Leading the exhausted group of people, Yulem sighed for an umpteenth time. It has been ten days ever since they started their mission of killing the former king of Lasirion named Gaius Cabrera in the Heath Duchy.
The King tipped them off that Gaius was currently residing inside the Duke's castle. They had been imitating how the citizens of Lasirion wear their clothing. They were still bad at it, but it couldn't be better than being in the country where their party exiled them. They were a group of twenty men to explore the worlds behind the Gates and bring home spoils and materials to their country. Now, thirteen people lost their place and left their country. With only a few gold coins in their pouches, they traveled to the farthest it could take them. Then, an opportunity arose. They found multiple posters of an issue of death against Gaius with the reward of ten thousand gold. It was a god-given gift to them, so they accepted it and went to the palace.
Things happened and now… they were suffering after all the raids they had done in empty castles. How come there were so many castles in just one duchy? It was very hard to believe. They couldn't even comprehend how rich Duke Heath was to build castles around his territory just to confuse their enemies.
"This is it, right?"
"Are you sure this is really the Duke's castle?"
Those were the questions they kept on asking the others.
"This will be the last and we'll drop the mission," Yulem said to his comrades with a sigh.
As they advanced towards the castle, they could see three people in front of the closed front gate. Yulem sighed in relief that they now had a small chance to finish the mission rather than abandoning it.
"State your visit," one of them said with a prideful tone.
They squint their eyes just to see the silhouette of the person who talked. When they were finally close to seeing their countenance, Yulem cheered in his heart. The portrait of the former king resembled the man before him. However, there was something different about him. He didn't have clothes that fully showed his authority. Instead, he wore ragged clothes that commoners were using. He was also… tall. It seemed like he was one head taller than them. Didn't the King say that Gaius wasn't that taller than him? Also, his eyes and hair had a slight hint of red in them. His face was sharper and firmer than the poster of an immature Gaius Renove posted.
"Gaius Cabrera?" Yulem asked.
"... are you here to kill me?" He emitted a strong aura that even Yulem, who threaded over various battlefields from different worlds, was afraid to fight him.
"What? No, no. I…."
"Then, why are you here?"
"..."
"You're not from around here, right? Where did you come from?"
"... Eshea, sir."
"Ah, yes. I heard of your group," Gaius said as he smiled. "Come inside."
Yulem and his comrades looked at each other then nodded. They came inside the castle, throwing caution to the wind. When they entered, they were greeted by servants busily running to and fro. It was close to midnight, yet they were still working. Shouldn't these people be resting right now?
"Oh, our Lord is coming tomorrow," Draven proudly said.
"Lord…?"
"The Emperor of Elachron, of course."
Their faces paled.
Yulem asked, "Is she… Lord Emersyn Lachlan? The president of the Lachlan Company?"
Chu Yubin and Draven smiled widely then patted his shoulders.
"You know well, whoever you are!"
"Yulem, you have researched well."
"Uh… no, sir… that…," Yulem searched for help as he seemed burdened by Chu Yubin and Draven's enthusiasm. However, he suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Draven imploringly.
"Sir Gaius mentioned that we have heard of your group, right? We have a wide range of intelligence gathering, so we know of your exile. Don't worry though, we won't do anything that you wouldn't like. My Lord will be coming to visit Alaric's castle to check up on the Duke and Sir Gaius' progress. For now, are you hungry?"
"..."
Yulem looked at the people with him before nodding hesitantly. They followed Draven to a spacious mess hall and were made to line up for food. As soon as they smelled the delicious aroma of the soup before them, they drooled and became impatient to get their shares. They didn't bother tasting it for poison either since… If these people had any plans to kill them right from the start, they wouldn't be able to eat this wonderful food. After all, this was the first time that milk and this gooey consistency were used in a soup. When they took their first bite, they swooned over and praised Emersyn in their hearts.
"So, as far as we know, you are here to kill Gaius Cabrera, right?" Draven inquired with a smile.
They stiffened and slowly avoided Draven's gaze. Yulem cleared his throat and said, "Yes, sir… we are currently low on money from escaping from Eshea. We are already dead set on abandoning this mission when we find it hard to proceed to the mission. Since Lord Lachlan has already extended her helping hand to us, we would like to join the Lachlan Company. If that is impossible… then it's okay if we are just pawns for your plans."
"That's incredibly interesting. There will be war anytime soon, so I would like you to be a spy for us on Renove's side. We will provide everything you need; the heads of Sir Gaius and Duke Heath. All you have to do is to present the heads I will be giving you and say that you couldn't take everything because the president of the Lachlan Company came, and you had to escape after sacrificing some of your friends to rain terror on the servants of the castle to buy more time."
Yulem and the others nodded their heads.
"We'll give these rings to you that would record every conversation you had with them. Don't worry, these wouldn't use any mana or energy, so you wouldn't be caught."
Draven handed out rings to the thirteen people. "Also, the rings have a storage function that only you could use once you inserted your mana into it. Then, here," he dropped thirteen bags of coins on the table, "are your deposit for the job. Each bag contained 500 gold coins, so be wise on using it. The rest of the payment will be sent to you through the rings. Also, I would like to know who were the reckless bunch here, so you can stay over and be protected. Don't worry, we will immediately empty out the castle once our Lord takes us to her world, so if ever the king wanted to take over the Duchy, they wouldn't see anyone here. I'll be giving you a map on where you would be escaping once our preparations are over. Are those clear to all of you?"
Yulem and his group stood up and bowed to Draven. After that, they stood up straight and began introducing themselves politely. Then, a few of them approached Draven's side as they knew themselves that they were reckless fighters. They totaled to seven, so Draven picked three that would go with Yulem and the others. Once they were over, they didn't realize that the time had arrived for Emersyn to come. When Yulem received the news that they would be meeting the Emperor of Elachron and the President of the Lachlan Company, he paled.
"Don't worry, our Lord won't hit you or anything," Chu Yubin said as he dragged Yulem with the others.
They waited for a portal to open up as Yulem and the rest were sweating buckets. The servants were lined up and led a space towards Gaius. When a portal opened, Yulem felt strong oppression—an incredibly strong one at that—and was aghast. Moreover, his shock didn't end there when a beautiful goddess appeared. She was dressed simply and her hair was tied in a ponytail as it gently swayed with the energy bursts from the portal. She casually smiled at the servants and approached Gaius with light steps. Her aura was terrifying but beautiful. Yulem found himself fearing this woman and had been captivated with her goddess-like beauty.
"How's training, Gaius?"
Even her voice was so melodic that Yulem could listen to it every day and wouldn't get tired of it.
"It's been getting along well, my Lord."
"That's great. So, these are the people that you mentioned?"
"Yes, they are. This is Yulem, the leader of the group."
Yulem flinched but found the courage to step forward and took Emersyn's hand to kiss it. Her hand… was hard and filled with calluses that he was shocked. Every noblewoman he knew always took care of their hands and wouldn't do anything to make it this… hard and calloused. However, he found it beautiful too.
"It is my pleasure to meet the Emperor of Elachron."
"Yes, I have heard of you, Yulem. I admire your courage to come here despite not knowing what dangers will befall you and your people. Now that you are working for me, I strongly advise you and your men to always execute cautiousness and swift work. Your life is not yours anymore."
Yulem felt his heart beating erratically.
"Yes… my Lord."