Chetak was stunned, the next second, he reached out and grabbed the neck of the subordinate.
"I didn’t quite catch that. Can you repeat again? You say that the enemy sent squires, and you people are making such a commotion for that?"
"I-I-Its no that my lord. The one leading those squires is none other than that Reinhardt".
"R-Reinhardt?!!"
"Do you mean that Divine Paladin?"
The name itself was synonymous with strength and valor. It was no wonder the guests had such an over exaggerated reaction the moment Reinhardt’s name came up.
"Calm down, everyone. Even if the opponent is one of the three legendary level 10 knights, he cannot defeat us alone. We have numbers on our side. What’s more, he is leading a group of greenhorns"...
"He may be level 10, but the curse has rendered him bedridden and out of the frontline for many years. He is bound to have gotten weaker. Hmph, attacking my city, with such a lousy lineup, he is beginning to get humiliated. Send word to Sir Rattleboots, let’s give the honor of defeating a Divine Paladin to him and his Tinker Knights".
Chetak ordered with a smug smile on his face. That said, his smug expression didn’t last long when he saw his subordinate still kneeling on the ground without moving.
"What are you doing? Get moving right now".
The subordinate still didn’t move. A few seconds later, he gulped and reported "Sir Rattleboots and his Tinker Knights have already engaged the enemy. However, they are being..."
BOOM...BOOM... the subordinate could not finish his words, a loud explosion caused the very mansion to shake intensely.
"Now what?! What is going on in my city?" Chetak muttered.
From his viewpoint on the balcony, he saw two explosions going on simultaneously. One went off in the middle of the city in the central district, and the other adjacent to their mansion.
Douse the fire!!
Bring more water!!
Do not let the fire spread!!
Shouts rang out from outside
"That area... that is where the slaves are being kept."
Snapping out of his daze from the spreading fire, Baron Chetak suddenly roared and ran towards the underground cellar.
Huff... huff... This can’t be happening. Did the enemy already know about the location of the captive demi humans? The explosion also seemed like it came from the underground slave market.
Then could it be that the Divine Paladin and the Squires he was leading are just a distraction for the Knights of the Temple of Light to rescue the kidnapped demi humans back? Dammit, as if I’ll let you.
Roaring manically in his head, Baron Chetak made his way over to the underground cellar. As his body was out of shape, by the time he and his guards arrived at the scene, all that was left was a scene of ruins.
All of his slaves and demi humans were missing.
"Where are they? Search them!! Do not let those bastards get away with this."
On his orders, the guards searched all around the place only to find nothing.
"Useless!! Useless, all of you. Why am I even feeding you all?"
While he was in the midst of hissy fits, screams, and sounds of people crying rang out from inside his mansion.
"Don’t tell me.... ?!"
Immediately, his face paled, and he rushed to the pleasure hall where his guests and precious slaves were. However, at this moment, other than his usual entourage, there was also a group of uninvited guests inside.
CLANG... CLANG... Chains and collars fell to the floor as all the slaves were freed from their shackles.
"This one is heavily sedated. Use a potion on her."
A sexy female assassin, covering her face with a blood red smiling mask, instructed. The other assassins executed her command.
Seeing his property being touched, Baron Chetak raged.
"You bastards!! You dare steal what belongs to me? Kill them all."
The guards sprang into action at his command. They all rushed with their blades and skill at the twelve assassins that dared to infiltrate their mansion.
BANG... CLANG...SPURT...
Skills collided and blades drew blood. In just a couple of seconds, the twelve assassins finished off the people around Baron Chetak.
"HIIEEE..." Seeing the dismembered body of his people and blood spraying on his face, the latter slipped on the floor and fell on his buttocks.
"They were the elites that I hired. How can it..."
"Elites?!"
"Was there anyone impressive among the lot?" the assassins stifled a laugh.
CLAK.. CLAK... at this moment, Karina made her way over.
"Who told you all to strike up a conversation? Focus on your mission".
"Yes!!"
"Tie up this pig with those lots and search the mansion. Find all the proof related to the slave trading."
BANG... The tip of her boot struck the chin, knocking the pig out.
.
.
At the same moment, the Central District, underground slave market.
"This place disgusts me. How can they do this to their own lots?"
Zerina scowled as he glanced at the abominable sight of the slave market. People shackled in chains and collars, sold by shopkeepers to the highest bidder. Cages containing the slaves, the training house that drilled obedience into them by subjecting them to inhumane torture.
Their malnourished bodies, lifestyle, and the sickening taste of the buyers. The entire place was so sickening to look at that even the knights had to look for a while.
"This place makes me think of the ritual we used to perform back in our village."
For Zerina to compare it to the demon’s sacrificial dungeon, no one had anything to retort about it.
"That’s how humans are. This is what it looks like when greed and insanity take over one. Most of the slaves here are people from their own city. People who were brought over from the slums because they could not pay off the massive debt imposed on them. You might be right, this place is no different than a demon’s dungeon" Bob commented.