Aidan woke up with a collar around his neck. When he tried to move, he realized that he was also chained. That was not how this undercover mission was supposed to go. One could even call it the worst-case scenario. Cursing his abysmal luck, Aidan looked around and saw that he was not the only prisoner standing in this long, narrow, and dim corridor. It's just that he was the only adult. The chains on his wrists and ankles were connected to the chains of very disheveled children to the left and to the right of him.

Aidan wanted to ask where they were and what was going on, but he immediately realized that his mouth was sealed shut, and he couldn't even move his lips. He was just about to use General Minn's impressive physical prowess to try to break his shackles when suddenly a tall man with dark braided hair came in through the passage in the wall. He was accompanied by General Kear and an older General with a beer belly and greasy lips that Aidan had seen a couple of times before.

For some reason, even in his fancy medieval garb, General Kear reminded Aidan of a street goon. Like, if there were tattoos in this world, he'd be covered in them. Aidan could just see him having a buzz-cut, wearing a hoody, and selling crack on the corner. Except here, he sold slaves on the down-low.

"You will not be disappointed, ambassador," Aidan heard General Kear's smarmy voice. "This time, we have something special for you."

The man frowned in response and impatiently asked: "How many do you have for me this time?"

General Kear gestured towards Aidan and the other prisoners. His eye was slightly twitching as he tried to keep a smile on his face.

"This is not enough," the braided man scowled. "You are short yet again. We agreed on at least twenty quality bodies a month. If you can't keep your end, then..."

"We are desperately trying, ambassador!" General Kear exclaimed. "But lately, suitable bodies are difficult to find. We have no idea where they are hiding... With all due respect, we need more time and more resources. Even with every noble on our side using the best available manpower to look for the slaves, this is all we could find in the last month. And you know, with the imperial crackdown, we also have to be very vigilant... And..." Kear was speaking faster and faster while constantly wiping off the beads of sweat from his forehead.

Aidan couldn't believe what he was hearing. Every noble? Meaning, everyone in the imperial court was working with the savages? If Jake only knew, he would definitely die of anger. Apparently, he had no idea how far the corruption had spread.

The ambassador raised his hand to stop General Kear's incessant rambling. But Aidan was not so happy about that, because the General's whiny monologue had actually revealed a lot of interesting details.

What Aidan knew now – the nobles paid their personal troops to search through the lands, looking for children and youth that fit the specific requirements: short in stature, delicate, less spiritual strength than usual, almost no physical capabilities, and apparently some kind of mole on the back of their necks. These people were then abducted, brought to General Kear's mansion to be sold to the savages, and transported to the neutral territories via a secret tunnel. Aidan quickly put 2 and 2 together - at the moment, he was obviously inside that very tunnel, and the poor children next to him were the sacrificial lambs for the slaughter.

Aidan was so angry at the shamelessness and the nerve of these people that he would have spat out blood if he could open his mouth. The good thing was that now he more or less knew how the slave black market operated, and it didn't even take him three days to find out. On the other hand, he had no way to inform Jake about the situation before he would be inevitably killed. Great, all this precious inside info! Wasted!

"This one is not a proper vessel," the ambassador's eyes suddenly focused on Aidan.

"That's the special surprise I was trying to tell you about before," General Kear said in an aggrieved tone. "Look carefully, don't you recognize him?"

The dark-haired man stared at Aidan for a while until he suddenly curled his lips in a cold smirk.

"Right, he's the one who took so much joy in torturing our people."

That wasn't me, man! And even if it was, I'm starting to think that your people might have deserved it.

Aidan attempted to speak yet again but, even after trying very hard, his mouth still wouldn't open.

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The ambassador slowly came up to Aidan and put his hand on his forehead. Aidan felt scorching heat penetrate through his skull but he couldn't even scream. After a very long time, the man finally put his hand away and humphed: "What happened to him? I heard that his spiritual strength was almost at God-warrior level. But this one here seems to be barely above a beginner warrior. Are you trying to sell me an impostor?"

General Kear quickly shook his head: "No, no! Would I dare do something like that? Recently he was severely punished by the Regent. He did unspeakable things to him, so I wouldn't be surprised if he also stripped Minn of his spiritual strength. But it's good news! The Regent hates him, so he wouldn't mind if he disappeared. This man is completely at your disposal."

