Lily looked at the goblin which was unsuspectingly approaching her. She got her dagger ready and held her breath. Shadow cloak skill hid her body but not her sound, and in these silent caves, any small noise would get you discovered.

As the goblin approached her, she could see his ugly look and sharp fangs in the dim light.

Now or never, she told herself when the goblin passed by her. she pounced at him and struck him in the neck where Tom told her the goblins main artery should be. She used her Penetrating dagger skill so that she would cut through the goblin’s thick skin easily.

The goblin didn’t make a sound as its red eyes dimmed slowly. It was dead.

Lily watched it as it turned into dust, leaving a stone dagger and a small red gem, which she quickly collected.

According to Tom, these gems are used to create medicine and fix artifacts. They can be sold to merchants for a good profit.

Her young master was a merchant too, so he would probably like these things, she thought before frowning as she remembered him. They have been in here for 24 hours already, and she did not find a trace of him. Is he doing fine? does he need any help?

She wanted to venture alone and find him, but she knew that such actions would be stupid.

Her group was now resting in a chamber with a single entrance, Tom called it a safe area, it was easy to defend and hard to attack. She was tasked with guarding the entrance of the tunnel for the next two hours while they rested. She can’t leave them.

While she could easily get rid of lonely goblins, and two goblins won’t be hard, however, any more than that would be dangerous.

They have encountered groups of five goblins yesterday, but thanks to Tom’s instructions they were able to safely get rid of them. He also taught Aria and Peter how to fight and defend themselves, “Tom is not that bad after all,” she whispered her thoughts.

She quickly shook her head, why was she thinking about Tom? Her young master was the only one in her heart.

What was that? She thought as she saw a shadow approaching her from the dark. She activated her Area Inspection skill as she got her dagger ready.

It was a strange monster, it had the structure and height of a man, but it had a black face, white disheveled hair and gray muddy rags covered its body. And the way it walked was very arrogant as if the dungeon was its own playground, just like the way her young master would walk.

“What? You don’t recognize your young master anymore?” The monster asked, mimicking her young master’s voice. “Wait isn’t that the young master?” she thought,

“Ahh... Young master.” Lily screamed and ran into Victor’s arms, and put her head into his chest. So that he could embrace her tightly.

“I was very worried about you young master, but I couldn’t leave and search for you,” she said as tears began to fall from her eyes.

“I am fine, I just had somethings to do,” He said as he patted her head.

“What happened to you? young master, Why are you covered with all this dust and mud?” She asked him as she inspected his body.

“That’s a long story, And I don’t need your companions to discover my existence, so keep your voice down,” He said dodging her question as he checked the map to make sure that they were still in their place.

“Ah, sorry” She whispered.

“Tell me about everything that happened the moment you entered the dungeon,” He said.

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Lily began to tell him about how she stayed with the others, how they awakened, about her conversation with Tom, and how they began to hunt for goblins as they searched the dungeon. Making Victor frown when he heard that Aria was a merchant. But then he smiled, he can incorporate this into his plan. Thankfully he didn’t intend to use a normal poison on Tom, as those can be healed quickly with a healing pill. What he is planning to use was considered medicine by the system, so system skills and medicines would not heal it. In his past life, it was used by one of the imperial concubines on the emperor. He heard that story from a close friend who worked at the palace and was responsible for the investigation.

He thought silently about random things as he continued to listen to Lily speak about Tom’s achievements.

“Tom taught us many things, he said he was in two raids before” She finished her tale, gaining herself a heavy slap on the butt.

“Ah, young master, why?” she asked.

“Did you notice that for the last fifteen minutes you have been doing nothing but praising that Tom? Weren’t you just mumbling about him when you met me?” He asked with a smile, making Lily shiver a little then lower her head in shame. He has been watching her when she killed that goblin, he wanted to make sure that she was alone.

“I am sorry young master, I don’t know why, I just have this strange feeling about him, but I only have the young master in my heart.” She said as a few tears dropped from her eyes.

Victor knew exactly what was she feeling, It was Tom’s fate beginning to affect her. She wants to like that Tom, but her connection with Victor was still stronger and was helping her resist.

“Don’t worry,” She heard her young master say as he pinched her chin and removed her veil on her mouth before kissing her red lips softly.

Lily froze in her place, she didn’t expect that and didn’t know what to do, but before she could savor the feeling of his lips, they left hers. She wanted more.

Lily looked at her with a smirk and made Lily quickly hide her blushed face with her hand, it was as red as a tomato. This was her first kiss.

“This is not the right place nor the right time,” He said as he patted her little head.

“I already activated my disguise skill, so they would not feel my existence, but we can’t take much time” He continued.

He needed to do this to break Tom’s spell on her. And it seemed to have worked as he could feel the fate thread between him and her becoming more relaxed.

“Now, quickly. I need a change of clothes, do you have that backpack,” he asked, waking her up from her trance.

Lily quickly reached to a nearby crevice and took the backpack out, she didn’t leave it with her companions as she didn’t want them touching her young master’s things. So she kept it near her when she was not carrying it.

Victor took it from her, then grabbed some clothes from it to change into while Lily guarded him. The dungeon was a dangerous place.

“It’s ok, there are no enemies so you can relax,” he said with an evil smile. Nine goblins were waiting in the shadows, those were his newly acquired slaves.

“Young master, do you need that pickaxe?” She asked him.

“No, Not anymore,” He said as he remembered the suffering he had to go through to achieve his goal. he did have the goblins to assist though.

“Now listen carefully, I need your help for the next plan,” he said as he packed the dirty clothes in the bag.

“After about two hours, a herd of goblins will attack you. Just stay near Aria and protect her, and make sure not to kill any of them until Tom is injured. You can attack and kill them all after that,” He said, he would not be needing those guys anymore.

“The young master plans to kill Tom?” Lily asked nervously. Tom has helped her a lot, she didn’t want him to die.

“No, he will live, and he will leave this dungeon without a speck of dust. It is just a little punishment for hitting on you,” he said as he closed the bag and stood up.

He felt the urgent need to get rid of that Tom, his effect on Lily was very strong.

“I will not travel with you, as I have to find the twins and guide them, they don’t have a mentor like Tom. I will meet you at the boss’s room,” he said as he patted Lily’s hair. She grabbed the corner of his shirt with her little hand, she didn’t want to be separated from her young aster again.

“Don’t worry, I am stronger than you, and I will be fine. Just keep everything about our meeting a secret and act natural. You guys would need another day to reach the goblin general, so make sure to rest well, no goblins will approach this area until the attack. And don’t worry about me, I will be spending my times with the girls and they will pamper me well,” He said with an evil smile, “One of your companions seemed to be coming, so quickly put your veil on, I need to hide, see you tomorrow.” He said as he quickly disappeared In the darkness before Lily could say anything.

He was intentionally flaming her jealousy so that she would keep thinking about him and not pay attention to Tom.

Soon footsteps could be heard, and Peter who woke up to pee passed by Lily who was watching Victor’s disappearing shadow in the darkness.

“Miss Lily, sorry to disturb you, but it’s nature’s call,” he said,

She didn’t answer, just kicked his ass, sending him face down into the dirt.

“You stay and guard here. I will go get some sleep,” she said as she grabbed her backpack and headed towards the safe area. Leaving Peter wondering, “How did I upset her?” he thought, not knowing that he had just ruined a young maiden’s secret affair.