Eugene sighed as he looked over the report. “You’re sure?”

The Death Knight nodded stiffly. “He’s been missing since yesterday.”

“Thank you for notifying me, you are dismissed.”

The man saluted before turning and exiting his office.

Eugene waited for the door to click closed before he balled his hand into a fist. He barely restrained an urge to slam it against the desk. The top was sturdy, but he was still likely to crack it if he used too much strength.

“That old bastard just had to go and vanish again,” he ground out quietly.

There was no notice or anything, he was just gone. Didn’t even tell his damn security detail that he was going somewhere. It was rude and it was dangerous. For all he knew, the man could have been captured by an enemy. Although, he thought that was unlikely. While Eugene didn’t always see eye to eye with Grobert, the man was strong. If he wasn’t, Eugene would have already gone to the boss man and asked him to replace his chief advisor with someone else.

“I bet if the Boss was here, Grobert would have notified him of his absence,” he grumbled as he picked up the report that originally clued him in on the old bastard's absence.

Unit 65 patrolling border between Normenia and insectaur zone has intercepted a Golatian agent.

Man claims to be an envoy and says he was sent to speak with Lord Norman.

How do you wish for us to proceed?

The report had come in through the communication pyramids an hour ago. Eugene had wanted to get Grobert’s opinion on the matter seeing as the Boss was occupied in California. That obviously wasn’t going to happen now. That left it up to him to decide.

With a grunt of annoyance, he quickly wrote out a response and handed it to one of the waiting aides outside his office. “Get this to the communication room ASAP.”

The man saluted and rushed off to carry out the order.

***

“Get your barbaric hands off me!” Someone shouted from down the hall.

It had been a day since Eugene sent out the order to bring the captured agent in, this had to be them.

The shout was followed by a pained grunt and blessed silence. It seemed one of his soldiers decided the man was being too loud. Eugene could relate, but it still set a bad precedent to rough up prisoners. He would need to have a word with his soldiers about proper etiquette when bringing in guests. Roughing people up that you didn’t intend to get rid of usually only led to grudges. Besides, torture was almost always useless for extracting information. People would usually say whatever you wanted to hear to make it stop.

The only exception to this might be Lord Norman’s soul torture. Then again, maybe not even that. He shuddered thinking about that process. To properly torture someone, it was important to understand just how far you could go before breaking them. But he still regretted asking the Boss to let him experience a small part of it. It wasn’t even pain, not really. A soul had no body so it couldn’t experience pain. That almost made it worse though.

The feeling started as a creeping sensation like someone was watching you. It reminded him a lot of how the phylacteries worked only dialed up to eleven. That sensation quickly faded as existential dread filled the entirety of your being. You felt like a mouse being watched by a cat with no place to hide. There was no escape, no relief from this feeling. It was like all of existence wanted you dead!

Eugene’s breath hitched as his mind fought back from the memories. But he quickly reined in the lingering fear and calmed himself. He had noticed himself getting more distracted by feelings like this since returning to a living body. While he enjoyed the time spent with Astyria, he hoped it was done soon so he could return to his greykin body. If only so he could concentrate and work more efficiently.

The door to the meeting room received a knock before Eugene called them inside.

Two knights dragged in a struggling man wearing colorful, if loose, silk robes. It was almost like a toga, only more ornate. It was an outfit designed for a more temperate climate.

“Unhand me, you savages! I am an envoy of the Golatian Empire and I demand to be treated with the respect that my position deserves.”

One of the knights was about to hit the man again before Eugene held up a hand. The man stilled before dropping his arm and shoving the man forward.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The envoy stumbled but caught himself on the end of the table. With a huff, he stood tall and adjusted his clothing. “Is this how you treat diplomats?”

Eugene stared at the man for a moment before turning his gaze to the knight who was going to strike him. “Wait outside.”

He could hear the knight swallow thickly at the order before nodding and turning. He made a mental note to demote the Death Knight. It seemed he had some anger issues or authority issues, neither one was a good fit for the Death Knights.

His eyes glanced over the envoy, making the preening man flinch slightly before they landed on the other knight. “Report.”

This knight did salute. “My team found this man wandering alone near the border. He was carrying nothing other than a small satchel.” The knight unclipped a bag from his side and set it on the table.

“It’s about time you return that.” The envoy reached for the bag, but he froze as his eyes met Eugene’s.

“If your fingers so much as brush that bag, you will die.” Eugene’s words were conveyed with little emotion but it seemed the man understood he had no chance if he crossed him.

Slowly the man retracted his hand and stood rigidly.

“It’s been checked?”

“Yes, Commander,” the Death Knight responded.

