“Are you sure this will work, boss?” an albino man questioned, looking as if he was ready to cause trouble for the man he served. He wore thin-rimmed glasses over his bright red eyes. He had his white hair in a crewcut, making him look like a drill sergeant from Transylvania. It didn’t help that he wore something equal to a Nazi German uniform without the red armband. “I mean, last I checked, the man we want to use as a guinea pig won’t be able to do what we need him to.”

“Oh, quit making a mountain out of a molehill, Eduardo,” a man in the shadows said. “After all, we have little to no choice on the matter, not when it counts.”

“Oh, sure,” Eduardo said, giving off a deep growl at his comrade. “I mean, you don’t think it’s that bad, but that’s because you don’t go out to the field and see for yourself!”

“Men,” a shadowed woman said in a Texan drawl. “Are you that inept, Eduardo?” she asked. “I think you need to be off of the field duty that you’ve gotten stuck with.”

Eduardo turned to face his current naysayers, the shadows only giving the color of their eyes, all of them being various shades of red. His eyes were the only ones that required glasses, but it benefited him all the same since he was sure that the others in this group were blind as bats in the middle of the day, while he only had issues with seeing things closer than a book a foot away from his face.

Then again, he knew bats were blind at all times of the day, but the point still stood.

Before he could say anything to his naysayers, however, the boss pounded his scepter onto the throne he sat on. “Silence, please,” he said. “We need to present ourselves as a united front against our eternal enemy, the Archduke of Light. He cursed us to be this way, and thus, we ought to curse he and his creations to lift the curse on us.” He then looked Eduardo in the eye, even if the boss hid in the shadows as well. “Am I clear, Eduardo Von Ehrenburg?”

Eduardo nodded and gave a sharp salute. “Understood, boss,” he said. “Still, please repeat your instructions to me, will you? I fear I might not have heard the directions correctly.”

“At ease, Eduardo,” the boss said. As Eduardo lowered his arm from the salute, the boss continued to speak. “Now, to remind you of the plan, it’s quite simple. We need you to blot out the sun from the land of the mortal living, to eliminate the Archduke of Light’s creations. How you pull this off is up to you, but it needs to be done.”

Eduardo nodded before he seemed to have thought of something. “What about the possession target? Do I need to do something about that?” he asked.

The boss put a hand to his chin before he placed his scepter down on his lap. “I think you do, Eduardo,” he said at last. “Work to eliminate any other witnesses, then let the mortal police force in the area arrest him since he’ll be nothing but a scapegoat to let our chosen warrior do his thing.”

“Yes, sir,” Eduardo said. “Is that going to be all?”

The boss stayed silent, even though his posture said volumes.

“Understood,” Eduardo said, giving a one-armed bow. “Allow me to take care of this right away.”

With that, a dark cloud swirled around him from the bottom up, causing him to vanish without a trace. Once he had left, however…

“Well, what a relief,” the first of the naysayers said. “Are we supposed to let him in on our secrets, boss?”

“That’s a good question,” the second naysayer said. “We don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea about our group, right, boss?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The boss growled as he heard the complaints. “Everyone, we need to discuss what we’re going to do next,” he said at last. “Eduardo is due to return in a few days at most, so we need to prepare for his victory.”

“Uh, boss,” a third subordinate said, this one a short man in the shadows. “How are we supposed to prepare for his victory at this rate? We have next to nothing to prepare with.”

“I have to agree,” a fourth subordinate said, before she coughed into her right elbow.

“Are you alright?” the boss asked his subordinate. “You’ve been coughing a lot as of late, have you not?”

“I… I should be fine, boss,” the sickly subordinate said, waving her left hand in assurance. “It will take a lot more than this to bring me down, boss.”

“Let’s hope so,” the boss said. He shook his head. “Now, onto the details we need to uncover.”

“What sort of details, boss?” the subordinate with the Texan accent asked.

“The sort of details that could make or break our very survival,” the boss said. “We need to ensure that our survival is well in place.”

“And how do we do that?” the first male subordinate in the shadows asked. “I mean, for all we know, the enemy is aware of all our plans to survive and thrive.”

“No need to worry, everyone,” the short man of the subordinates said. “I think we’re going to survive super well, based on the planned outline of how we will do things from here on out.”

Everyone else in the room looked at him.

“Wh-what?” the short man asked. “Do I have something on my face?”

This caused everyone else in the room to facepalm.

“What?” the short man asked. “What did I say?”

The boss grumbled under his breath when he heard that.

“Er… I think I should use this opportunity to take a small vacation,” the short man said. “I’ll be back in three days’ time, boss.”

The boss grunted, nodding his approval as he did so.

“Thank you, boss,” the short man said.

“All of you take a vacation,” the boss said, his tone filled with finality. “Be back in three days’ time.”

“As you command, your liege,” the subordinates said with a one-armed bow. They then left in the same manner that Eduardo left.

The boss sighed as he got up from his throne. “I’m surrounded by idiots,” he said, walking out of the throne room via a door to the left of the throne itself. “What else can I say about this mess?”

He walked down the corridors that led to his personal suite. Before he made it to his bedroom, however, he took a sharp right into what seemed to be a solid wall, only it was an illusory wall. As his form faded from view, he walked on down to where his personal shrine rested.

When he arrived at the shrine in question, he bowed to the ground in front of it. “Great Master,” he prayed to the being the shrine represented. “I beseech you for knowledge and the wisdom to use it.”

For a few seconds, there was absolute silence. After the five second mark, however, the air around the shrine shifted, feeling heavier than normal. The Great Master had arrived at the shrine.

“What is it you wish to know?” the Great Master asked his faithful subject.

“Great Master,” the faithful subject said. “I wish to know who I can recruit that is loyal to a fault, yet competent at their jobs. I need more subordinates who are like Eduardo Von Ehrenburg.”

The Great Master sighed before placing a hand on his subject’s shoulder. “As we’re both well aware, wonderful help is so scarce,” he said. “I will help you, my faithful subject, but you need to provide more details about what you are looking for in a subordinate.”

“Thank you, Great Master,” the faithful subject said. “I need more who are like Eduardo, but primarily a mix of men and women, to even things out.”

“Very well,” the Great Master said. “I will assist you in your endeavors. Will that be all?”

“Not just yet, your worship,” the faithful subject said with a shake of his head. “I wish to know how to best liberate the people of the land from the curse of the Archduke of Light, your sworn enemy as much as mine.”

“Are you sure of this, my faithful subject?” the Great Master asked. “This is not your fight, my precious helper. I do not wish to see you get killed doing my job.”

“I am sure of it, Great Master,” the faithful subject said, giving a resolute nod. “Please, allow me to help you, my liege.”

The Great Master paused, as if considering his subject’s words for a time. Finally, he said, “Very well. You may help with this issue.”

“Thank y—”

“However! I want you to follow my directions on this to the letter, my faithful subject. This means no making up ideas that would help, because I’ve been working at this longer than you have been alive. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Great Master, clear as crystals that have yet to be dulled,” the faithful subject said.

“Good, good,” the Great Master said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to set things up for our prepared plans to liberate the world.”