Priscilla reacted before Mash and sent messages to the others to be silent. Of all of them, it was Jill who had noticed something was up when he did. Her message was instant.
[I’m going to teleport out with Luke and the guards.]
That was all the warning she gave, and then the space around her bent as she vanished. The guards, Luke, and one of the boxes of cake vanished with her. Despite the urgency of the situation, Jill still took one of the boxes with her. He wondered if that was intentional, or if it was because Trek had fallen on that box. He bet on the former and that helped him relax as he walked over to the door. He swung it open before she actually knocked, and then realized that was probably dumb.
Lisa didn’t seem fazed and bowed deeply when she saw him. The gesture made him feel uncomfortable, and he rushed to stop her.
“Please don’t do that. Hello, want to come in? Do you like cake?”
She flinched but nodded reluctantly. Her shoulders rose slightly as she stiffened. Red spoke up from behind Mash too.
“Hello, Miss Lisa. I’m Red, it’s nice to meet you. Mash bought like every cake they had. Far too many for any reasonable person to eat. Please, take your pick.”
Lisa didn’t seem to know that Red would be there, and she instantly seemed to relax. The casual conversation seemed to help, so Mash tried to interject himself.
“Yeah, we had some guards over and… They showed me how to combine the cakes.”
Red and Priscilla both screamed in his head, and Mash realized he said too much. He paused awkwardly and tried forcibly to change what he had been about to say. It kind of succeeded as he made to show Lisa the combination of cakes, he had already taken a bite out of. Lisa smiled politely as she responded.
“Yes, I have seen many children do the same. Although, I rarely eat such sugary food.”
“Wait, you can’t be that much older than us.”
He felt a little snubbed when she called him a child. It was fair considering his real age, but he also thought that his experiences had aged him. Plus, she really did look young, and she was significantly shorter than him. Her dwarven blood made sure of that. She was a head shorter than even Jill who had been the runt of the group.
“I am twenty.”
She responded simply, and Mash decidedly kept his mouth shut. He had known she was older but believed it was only like a year older. His body like most had developed alongside his levels, though he lacked some things like apparent facial hair. It was unlikely that he would grow it now either. A person’s body changed very slowly after level 100. After 150, it was unlikely to see any changes past that point. Not that it really applied to him. He was fairly sure he could change his body however he wanted. She was six years older than him. He didn’t want to share his age any longer.
“He is fourteen, and I’m fifteen.”
Red’s words carried her thoughts on the matter. Lisa’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t seem to wrap her head around the words, and she shouted her reply.
“How are you so high-leveled? I thought people in your kingdom didn’t start till fifteen.”
It was the first fully genuine thing she had said. Mash smiled kind of awkwardly as he responded.
“It’s been a long year. If I was placing my mental age, it would be a solid twenty-five.”
Mash meant his response as a joke, but Lisa had taken it seriously. She started nodding quickly seeming to gain some meaning from his words.
“A dungeon with a high degree of time alteration then? I have heard that adventurers often lose track of time. I would love to hear about such a dungeon, but I do not believe we have time for such a story today. The king has requested your presence. Perhaps you can tell me about the journey?”
Mash shared a look with Red, and she sent him a very basic plan through Priscilla.
[Try your best to control the situation. Although, if the king does try something, create a distraction.]
That was an order he would enjoy following. The latter part of it was already in line with his plans. A dead Earl would be a rather fitting distraction. Lisa patiently waited for a response. He rushed through his words.
“Sure, let’s get going.”
She put down the cake that she hadn’t actually eaten and walked out the door after politely bowing toward Red. The king was apparently in the Slavery, and he was somewhat familiar with the path already. He didn’t focus much on the city and simply talked to Lisa as they moved. She was curious about dungeons and what it was like to be an adventurer. She seemed to genuinely enjoy the idea, and Mash was happy to share stories. He mostly just talked about the dungeons themselves and not the people or monsters. He tied to share some of his experiences with her. If only he could show the images to her. Priscilla could, but he decided to keep Priscilla’s existence a secret for the moment.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The day had fallen to night, but the city still shone with the artificial sun. The endless days of this kingdom were a sad thing in Mash’s opinion. Even a cold snowy night was an amazing sight. Like his sister and most of his kingdom, Mash loved the night sky. He wondered how many of the people here had ever even seen it.
“This may be an inappropriate question, but have the people here seen the night sky? Or the real sun for that matter? “
Mash knew the question was probably considered insulting. Lisa almost seemed disappointed to give him the answer.
“I doubt any children have. I have seen both, though only three times each. They were wonderful.”
