Author's Note:

Hope you enjoy it :)

****

The last remaining goblins had been caught and executed with the last rays of sunlight. Moon rose basking the fighters in a silver glow and refreshing them with cool night air. Most of them created fires and sat down, too lazy to return to the camp. Mages, archers and healers came down and joined them too.

Aurora, Hawk and Par were looking for Monthu but he was nowhere in sight. They walked over all the camps where soldiers were celebrating victory. Some had raided the cellars and found some spirits to brighten the already cheerful mood. Soon drunken songs rose into the sky in loud clear voices.

It would have been a great chance for enemies to attack if they only had the ability. Yet now their army was annihilated with only a few hundred soldiers remaining, the defensive lines lost and half of human leaders were dead. One could say their future looked very grim even without trying to attack a much more skilled opponent.

The three passed the second wall and looked around. Houses stood lonesome with broken doors and shattered windows. Heaps of goblin armour and weapons lay around without anyone wishing to pick them up. Soldiers were celebrating here too, but they were more professional, wary of the possible danger. None drank too much and saluted the three as they walked past.

They walked a bit more before asking a random soldier if he had seen Monthu. The guy pointed them at the castle saying he went there to there to check the defences some time ago. Hawk thanked him and they went towards the majestic building.

It was made from red bricks in a Gothic style. The design with heaven reaching peaks, pointed window arks and dozens of gargoyles sitting guard created a feeling of grandeur and awe, an amazing work of art.

Five meters from its gates stood Monthu in deep thought. He looked troubled. Par noticing his brother ran to him in a moment.

"Hey! We won! And I helped too! I've got almost a hundred! There's no way Ace could have gotten more!"

Monthu shook his head getting rid of his thoughts and looked at his brother. A smile showed up on his face as he saw the kid's happiness. "I think so too. But haven't you already seen him?"

"Nope, we passed through almost all the camps but he was nowhere around" Par said, a little downcast.

"That's strange. He left the rogues while the battle was still going. I though he got tired and went to you but seems like it wasn’t the case. No one has seen him since."

"Are you serious?" Hawk asked in surprise. Ace wasn't one to leave without a word. He always made sure they knew he was coming back, wanted they it or not.

"I can't contact him! Could that mean..?" Aurora said in a quiet voice.

"Doubt so" Monthu said shaking his head. "He survived the week here alone so it’s hardly possible he suddenly lost his touch and died."

"What about the other rogues? Weren't they protecting his back at first?" Hawk asked.

"Not really. He was threatening them to follow him from the second day or so..." Monthu said with an amused smile.

"Only he could..." Hawk said with annoyance. How could one even manage that?

"What are you doing here, brother?" Par asked after silence surrounded them.

"If you find a good angle, you can see a magical barrier protecting the castle. It's like a wall of diamond. Nothing can pass it."

"Have you asked mages for help?" Aurora asked, looking for an almost invisible shimmering protection wall.

"I will tomorrow. It's already late and they should have some time to rest and celebrate."

The two nodded while Par was knocking on the wall. He touched it and looked in wonder as his hand was stopped by something invisible. He did it again and again pretending to be a mime. His protectors took a few steps back and watched him with laughter shining in their eyes.

***

Week (game time) later

Deep in the castle two eyes opened up. They looked around and with a happy gleam smiled. They were in a dark room with no one around and haven't died. It was a relief.

Ace yawned widely and stretched his muscles. Feeling well he let the [Flare] out to light the room and sat down to eat. The place was covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs that stuck to everything. Ace himself looked like a ghost with all the greyness on him. His previously slightly charred trousers looked great compared to this.

When he was done, Ace stood up again and prepared to leave. The outside was clear and he silently sneaked up. He had slept in a dungeon that might have been a storage room or a jail cell once and was at the bottom level.

The dust that clung to him so desperately and left a trail behind annoyed him to no end but he couldn't go and take a shower at the moment. He was stuck in a castle full of smelly goblins and...

