The convoy was escorted into the mansion by a group of armed Blithes.

Reid and his group had to walk across dozens of acres of lawn just to reach the mansion, where more blobs(Blithes) awaited them, dressed like butlers and maids. One of the butler blobs came out to guide them.

The mansion was quite extravagant from within too, as it was adorned with various art forms like sculptures, paintings, and what-not. The blob then took them on the third floor using what seemed like an elevator, which was not much different from earthen elevators, at least in the aesthetics.

Reid was eminently nervous, which was quite obvious looking at his contorted expressions. Edgar, on the other hand, had miraculously changed and didn't even utter a word, ever since they entered this mansion.

'It seems that this mayor is quite the personality.' Abhin silently pondered as he followed them.

And soon they were, in front of the mayor, who was seated on a dining table. She signaled them to take a seat, as three maid blobs came out from the sidelines and helped them sit.

'A shura?'

The mayor was a Shura too - an aged Shura who had an extremely wrinkled square-shaped face, and horns on the brink of falling off. Her withering skin had lost its luster and it seemed as if she might doze off to oblivion any moment.

** **

"You know Charles, without the Research and Development sector's support, it is getting harder and harder to keep you hidden here." began the mayor.

"I.. know."

"And the more you stay here, the more in danger Elipsia(the planetary system's name) is in."

"But.."

"No buts, you should know that I won't risk my land and its people for you. So you better fix your relationship with them, or I will throw you out of here myself." *Elderly coughs* The mayor now had an aggressive tone as she reprimanded Reid.

'I wonder what they are talking' contemplated Abhin, as he eyed his surroundings.

"Edgar has been trying his best to assist you and yet you just don't seem to understand. The dead are dead, they won't ever come back. It is you who will have to move on, Charles."

"..." The Shura didn't retort, and instead meekly listened, as the mayor reprimanded him. The remand went on for quite a long time.

"Anyways, who is this new guest here?" The mayor questioned after she was done with Reid.

"A..an old friend of mi..mine." Reid hesitantly answered.

"Enough, now you have started lying to me too." She sounded disappointed rather than angry.

'Think, think, god damned brain of mine. Once I am trapped back in that room, there is no escaping.' Meanwhile, Abhin strained himself, in hopes of finding a way, or at least a clue to run away from here.

'The mayor seems extremely weak, taking her hostage might work.' Abhin glanced at the mayor who was delicate enough that it felt as if she could be killed just by a sneeze.

'No way. I must get be able to get out of Charles' view or at least distract him to even stand a chance of escaping.' He flinched as bad memories started taking over his mind.

'A decoy might work! But from where would I find a decoy? Heck, I can't even hide from their eyes for a split-second.' The second idea was discarded too. Time slowly trickled down, but he had no idea what to do. He slowly started getting nervous, which caused even more blobs to have their eyes on him.

'Have to Get away from their eyes. Get away from their eyes. Wait. Yeah! This might work.' He thought as he split the drink on his clothes, soiling them.

All the eyes present in the dining hall were now focused on Abhin. Things got awkward as everyone just kept on staring at him.

"I... need to go to the washroom." He requested the Skal in a low voice.

Edgar talked with one of the blobs and a maid blob soon came forward to escort him to the washroom.

The situation de-escalated as Abhin left the scene, scurrying behind the maid.

'Yes, Dammit. It's working.' Abhin joyfully thought.

It seemed as if things were finally taking a good turn for him. But good things never last long, and so was the case with him.

"Wait, let me go with you," Reid said as he glared at Abhin.

'Shit. Anyone but this Shura.' He cursed in his mind, as he paused his steps midway.

"Charles, ya spend time with Mrs. Mayor. I will go with him." Edgar suggested, because the mayor only called them to meet Reid, and it would not be great if Reid leaves her unattended.

"Fine, but be careful." After thinking for a while, the Shura replied.

'Phew, the goblin is still better than that Shura.'

A maid blob escorted both of them to the washroom on the third floor.

** **

"This maid's name is Nin, she is an expert in the cleaning arts. Please show this maid the stain, sir." The blob addressed herself in quite a weird way.

