party personally.”
“You need not worry. Your… slaves… can stay here where it is safe. My team is more than adequate at protecting you.”
“Is there any reason, in particular, I should lead?” I decided to ask, more out of curiosity over his excuse than any desire to know.
He raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you now the lord of the wilderness? The dungeon falls in your land. What kind of example do you want to send when another man’s knights disappear within your own dungeon?”
“A complete mistake!” He laughed jovially, although the mirth didn’t touch his eyes. “You’ll have complete entry as soon as we finish up here. In fact, Lord Reign will even offer you a reward. For completion of the mission, he’ll offer you gladiatorial rights.”
Raissa gasped, this time catching his eye for a moment, but he only smiled and looked up at me.
“Is that good?” I asked, pretending I was interested.
“Gladiatorial rights allow you the right to use your slaves in the arena. If you have a powerful slave, it’s a great way to make money. Normally, the rights are difficult to earn. You have to gain the consent of a lord in a city that has a sponsored colosseum.” Raissa explained in whispers.
Since she grew up here, it seemed like she was familiar with the colosseum. From seeing Shao’s memories, I had a bad impression of it though. Either way, I wouldn’t hesitate to toss away the reward. It was obviously a trap. However, refusing had its own difficulties.
“I accept. I’ll go upstairs and get ready. We leave in the morning?”
He had an annoyed expression when he looked at my girls, and some of the other guys were already looking at them indecently. “Hmph, I’d rather get this over now, but since you’ve been gone all day, I’ll allow you the night. We leave early in the morning!”
I nodded and went up to our room. All of the girls joined me.
“It’s a trap, Master!” Lydia responded anxiously.
“Of course he knows! What is Master’s plan?” Shao responded a bit more pragmatically.
“I’ll go with them in the morning,” I responded. “And I’ll send you guys to the 1st floor to counter them.”
“It may not be so easy, Master,” Shao responded uncertainly. “They may have more knights already positioned in the dungeon.”
“I don’t think they think that highly of me. They’re more worried about you girls. They’re more likely to position them at the entrance, and possibly the mine if they suspect we got in that way.”
The rest of the night, we discussed the plan and took turns getting a little bit of sleep. The inn’s common room was trashed, but at the moment, I couldn’t cause any trouble with the knights. Sorry, innkeeper, you’re just going to have to deal with the rowdy knights. Tomorrow, we would kill them all.
“Once you wipe them out, there is no turning back,” Shao responded.
“I know. Tomorrow, we become fugitives.”
Come morning, I opened a portal and let the girls leave. I shut it just before Raissa walked through.
“Ah… sir?” She looked back at me.
“What we are doing is out of your pay grade,” I said. “I’m not going to have you risk your life like that.”
“I-t’s okay… I want to…”
“I have a more important mission for you. Go to the prince, hand him this letter. Let him know what’s happening.” I handed her the letter I carefully made, although I had no seal yet I still used some melted wax.
“Wait! I’ve been meaning to tell you something.” She blushed. “I wanted you to know that I-“
I opened a portal and pushed her through it. Her words were lost with a shout. I closed the portal immediately behind her. With a sigh, I packed up the rest of the room, left a large tip to pay for the inn’s damages caused by the knights, and then headed down. Today was going to be the day I take my first stand against Lord Reign.