Leo was already roasting the third stag when he suddenly got this weird feeling that something bad was about to happen.
There was nothing wrong with the food apart from the fact he cut off the hind leg from the first stag so he could also have a dinner. Lana and the other five were so starved they didn’t even notice it and the old lady who owned the place only threw a strange glance his way without saying anything. There was also nothing wrong with the squad apart from the fact that Anna didn’t come back, but since Lana was actually in a good mood there was no way something bad happened to her younger sister.
Slowly chewing on a juicy piece of stag meat Leo tried to suppress the bad premonition with logical arguments, but unfortunately the more time went by the more restless he became. Finally when the third stag was done, he cut it in smaller pieces and carried on a large tray to the courtyard, but froze at the doorstep seeing the incredulous sight in front on him.
Under the illumination of a small bonfire and few torches, Lana, the invincible warrior, lied unconscious on the ground along with her five group members while Perla Doubis was receiving a dozen or so soldiers jumping over the courtyard wall. They were dressed in imperial armor and one didn’t have to be a master of alchemy to be able to figure out what happened.
Leo stared at the sight stupefied, but then realized that while his presence was more than obvious, the arriving forces only threw a glance at him and proceeded to secure the unconscious squad of commandos. After awkwardly standing in the doorway for few moments, he put the tray on the nearby table and, pretending to be invisible, turned back to go to the kitchen, but unfortunately his retreat was obstructed by a humongous female body that at the same time made its way through the door.
“Did we get all of them?” The large person asked in a deep, sonorous voice and Perla Doubis seeing her immediately bowed.
“Warlord Baltis!” She said smiling widely, “The youngest one didn’t return with the rest, but I decided to proceed with the plan.”
“Good! You …” Warlord intended to said something, but was interrupted by someone behind them.
“Is this courtyard so small or it’s just you taking up all the space?” Leo heard an annoyed and sarcastic voice coming from the doorway.
“Hmph!” Warlord Baltis snorted, but moved away from the entrance saying, “You’re just too skinny, Jana, to appreciate a truly good looking woman.”
But then she noticed the tray with the stag meat and walked over to take a piece.
“Oh? This is good!” She said with a full mouth.
“Calm your titties!” The same annoyed voice said, but this time Leo saw the owner – a tall and muscular woman dressed in elegant armor, “You can stuff yourself full after we’re done here!”
The big lady grumbled something under her nose intending to argue, but noticing the next person entering the courtyard shut up and unwillingly threw the piece of meat back on the tray.
“Warlord Levin, inquisitor Matas! Welcome to my humble home!” Perla Doubis deeply bowed once again, but Leo almost fainted hearing her say that.
He recognized the name of the third person – it was the one who was behind Lana’s capture back in Kinta and the one he pretended to belong to while infiltrating the castle. Later he learned that the empire’s three inquisitors were the closest empress’s people and wielded almost unlimited authority being only second to the empress.
Once again Leo pretended to be invisible and prayed no one would pay attention to the puny male-slave inconspicuously standing at the entrance. The gears in his head spun at accelerated rate while he tried to think of ways to escape, but he doubted even Lana, if she was conscious, could get away this time, to not speak about him.
The lineup – inquisitor, two warlords and a bunch of empire’s elites could take on an army battalion by themselves and even if the six squad members were conscious, it was unlikely they would win or escape this time.
“Secure them and prepare for the execution.” Inquisitor Matas said in a cold voice, “Too bad the seventh is absent, but we’ll catch her eventually. Besides – we got Lana Rimkus and there is no way I’ll let her escape again.”
‘Phew! At least it’ll be swift!’ Leo thought to himself.
He was afraid he would be tortured along with the other squad members and already began to think of ways to trick the attackers in killing him. Pretending to assault one of the warlords seemed the most promising, but unlikely scenario at the same time – from what Leo knew they were true experts at Lana’s level and probably could smack him unconscious before he even posed a threat. Fortunately the inquisitor was ‘lenient’ granting a painless death to everyone.
“Are you sure?” Warlord Levin asked in confusion, “One of them might break and provide us with valuable intel.”
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“Oh, really?” Meda Matas asked with a sarcastic grin, “I highly doubt people capable of enduring two hundred lashes without a slightest whimper would divulge any secrets. And even if they give us anything after days and days of torture, there is a high chance the information might be inaccurate or straight up wrong. Besides, after the Kinta incident I’m paranoid the youngest sister might spring the oldest one free again – it’s better to eliminate the threat where we stand and not take any chances. Or you want them to come back and assassinate you this time and not your lookalikes?”
Leo even slightly blushed hearing the involuntary compliment – to be compared to Anna was the highest evaluation he had ever received. Of course, the fact that he couldn’t take credit for freeing Lana back then did slightly pain him, but it also came with an unexpected opportunity – if he was able to pretend to be a regular male slave who had nothing to do with the struggle between the empire and Livania kingdom, he might keep his puny life after all.
“It’s a bit anticlimactic, don’t you think?” Warlord Baltis said with a full mouth, “Can we at least humiliate them or something? I’m kind of insulted they intended to assassinate me and Jana. We are warlords after all, you know?”