The other older General licked his lips and smiled: "Once General Minn is gone, I will take over all his properties. And we will have more resources to put into our search."

Aidan had no words! This was on a whole new level of scumminess. So, when they found out about Minn's supposedly horrible circumstances, instead of offering him revenge against the Regent, they immediately decided to sell him out and take his assets like a bunch of vultures. The worst thing about it was that he had delivered himself right to their doorstep like a fucking idiot. For this, Aidan partly blamed Jake who had massively overestimated the camaraderie spirit of these men.

"Is that so?" The ambassador laughed quietly. "It would bring our people great joy to see Adnan Minn skinned and the rest of his spiritual power drained. In front of everybody, he will turn into a scorched lowly corpse, and even that would not pay for many grievances this trash brought us." With those words, the dark-haired man unshackled Aidan from the prisoner row and dragged him by the chains toward himself. Aidan tried to fight him, but, to his great surprise, his usual strength had suddenly failed him.

Damn, he really needed to find a way to send a message to the Regent before they made him disappear. On the other hand, Aidan knew that Jake was not an idiot, and he would no doubt start his search for him at Kear's mansion. But would he be able to find the tunnel? Maybe if he had like a medieval equivalent of a search warrant, he could turn this place upside down and uncover this horrible operation...

"Send the males directly to the slaughterhouse," the ambassador now turned towards Kear, still holding Aidan's chain in his hand. "Drop the females off at the camp in the neutral territories. They'll be checked for fertility, and only then I'll decide what we'll pay you this time."

Aidan helplessly watched as General Kear and the older General begrudgingly took the poor chained children with dull eyes farther down the tunnel.

"So, Minn, now that we're alone, let's have a heart-to-heart. I hear your torturing techniques are one of a kind. You know, who I've heard it from?" The ambassador paused, as if waiting for an answer, but then continued:

"Both my brothers. Before they died, they showed me what you did to them. It was like a terrifying painting that you drew on the outside and on the inside. I've seen very clearly that you enjoy inflicting pain... But can you withstand it?" the ambassador smiled.

Aidan didn't know what to say to that. He wasn't afraid of pain. He had experienced enough of it in his life to grow accustomed to it. Then again, he had never been tortured before.

"Unfortunately, I'm much less inventive than you. I think as a starter, I'll take out your eye and then tear out your tongue. Sorry, if you find it too trite for your taste," the dark-haired man slowly patted Aidan's face. His hand stopped right over Aidan's left eye and suddenly increased the pressure. At first, it was just uncomfortable, but soon Aidan couldn't stand the sensation anymore. He tried to wriggle himself out of the man's hold, but it was hopeless.

Then came a sharp pain, and his mind faded to black.

A short moment passed, and all he could see was darkness. And then a familiar figure appeared in front of him. Aidan blinked and soon recognized the white-haired boy.

"Little dude?" he asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

The boy came closer and looked at him coldly, not uttering a single word.

"Am I dreaming? Or... am I dead?" Aidan asked, looking around. He obviously still had his eyesight. Maybe the only thing he had lost was his mind?

In response, the white-haired boy put his palm on Aidan's chest and said with no expression: "Now, let's see who you are."

Aidan was blinded by a bright light. When he finally could open his eyes again, he was inside a depressing building that looked like an old warehouse. For some reason, he was holding a gun. Unexpectedly, the gun was pointed directly at the Prince himself. Aidan blinked a couple of times, trying to understand what was going on and why the hell the Emperor-In-Waiting was wearing black jeans and a shirt instead of his usual cloak. His hair was also much shorter, yet the dark blue eyes and their mocking expression were very familiar.

Aidan wanted to say something but realized that he was not in charge of his own body. It seemed as if somebody else took control of his voice and said:

"You think I won't do it?"

The Prince looked at the slightly shaking gun in Aidan's hand and smirked: "Your friends are gone, your family is dead, your company doesn't exist anymore. Take all that away, and what's left?"

"Me," said Aidan and pulled the trigger. What followed was a headache so horrible, he had to scream. A kaleidoscope of images appeared in front of his eyes, showing him fragments of a life he never knew. It was as if time was rewinding itself. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain stopped, and Aidan found himself in the middle of a busy metropolis.

Before he could formulate a coherent thought, a car with tinted windows stopped right in front of him. The driver opened the door and said to him: "Get in. You're already late, and the boss hates waiting."