We landed just outside the edges of the castle on an empty field of grass. It seemed no one noticed us flying through the air, thanks to the night sky acting as our cover. The way he was moving, this definitely wasn’t the vulture’s first time.

  It still wasn’t safe yet. We decided to leave the noble areas of the kingdom, avoiding as many of the guards as we could before we reached the common area. I had my mask hidden from my gear and put it on to use as a disguise. Worst comes to worse I could just pass off as my adventurer persona.

  We took a moment to take a quick look around and try figure out what we should do next.

  Zephyrus was glancing around for any potential problems before noticing something about me so decided to chat. “Hey Vlad…. You doing alright bossman?”

  The way my body was acting right now made it easy to answer that question which made him cough to break my silent response. “R-right….”

  I took a deep breath to try to calm myself as I responded. “Do you know what they were doing there?”

  The vulture took a minute to recall what he did managed to see before answering. “I’m not quite sure, but I have heard that they were working some kind of new magic that would allow them to control monsters.”

  My arms started to violently shake from that response before I grabbed one of it tightly to stop it. Of course, since it was still recovering it was painful squeezing it. “….. I see. So why didn’t they use those slave collars they mentioned?”

  Zephyrus shook his head as he answered. “Apparently, they aren’t built to suppress monsters. You guys are more built to handle the physical tolerance that those collars do to subdue humans.”

  “So those damn collars are more for physically torturing the captured into obedience huh….”

  I thought back to the other prisoners and how they were equipped with those slave collars as I clenched my good claw in frustration. I should have done something, maybe there was a way to at least get them off. But then I shook my head, remembering how I needed to worry about my own people first.

  Then I thought back to the magic they were performing, before I realized something. “Does that mean that what they were doing there was more to attack my fellow kobold’s mind instead? So, when he ended up like that, you mean to tell me they broke his mind?!”

  I slammed my claw at the nearby wall so hard it started to bleed. Damn it! Was that what they were planning to use to make me submit?! How many other fellow monsters were they planning to experiment on to make it work?!

  “Hey now bossman, why don’t we go to a tavern real quick and get something to eat. Maybe a full belly will help you relax a little.” Zeph suggested.

  I wanted to reject his suggestion, but I had to admit. I was feeling a bit hungry and maybe I could think more clearly.

  “Alright but let’s be quick, we need to get back to my minions before a certain henchman of mine does something reckless.”

  “My, seems I’ve joined a rather interesting group. Well let me show you the way.” he offered, leading me through the streets.

  But after he took a few steps, I called out to him. “Hey Zeph.”

  “Hmm, what is it?” he asked as he turned his head back.

  “…. Thanks for stopping me back there. I know you could have escaped out there without me, so I appreciate it.”

  The vulture didn’t respond for a bit before he turned his head and tipped his hat. “Well, gotta do my job as your henchman after all, even if it’s only temporary.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  We managed to get to the tavern that Zeph mentioned and luckily no one seemed to bat an eye on either of us. Glad to see my disguise worked like usual.

  Considering he’s familiar with the kingdom more than me I let Zeph take the lead to give us a table near the walls, giving us a bit of privacy as he ordered our food. I was about to pull out my own money, but he stopped me.

  “Ah, let’s use some of the money from the castle, shall we? Think of it as a bit of small payback using their own money.” He suggested.

  Had to agree with him there, he ordered us a big meal with large meats and a big jug for our drinks. We focused on replenishing ourselves, clearly enjoying the food and relaxing for the first time after our escape.

  After getting some food in Zeph started to ask me, “Now that we’re all filled up, what’s the next plan of action bossman?”

  That’s a good question, it wouldn’t take long before they noticed we escaped. It was probably best to get out of this kingdom as soon as possible. For sure they would probably strengthen security once they find out.

  On the other hand, this would be the best time to understand what kind of kingdom we are facing and how they operate. Hmm since I have someone here who has been operating here, I thought it would be best to ask their opinion.

  “Zeph, you’ve gotten around this kingdom enough times, right? Do you have some information that I could use? Maybe even ways to exit here undetected?”

  He began to tap the tip of his hat as he answered. “I thought you’d never ask Vlad. Yes, there’s several places we could take to sneak out of here when need be. We could even escape in daylight if need be. Though some of them can cost a bit, though it shouldn’t be a problem for you?”

  I shook my head, I’m glad we have ways to get in and out of this kingdom so that crossed one of my concerns.

  Then he continued with the next topic. “As for information on this kingdom well…”

  He then pointed around the tavern with his eyes, so I looked around. It was then I noticed that there were many of the customers who seemed rather drunk and depressed with far too many drinks at their table. Not too many were even showing a shred of contentment.

  “As you can see, things aren’t going well for many of this kingdom’s citizens. The only ones who have even a shred of happiness here are the nobles and even they don’t seem that much better off. The only ones that seem to get the most out of here is their king, who goes on hoarding most of the benefits, leaving the scraps for the nobles and even less for us common folks.”

  He then inched closer so I could hear him as he whispered. “Truth be told, I’d say there’d be very few people who would be opposed if they were to be invaded if you catch my drift.”

  I see, so that would explain the discontent that my converted soldiers had for this place and why they were rather eager to serve me instead. I have to be honest; it must have been a big gamble for them to switch sides with me.

  With that in mind, I figured it was best for us to leave for now. Afterall, who knows how long it’ll be until Mordred does something reckless. I checked on the status of my followers for another time and I was glad their condition where slowly improving. In fact, most of them were now fully recovered with only a few of them in weakened condition.

  That’s good to see at the very least I won’t have to rush out of here immediately. That’ll give me time to do some late night exploring through the kingdom.

  “Alright, let’s see if we can take a quick tour around the kingdom. Who knows I might be able to get some more info on this place before the sun rises.”

  Upon hearing my answer, the vulture smirked as he got up and drop the coin for our meal and readjusted his outfit. “Gotcha, in that case I’ll show you around myself. I admit I am quite curious to meet my fellow henchmen if they’re half as interesting as you, bossman. ~”

  With that we left the tavern, having paid for our meal. He decided to show me around the common areas more, though since it was nighttime there wasn’t much activity to show with only the tavern and a few people wandering around. This was to our benefit as there were almost no guards around for us to hide from, with the few that were stationed there we easily distracted by having Zeph using his [Death’s Route] to throw some small rocks at completely different direction to lead them to completely different areas away from our paths.

  Compared to my own town, they seemed more or less the same, if not a bit more run down. For obvious reasons, we decided to stay away from the nobles’ area. That only left the slums.

  It was easy enough to find, there was a clear distinction between all three areas with the slums looking almost unhabitable. Their buildings broken down to barely usable, it’s any wonder how they could get around each day with the state of things like this. This only further fueled my desire to conquer this kingdom.

  Once I was satisfied with understanding how this kingdom faired, I decided it was time to leave. But as we were leaving the area my own kobold instincts started to warn me of danger, as I quickly put my claw at the hilt of my sword. Zeph also noticed as he had several feathers on his talons.

  A voice called out to us, not trying to hide their presence. “What are you doing here?!”