The next morning, Shao ran recon on the keep while Carmine prepared for her next fight. I hadn’t taken her back to Dirage, as I wanted to give her time to get used to her new levels. Rather, an event where she pancaked her competition against a wall was something that I wanted to avoid happening a second time. People were already suspicious of her newfound power. If it was revealed that she was a Knight, it would lead to the question of who knighted her.

That day, I remained in my room most of the day while the girls went about their assigned chores. I went through the plan we had come up with a few times. As I said, it wasn’t much of a plan. We were planning to break in, pretend to be guards, and survey the castle. Then, if things became more than we could handle, we’d escape via a Portal, and no one would be the wiser. Even if we failed today, simply the new Map knowledge would allow me to Portal into the castle easier in the future.

You could say that was the true goal of this visit. I wanted to see as much of the castle as possible, unlocking a visual map that I could use to navigate and keep track of things inside. Mixed with Sense Life, I’d know all movements inside and could move around with ease.

Lord Reign would be all but helpless if I could create a Portal in the hallways right outside his room. This went all the way to when I was finally going to war with him. If we captured him in a single move, the war might even be over without a drop of blood spilled. Well, I might have thought that before the appearance of Demonic Knights.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

As for why we didn’t Portal directly into the castle this time, the answer was obvious. I was taken through the busiest and most secure route into the keep intended for guests. There was no place we could enter without risk of being seen and subsequently surrounded. It was the back-hallways, the kitchens, the storage closets, and the servant quarters that would allow us to sneak into the castle in the future. It’d be nice if we got all of the answers we were looking for in this journey, but I was also considering when Lord Reign and I were eventually at war.

“Master, his carriage has left the keep!” Shao’s voice came through Slave Communication.

My eyes snapped open, and then I rose and left the room. “It’s time.”

The remaining group consisted of Ruby, Miki, and Salicia. Ruby had an expression on her face like she hadn’t signed up for this when she decided to adventure with me. In truth, none of us would have imagined that hunting down a few Bandits would have led us into a conspiracy involving Lord Reign. However, that was just how things had ended up working out.

The group left the small home, and we didn’t dress like guards until we had found an alley where Shao was waiting for us just outside the keep. She used darkness to block the view while we quickly changed to look like guards. With our disguises ready, we left our hiding spot and started heading toward the keep’s side entrance. It was time to find out the truth.