Eugene nodded as he reached out and pulled the satchel towards himself. “You are dismissed. Wait outside.”

The man saluted and left.

Eugene ignored the envoy’s nervous fidgeting. In his years as an enforcer, he had relied on silence to pull far more information out of people than torture. Most people didn’t like being left alone with their own thoughts.

As the man stewed, he twisted the brass knob on the bag and popped open the flap. He wasn’t worried about a trap. That was what the check had been for. Any suspect items were run through a series of magical and non-magical tests to determine if they were safe to handle. If they were deemed potentially hazardous, they were taken to a room where the mana was drained from them.

It didn’t seem like that had been needed in this case. Otherwise, the man would have been dragged in here in chains.

Inside the bag were two scroll cases. He plucked the elaborately carved and bejeweled cases out and set them on the table with a thunk. Each impact made the envoy wince and flex his fingers like he wanted to reach out and protect the scrolls. But the man was smart enough to restrain himself.

After pulling out the scrolls, he checked the bag for anything else, but there was nothing. The bag was pushed off to the side and Eugene reached for one of the sealed scrolls.

“That is not for you!” The envoy managed to squeak out. “…That is for your leader.”

Eugene quirked an eyebrow at the man and with his thumb, flicked open the wax seal. The man turned red with indignation but didn’t say anything else.

Seeing as the man was being closed-lipped, he pulled open the scroll and quickly read through the contents before rolling it back up and negligently setting it off to the side. By now the man was beginning to turn purple and a vein was starting to throb in his forehead.

The envoy broke after Eugene casually flicked open the second scroll. “Have you no decorum! To read someone else's private messages… it- it’s simply not done.”

He didn’t respond to the man as he read the second scroll before rolling that one up and setting it next to the first. Then he steepled his hands and looked at the upset man. Honestly, he hadn’t cared what was inside the scrolls. He only opened them to ensure there wasn’t something inside them that could cause harm to the boss.

“Why were you on our border?”

“I already told you! I was there to deliver a message to your leader.”

“How did you get there?”

The man scoffed, gaining back some of the pompous attitude he came in with. “I walked, obviously.”

“No you didn’t,” Eugene responded.

“You doubt the veracity of my words… how dare you!”

“Guards!”

Almost immediately, the door was flung open and an armed guard came inside, “Sir?”

“Bring Princess.”

“Finally, someone with real authority,” the envoy responded.

The envoy didn’t see the smirk on the knight's face as he nodded and left the room.

It didn’t take long for Princess to arrive. The door opened and the great dane-sized hellhound strode into the room. She was alone, but it wasn’t like she needed Dante and Lucifer with her to be terrifying in her own right. This was proven a moment later as the envoy turned around to greet the Princess.

“Dear gods!” He screamed like a little girl before attempting to leap upon the table.

But Eugene had taken the man’s moment of shock to move from his seat to right behind the man. He clamped a meaty palm on the man’s shoulder, locking him to the floor.

“Princess, is this a changeling?”

She let out a snort before closing on the man and sniffing him while growling.

The envoy shook like a leaf, but Eugene’s grip kept him firmly in place and standing. For there was no doubt the man would have fallen to the floor the way his legs were wobbling.

Eventually, Princess finished her inspection and let out a disappointed mewl.

“Thank you.”

She chuffed once before padding out of the room. Eugene spun the terrified envoy around and shoved him into a chair. At least he hadn’t pissed himself.

“Congratulations, you get to live… for now.”

It didn’t take much after that to get the information he wanted out of the man. See, he knew the guy was lying about how he got to the border. Or at least hiding something. How did he know that? Simple. It took two to three weeks to cross the distance between the Empire and Normenia on foot. That was if you were enhanced. If you were a normal human, which this person obviously was, it would take two to three months. Assuming you ran into no issues. And there were plenty of those along the route.

That meant supplies, a tent, and some way to defend yourself. Something, anything. Yet all this man had was a leather carrying bag with two scrolls.

Turns out one of the princes used magic to move the man swiftly over to the border. The envoy had no clue what the magic was, but Eugene had a good idea based on what the man told him.

It seemed the Second Prince was some sort of air mage. A powerful one at that if he could carry someone through wind alone across multiple zones.

Why did they do that? Simple, it was written in the two scrolls. One was an invitation from the First Prince to discuss what happened to the Third Prince. The second scroll was a warning from the Second Prince that the first intended the meeting as a trap. As if Eugene couldn’t tell that already. But what did the Second Prince get out of this by warning them?

He decided to hold the envoy in lockup until the Boss returned. The big man could deal with this political nonsense.