Abhin pretended to be baffled at the cute voice that blob made and stared at the Skal, in hopes that he will translate.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"She is asking ya to show the stain on ya clothes."

"Oh... is that so?" Anxiousness seemed to drip off his very existence as was seen in his ragged breathing.

"There it is miss," He took some deep breaths as he tried conversing with the maid.

While the maid cleaned his shirt, Abhin started talking with Edgar.

"Actually, the stain was just an excuse. I wished to have a private talk with you." He somehow started the conversation.

"It's not a goblin, ya jerk. It's a Skal." Edgar scowled in anger as he reminded his race umpteenth time to the human.

'Shit. I messed up.' (He went through a lot; how is he supposed to remember that?)

"I... I am extremely sorry, Sire Skal, but there is something extremely important I have to tell you, and only you, as a doctor can help me."

"Why not speak in front of everyone then?"

"I am actually very afraid of him(Reid). I cannot even speak in his presence. This is the only method I could come up with."

The Skal seemed convinced by this answer, as he gestured Abhin to further speak.

"Can you please send the maid away?" he requested.

"Why?"

"..." Abhin was left speechless as he was unable to put forward a valid reason for his request.

*Sigh* "Fine. Remember, the only reason I am doing this is that I know what ya have gone through. But mind it, this is the first and the last time I am discreetly checking ya up. Next time ya need me, contact Reid."

"Yes, Sire Skal." He replied as he made up his mind on something.

"Just call me Edgar."

"Nin, please move outside and wait till I call you?"

"As you wish, Sire Edgar," the maid blob yeeted out of that washroom.

"So, what is the problem?"

"Umm.. Sire Edgar..." Abhin said as he approached the Skal, "It is.."

When he was considerably close to that Skal, he landed a sneak punch directly on the right side of his face.

*Pow*

But the skal's face just budged a few centimeters, and the impact was not as powerful as Abhin thought it would be.

'Crap. Why is this happening? I trained in boxing, the punch was definitely not weak. Then why is it that this goblin, who is even thinner and shorter than me can take my punch head-on.'

"I knew ya were planning some bullsh..." Edgar was interrupted midway as he growled in pain on the ground holding his crotch, for the human kicked him in the balls. Abhin picked up a nearby vase and started smashing it on the Skal's head. It seemed that the vase was pretty tough too, as it broke only after a few strong hits, which were enough to make Edgar faint and his skull bleed. Green blood dripped off from the now broken pieces of the vase as the beautiful grey carpet below them had turned into a shade of green from the blood of that Skal.

'Thank freaking goodness.'

"You were extremely nice to me Goblin, so it hurts as I have to kill you, but I have no choice. I am sorry." Abhin said as he picked up one of the sharper pieces of the vase, and decided to slit the skal's throat.

But his hands started trembling just before he could slice Edgar's throat, and his heart started beating like crazy.

'Stop shaking. They will kill you if you don't. Just stop being such a pussy.' He tried his best but just could not muster the courage needed to kill.

Abhin eventually slid the piece in his pocket and decided not to kill the Skal, and to prioritize escaping, as he could not bring himself to kill someone who tried to console and cheer him up when he needed it the most. Edgar even verbally fought the Shura for Abhin in some instances and saved him when Reid almost killed him.

Although he did not kill Edgar, he made sure to loot him - to an extent that all that was left were some clothes to cover his naked body. From those four rings to bracelets, medicinal sachets, and what-not. He even succeeded in finding a trinket from his inner pockets, one which might further help him escape.

'Now what? The maid should have rushed in when the vase broke, but she didn't, it's probably due to this goblin's order.' He nervously hid the skal's body in one of the corners of the washroom, as he started contemplating his next move.

'I can't rush the way I came from. And there is just this single window in this washroom. Should I jump from here?'

Perplexed. He approached the window and saw that he was at quite the height - one which might surely lead to a serious injury - but the chances that he will die were slim unless he was extremely unlucky.

