Chapter 94

“H-how dare you!” Grizwald slammed his fists against the handles of his chair. “I knew from the very first time—”

“My lord, we absolutely cannot release a single person until this situation is resolved,” Flavna said to Belmot, completely ignoring Grizwald. “Thus far, their high-ranking members have either claimed no knowledge or have been extremely uncooperative, including Felicia. If there is even a chance that the appearance of the demons was caused by the Guild, by accident or otherwise, we must find out and prevent the Guild from covering it up!”

“What vile accusations!” Grizwald shouted, red in the face, his triple chin vibrating after every sentence.

“Indeed,” Alfred nodded. “The masters of the S.E.C.R.E.T. Guild have ever been our friends and allies. Have you already forgotten the difficulties we all went through in organizing the Forge of Champions together with the Guild and the royal family? To hold captive dozens of their active members is simply unacceptable! I have a letter from Baltimore herself, demanding the release of her dear friends!”

“We do not answer to that whorehouse!” Flavna objected. “As long as I am still a captain of this city’s guards, I will not release a single prisoner until the mystery of the demon appearance has been solved. Any attempt to break the prisoners free will be viewed as an admission of their guilt and dealt with accordingly!”

“Then it is time to make a change,” Alfred said. “My lord, please strip Flavna of her rank before she completely destroys the relationships you have worked so hard to build!”

“Then we’d need to make it permanent and execute her right here and now!” Ophelia said with excitement and sparks ran through her fingers.

“W-wait, let’s not be hasty about such things,” Belmot stuttered nervously.

“We already have someone far more suited for the position,” Alfred continued. “Lieutenant Mimi is loved by all and as we heard is the one out there dealing with Flavna’s screw-ups even as we speak. I doubt you would find a single person in this fortress that would object to her promotion.”

That’s because she is probably the most amenable girl in this entire city, Flavna thought as she easily read through Alfred’s true intent. Every soldier on in our forces—you included—would’ve run a train on her by now, had I let you. An obedient little puppet for you scum to control.

“Mimi is certainly a lovely girl,” Belmot said and sank into thought.

“My lord, if I may,” Gamesh intervened. “Although no one would deny the positive affections many have for our kind-hearted lieutenant, this is an inopportune time to make such major changes. Now that we know that these mysterious disturbers of peace are powerful enough to kill one of our captains, sowing confusion in the chain of command and further reducing our strength by another captain would only give our enemies another advantage.”

“Oh, you are certainly right!” Belmot said with a slight smile, grasping at the chance to do nothing. “You have always been able to think calmly even in the direst of situations.”

“Thank you, my lord!” Gamesh bowed.

“Well then, if there’s nothing more, I’m starving!” Belmot said with excitement to get out of this meeting. “I heard that there’s—”

“I’m sorry, my lord, but there is one other issue,” Alfred interrupted his lord to keep this meeting going. “What about the rumors that the Sixth Princess was taken captive by the Purple Capes along with the other survivors.”

“W-what!?” Belmot looked like he was about to have a stroke. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Flavna, have you lost your mind!?” Grizwald jumped up from his chair. “That’s treason against the Crown! I should hang you where you stand!”

“If I may, it seems that Alfred’s dubious sources were not entirely correct,” Gamesh intervened. “The princess was gravely injured during the demon attack. We took her with us out of the demon-infested tunnels to ensure her safety and guide her to a speedy recovery.”

“And where is she now!?” Grizwald shouted. “Why haven’t we been informed of such an honored guest!?”

“We could not exclude the possibility that the entire incident was orchestrated to assassinate the princess,” Gamesh explained calmly. “To ensure her safety in her weakened state I took it upon myself to keep her location a secret and not risk her return to the palace until she had at least regained consciousness, preferably until her full recovery.”

“Very well but keep me informed as soon as there are any developments,” lord Belmot instructed.

“Absolutely!” Gamesh bowed again and exchanged glances with Flavna.

“Captains!” two Purple Cloak soldiers jumped to attention and saluted Flavna and Gamesh as they briskly walked through the corridors of Belmot’s Fortress, Iron Peak.

Gamesh acknowledged the soldiers with a smile while Flavna walked past them as if they were furniture. As captains, Flavna and Gamesh had private rooms both in the barracks and in the fortress itself and that was when Flavna was headed, followed closely behind by Gamesh. The entire time Flavna kept a stern, unapproachable expression all the way until Gamesh closed the door of her private room behind them.

“AAAARGH!!!” Flavna finally let out her frustrations as she ruffled her hair. “They’re like lice I can’t get rid of!”

“You do remember that you could slaughter them all in a blink of an eye?” Gamesh asked humorously as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. “Despite what Grizwald would like to believe.”

“Don’t insult me,” Flavna said without even a hint of a smile. “Had you not proven yourself a hundred times over, I’d have you flogged for such words.”

“Your loyalty to this family is superhuman,” Gamesh smiled, clearly not concerned with potential flogging.

