Me and Zeph continued our trek out of the kingdom, the walk having already passed nighttime and well through the daylight already. A lot of time had passed that I was beginning to regain better movement out of my left claw again. Of course, with the added benefit of some left over [Healing Powder] to speed up the process.

  We kept our travel belongings light, so it wasn’t too tiring. Though there was one point where we needed to rest since neither of us had any sleep last night. We took turns getting a quick nap while the others kept watch then continued on.

  Since I managed to get some proper sleep, I was able to better process what had happened the entire night. From waking up inside a jail cell to seeing my poor fellow kobold….

  Well, let’s just say I’m a lot more motivated on my conquest now. But for right now my priority is to return to my followers.

  Still, I had to count myself lucky for finding Zeph. I doubt I would have escaped easily if I hadn’t recruited him. He definitely is an interesting character, compared to the rest of my followers I don’t sense any real fear or even overwhelming admiration out of him. It’s honestly a nice change of pace if you asked me. Still though, there was something I was curious about him. What exactly is he gaining then?

  As I pondered this, Zeph started to see I was thinking about something so started to ask. “Something on your mind bossman?”

  There he goes again; he always seems to notice when I was deep in thought. Probably better for me to answer with a different question instead. “Oh, I was curious why you couldn’t fly all the way past the kingdom’s border. Or even why you don’t just fly over the stone walls either.”

  The vulture wagged his talon finger in response. “Simple answers really. The main problem is that they have eyes on the sky, we were lucky that we escaped when it was in the middle of the night. Otherwise, they would have shot us down the second we flew through the sky.”

  “That makes sense, guess our timing was simply good then. So, what about now? Couldn’t you just fly up now so we could locate the rest of my followers?” I asked him, continuing with our small talk as we kept walking.

  “Well, we’re still too close to the borders that I would still be noticed so I would rather keep ourselves grounded. Plus, flying can be tiring you know. I prefer to walk when I can. Not only that but I don’t know what my fellow henchmen even look like. It would be a waste of energy.”

  He got me there, even if I did describe them to him there was a chance he could mistake them for unaffiliated monsters or vice versa. Guess our best bet is just to walk in the direction of my town and hope they can find me with V’s [Map].

  It’s been what felt like hours now. The Mivtic kingdom was barely in view now. Just a tiny dot on the horizon. And yet, there hasn’t been any sign of my followers. Were we that far away from where they had captured me? Just how long was I knocked out for?

  Just as I was beginning to worry, Zeph started to call out to me. “Hey Vlad, I see a group of monsters coming in our direction. In fact, … they seem to be running specifically to our vicinity and really fast too. Two in particular got my attention. Hard not to notice since they both have such a bulky frame but they’re both running like their life depends on it.”

  Can’t be…. Though I can imagine who in particular would act like that. It was then I suddenly found myself grabbed tightly by the arms. The familiar black fur nuzzled against my scales and as they begin to get crushed by an unbearable strength. Yup…. I recognize this crushing pain anywhere….

  “AHHHHHHH I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE OK VLADDY!!!!” The booming cries of a black bear howled for all to hear, as I noticed tears were welling up from his eyes. Geez, I know he can be surprisingly emotional at times like this but even this was a little much.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Hey careful Damian…. you’re going to crush the boss…. if you keep hugging him that tightly!” Came the voice of another large figure. Mordred, who was currently trying to catch his breath as he tried to speak. Upon hearing him, Damian finally let me go.

  I immediately noticed that he had multiple bandages wrapped around his body. Confirming my suspicions on how the follower list functioned with their health status. Just to be sure I double checked the list and compared it to everyone else. It seemed my observation was correct.

  It’ll definitely help out in keeping track of everyone. But right now, I was preoccupied with trying to figure out why Mordred was all bandaged up like that. Was the Knight Commander that powerful?

  “Boss! I’m glad you’re ok though I knew you’d be!” Mordred yelled as he got closer to me and looked all over me.

  “Uhm Mordred…what are you doing?” I asked, feeling a bit awkward having him glare at me like that.

  “I remember what that damn human did to you and your claw boss! I just wanted to make sure that they didn’t do anything else to you.” Mordred stated, with a mix of anger and worry in his voice.

  I motioned him to give me some space as I tried to move my body after having it squeezed like a plushie earlier. “I’m fine don’t worry. I had plenty of that [Healing Powder] stored for just such an occasion. But what about you? You’re looking pretty banged up yourself.”

  Before we could discuss it further, the rest of my followers managed to catch up with them. I was suddenly surrounded all over with barely any space to breathe. I was soon bombarded with a flurry of worry and relief as well as ‘Boss’, ‘Chief’, ‘Sir’, and howls.

  I was then tackled to the ground by a familiar young goblin. “Mr. Vlad!!! We found you!!!”

  V was holding on to me tight. As if they were worried, I would disappear again if they let go. I couldn’t help but to gently pet their head while letting them calm down. While not as emotional as Damian was, V was also extremely anxious and looked like they were trying not to cry.

  Before long, they managed to relax enough to fall asleep on my lap. They must have worked nonstop using their [Map] ability to find me.

  I called out to my orcs “Can one of you take V to a bed? They seem tuckered out.”

  They happily took responsibility and gently grabbed V in their arms. Once they left it was on to the next matter to settle. “Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to a new temporary henchman of mine, Zephyrus.”

  I motioned towards the vulture who had laid back at a nearby tree to give us some space. Once I introduced him, he tipped his hat as he greeted everyone. “Nice to meet you all, guess we’ll be working together for now. Feel free to call me Zeph if you like. ~”

  Mordred was the first to ask after noticing the vulture “Boss, who is this and why did he become your henchman? What exactly happened when they captured you?”

  We then started to exchange information about what happened. From my time in a jail cell to meeting with Zeph to our escape out of the kingdom. I failed to mention the incident I saw with the other fellow kobold; I barely could believe it myself. I shook the thought out of my head as I finished recapping the day.

  With their side of the story, they explained how they were trounced. With Mordred having taken the worst hit. It didn’t help that he was troubled over finding out that I was captured and how it took everyone all they got to get him to calm down and stop. It was thanks to V doing their best to help everyone despite their own concerns. I was also surprised to hear that it has actually been over a day since that incident. I didn’t realize that I was knocked out for that long!

  For some reason though, I couldn’t help but notice Mordred and some of my other followers look at Damian’s direction. He had managed to calm down enough to put on his usual stoic expression. Something else had happened that they didn’t really want to tell me, but I thought it best to let it go.

  Once we finished exchanging stories, my followers decided to get to know the new henchman. Zeph had decided to entertain them a bit by showing off his feathers and how his [Death’s Route] worked by gathering a handful of his feathers and casually tossing them only for them to suddenly move towards another tree and stabbing it, forming the letter Z.

  They all clapped in amazement from the show all the while Zeph was giving a smug smile and tipped his hat. He was clearly enjoying the showmanship.

  Mordred leaned close to me as he began to whisper, though with his large body that proved to be a bit difficult in trying to hide it. “Are you sure you can trust this guy boss? Not that I want to question your judgement, but you did find him in a jail cell.”

  I then waved my claw with lack of concern as I explained myself. “Well during the time of our escapade, he had several opportunities to escape alone but he worked with me instead the entire time. I probably couldn’t escape the castle, let alone the kingdom without his help. I think it’d be interesting to have him around for now. ~”

  “If you say so boss, I’ll trust your decision then.” The minotaur obediently replied.