As soon as the tent’s flap closed behind Stick, multiple hands grabbed onto him and held him in place. He struggled against their grip.

“What is the meaning of this?” Shadis asked, appearing between the sea of arms holding Stick down. “The entrance to the Lords’ tent is strictly forbidden!”

“Let me go! I need to talk to the Lords!” Stick yelled.

“You barge in here in the middle of the night requesting an audience? The same day you met up with that scoundrel Bonatelli?” Shadis retorted. “Have the Gods forsaken your intelligence?”

“You don’t understand,” Stick pleaded, “The Lords are in danger!”

“Yes, from an assassin like you!” one of the slaves holding him yelled.

Stick raised his voice: “No! This isn’t about gems anymore!”

The slaves exchanged confused glances with Shadis and Cadmun, who had just joined them.

"This isn’t about gems anymore," Stick shouted again.

With a desperate motion, he opened his [Inventory], pulled out a [Diamond] and threw it on the ground. The gem sparkled in the dim light, a stark contrast to the bleak surroundings.

“I found this in the deep cavern behind the tunnel, where PP got attacked by a monster,” Stick explained. “There are dozens if not hundreds more down there.”

The men holding him down loosened their grip. Cadmun motioned for them to let him go and Stick straightened himself.

"PP was left to die. They wouldn’t risk losing their miners if diamonds were truly that important, especially after such a find."

"Then what’s the point of the quota?" a voice piped up. "Why are we even here if they don’t need more gems?"

“That’s exactly my problem.”

The room fell silent.

"They brought enough wood to erect a barrier. Their strongest knight, Stamos, was down there to fight off the monsters. No knight ever came into the cave with us before that,” Stick said. “They knew about that cavern.”

An uncertainty spread. Stick took a deep breath, steadying his nerves.

"I was offered to serve the Baron as a Player, but I decided against it.”

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From the very back of the tent, he heard a familiar voice. “Why did you do that?”

All of the tent’s attention shifted to Varyan on the far side, who had been listening closely.

"The only logical conclusion," Stick said, his voice growing stronger seeing his friend, "is that they don’t need more gems. They just need to uphold their quota. If they’ve found a reserve with so many diamonds, they can afford to lose some miners. It could be that the supply is kept artificially low to maintain high prices or maybe there’s just not enough demand. Someone above the Baron, maybe even the King, is being lied to. Whatever the case, if they can afford to lose miners, then how long until they don’t need the Lords anymore?"

The realisation hit the group like a thunderclap. The murmur of voices grew, fear and anger mixing in equal measure.

"So what’s the alternative?" Cadmun asked.

Stick looked around the room, meeting each pair of eyes with a determined gaze.

"We escape," he said firmly.

A murmur went through the tent. Shadis scoffed. Cadmun crossed his arms.

“You think we haven’t tried?” one asked.

“I have a plan,” Stick said.

“You take us for fools?” yelled another.

The murmur turned into a ruckus as more and more men surrounded him and grabbed him again. They were about to attack him when, this time, Jacoby intervened. He raised a single hand and the miners let Stick go and took a step back.

“So what do you think we should do?” Jacoby asked calmly. Stick stood in the middle of the dimly lit tent, his breath steady and his mind sharp. The sceptical miners gathered around him wore faces etched with the lines of hardship and suspicion. They had endured too much, and Stick knew he needed to inspire hope and conviction in their hearts. Don’t worry, you’ve prepared for this.

"We can’t keep living like this," Stick began, his voice low but firm. "They think we’re broken, that we’ve given up. But during the next holiday, we prove them wrong."

The room fell silent, every eye fixed on Stick as he laid out his strategy.

"When Reacher and Becket bring lunch, someone will act out, causing a scene. They’ll get thrown into the Slaughterhouse as punishment. This will force the knights to split up."

Stick continued, his voice gaining strength. "As the servants finish serving breakfast, they’ll leave the house one by one from the eastern side, except for Timmy, who will stay behind to avoid suspicion. They’ll take Reacher and Becket’s helmets with them and bring them to the shanty town."

He looked at Cadmun, a hulking figure of a man, and nodded. "I’ll distract whichever knight stays behind. While he’s distracted, Cadmun will scare his horse with a torch, so that it’s easier to throw him off the horse and on their head and tie them up while he’s unconscious. If we steal his sword and armour, we’ll have a fully equipped knight of the Blitz family on our side. I saw the LVLs. Whatever they use, we can also use.”

Cadmun’s eyes lit up. “LVLs? You mean like the Status that Montgomery kept talking about?”

Stick smiled. “Sir Moore can definitely hold his ground against most of their guards.”

Shadis combed through his beard a bit embarrassed when the other slaves kept looking over to him. Stick could see the determination growing in their eyes, the flicker of hope beginning to ignite.

image [https://i.imgur.com/aAkzkxK.jpeg]

“What about Stamos?” Varyan asked.

The group turned their full attention to Stick.

“It’s true that we can’t fight him head-on. He’s way too strong,” Stick answered. “We need chaos to cover our tracks.”

The slaves raised a few eyebrows.

Stick continued: “So, we’ll set the shanty town on fire.”