717 716. Slaver Sylvester & Sneaky Chonky
Shocked or confused, call it anything, but Sylvester was woken out of calmness. How was it possible that a full Demon could survive so effortlessly with all that solarium in the air?
Was it a perfect host? Was it something similar to Zama'tar?
Sylvester tried to assess how powerful the Demon was. But no matter what, the reason why humans were following the Demon was a point of concern. But he chose not to reveal his identity and acted like a scared merchant all the way.
"W-Who… What are you? No, let me go!" Sylvester played a masterful role of a terrified man and wriggled on the chair.
Bam!
Merrifield came up and slapped Sylvester on the face. "Shut up! You're in the presence of Lord Two."
"Gah!" Sylvester acted like he was hurt. "W-what do you want?"
Finally, Lord Two moved. He looked like a humanoid Demon with a dark blue body. Veins filled with strange yellow liquid were visible all over him, and he had four eyes, two on each side. There was no nose, and his mouth had long protruding fangs.
"Human, as a trader, you are to make a deal today. Either become a slave, or bring us slaves. Of course, you will be paid for the merchandise you bring," Lord Two commanded with a muffled, demonic voice.
Sylvester cowered in fear. "B-But… The Holy Land has outlawed slavery. They'll kill me before you do."
"We know that, which is why many of your friends still work for us. In the end, gold is more valuable than any human life. We pay double the price of what was accepted during the time of slavery," Lord Two responded and took out a silver bracelet from his cloak's pocket. "Make a decision."
'That must be some sort of artifact to make sure I don't just run away.' Sylvester could see rune inscriptions on the bracelet. But to his amusement, they were totally different from what he knew. 'Demon language?'
"I-I'll do it! I'll do it, my lord." Sylvester cried and accepted his fate. "I'll bring you slaves, Lord Two."
"Extend your hand."
Sylvester did so and watched the Demon place the bracelet on his wrist. In an instant, he felt its magic as it tried to send some sort of energy into his body, dissimilar to the solarium.
Fearing that the device might not work on him, he forced it to stick to his skin and not break. He had no idea if it would still work, but visually, it appeared normal.
"This will ensure you stand by your words, human. You have one week to bring slaves to any kingdom of the Central Continent. Inability to do so will result in death."
Sylvester silently bobbed his head while realizing something from the Demon's words. 'Any of the four? That means they have control over the entire Continent?'
After that, he glanced at Merrifield and the other men who had brought him there. Right away, he noticed a similar bracelet on their wrists. 'Is that why they're so subservient to the Demon? But this Merrifield reeks of delight.'
"Send him away." Lord Two stepped away after everything and got on his horse before leaving.
"James Bond, you better take Lord Two's words seriously. You'll got on his horse before leaving.
"James Bond, you better take Lord Two's words seriously. You'll really die if you don't fulfill the command." Merrifield came over and unlocked his arms and legs. "Go and bring the sla—"
Pa!
Sylvester slapped the man right on his face, so hard that his ear bled out, a few of his teeth were knocked out, and the red sizzling mark of a palm glowed on his chin. "Fucking peasant, how dare you touch me? Know your place!"
"..."
"You two, bring me that horse." Sylvester looked at the two men who had kidnapped him from his hotel. "I don't mind bringing slaves, but I do not tolerate any disrespect!"
Ting!
Before he mounted Merrifield's horse, he flipped a gold coin to the man. "Get yourself fixed. And take a damn bath, you reek of piss."
"But…" One of his kidnappers voiced. "H-He did piss himself."
"Hmm?" Sylvester looked at the groaning Merrifield. There was a liquid mess under his pants. "Weakling!"
'I'll kill you soon enough. Accept this gift from me until then.' Sylvester planned and left the warehouse on his own.
Quickly, he headed to the port while making sure nobody was following him. As expected, he was followed, but after easily losing them, he soared into the morning sky and looked at the massive chunk of landmass with disgust.
"The entire Continent is rotten to the core," he muttered and looked at the royal castle of the Northod Kingdom. "The King must be a Demon too then, or controlled by demons. Are there four of them, or just one mastermind?"
"Nyaaaaa~" Miraj woke up just then. "Ah, we're flying? What happened? Did I miss a fight?"
"I was kidnapped by a Demon."
"..."
Miraj looked left and right in shock. "When?"
"While you were snoring."
"B-But… Why didn't you wake me up?"
"As my self-proclaimed bodyguard, shouldn't you always be awake to save me?" Sylvester asked back.