That gave him an idea. He found an empty room and locked himself in. There he took out a mirror and looking at it he tried to change his features so they resembled a goblin’s. It took some time as he wanted to make it permanent in a way.

There were two kinds of illusions he knew and used. One was like the previously used fluid; always changing and adapting to the situation depending on his wish. The bad part about it was that it constantly ate mana and the larger the spell the faster it did.

The second one was a constant, or you could say permanent. It was mostly used as a trap or to hide something. It took a certain amount of mana and would stay the way it was made for forever if that was how long it took for someone to find it and dispel.

Ace chose the second one because he no longer had any mana potions and it wouldn't be fun if he ran out of mana in a middle of remaining enemies.

The hard part was to make his face move while the illusion stayed intact. Although the goblins weren't the brightest bunch they still showed emotions and felt things. For that he needed to leave his lips and eyes unchanged yet make them fit well in a goblin's face.

After a few hours he was finally satisfied with his work. His eyes were larger than normal allowing for his true eyes to move, nose was crooked and his teeth were very yellow set in a wide mouth. He made his face look flatter and his hair dark, almost black and hardly present. If anyone tried to touch it, they would know the truth but it’s not like he was going to allow it.

He put on a patched yet still full of holes cap he found in a storage room last time he was here. Clothes were fine as they were so covered in dirt and dust no human would ever wear them and his height was perfect. The last thing he did was change his skin colour to a dark greenish one and plumped out his body. 'Perfect'

Now dressed up like a true goblin Ace left the room and started to wonder aimlessly. He engraved every little detail that could help him in the future in his mind while appearing to be looking at the walls in wonder. When he got tired of it, he created a very extravagant story for himself being here which he would have to simplify to two words if he was to explain himself.

After some more walking he stumbled onto a group of goblins carrying large plates over their heads. Their gazes passed over him as if unseeing and they were away. 'Looks like I'll have to find a human for something to happen.'

He continued on his path until it branched off into three. Ace scratched his head as if unable to decide which to choose. He felt four presences in the first, one in the second and ten in the last but the one that interested him was behind.

"What are you doing here alone? Where's your group?" an annoyed voice asked him.

Ace turned around and with wide eyes pointed at himself in a question. The man rolled his eyes. "No, I'm talking to the wall" Ace gave an audible sigh and turned around to march off in the middle passage. "Stop, you there! That was sarcasm you big-headed moron!"

"Me?" Ace asked looking back with his head sideways.

"Yes. What are you doing here?" the man asked trying to control his temper. This goblin was clearly of the working class that was denser than... dense. He was easily frustrated by leader ones that were much higher on the intelligence scale but still very far down, so he didn't knew how he was going to deal with this one.

"Me live! They die! Me go safe! Me smart! See light! Safe!" Ace told his story unsure of what exactly he was telling himself. The simplified version of his pretend life sounded unintelligible even to his own ears. He allowed himself to smile at the man's stupefied expression as it could be understood as being proud of yourself too.

The man felt a headache coming. 'What was it supposed to mean? Who died? What light? Is this castle a safe place for him or does he have a hideout?' There was no end to the questions that arose so the man abandoned that train of thought. "What is your work? Be specific."

"Specific?" Ace asked tilting his head. No answer came so he continued. "Me smart. Me good thinker"

The man's shoulders drooped. There was just no way around the goblins stupidity and he had no patience for such things. He would bring this genius to the boss and let him deal with it. It was his idea to occupy the castle and win over goblins anyway.

"Follow me" he said and to make sure the idiot understood motioned with his fingers. Ace smiled inwardly and did as he was told with his mouth agape staring at the beautiful interior showing his yellow teeth.

They walked around for a bit in circles before coming to a small open doorway. 'Was he trying to confuse me?' The doors were very simple without any ornaments and looked like a janitor's place. 'Am I being locked away..?' Ace wondered slowing down. He had no wish to get himself in jail just because his act was too good.

