Something was up, though Asd couldn't tell what as all he could see were the supervisors whispering amongst each other with fierce looks and elaborate Gestures. Then they turned towards him, and in so doing he knew they had his answers for him. He turned to look at the Weretiger elder than incline his head to the man telling him to get up as it seems the answers to their demand was right in front of them. but honestly he was a bit worried, and hour had barely passed and they hand an answer? It would be nothing more than a big resounding NO! and that scared him a lot. Not because of the consequences of such a demand, no! death would be reprieve and a blessing for everyone here and they will wholeheartedly embrace it, even the children. What he was scared of was the look of disappointment that was sure to be on their face.
The supervisors along the mages that had come here with him had walked up to them, as they drew closer the ugly look on their face became even more pronounced. It left Asd feeling confused, shouldn't they be a bit smug, but then again having an ugly look on their face when they dealt with slaves was something could or would be considered normal for them. he looked up at prepared for whatever it is they had to say.
"The academy has refused your terms." Asd felt his heart sink into his stomach, and for just a split second he felt himself getting angry, but it seems there was still more to be said, though he wouldn't lie if he said he didn't feel the extreme disappointment wafting of the were around him, or the fact that some of them were now clutching the weapons in their hand is a little bit tighter than normal.
"Instead the academy has given you its own terms. If Roland can be returned safely, a trade deal would be arranged between the Weres of black mountain and the empire. You would be give your freedom, becoming citizens of the empire. You will have to provide at least 50 men and women to be conscripted into a special army division to serve the interests of the empire. You would be allowed to mine the mountain, and allowed to travel and trade on empire sanctioned channels. You would be employed under the grace of the emperor and will be paid minimum wages along with all of the salary owed you for the years you have been a slave as stipulated by the ancient laws. However, all of this will be null and void if Young Duke Roland is not returned to the empire alive and all of you will be summarily executed. So I advise you all to get to it, you have 3 days."
And with that said, mage with a stick up his butt swiftly turned around and went to the supervisor's lodgings. One of the supervisor came forward with a crate, handing it over to Asd who took it with a questioning look on his face.
"You said you needed tools, the tunnels go deep within the mountains and sometimes it takes days at a time for the Weres to travel through and fro, the Zaragite are a dangerous factor of it, however they're are weakened by sharp lights so as long as you have a stable source of light with you, you can survive. However, crowds draw them so it would be better to go with just two or three helpers or even alone. Please hurry, your people will never see a deal this good again." Asd turned to look at the gathered Weres and took a deep breath, he had to start moving.
He opened the crate to notice a couple of glow sticks, a dozen bundle together along with a longsword that seemed to be made from a sort of black metal. On closer look he discovered it was also made from Ionite and probably the only thing that can cut through a Zaragite's tough carapace. There were rations for a long journey and a shield. He was already dressed so the weapons and rations along with the glow sticks was all that he needed. He turned to the elder weretiger who had hope in spades held within his eyes.
"Your highness I will arrange for some helpers to go with you…"
"There's no need for that, I would move faster on my own. All I need is a map and for you to show me the most definite route this Roland would have taken, and have people clear out the entrance of the tunnel. Time is of the essence." Asd said as he strapped the sword to his hip and held the shield in his left, before stuffing the glow sticks and rations in a satchel.
"The entrance has been mostly cleared your highness, it should be done in another thirty minutes. I will have a map marked out for you, the shaft Lucian took only has three branching paths. One of those paths leads to a Zaragite nest, the other is active mining shaft but is too narrow and still under excavation. The third leads to a small cavern bordering another Zaragite nest, but has an ecosystem capable of sustaining them for quite a while. That's most probably where they would be, and it'll take you at least 5 hours to get there as long as you don't encounter any Zaragite on the way." Asd nodded his head as the old man hobbled away to go prepare the map for Asd.
The young Lion sighed as he turned to look back at the direction where the supervisors had gone. He didn't want to say it but he was having severe doubts about what they had offered. It seemed to easy that the empire would so easily comply. And Asd noticed than in the process of listening to the oh so lucrative reward the empire was offering, the official document to prove that Emperor or at least someone with high enough authority was on board with the terms were absent. At the mention of freedom all of their minds went blank and the idea that after everything was said and done they would still be shackled. Asd wasn't sure, but it was much too late to bring that up again, right now all he could really do was make sure he saw this through to the end and went back to the academy…. Rhea was still waiting for him.