Miraj's head fell forward in defeat. "Oh nyo, maybe I should just retire."
"But you can help me with something else. How about retiring as my bodyguard and becoming my number one spy student?" Sylvester proposed while holding Miraj in his hands right in front of his own face.
Stars sparkled in the furball's eyes. "Chonky can be a Spycat?"
"Of course, every James Bond needs a sidekick, after all," Sylvester added, not making any sense to Miraj. "The plan is simple, in and out, a twenty-minute adventure, Chonky."
"Nyaaaaa!" Overdosed with excitement, Chonky exploded with sheer energy to play along. His little nostrils flared up, and his paws revealed his sharp claws. "How many, Maxy? How many are we killing today? Ten? Ten thousand?"
"..."
After a brief moment of speechlessness, Sylvester corrected the little killing machine. "Easy there, tiger. What are you? Shere Khan? It's not a hit job. That's not how spies work. A good spy is the one who's never caught and never seen. We work in the shadows, in stealth. This time, you are to enter the Royal Castles of four kingdoms and stick around the spying tools connected with Sky Eye."
"I gotta be sneaky?" Miraj puffed up with an excited breath and wriggled out of Sylvester's grasp to fly on his own. "When?"
"Right now."
…
Sylvester used Light Magic and turned himself invisible by redirecting the reflections from his body and controlling the color spectrum. Easily, he averted all the security measures around the Royal Castle and reached one of its open windows.
'Go, Chonky.' Sylvester pushed the furball inside while remaining connected using the Solarium Web. He also utilized Elder Magic to try Solarium Mapping and find any hidden rooms or pathways in the massive castle complex. It was a typical, ancient building with no flavor to it. At least six stories tall, and spread across tens of acres of land.
'Maxy, I see something!'
'What is it?'
'It's the maid… she's taking a tray… smells yum yum.'
'No Chonky! Don't you get greedy on the mission now. Just follow the maid and stick the device in whichever room she enters. Escape along with the maid as well.'
Thankfully, Miraj was mature enough to obey the orders and hid underneath the maid's big skirt, following sneakily, albeit with his nose sniffing profusely.
'Maxy, I see something. It's someone lying on the bed. He's so thin! He looks like that stick food you made once.'
Sylvester tried to remember since this was the way Miraj talked most of the time. 'You mean breadsticks?'
'Yes, Maxy. This man looks very thin, like a breadstick, and his skin is dry… there are cracks… and puss… Oh, oh, the maid called him King.'
Sylvester realized what must have been going on. 'Good, just place the device under the king's bed and escape with the maid.'
'Got it.'
A few hours later, Miraj finished his mission and returned to Sylvester. Other than the King's room, the kitchen, the throne room, and many more rooms were bugged with the spying device.
Immediately after that, Sylvester repeated the work with the other three Royal Castles, belonging to Zachod of the West, Orienta of the East, and Meridia of the South. The three kingdoms were almost similar, other than the species of trees that grew around their massive capital cities.
'Spycat Chonky on duty.' Miraj chirped and jumped into each of the four buildings.
However, Meridia's royal castle was the most dangerous, as Miraj saw demons right inside the castle there. The King was untraceable in the whole building, and after bugging every corner manageable, they called it a day.
"Other than the last one, all the three kingdoms had their kings bedridden. This can't be a coincidence," Sylvester deduced after pondering for a while. He had set up camp in the secluded mountains east of Meridia.
"Maxy, I want more spy work."
Sylvester just patted the white ball of fur. "Rest now. We'll have more work to do tomorrow. But first, I need to speak with our friends in Sol. We have to locate all the merchants selling the people of Sol to these demons."
Sensing a rush, he quickly closed his eyes and felt the abundance of solarium. He remembered the solarium signature and made his way north with his senses, quickly finding himself hearing the voices of people in the Holy Land.
However, he only focused on five of them and spoke to their minds simultaneously, like a god sending his sermon from the distant heaven. His voice echoed warmly; his command came as a shock.
'Hear me, for your Pope speaks to you directly. Felix, Aurora, Soulbreaker, Julius, and Geralt, heed my orders daftly. Change your attire to a commoner as a disguise and travel to Blackhart. Abundance of heresy lives in the new land, let this be the purge's start.'
The five stopped doing whatever they were committed to and prepared themselves to move immediately.
'Across the waves, the demons have created countless graves. We are the last frontier, so come and be my slaves.'
"..."
"What? Slave?" Felix exclaimed.
That last word was utterly confusing.
Thank you for reading. Gifts and GT votes are highly appreciated.