"Hurry up, you slowpoke! I don't have a whole day!" the man said in an angry growl and pushed him inside before going in himself.

The room was very small with a single table and a chair. On it sat a man bowed over a bunch of maps lighted by a small candle. He had bags under his eyes and held his head up with a hand. It seemed as if he would fall asleep from exhaustion any moment.

"Caro, I brought someone to see you" the first man said suddenly and pushed Ace forward making him fall. Ace rested on his hands and raised his head to look up. Clear blue eyes met his, they looked very unusual in a dark face the man called Caro had. His skin was dark brown, that of someone who lived in the sun, and he had black hair.

"What do you mean?” then he noticed Ace “Why would you bring something like him here? I have no time for your pettiness now, Leo, you should know that" he said in a quiet voice that made you feel shivers run your back.

The man wore chain armour that was previously well taken care of. Now it seemed like he had no time for anything. The boots were worn down; armour had dirt and smelled of sweat while his hair was dishevelled to the highest level. 'Sad soul, he probably didn't have a night's sleep since we came.'

"It’s your own fault we're here so take care of it! This genius here talks in riddles so I brought him to you. You'll have a good time" Leo said with a sneer.

Ace looked from one to another and crawled a bit to the side leaving them a wide space to have an argument. 'If only I had been smart enough to bring some popcorn...'

Caro stood up from his table and straightened out. He was unbelievably tall, towering over his companion by a whole head. He was almost double the high of Ace."Is that it? You envy my leadership?"

"You were never supposed to lead us! You won because you made them feel indebted to you, not because you were better. You never were. From the very beginning I knew this was going to happen" the man said with a sneer. It seemed like it was a permanent feature.

"And you followed because you thought they didn't do it?" Caro asked with a laugh that dripped with sarcasm.

"Yes, I did. I hoped they saw something in you that I didn't. It seems it was wishful thinking on my part" Leo said with sadness. His eyes were cast down and he shook his head as if trying to forget his own stupidity. It was a really good show Ace decided and took out some dried meat. Better than nothing.

"You misguided bastard! You were waiting for this moment from the very beginning! Were you killing off goblins too? Is that why we never caught the culprits? Or did you buy them for the sole purpose of destroying me?" Caro asked with disgust. He never liked Leo but never thought he would do something like this.

"Don't put me on the same level as yourself! I had no reason to foil your plans as they were meant to fail no matter what! So good luck with your petty schemes but remember when we all get caught, I'll be the one they buy out" Leo said in an overly sweet voice and left by closing the doors with a bang. 'So he's not as sure of himself as he pretends to?' Ace wondered continuing to eat his meat. He turned towards the remaining man who was looking at him.

"You look at me with those dark green eyes and it almost feels like you can understand what is going on. But you don't, do you?" Ace kept quiet. There was no good answer he could give.

"What am I thinking? Of course, you can't. You're just a simple minded AI. All you know is fighting. You determine the leader by who has the biggest stick. In a way it saves you from all the trouble, I'm facing now.

“He said he didn't hire the killers but who would prevent him from lying? His revelation helped me to see how fragile my position is but does that make me paranoid? Why is it that I feel like I'm no longer able to trust any of my subordinates? Even those I called friends and wanted to meet in real life?" the man asked in a tired voice, not expecting a reply so Ace didn't give one. He felt his pain, but he wasn't any kind of healer. It was Aurora's speciality, not his.

"Why am I even telling you that? Do you even understand a thing I say?" Caro asked, resting his head in his hands. He felt just so drained out.

"Me smart..." Ace said in a pout that looked disturbing on a goblins face. "Me know big man sad! Me help!"

Caro looked at the goblin with a slight smile. The little guy seemed to possess a small amount of compassion and intelligence higher than the bottom level he expected Leo to bring. But what could he possibly mean by helping? As he watched, the small man took out a crude flute and put it next to his mouth.

