After dinner, Murphy turned to Byron and asked, "Has the Guardian of Faith left?"
"Yes, he continued south after delivering the warrant."
"Oh," Murphy looked out the dark window, "He should be out of the City of Gath's jurisdiction by now, right?"
"Yes."
"Good! Then our plan officially starts!" Murphy clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention.
"Byron, head to the mine and proceed with the plan."
"Understood."
"Pepe, fetch the head of the trade guild and the speaking trumpet."
"Right away, Master!"
"Lambert, you... sigh... go wash the dishes."
"Uh, okay."
---
Under the cloak of night, with Murphy's help, Byron was swiftly teleported near the mine.
His solid footsteps were drowned out by the loud whoops of the gambling overseers sent by Alaric until Byron was almost upon the gamblers huddled around a wobbly table. Then someone lazily glanced up.
"Ah! Who's that?" The overseer spotted the nearby figure and his voice cracked.
His shout startled the other gamblers who jumped to their feet, "Where, where? Are the skeletons bolting?"
Byron emerged from the shadows to face the panicked group, "Recognize me?"
The overseers, cowed by Byron's presence, practically sprained their necks nodding, but one spoke up with a quiet voice, "You're Mr. Byron, right?"
"Some recognition, that's good." Byron's tone softened a bit, "You can go back now. From this point on, I'll handle things here."
The overseers looked at one another, then the one who recognized Byron stepped forward, "Sir, there's still a long time till dawn. Is this Mr. Alaric's order?"
Byron's response was icy, "Not yet, but it will be shortly. As for you, leave on your own now, or wait for Alaric to send someone to drag you back. After all, he didn’t exactly approve gambling on his dime."
Panicked, they hustled to comply, "Sir, we're leaving, right now."
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The overseers scrambled away, burning the wooden gambling supplies and rushing into a nearby shack to pack. Minutes later, they were kowtowing to Byron before disappearing into the night with their torches.
As skeletons generally possess night vision and dislike fire, they abstain from using torches. The now deserted mine took on a silent, eerie calm, and only by listening intently could Byron hear the continuous tapping from within the mines.
Byron detached from the Brue clinging to him and positioned himself at a central spot above the three mine entrances. He then utilized a unique ability of the demon lords: [Silent Call].
A force unique to the Skeleton Lord emanated from Byron, spreading in every direction. The contented skeletons paused their mining and orderly emerged from the tunnels with their accompanying Slimes.
The [Silent Call] had a different pull on skeletons than any human could exert; it was more like commands versus temptations.
The skeletons gathered around their sub-leaders before collectively making their way to the center of the mine.
After a period of mining, the near nine thousand skeletons and their Slimes had leveled up two or three times, granting them rudimentary thinking abilities, transcending their former instinct-driven actions.
Satisfied that no skeletons remained in the tunnels, Byron looked out over the sea of white skulls before him.
"My kin, you’ve all felt some changes during your time in the mines, be it increased strength or clarity. All these gifts stem from the generosity of our Demon Lord, Your Majesty!" The soul fire in Byron's eyes blazed with passion.
"The time has come for us to serve our Demon Lord, Your Majesty! Alongside the Slime Lord, we will impart the art of human disguise to you, and then we will become the sharpest blades in our Demon Lord's arsenal, to be thrust deep into humanity’s territory!" Byron threw his arms into the air, finishing his stirring speech.
While Byron addressed the skeletons, Lord Brue conveyed a similar message to the Slimes with writhing movements.
Back in their days at the Lightless Tomb, or even before, neither skeletons nor Slimes would have grasped the speech. But now, after toiling in the mines and leveling up, these creatures, freshly gifted with slight sentience, understood nearly every word. Emulating Byron's gesture, they raised their arms in a pledge of allegiance to the Demon Lord.
Byron and Brue climbed atop a structure made of mined-out common stones to demonstrate human disguises to the creatures below.
Byron stretched out his arms, allowing the Slime to soften and envelop him in a translucent gelatinous layer. The Slime shifted color, creating a synthetic Byron in appearance.
He flexed his joints, smooth without bulges or protrusions, and then turned to present the simulated human appearance to the creatures below.
The skeletons and Slimes mimicked Byron's and Brue's fusion steps.
Unfortunately, a skill, especially a combined one, isn't so easily mastered.
The dark mine resembled a spoiled broth, with meat separating from the bone after prolonged stewing – a fitting description of the present scene.
Some skeletons' faces swung like loose shutters in the breeze.
Others wailed as their Slimes, wrapping only an arm before absently transitioning to digestion mode.
Fractured blobs of semi-transparent gel in various shades fell from the skeletons as they moved.
A few walked steps before realizing their Slime companions had been left behind.
A rare talented few managed better, even if their Slimes' color changes made their synthetic humans look more like rotting undead.
From their vantage point, Byron and Brue looked down upon the infernal chaos, finally understanding why the Demon Lord, Your Majesty, got so angry during their initial practice.
Even as lords, they had initially spent copious amounts of time mastering this skill, let alone these newly sentient lower demons.
Fortunately, Byron and Brue had built a wealth of experience and confidence that they could train these creatures in less time than it had taken themselves.