Shawn

I wake up to the sound of my cabin door slamming open against the wall.

"The heck?" I mutter while shooting up from the bed and reaching for my swords.

"Shawn, you have to hide!" Aldred says while walking into my cabin with his party.

Why are they here again? Also, why do I need to hide?

I grab my swords and reach for my armor before asking, "Why exactly?"

"The Island Lord of the Isle of Drifting Ash has come to the island to train up an army in secret and set up a base for a rebellion against the ashborne!" Hank shouts from behind Aldred, making my hand slip while I am putting on my gauntlet.

"Excuse me, what?" I ask, hoping I had heard wrong.

"You heard him, the Island Lord is on the island and has brought a large group of people to scout around the island for a good spot to stage their base," Aldred answers my question before stopping a meter in front of me.

A few seconds pass by in silence as the information sinks in.

"Well, shit," I mutter before I finish putting on my gauntlet.

How does the one island I choose as a secluded home become the staging point for a rebellion?

I shake my head before turning to Aldred and saying, "Thanks for the heads up, I am going to head towards the dungeon. Do you know if there are any of his men there?"

"There will most likely be men there, but they won't be expecting anything, seeing as we told them that there wasn't anyone on the island," Amber answers my question while I go through my storage ring to check for supplies.

My head shoots up upon hearing that as I exclaim, "Wait, really? You didn't say anything about me?"

Aldred and his party glance at each other before turning towards me.

"Why would we?" Josh says as if he can't understand why they would tell them about me.

Aldred smirks before saying, "You seem like a cool guy. Plus, the Adventurer's Guild from the Isle of Drifting Ash doesn't really like the Island Lord all that much anyways, and our mission ended the moment we brought him here."

I open my mouth to ask something before my question is answered for me.

"Besides, if we are asked why we didn't tell them about you then we can just use your status as royalty as our excuse," Amber says with a shrug, making me shut my mouth without saying anything.

So, in other words, they are just using me as an excuse to cause trouble for the Island Lord and it just so happens to benefit me?

Well, whatever. It works out for me in the end, so it doesn't matter as to why they are doing it.

I pull out a mask from my storage ring and put it on before double-checking everything on me.

"You have everything?" Aldred asks while studying my dark looking mask.

I glance up at him and nod my head before walking towards the door.

"Hey Shawn," Aldred shouts from behind me as I am about to reach the door to my cabin.

I turn my head around and ask, "What?"

"If you want, we could help you get off of the island," he says, surprising everyone in the cabin.

Hmm?

Interesting.

I turn around fully this time and ask, "What do you want in return?"

Aldred smirks again before saying, "Nothing much. Just for you to join the Adventurer's Guild when we get to the Isle of Drifting Ash."

"Seriously?!" Hank shouts in surprise.

I then hear Josh quietly mutter, "A prince as an adventurer?"

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Aldred raises his hand to stop any questions before looking at me.

"What do you say? Do you agree?" He asks while looking directly at the covered eyes of my mask.

Suddenly, a series of howls echoes through the forest, prompting me to look back out the door again.

The Island Lord's men must have bothered some of the wolf packs around the forest.

Which means that they aren't too far away from here but are still far enough that I should be able to sneak past them without much trouble. Especially if I have some help.

I turn back towards Aldred and ask, "Alright, what do you have in mind?"

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In a clearning near the central hub.

"This clearing looks like a good location for a main base," the Island Lord mumbles to himself.

A series of howls echoes through the forest from the other side of the island, briefly catching the attention of the Island Lord before he turns back to the clearing again.

"Alright everyone, start work building a base here," the demon shouts at the dozen or so people wandering around the clearing before turning towards a shorter looking demon.

"Report," the Island Lord orders the other demon.

"So far, the scouts have not found any signs of sapient life living on the island, just as the Adventurer's Guild reported my lord," the short demon answers the Island Lord.

The Island Lord nods his head and turns to look into the forest before asking, "What about the dungeon?"

"Team three is standing at the dungeon entrance and preparing to enter it as we speak," the short demon answers before pausing as lightning and a crash sounds out from the distance.

"What the hell was that?" The Island Lord says with a cold look in his eyes as he turns towards the shorter demon.