"You don't need to trouble yourself! I'm fine besides I have work to do!" Caro said, desperately trying to stop the goblin from destroying his eardrums. The little green men weren't well known for their arts especially anything that required care and delicate handling. But the guy didn't listen and Caro prepared to hear an air piercing sound.

Yet what came was an entirely different thing. A soft melody rose filling the small room. It bounced off the walls and flew around weaving an invisible web of silken thread. Caro felt his muscles relaxing and an infinite calmness overwhelming his worries. Listening he could almost see a graceful vision dancing before his eyes, ethereal yet so earthly. There were no words he could describe the melody in that would explain the beauty and grace of it so he let it go and allowed himself to relax and forget himself.

Ace continued to play for a long while. He kept on going and going until his fingers felt like falling off and he hardly felt his face anymore. Only then did he let the light melody thin out and disappear. The quietness fell like a welcoming blanket wrapping the two in its warm hug. Both of them slumped down in their seats and fell asleep. Caro from exhaustion while Ace decided to take a nap because it seemed like a good idea. He knew he won't have a free minute the moment the guy wakes up so he had to make the best of it and that meant sleeping like a dead until woken up.

***

Outside the castle lots of angry voices could be heard. Mobs of people were shouting and waving their hands.

"That's not fair!"

"Why can't you break it?"

"Stop it"

"Do something!"

"How long we're going to sleep here?"

In the middle of the crowd Monthu stood surrounded by his friends. The joy of taking the walls had died down soon afterwards and people were getting bored by doing nothing. And there weren't many activities besides training you could participate in while the castle stood tall and unreachable.

Its defensive magic was of an ancient kind that no average mage could remove. They would have to hire a high levelled wizard to do that and even then he'll need a few weeks to dispel it. None were happy about it and wanted Monthu to make a miracle and fasten it up.

"I'm no mage so I can't do anything. You knew this might take half a year when we started so you can wait a bit longer till we find a suitable mage to remove the protection spell" Monthu said in a calm voice trying to make them more agreeable.

"We have nothing to do here!"

"I could do two quests in the time its taking this one!"

"I'm bored!"

"We'll be creating hunting parties to gain more supplies so you can spend your energy there and gain some experience. The others can go scavenging while coming back for the night. How does that sound?" Monthu asked trying to find a way to make them stay.

People debated the suggestion and after some grumbling agreed. It wasn't like they would really abandon such a quest half-way but it was nice to feel like your opinion was listened to and the leaders were trying to make your life easier.

Monthu heaved a sigh of relief and went to his makeshift office in a close by building. There he thought of a schedule in which he could let the players leave the city for some time without endangering the remaining ones for a goblin attack. He chose a random regiment for the first outing and half an hour later came out to announce it. Some were happy, some not but they were all quiet and ready to follow his orders again.

/A huge army is coming this way. Were we waiting for reinforcements?/ Fenek asked Monthu through chat. He was appointed the new rogue leader as Ace had pulled the disappearing act.

"No. Who does it look like it belongs to?" Monthu asked relaxing in his chair.

/There are around a few thousand if not more players coming towards the castle. They have nothing to determine their alliance from./

"How long till they reach us?"

/If they don't stop for rest, in around half a day./

"Okay. Keep me updated if you notice anything else" Monthu said wondering who in the world it could be.

***

Caro woke up rested and full of energy. He felt like he could easily move mountains right now. 'What did the goblin do to make me fall asleep? Was it part of Leo's plan? 'He looked around expecting to be alone but to his surprise a small body lay near the doorway. When he kicked it trying to see if it was alive the body grumbled and pushed his leg away. 'So he's alive and still here?'

Unsure of how to understand such a thing he squatted down and gently shook the sleeping goblin.

"Hey! Wake up! I have some questions for you."

After a lot of shaking and shouting in his ear Ace opened his eyes. Right in his face was a very annoyed man.

