****(POV)

What the hell?!

I was ready to kill a troublemaker.

I'm not sure exactly what happened but he was getting chased by some of our guards.

Then he left through a wall.

Destroying it in the process.

Who does that?!

How?!

I just need to go after him and…

"Sir! Please help! All the slaves are escaping!"

"What do you mean all of the…"

Then I see them.

A sea of people.

Right, we just received a shipment recently.

This is a pain.

Everyone is screaming at them.

Trying to order them to stop.

It's not working in the least.

Ah! Their slave crests are gone!

All of them!

How is that possible?!

The only explanation for this would be …

Oh no!

Some of these trashes even have weapons.

"Don't bother restraining them. Just go for the kill directly. Anyone that doesn't cooperate will be put down!"

"Yes Sir!"

This is good, this will scare them, or not.

Nope.

Instead, they just start running even faster.

They are all coming over.

I start slaughtering.

Efficiently and fast, but for every one of us, there are 20 of them.

Before long, my men are overwhelmed.

There are many powerful battle slaves in the lot too.

A few able to go against many of us alone.

I can simply guard the door and…no, the hole in the wall.

This is bullshit!

If this keeps up, we will die here or at least lose most of our personnel.

Fuck.

I reluctantly order them to retreat.

I have no choice but to watch as all our products escape our building.

None of us died, but all are injured to various degrees.

Plus all we have to show for our efforts are a dozen of dead slaves.

Talk about useless.

Still, there is something more pressing.

I need to evaluate how much damage has been done.

I head to the chairman's room.

There awaits me a disaster scene.

Something horrible.

The extremely valuable artifact that lets us control all of them gone.

In its place lies a head.

In another corner is the decapitated body.

Dead.

What now?

I turn to a subordinate.

"Damage report now."

"Sir, we have lost 6 guards in the initial ambush. One is also missing. As for the slaves, besides the dead ones all ran away."

"I want an investigation on the man that appeared first."

One timidly moves forward.

"Sir, it was the chairman himself who brought him in!"

You are telling me he brought his own murderer in here?

This is weird.

He usually is the cautious type.

"Try to find more about him. Also, look for that missing guard. Consider him a traitor."

"Are you sure…."

"YES! Now go!"

I feel a headache incoming.

I'm the one that has to break the news to the leader.

I slowly search the desk.

Yep, still there.

The emergency communication crystal.

I guess the chairman got taken by surprise since he never used it.

The enemy didn't seem that strong either.

I reluctantly activate it, driving mana in it.

There is a short buzzing.

Then appears the face of a young man.

"What is it? An emergency?"

"Yes, here is what happened…"

Then I recount the whole situation to him.

"I'll be right there."

*CHOKE*

He will come in person?!

When was the last time something like this happened?

Then again it is definitely warranted.

This is insane.

He keeps going.

"Now, where you are will make things complicated. Make sure you cast a wide net around the city."

"Of course Sir!"

"Right there is also …"

Then comes a guard dragging a young lady along.

One with short ginger hair.

"Sir! We found her trying to sneak away! She is one of the runaway slaves!"

"Good job! Put her back into a cage for…"

Comes a voice from the screen.

"Wait. She's been shivering all over. Not the normal kind of fear. She knows something."

He interrogates her.

It seems she understood how important the interlocutor is.

She is almost pissing herself.

At first, I am admiring how thorough my superior is.

That is until she says that she actually has seen the chairman bring that stranger in.

Oh my fucking god.

This is insane.

Apparently not only is he an enemy of the Moon Keep, but also a friend of Gluto.

Yet all of this pales in comparison to her other information.

He signed the slave contract.

Yet he managed to kill the chairman soon after.

This has huge implications.

Somehow, he was able to bypass the restrictions of our magic.

This is obviously a danger to our trade itself.

Without the slave crests, the slaves are worthless.

Who wants to have potential enemies living in your house?

One that could suddenly turn on you and slaughter you.

"Change of plan. Listen well. I want all the manpower you have on this man."

"Yes!"

"Find me everything about him, also make sure it is impossible for him to leave town without our knowledge."

"Yes!"

"Also contact the assassin's guild. Hopefully, we'll get someone to kidnap him. They should be able to get the job done and bypass the system."

"Yes Sir!"

"Try to dig into his past too. I want to know where he came from, who he is close to, everything."

"Yes Sir!"

"If push comes to shove, we need to have a way to bait him outside of the city."

"Yes Sir!"

"While we are at it add a bounty on his head. At the mercenary guild."

"Yes Sir!"

"What else…"

"Yes Sir!"

"Were you even listening before?!"

"Ah! Yes Sir! I mean, Of course!"

"Fine, get it all done. I will see you soon."

The communication is over.

I place the gem back in the desk's drawer.

This is crazy.

How long has it been since anyone has contested our power?

We are the leaders in this industry for a reason.

The worst is this man is coming out of nowhere.

What kind of scheming ability does one need to trick the chairman anyway?

He was a dick, but one that clung to life, nonetheless.

*Sigh* I don't know anymore.

In any case, I better get to work.

Seems I just got a promotion….

Such a pain!