"Get the fuck out of my castle, you damn barbarian!"
I took a deep breath to feed oxygen into my brain.
'What a pickle,' I thought while trying to ignore the strangely intense stare of the slave girl snuggling up to my chest.
Even after all that happened, she has yet to say a single word, opting to just observe my face with those golden eyes of hers.
"It seems we are no longer welcome in the castle, younger brother," I spoke, cowarding out and turning my eyes away from the girl's face and looking over to my only surviving brother.
"So it would seem," the kid replied while gulping his saliva down.
While I managed to keep up the pretense of dignity, he was near openly shitting his pants. It was already an achievement for him to speak up.
"Then, let's not impose upon our honorable hosts any longer."
I turned around on the spot.
For now, leaving the castle was of utmost priority. While it played along with the noble's desires, allowing him to cook some sort of scheme he was nearly guaranteed to prepare against me…
It was better to plan my next steps in safety born out of anonymity. An escape from a random inn would be far easier than trying to fight my way out of this damn castle!
"Right, could we get a guide?" I asked before getting a move on. "I would rather not intrude upon anyone's quarters," my lips formed a small smile, "and I'm worried about how it would reflect upon the honor of the castle's host."
If a random mercenary suddenly invaded the private quarters of some important guests, it would be the person responsible that would bear the consequences.
"The girl knows the way," the judge said, waving his hand at me as if to dismiss me already.
I turned my eyes and, for the first time, properly looked back into those golden, inquisitive eyes.
"After you, then," I spoke before turning sideways as if to let the girl pass.
For a second, he refused to buckle, staring at my face instead.
'An imperial slave, huh?' I thought, holding my breath down a little as if to not appear too anxious to leave.
This girl was a trap. And one set on several levels.
First, if the government was watching, then they would rejoice at this opportunity. What better opportunity would they ever get to fuck with me if not for me accepting a damn slave?
In the modern world, just the idea of doing that was enough to have someone socially executed.
Secondly, this girl… was an imperial slave.
And this name instantly jerked a distant part of my host memory.
This memory was distant enough to elude me so far, but as I noticed certain discrepancies, it finally surfaced.
My host was a mercenary of a fifth provisional rank. It was a status I'd received after sixteen years of constant, hellish training to turn me into an upstanding mercenary.
I was a mere rank away from joining the core of the senior brothers of the legion, reaching a position that no usual commoner could ever dream about.
But this slave girl before me, was of thirteenth rank. And while her aura was greatly suppressed by something…
This girl was a real deal.
'I wouldn't be surprised if she was like me,' I thought, squinting my eyes when the girl finally pried her eyes away from my face and… walked past me.
The guards that formerly blocked the doors all parted to the sides, strangely intimidated by the girl's aura. It was as if… they didn't really do that on their own, falling prey to the innate oppression of the girl rather than acting on their own.
"Let's go," I turned to my brother before picking up the pace and following in the girl's footsteps.
This girl was trouble. As an imperial slave, she belonged to the absolute elite of the world. Just like my host, she was trained since young to become whatever her master would need.
From a skilled cook, through a military officer, all the way to a lover or an assassin. Sadly, as impressive of a picture my host's memory formed… those were all just legends.
Despite being a direct subsidiary of the empire, Karkuz was far enough from the imperial heartlands not to have its culture overwhelmed by everything that was imperial.
As such, while I knew this girl was one hell of a real deal… I had no way of knowing the exact degree of what I could expect from her.
'Still, I need to ditch her as soon as possible,' I thought, tightening my fists while following through the complex set of corridors of the castle.
Strangely enough, the trip that the judge made us do and the trip guided by Nay couldn't be any less different. While the first one took us along a set of extremely long but straight corridors, the girl lead us through constant turns and passages.
And while the first trip took us what felt like an hour, Nay led the three of us out in a matter of mere minutes.
"That's impressive," I openly acknowledged the girl's skill to guide before turning my eyes to my last remaining brother of the company. "Now then. First, we need to stay on the move," I ordered, grabbing the kid by his upper arm before dragging him out of the castle's gate and to the streets.
"And now, you need to decide, kid," I explained in a slightly hushed voice, using the noise made by the crowd of passersby to mask the topic I was about to raise. "You only have three options. First, try to get the money and run," I pointed out before giving the kid an amused side-eye.
The kid swallowed his saliva while Nay quietly followed behind us, paying no attention whatsoever to the stares her skimpy outfit attracted.
'I'm sorry, but let me use you as a distraction for a little bit longer,' I apologized in my thoughts before turning my attention back to the kid.
"Your second option is to split the money, take your piece and leave the company," I elaborated on the second option.
In a sense, this was the safest solution for the current problem of the kid holding an ungodly fortune on the tablet he received.
Five hundred gold Imperials was a booty even a major noble would struggle to fork out just like that!
I suddenly stopped and grasped tighter at the kid's arm. Then, I pulled him closer, bringing my mouth directly to his ear.
"But if you want to stay and watch me rebuild this damned company if you are not interested in the nobles killing you off for petty revenge…"
My voice paused, ceasing to come out of my throat.
I then took a step back, distancing myself from the kid a little.
"You can entrust it to me so that I can use it for the benefit of both the two of us now and all those who will join us in the future."
I lifted my arm from the kid's shoulder, giving him even more space to calm his thoughts and think it through.
The first option was suicide. As expected from the youngest, the kid boasted a mere third rank… While the real skill of my host placed me among the high sixth ranks.
In simpler terms, this kid could never outrun me.
The second option was a trap, but an honest one. It meant splitting our rewards and then going our own ways… But with the nobles breathing upon our necks, dead-set on getting back on us for killing one of theirs… How long could an inexperienced kid like that, with now bloated rank, survive with a massive fortune on his hands?
The only solution for now, at least, was to stick together. The question, though, was whether or not this kid would understand it all.
I took a deep breath before taking a step forward. My hand tapped the kid's shoulder to wake him up from his deep thought, making him get move on as well.
Without a single word, Nay followed us right away.
"No matter what, we need to keep moving," I advised, pulling the kid deeper and deeper into the crowd. "The further away we get from the castle, the more time we will have to prepare our escape. But first…"