Everything was going as planned. Actually, it went too well that I feel like I might fail in the last minute.

Crap! Did I just trigger a flag?

With a creak, I opened the door and we stepped inside a room underground.

“Hey, you didn’t kill the guards, did you?”

Jordan called behind while he took a lantern from the wall.

“No worries. It’s just some tranq— sleeping poison. They’ll wake up after an hour, so we need to hurry.”

As soon as a damp draft blew, a disgusting smell entered my nose. Immediately, I covered my nose with my hand but the mixture of pee, shit, sweat, blood, hay and probably something dead, stubbornly attacked my nostrils.

“Jordan, did you fart or something?”

Jordan hit me on my back and covered his nose. Slowly walking along the long lines of prison cells on one side and cages on the other, slowly, we got used to the smell. Inside those prison cells were people from different races while inside the cages were high-ranking monsters.

I scanned the cells, on the first cell, a lone silver wolf sat in the middle of it, chained and battered with dried blood clinging to his dull fur. On the next ones, were segregated cells of each gender separated by races.

Surprisingly, there were a lot more beastmen compared to other races and in there, I saw Marny trying to blend in.

[Andiiii! Your finally here~! Elaine is in the cell after next!]

As soon as she sensed me, she called through telepathy. Even though she’s clumsy, she’s so loyal that she follows orders as closely as she can.

This pooch can be as hardy as a hooch! Oooh! That’s a nice one!

“The total slaves after the newest delivery is 36. Of course, excluding the monsters.”

Interrupting my simile puns, he light up the cells with a lantern and I saw a couple of slaves hide and fear while the others bared their fangs and anger towards us. Then I looked at the cages filled with monsters that snarled and were drooling with hunger at the sight of food in front of them.

“This is nice, we can use them. Then we can just have the vanguards defend everyone escapes. Tell me, do Evaris train them or is it left to the buyers?”

Jordan walked deeper into the room. Some of the wet hay crunched on his feet while the rest dampened the sound from his noisy boots. I glanced at Marny one last time, she nodded and went to isolate herself.

“The lord trains them. See the first one? He was quite stubborn so all the other trainings we put to a halt until he gives in. Silver wolves are rare so he’ll fetch a higher price compared to the others.”

I see. He looked strong with all his muscles and shit. He might even have a special skill or two. Now, how to get him to our side? It would be nice to have him join us too. Well, we’ll see.

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I took one last glance at the wolf and followed Jordan deeper. Soon, he saw his Elaine and they were exchanging sweet nothings at each other. Honestly, it was gross. Stupid big bro gross.

It was pure chance that we encountered Elaine. I was looking for information on which guards to turn when Marny mentioned her. Her name sounded familiar so while Marny was getting delivered from the northern villages, she made contact and asked if she knew about Jordan. Then as simple as bro’s plan was, turning Jordan was nothing but easy.

“Tell me kid, how’d you know Elaine was here?”

He faced me. His eyes were wet with tears yet he looked at me with suspicion. According to what she said to Marny, Evaris fell in love with her when he went to Anventu for a meeting. Of course, Elaine rejected him, then he found out about her beloved Jordie.

He soon went to find Jordie but in then end he couldn’t. Because he was looking for him under the name of Jordie. It was pure coincidence that Jordan was hired by Evaris and he was just lucky enough to get promoted to captain. But after knowing who he was, his personality turned sour and he intercepted all letters from Elaine and tried to kidnap her. In the end, Elaine ran and hid herself, only to get caught by Evaris.

I bet he’s jerking himself off right now at the thought of catching her.

“It was a coincidence. I had someone get caught as a slave and heard the story from her. I needed someone from the inside so I used her to get to you. That’s all.”

I shrugged. His face turned to a scowl, his body tensed ready to attack. It took him a while, I can see how he debated on what to do with me. In the end, he chose to accept the offer and just sighed heavily while turning back to Elaine.

Satisfied, I continued walking. On the last cell, Plynii was the lone daemon and was chained to the wall with glowing chains. He had bruises but not as worse as the wolf so he lifted his head and stared at me. The man was silent and even with telepathy he’s quiet.

“This guy here was part of the ones we brought the night I met you. He’s also expensive so we’re keeping him here in the end to lessen his will to escape.”

Jordan followed with the lantern and light shone on Plynii’s face. He was staring so intently that I couldn’t help but wink at him. In response, I saw his face twitch and glower.

What? You were the one who was staring...

I pouted and mumbled as I turn back, I realized that he might’ve been really angry because of what happened to him. It’s not my fault, he’s the one who volunteered.

While going back, I dragged my dragger’s hilt onto the bars making a clanging sound. The noise resounded throughout the whole place and caught the attention of each slave.

“Alright, everyone. Listen please!”

I said as loud as I could so the whole room could hear me.

“Do you want to escape this shit hole?”

Murmurs of doubt and curses came from the slaves. I expected their reaction so I nonchalantly wait for them to settle down.

“It’s not that hard. All I need are some muscles and those brave enough to fight. Then, the rest will followed this guard.”

I explained. I can’t help but feel so awesome right now. A hero doing his best to free slaves, it’s like something out of a manga!

Wait, I need to focus! What next? Hmmm...

“Oh right! At the end, my allies will be there to help you get where you want to go. It may take a while, but if you want, we can send you home safely.”

That’s all I could say to convince them, they’re afraid of getting betrayed so nothing I say will matter. And with that, I left the the room with Jordan scurrying behind.

“What, is that all?”

Yup, there’s nothing else to do. I can’t possibly convince them from outside those cells. Even big sis had a hard time convincing that to us that time.

“Dunno, we’ll have to wait to find out, so let them think about it.”

I brushed his question aside then I felt my tummy grumble when the fresh air carried the scent of dinner.

“Hey, where’s a good place to eat?”

This is also part of the mission! I promised myself to find all the good restaurants and eat with big sis while Nadi looks for ingredients to cook with! That means I have to conquer the food joints in this city!

“You’re thinking about food now?”

Jordan sighed but led the way outside the estate. We went to an open market where food stands lined up wonderfully from both sides. The scent of grilled meat made me hungrier while the buzzing noise of people eating made me excited.

“Wow! Thanks old man! See ya!”

I ran and left to fill my tummy with all the food this place could offer!

After eating, I returned to skulking Evaris’ estate with a full tummy.

Or maybe too full...

Blech... I feel sick...