The last thing that came to my mind was the guards and how I thought earlier, that they were surprisingly few and needed more. Maybe I could use this as an argument? Either way, I could lose too much and couldn't remain quiet as well.
"Your lordship," The Lord of the Underworld seemed unimpressed, even a bit annoyed. "Your excellency? I just wanted to find some information and my so-called attack couldn't even bruise or seriously hurt the guards. I am already deeply sorry, but I have no backer and had no other choice to find out who attacked my friend and mentor. Can I make amends for this terrible mistake in another way?" A frown appeared on his scared face, making some of them ripple.
"What is it that you want? State your point and then be gone."
I took a deep breath, arranging the words in my head. I could still make it and would use my best acting skills!
"Your excellency!" I bawled, tears falling from my eyes,"Please let me redeem myself with my body!"
The aide beside the Lord of the Underworld who just took a sip of tea, his pinky perfectly stretched, spit the tea in a wide arc. He then started to cough violently.
The Lord of the Underworld himself just sat there, not moving a single centimeter. His eyes staring straight at me without blinking.
"What.The. Hell?" he rumbled in a deep voice, the undertone filled with barely contained rage.
"Drag her to the dungeon!" he roared, guards hastily running from the already opened door to grab me. But my act wasn't completed, so I jumped sideways, barely avoiding the guards and was at the side of the Lord of the Underworld where the aide had left a minute ago. I kneeled, taking out my most pitiful dog eyes and my most exquisite pouty lip.
"Please let me become one of your underlings." I softly said, aiming to seem both pitiful and harmless.
"You...you want to become my underling?" The feared ruler of the black market uttered, disbelieving. I nodded like an especially enthusiastic bobblehead doll. He sighed like he was at his wit's end and waved at the guards.
"Please, please don't lock me up."
"Shut it. I will think about it. Throw her in a cell."
And I was still brought into a cell. But the best thing was, that the merchant was only a few cells down the floor. I saw him lying unconscious on the small rug that was serving as a bed.
Imprisonment was drop dead boring but I could not log out. What if I was called to become an underling?
At some point, my timer reminded me that my daily playtime was over if I still wanted to get five hours sleep before working. But I ignored it.
And finally, after 13 in-game hours, the guards came!
...To release the merchant. Great. I was forgotten, wasn't I?
But after one more hour, guards came again!
...To deliver food. It wasn't that bad. I didn't lose health by eating it and turned off my tastebuds. Nice brown blob with very suspicious looking mushrooms. Yummy.
Many, many hours later (in fact only three hours), finally, I was picked up and led through the castle.
This time, I was brought to another room. A torture chamber, yay! In wise expectation I turned off my pain receptors, too. So, I'm ready for some wholesome torture. Even for some R rated, kya~.
[!!!]
[From here on, very disturbing content follows. Who cannot handle gore, please skip this part.]
[!!!]
But what I saw made my stomach churn. Empty eye sockets and the whole chest was cut open, rips clearly to see with bits of blood and flesh clinging to the bones. But the truly harrowing thing was, that the organs were missing, only a corpse hollowed of the innards who should have kept the corpse alive. Even the blood was collected, as the corpse had some needles with tubes at their ends leading to blood bags that were full to the brim.
As I wanted to avert my gaze, I noticed that even his skull was opened up. Since I had no interest to find out if his brain was missing, too, I looked around to find the torturer who did such dreadful butchering.
A man with a white overall turned and an assistant came and helped him to take off the protective clothing. The gloves were still a little wet from all the blood they must have bathed in. As the head protection was taken off, the face of the Lord of the Underworld appeared. Suddenly I remembered the rumors of the bone-chilling tyrant ruling over the black market with an iron fist. Behind closed doors it was said that no spy, no soldier of the city lord and no one who opposed him in the black market would be seen again.
"Mystyval Ru-ná," he said, a smirk raising the corners of his mouth. "You wanted to become my underling, didn't you? Start your service by taking the meat to the cooling chamber."
My thoughts raced. Were they eating their enemies? I tried to suppress my disgust but seemingly failed.
"You can either return to your cell or do my biddings. It is your choice. But if you disappoint me I will lock you up until the end of your life. So choose. Now."