Once again she had a large piece of stag meat in her hand pointing at the obvious cause for her body’s size.
“What do you have in mind?” Inquisitor Matas asked, “Do you want to cut off their limbs or something? Or you want me to order someone to do it?”
“As an option, yes.” Warlord Baltis said with a nod, while ceaselessly chewing, “But I might have a better idea. I’d like to introduce them to someone.”
“Oh? You mean – ‘Ivo’?” Jana Levin suddenly laughed, “I’ve only heard you brag about him, but I’d love to see ‘IT’.”
“As I said, I don’t want to take any chances.” Meda Matas plainly said, but apparently warlord Baltis enjoyed her idea too much.
She said, “Inquisitor, you worked hard for the past days – even you deserve some entertainment. My castle is not that far and Ivo can get here in an iffy. Meanwhile we can enjoy this feast. Seriously, Perla, how the hell did you cook this? It’s still a stag, right?”
“… glutton …” Jana Levin snorted, but Perla Doubis suddenly felt uneasy.
Initially she intended to ‘keep’ Leo for herself even though he didn’t try hard during the past days while his squad was absent. The food he prepared was already delicious, but tonight she finally learned what it meant to enjoy an actually well prepared meal. And that was while Lana’s girls were complaining of him being lazy and slacking off! They mentioned the necessity to bring Leo to the forest to pick some herbs otherwise the meat was tasteless, but how was it even possible? This was the most delectable food she had ever had!
This was the reason why she didn’t kill Leo or poison him like the rest as well as not point at him out as a part of the Southern queen’s forces.
“Perla, do you have some whine that’s not poisoned?” Inquisitor’s question startled Perla Doubis.
“S … sure!” She stuttered and after throwing a quick glance at Leo quickly ran inside.
“You!” Saida Baltis called one of the soldiers, realizing inquisitor Matas had agreed to her proposal.
At this point the six women were nicely tied up and the elite soldiers motionlessly stood at their sides as if there was a need for the unconscious captives to be guarded.
“Go, call Ivo!” Warlord instructed, “And bring a couple of barrels of my best wine! You three! Get us chairs or something!”
She was Varena’s warlord and thus technically the host. Since the operation has been successful it was time to celebrate and she intended to use the opportunity to suck up to the inquisitor as well. Even though her position in the Assembly of warlords was unshakable, it didn’t hurt to have an acquaintance who’s close with the empress.
Seeing the atmosphere had eased, Leo suddenly got an idea.
He took a couple of steps forward, bowed and said, “Esteemed guests, should I prepare another stag?”
Leo obviously behaved as if he belonged to Perla Doubis’s household and while what he said registered in the heads of others, warlord Baltis’s eyes lit up.
“You cooked this?” She asked grabbing another piece of meat from the tray.
“Guilty, your excellency!” Leo confirmed with another bow.
“Alright!” Gluttonous warlord said, “Go and roast another! You have only one left?”
“No!” Leo shook his head, “The rebels brought six, so there are three more in the kitchen.”
With a couple of sentences he distanced himself from the captives and judging from Saida Baltis’s expression got a new owner. There was no way the fat warlord would not bring him away after this.
After returning to the kitchen Leo realized it’ll take too much time to roast a whole stag again and in order to further impress the fat warlord he quickly made a few skewers of meat. Actually Lana and the others were right – he did lack spices for the food to meet the usual standards, but there was no way around it and after the meat was done and making sure he could not improve anything, he carried another large tray to the courtyard.
Leo wasn’t absent for too long, but it felt like the place was completely transformed.
The sky was still dark, but the courtyard was brightly illuminated by thirty odd torches lit up the perimeter. The bonfire in the center was put out and in its spot there were three large couches which soldiers probably confiscated from the neighbors. Inquisitor Matas and warlord Levin sat on two while warlord Baltis comfortably lied on on the third, enjoying a large piece of meat in one hand and a cup of wine in the other. Captives were currently thrown on the ground at the far end of the courtyard and few soldiers were busy trying to awaken them.
The actual host, Perla Doubis, stood at the entrance as if guarding it, but the most eye catching person was the half naked male slave standing behind warlord Baltis. He was facing away from the entrance and Leo couldn’t see his face, but the seven feet tall and incredibly muscular body made the boy feel uneasy. Both – the man’s dark tanned skin and the knee long skirt he wore made him look like he was from the Voodoo sect, although without the characteristic tattoos Leo was familiar with.
One after another the six captives woke up and after the initial expressions of shock, anger and disappointment were replaced with blank faces, they sat there soundlessly as if not comprehending where they were and why. Leo almost couldn’t recognize the people he spent the last year with – all of them had lively, passionate and optimistic personalities and it pained him to see them at the end of the road.
On the other hand for some time he suspected something like this was bound to happen – one can’t run around the world performing atrocities while remaining unpunished forever, if they are not immortal that is. And while he didn’t intend to do anything ‘bad’ himself, the current situation strengthened his resolve to become stronger and resume cultivation as soon as possible.