She was obviously embarrassed by the answer. Mash couldn’t know what she was thinking, but he thought he could empathize a little. The conversation slowed with his question, and they talked about even less important things from that point on.
It didn’t take that long to get to the Slavery, and Mash got some updates on what the others were doing through Priscilla. Well, now they were truly committed. Mash’s smile had been genuine as he thought of what would happen. The building was the same as he remembered, but there were much fewer slaves inside. They didn’t just enter a random door either. Lisa led him up several flights of stairs, and Mash realized that each floor was designed to be a little more luxurious. She went past all of them, stopping at what he assumed was the top floor.
“Not the park?”
Mash asked the question as they stopped just before what he could sense was the park above. The floor they stopped on was very different from the one earlier. The floor here was covered in a thick white carpet. Which Mash happily dirtied with his bare feet. Lisa didn’t even flinch as Mash dragged his feet more than before.
“The king would not reside in such an open space. No, this entire floor acts as his place. We will meet him in the room there.”
She pointed down to the end of the hall, where a single wooden door stood out among the stone ones he had seen earlier. It was slightly red, and Mash could see mana woven through it making it a magical item. He thought he recognized it. The magic was designed for privacy. Lisa didn’t hesitate and opened the door. It swung inward and she stepped through and held it open for him.
The room was obviously a dining room. It had a long rectangular table with several seats, and many plates had already been laid out on it. The table was slightly red like the door, and Mash looked around for the king. The room was actually big enough that his domain didn’t instantly let him see all of it. A king was decidedly easy to find, especially when they wore a very obvious crown. A crown, Mash noted, that was made entirely of smaller gemstones. The king stood near an obvious bar and the Earl was talking with him happily. Mash glanced over the Earl as he focused on the king.
The king was not as young as Mash expected. He had a small beard, with blond hair that was combed back to flow down to the middle of his back. The king was also short. Shorter than Lisa by a hand. He was a full dwarf unlike her. The earl had many gems in his hair, and some were even used as more common pieces of jewelry. The king on the other hand wore a robe that was entirely made out of small gemstones. Thousands of them linked together to form a kind of chainmail. The whole ensemble disgusted Mash, now that he knew what he was looking at. The two men turned to smile at Mash as he stepped into the room.
“And so, the guest of honor has arrived. I am King Meson the Jeweled. I know it is an obvious title, but one I am proud to use. Please, sit and join me for a fine meal. I had only the best prepared.”
The king’s voice was much like the Earl's. His tone managed to convey every bit of his condescension. Mash still managed a polite response, though he didn’t give Priscilla control this time. He didn’t need to. Unlike before, he knew that he would get some revenge. Even if he couldn’t just kill the king, he could still cause a lot of chaos. His anger didn’t break his concentration but heightened it. He became extremely conscious of everything he did. He didn’t bother with an overly fake smile and instead smirked with as much confidence as he could muster.
The king had entered Mash’s domain. And he was weak. Even with his most generous estimates, he would be surprised to hear that the king was over level 90. No, he was probably closer to level 70. The king’s weakness did not endear himself to Mash. Rather something else happened upon meeting. His sense of wrongness that he had felt around the Earl was amplified. For the first time since he got the devourer class back in the labyrinth, Mash didn’t feel hungry. It was that oddity that made him feel like something was affecting him.
[I do not sense anything, should I go through your memories?]
[Later.]
A quick series of messages made him realize that he was just staring at the king. Mash responded smoothly as he shook himself of his thoughts.
“Hello. Thank you for the meal, it looks delicious.”
Mash walked over and sat down while he replied. The chair creaked a little, but soon everyone had taken a seat. Even Lisa sat. She was the first to start eating, though the king and Earl followed right after her. Only after they started to eat, did Mash begin himself. He didn’t hesitate to eat. Even if he wasn’t hungry, part of his task was to stall for as long as possible. So, Mash shoveled food into his mouth without even trying to savor the meal. He basically just swallowed it.
The king was unknowingly helping Mash with this elaborate meal. Mash mostly asked Lisa questions about the food, trying to avoid the king as much as possible. It kind of worked. The king kept asking a question here and there, and Mash made attempts at polite responses. The topics were all mundane and worthless though.
As most of the plates were emptied the king seemed done with idle conversation. His eyes didn’t glow, but they narrowed. Mash could see greed filling them. The king spoke slowly, his words echoing within the now silent dining hall.
“Now that you have eaten so happily, let us move to the real purpose of this meeting. You are a criminal, who is attempting to insight rebellion and anarchy. For that, I sentence you to a lifetime of servitude.”