Everything was going good, for about three minutes.

The beasts, whom I could have gone my entire life without asking a single question as to where they had gone, found me within a few steps of exiting the cave, and were trailing behind me once more. Alexia walked over soon after, though she said nothing except asking if I’d found the plant. For one reason or another, she didn’t question the slime's presence, which I was actually quite thankful for. There wasn’t a single explanation I could even begin to fathom that would explain why I’d left with nothing and came back with a pink dog.

It took several hours to find the main camp, mainly because I’d completely forgotten where it was, but also because the slime had to take a break every ten minutes, barking continuously if we refused to stop. It didn’t seem to want to speak to anyone other than me, which was also quite a good thing, but its presence alone was enough to bring my mood down. Once we found the camp, the state everyone was in was in no way unexpected.

Every single one of them was passed out outside, the tents didn’t even seem to be touched. I was highly doubting these peoples skills and wondering just how in the world these drunk whores were part of an extremist army. But that’s not my place to dig any deeper on. I let the other remain asleep, but kicked Vincent around a bit until he woke up.

“Holy shit newbie, maybe we need to start putting a time limit on these things.” He yawned, standing up and rubbing his eyes.

“It got fourteen of them, but couldn’t find the last one.” I threw the assortment of plants and herbs over to him, not even bothering to put them in a pouch. With the punishment coming my way, I deserved to have a little attitude.

He looked them over for a moment, nodded and threw them away. A vein on my forehead nearly popped.

“Of course you couldn’t. Last one doesn’t exist.” He smiled.

My jaw dropped and my eyes shot over to Alexia, who now had a smile of her own stretched across her face. These idiots really seemed to get a kick out of messing with me for almost no reason whatsoever. Looking down at the plants on the floor, as well as the words ‘last one doesn’t exist’ repeating in my head over and over, I wanted nothing more than to leave. To pack my things and return to the Underground that very instance.

But I held it together, just barely.

“I see.” Was all I could manage without flying into a rage.

“We all just placed bets to see how long you could hold out without giving up. All of us had under a few hours, but you really proved us wrong huh?” He turned to wake up the others.

My eye twitched violently, my patience was being tested endlessly and it was definitely not limitless. I sat around as the others begrudgingly woke up, each of them complaining about hangovers as they rose to their feet and began to disassemble the tents they hadn’t even stepped foot in. Slime sat at my feet, simply watching everything with a curious glint in its eyes. Thankfully, no one acknowledged or even cared about Slime, which was actually surprising in its own way.

I left with nothing and came back with a strange purple dog and not a single person cares or is even slightly curious as to how or why? These people are insane. While my thoughts were in that area of focus, I turned my head to face the other beasts. Each one hanging back just far enough to be nearly unnoticeable, which was just pure nightmare fuel. They were definitely going to be much harder to explain.

“Don’t worry, I know how you can get rid of them.” Alexia came to sit next to me, truly trying to convince me that she was capable of reading my mind. I nodded, indicating for her to explain.

“Just get one of these idiots to beat you up. Then whoever lands that finisher will just kill the beasts without even questioning why they were following them.”

“Woah, woah woah. The beasts only started following me because I killed their leader. Doesn’t the same logic have to apply if the positions transfer to someone else?” I had some very serious concerns with that plan.

“No, they just need to think you're dead. Their whole thing works on fear. If they see you in a sorry state and your opponent completely untouched, it’s safe to assume they won’t care about you anymore.” Her tone sounded sure, but her words clearly lacked a shred of confidence. Everything she was telling me was just pure gut feelings.

Though I didn’t have any other options nor any better ideas. So it’d have to do. I stood up and walked over to Vincent.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“Punch me as hard as you can.” I demanded.

“Hm?” He whipped his head around, his eyebrows raised in confusion.

“Just hit me as hard as you can. But don’t kill me.” I asked again, my voice cracking a bit.

“You sure?” He asked, trying to sound concerned, but I could already see his hand rolling into a fist.

“Yes.” My teeth were already clenched, preparing for the strike.

“Alright.” He winded up.

The next second the entire world went dark. My body hadn’t gone anywhere but straight down, my head crashing right into solid ground below. The stinging sensation spread through my entire face as blood began to seep through my nose. I remained motionless for a bit, trying to really show the beasts that I was a weak and undeserving leader. Clearly the act worked as their cries and shouts were heard almost immediately.

But ceased just as fast as they started, a loud thump sounding out seconds later. A hand pulled me up and wiped the dirt off me. Vincent sheathed his blade and began to pile the bodies on-top of each other.

“Where the hell did they come from?” He muttered out loud as he moved the bodies. No blame had been pinned on me, Vincent didn’t question why I asked him to punch me and a major annoyance was gone. Maybe today wasn’t too bad.