*Ba-dump Ba-dump* His heart started racing as he had to make a decision - whether to return back and surrender to the Shura or to make a leap of faith here and escape. Time was mercilessly moving forward, disregarding Abhin in the perilous situation he was in.

A sudden noise from outside the washroom startled him and he jumped from the third floor.

'I have truly gone crazy.' He thought as he fell down.

*Thud*

'Aargh... my leg.. my leg.' Though there was no major visible damage, Abhin broke his left leg, and probably fractured a few of his ribs, as he spat up a mouthful of blood. He wished to shout in pain, but he suppressed that urge, for that would only give away his location. He started limping towards the main door, from where they had come in. Now all that was left between him and his freedom was a group of armed Blithes.

Well, directly confronting them would be pretty idiotic as he didn't know what they were capable of. The next option was to sneak past them, but two Blithes were constantly guarding the only exit so it was not that bright of an idea either. The last option was to climb over the ten-meter-long wall and get out of there without engaging with those guards, but there were major hindrances.

The first being that the wall was buttery smooth, with no grooves to be seen to climb upon as supports.

Second being that his leg was broken and he was no more agile, so even if the wall had grooves, it would still be a gigantic task to climb that wall. And even if he somehow succeeded in climbing the wall, it would be too time-consuming and by then, Reid would be spooked for sure. In short, climbing the wall was a no-no too.

'Dying trying is a far better alternative than lying crying.' He tried convincing himself that the choice he was making was the right one, as he tightened his grip on the tranquilizing injector he had stolen from Edgar.

He suddenly heard the rattling of a moving Blithe, and so he hid himself as he prepared to ambush it. Just as the Blithe moved past him, he shot himself towards it and awkardly clinged onto it while rabidly stabbing on its gelatinous head. After a tenacious ten-second struggle, it shriveled down before plopping itself onto the ground.

Yet, before he could breathe a sigh of success, a loud growl shook the whole mansion.

'Shit.' Abhin mumbled as he schooled his thoughts away from cowardice and terror. 'It's alright. Everything's fine. It was a suicide mission after all.'

He picked up the metallic weapon dropped by that guard and haphazardly limped towards the gate, trying to avoid any kind of unintended variables along the way.

Meanwhile, a hole burst open on the roof of the mansion as Reid flew out from it, intently searching the nearby area, anger blatantly visible from his actions.

Ignoring all of the commotion behind him, Abhin limped as hard as he could, biting down most of the pain he felt. However, things had already descalated enough to warrant the attention of the other Blithe guards and they soon caught eye of the injured human.

And before he could realize, a group of Blithes had already surrounded him with their weapons aimed at him.

"Don't shoot!" Reid growled as he flew towards the encircled human.

Abhin gave up all hope after being surrounded, but when he saw Reid approaching, he made up his mind to at least take him down.

As a last-ditch effort he combed through the weapon in his hand, searching for a trigger or some sort of switch as Reid aggresively closed the gap between them.

*Click*

'Voila' He aimed at Reid as something suddenly changed and the weapon started humming, but the surprise soon turned into shock as he felt his whole soul being suctioned into it and a white beam of light started gathering on its tip.

Reid - bloated with anger - ignored the subtle change that had appeared and rushed towards him. However when he saw the mana-weapon being used by the human, an uncanny perplexion took over him. He tried avoiding it, but it was too late by then and he was shot down from the sky.

Abhin didn't fare much better though. The sole recoil of using that weapon sent him smashing into a nearby Blithe, causing immense pain to jolt through his already tattered left leg. He saw Charles crashing into the ground with a thud and thus waited for the concomitant attacks from the other guards, but they never occured, causing much bewilderment to him. Although things became clearer after he saw Reid rise up from the rubble.

His clothes were tattered now and he was bleeding from various locations but he was relatively fine, with only superficial injuries.

"You have once again successfully pissed me off." Reid popped his dislocated arm back into its place as he 'calmly' approached Abhin.

Veins started bulging off Abhin's neck as the shura took off for the air all the while smothering him. The human blacked out due to lack of air before being smashed in the wall.