“What is superhuman is the stupidity of the parasites that Belmot surrounded himself with!” Flavna said as she walked to a table that had several half-full plates with smoked and salted meats, among other things. She grabbed a slice off a large plate, bit into it aggressively, and ripped it apart as if the meat was at fault for her frustration.

“You are cute when you’re stress eating,” Gamesh chuckled.

“Don’t ruin this any further,” Flavna said as she devoured the first slice she grabbed and reached for a second. “It’s already disgusting as it is.”

“I’ve been saying that for years.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Flavna bit into the second piece of meat and spit it out almost instantly. “Who the hell salted this!? Can nobody do anything right?”

“I’m guessing the problem is not oversalting?” Gamesh asked.

“Absolutely foul!” Flavna dropped the spoiled piece back on the plate, then lifted the whole thing to smell it, only to put it back down with utter revulsion.

“Salt supplies are all but gone,” Gamesh said. “I’m guessing they hoped to get away with using less.”

“Ugh,” Flavna dropped into a chair and sighed even deeper than Belmot did earlier. But instead of Belmot’s sweaty restlessness, Flavna finally let show her exhaustion. “Any word from our contacts in the palace yet?”

“No, complete silence,” Gamesh said as he suddenly dropped his light-hearted tone. “It is also something that I would like to confirm, but rather than just our contacts, I’ve yet to hear of a single person exiting the palace since last night.”

“A reaction to what happened in the mines?”

“Without more information, I’d just be speculating,” Gamesh shrugged.

“Indulge me,” Flavna asked.

“Even if the guards and some among the royal family were worried about their safety when they inevitably heard about the demons, it might make sense to tighten the security and temporarily close their gates for their protection. But it’s not like they have demons on their doorstep. Why prevent people from leaving? There are more than enough perverts within those walls that daily frequent certain establishments who would strongly object to any unfounded lockdown.”

“Assuming there is a lockdown,” Flavna reminded.

“Which is why I’ve sent additional soldiers there to make sure,” Gamesh said.

“All the more reason to make the princess talk.”

“Be careful with that,” Gamesh warned. “Once she refused to talk with us, our options became highly limited. Unless you really want to lose your head. Our thinly veiled ‘protection’ excuse is just that.”

“Bloody Mary has always been a troublesome one and not just for us,” Flavna said. “And Felicia was quick to place all the blame on the princess, at least some of which appears to be legitimate, according to the witnesses. If she was somehow the one to blame for all those deaths, then it doesn’t matter if she’s a princess or not.”

“Not to you, but—”

A knock on the door interrupted Gamesh.

“Pardon me, I have an urgent message from the Pits,” a man spoke from the other side of the door.

“!? Come in!” Flavna said.

The door opened and an exhausted, sweaty Purple Cape soldier walked inside. It was clear that he ran all the way here.

“Well?” Gamesh asked.

“Erm,” the soldier took out a note and read from it. “The third daughter of His and Her Majesties, Princess Samira, would like to thank Purple Capes for their swift actions in saving lives during the underground massacres as well as their investigation into the demon appearance. To that end, princess Samira has decided to kindly offer her help and talk with some of the witnesses herself.”

“So much for nobody leaving the palace,” Flavna said as she glanced at Gamesh. “And where is she now?”

“S-she went into the Pits after handing me this message,” the soldier said quietly and shrunk down bracing for whatever was to come.

“And the guards just let her in!?” Flavna jumped up. “On whose authority?”

“Princess Samira gave the guards five seconds to guide her to the prisoners or die where they stood,” the soldier answered.

“My Goddess!!” Bob suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Oh, goodie, he’s awake again,” Felicia said with annoyed resignation to the repeating cycle. “Listen up, traitorous, love-struck, delusional bastard, either you shut up or you go to sleep again.”

“But our babies!!” Bob thrashed in the mud and shit as he tried to understand what was happening and why his cock was not inside his Goddess. “Where is my Goddess!? Did she already deliver our first children!? Then I must put more inside her! Even a hundred is not enough! I will keep pumping her womb until she gives birth to a whole legion! An army! We will bring forth an army to cleanse this world of demons and rule together as husband and wife—”

THWACK!

A burly naked man slammed Bob’s head against a stone wall and Bob slumped back down into the cesspool he awoke in.

“Finally!” Felicia breathed a sigh of relief. “Michael, make sure his head is above the shit and get back here! Sooner or later, I’ll put that scum under me.”

Michael, one of the three surviving eunuchs did as commanded with lifeless eyes and rested Bob’s head against the very same large stone block that he smacked it into just moments before. Several dried blood stains on that stone block indicated that this was far from the first time that Bob’s head forcefully interacted with the stone.

Having done as instructed, Michael trod back to Felicia through the thick, nauseating pool of shit and piss. In his temporary absence, Zack pulled double duty in supporting the makeshift wooden platform above his head on which Felicia rested to keep as much distance from the retched stench as possible.