I turned to look at Alexia, a smile curling up on my face. Though a slit breeze flew through my mouth, as my tongue hurriedly pushed against nothing. I guess you always had to lose something to gain something.

“What’s the process for leaving the castle for a bit? Life if you want to visit family.” I asked Vincent as he walked over once more.

“Not sure why you’d want to do that after less than a week but it’s not too bad. As long as I approve, you’re good to leave for up to a month. Why? What’s up?” He asked, wiping the blood off his armour.

“Oh I don’t need a month. Just a few days. My uh… mother, she’s sick.” I made up a story. Though Artemis would probably be a bit unnerved once she found out what I knew.

“That’s too bad. How’d you find out?” He continued.

“I found out a few hours ago, she sent me a message.” I tapped on my Tenus. “It almost slipped my mind. She said it was nothing too serious, but I thought I should at least check up on her.” The lie was expanded for no reason other than I was starting to enjoy spinning it.

“Guess it wouldn’t hurt. You’re sure you only need a day or two?”

“Yeah, maybe even less. Just going to drop by and make sure she’s alright. She’s still staying in town so I don’t need to go far.” Now I was just doing too much but that’s alright. I didn’t enjoy many moments of my day, but I was damn sure enjoying this one.

“Well alright then. I’ll let the Baron know you completed the task and about your short leave. But if you say a day or two then you really only have a day or two. The one thing they hate the most is liars.” He finished.

I nodded, thanking him. My whole identity was a lie, what the hell did being a little late matter? That masked weirdo is going to die soon enough anyway. Granted Artemis and the others have the ability to do so. Not that it matters to me.

Vincent threw me a faintly glowing crystal.

“That’ll lead you back to the castle, just follow the glow. We’ll hang around here for a bit, scout the area for more beasts.”

That was obviously code for getting drunk once more, but again, not my problem. I gave him my thanks one last time and ran off. I was already fantasizing about how I was going to tell Artemis. Life was looking up.

⥁

“Oh no, you found out something that doesn’t affect us at all. What ever will we do? Did you really come all this way, draw us all out just to tell us this? Are you stupid?”

Life sucked.

I arrived back at the inn some twenty minutes ago, greeting the innkeeper and asking to get a room for just the night. He was fairly suspicious but didn’t ask any questions, tossing me a key and bidding me goodnight. I didn’t really know what to do after that, so I simply waited in the room for some time.

Ten to fifteen minutes later, the windows creaked open and four other members of the group slipped inside. They shut off the door as Artemis immediately marched over asking why I’d left the castle. After explaining the little tid-bit of information I’d discovered, I was hoping for a much different reaction than the one I ended up receiving.

“I call bullshit. There’s no way you don’t care that I found this out. Otherwise you would’ve told me in the first place.” I stood up.

“Or I just didn’t see your role as pertinent enough or quite frankly you as a person significant enough to tell you every minor detail, including ones that don’t affect you or your part in this mission.” She poked at my chest.

“Oh really? So you’re cool if I take the pills I was given and tell everyone at the Underground about them? Or maybe I’ll tell Enzo and see if he has any interest in producing them!” I refused to back down, there’s no way I was wrong.

Her expression changed ever so slightly but she maintained her stance.

“You aren’t allowed to share any part of this mission with anyone. After this little shit show is over, it never happened. Do you understand?” She tried to switch up the topic.

“Alright, I guess I can just say I got these,” I pulled out the now empty pouch of pills and waved them around in the air, “from a little street vendor. That has nothing to do with the mission.

Artemis swiped for the pouch, but it went right back into my ring as her fingers grazed it.

“Oh? Now why would you do that?” My voice grew more overbearing. I was a bit disgusted with myself but it was for the greater good.

“Fine! What do you want?” She finally broke character, the rest of them revealing anxious expressions.

“I don’t want to wait any longer. I want to go home. So here’s how the plan’s going to go from now on, and if you at any point try to screw me, I already have a video of these pills ready to be sent to Enzo, so don’t even think about it.” I warned before continuing.

“I’m supposed to meet the Baron as soon as I return to the castle. Now I can’t be sure that they’ll be alone, but that’s not for me to worry about. I’ll challenge them to a fight, which if rejected will just be a go word for you guys to swoop in. If accepted, which I doubt it will be, the fight will be taken outside. Which gives you guys the biggest opportunity to get in and out as quickly as possible, maybe even knock me out in the process to keep the suspicion from being placed on me” I broke down the plan I’d spent five seconds thinking up.

“How are we supposed to get in? The tech we have to break through their walls doesn’t arrive for another week.” Suiko spoke up.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that. I have a plan in my mind.” A wide grin stretched across my face.

My opinion on life had changed several times these past few days, so I wasn’t too quick to change it right now. But just the utter thought of being able to leave this hellhole much much earlier than expected was just pure bliss.

God I am a genius.