The shorter demon looks towards the direction of the noise before saying, "I am not sure, however, that noise came from the direction of the dungeon entrance if I am not mistaken."

"The dungeon entrance?" The Island Lord mumbles before a glint flashes across his eyes and he sprints off in the direction of the noise.

The clearing is soon left in silence as all of the people left in it are left staring at their leader's back as he runs off into the forest.

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Shawn

About ten minutes earlier.

"This plan is not going to work," I mutter while walking behind Aldred and his party towards the dungeon entrance guarded by seven of the Island Lord's men.

"You have a better idea?" Hank whispers before we reach the clearing and stop talking.

I don't have a better idea.

Well, aside from kill them all and go inside the dungeon, but that might cause some problems.

One of the seven guards walks up and approaches Aldred as we near the dungeon entrance.

"You finally made it here. We have been waiting for you to arrive for a while now," he says while directing an annoyed look at Aldred.

I guess he didn't like having to wait.

"Yeah, well we are about to leave, so quit whining already," Aldred says as we walk past the guard.

We make it about halfway through the clearing towards the dungeon entrance before I notice one of the guards send a funny look in my direction.

That very same guard steps in front of us a few seconds later and asks, "Where did this guy come from? You only had six people in your party when we arrived on this island if I am not mistaken."

Shit, this is not looking good.

"Oh really?" The first guard asks as I hear him begin stepping towards us.

Suddenly, the other five guards begin to surround us as well, making me tense up a little bit.

"What do you mean? He was with us this entire time. It's just that his specialty is in stealth, so you probably didn't notice him," Amber says, quickly making up an excuse.

The second guard, an elf with a small frame, sneers and says, "You think we would believe that?"

The first guard stops him from saying anything else by raising his hand.

"Alright, if what you say is true, then it should be fine for him to take off that mask," the orc says with a cold glint in his eyes.

Before we can say anything, the orc signals something to another one of the guards.

This guard, another elf by the looks of it, suddenly brings out a staff and fires an icicle at my face.

I manage to dodge it easily enough, but it turns out that he didn't aim at me, but at my mask.

The icicle manages to blow my mask right off of my face.

Aldred's party and I all ready our weapons immediately before turning towards the surrounding guards and rushing them.

I just so happen to target the orc who had given the signal, giving him a look at my eyes in the process.

"Shit, are you kidding me? What the hell is a royal prince doing on this frozen hell of an island!" The orc shouts before surprisingly deciding to run off away from the battle.

Well, that might cause some problems in the future.

Anyways, I turn towards another guard and summon miasma to coat my sword before rushing him.

The guard gets a terrified look in his eyes as soon as he sees my eyes, confirming what he had heard the orc shout.

"What the hell is someone like you doing on this island!" The guard shouts while blocking both of my swords with his sword and shield.

My miasma slowly spreads to his sword before reaching his hands, causing them to slowly start to wither away from the outside inwards.

This causes the guard to scream in pain, so I take advantage of the little distraction and quickly kick out his knee before ripping my left blade from his shield.

After that, I thrust it into his chest and send a wave of miasma into his body.

My miasma quickly eats through the few centimeters between his heart and my blade and kills him in an instant.

You have gained 10 Exp from the level 5 elf

I turn around after receiving the notification to look for another opponent, only to barely manage to dodge a lightning bolt from the elf guard who had started all of this by pointing me out.

The lightning bolt crashes into a tree and knocks it down, making a loud noise in the process.

"I hope no one heard that," I mutter before turning towards the bastard elf who had shot a lightning bolt at me.

The elf opens his mouth, likely to shout something at me, but Elizabeth manages to rush in from behind him and slit his throat before he can say anything.

Huh, good job.

I nod my head to Elizabeth before looking around the clearing to see if any of the guards are still left alive.

Surprisingly, they are all dead, and with no injuries on our side as well.

"To the dungeon!" Aldred shouts while already running towards the dungeon entrance.

He quickly opens the door as we all run towards the door before closing it behind us the moment I sense someone reach the clearing.

We all stand out of breath in the dungeon with the closed door behind us.

Hey, we ended up doing my unsaid plan in the end anyways.

I glance at the door while wondering how the Island Lord will take having missed me on the island.

I continue staring at the door for a few more seconds before muttering, "Good thing dungeons are instanced."