"Me sleep" he said and tried to roll over on the other shoulder but the man's hand stopped him.

"I was quite nice to you up till now because of my good nature but if you try my patience I'll show you why exactly I got this position."

Ace debated whether it was worth the trouble of getting up or not. On one side he could try to sleep, the man would attack him and Ace would have to fight him back, on the other hand he could dutifully get up and be questioned while maybe learning something of interest. In the end he'd have to forgo sleeping either way so he might as well do it without blowing the cover.

After a lot more of grumbling and turtle speed moving Ace stood before the man, tightly holding his flute.

"Are you finally done now?" Caro asked the goblin in an exasperated tone. He had wasted more than twenty minutes only trying to get the thing up and moving.

The goblin nodded clutching his instrument so much it looked like it was going to break in pieces at any moment. 'Am I scaring him so much?'

"Why did you make me fall asleep? Did anyone tell you?" he asked in a calmer voice. He needed the goblin to trust him to gain information from him. His question seemed to lighten up the goblin a lot.

"You blue eyes. Need sleep. Me help" the goblin said with his head held high, looking very proud of himself.

"So nobody told you to? Hadn't Leo, the man that brought you here, mention anything of a kind?" Caro asked, not fully believing it and having no idea what his blue eyes had to do with anything.

"He say me stupid. Me hate him" the goblin answered truthfully.

"Did he now?" Caro asked rhetorically. This explanation earned his trust much better than any other. Goblins weren't good at deceiving so if he said he hated Leo, he meant it. "How did you learn to play like that anyway? I never heard of a goblin musician and you possess some nice skill."

The goblin smiled brightly showing all his yellow teeth. "Me learn from me. Me smart, never say. Me play for me."

Caro blinked a few times trying to decipher the meaning. The beginning probably went along the lines of being self-taught while the other part was about keeping it secret. 'This goblin is way more advanced than others if he thought of keeping his gift quiet. How did he even come to such a conclusion?'

"How did you end up here?"

"Big man attack. Me hide. All dead, not me. Me safe, big house. Big man stop me, take here" the goblin said counting each event on his fingers.

"Okay..." that was a very unusual story for a goblin but this one didn't seem to follow the rules at all. 'It's time to end this chatter and focus back on my plans. Maybe I should walk around to see what's happened while I was out? How long was I asleep anyway?'

He walked out of the room and the goblin followed him. Caro was surprised but didn't tell him to stay. Together they walked to the highest place - the bell tower. From there they could see all the surrounding areas at the front filled with players. They were camping there and chatting among the fires. You could hear the echo of their voices coming up the mountain.

"There's so many of them. I never expected them to come here at all. We chose this kingdom as it is was one of the weakest ones and didn't even have a show off army. I still can't understand why they are all here."

Ace listened to Caro's words with interest. He had heard mention of Oradin not having an army but this guy knew it for sure. That meant Lasran’s lord hired everyone out of his own bag. But for what reason? It would be good blackmail material if he found that out.

"It was going so well before they showed up. We had secured the castle and even earned the trust of nearby villagers. Soon enough we would have gained enough power to seize a larger city and rule the kingdom ourselves. Now it’s all gone. A few months’ work destroyed and all the favour I worked so hard for is gone. It'll be like starting anew but with minus statuses. Maybe I should recreate myself after all? Well, for now I'll delay them as long as I can. The faster they do things the higher the reward so I'll do my damnest to make sure they don't profit from my fall. I can hold this place for a very long time until they bring a dozen high levelled wizards."

Ace understood the man's anger. It was bad to lose in a gamble but it was even worse to win but be denied your prize. He decided to let the man have his fun. He would stay around being a flautist goblin without revealing his true identity or helping Monthu in any way. The guy deserved to have some hardships too for throwing the rogues on his head.

The fact that Monthu had a whole army on his head never crossed Ace's mind. He didn't even consider what he had to do as Ace wasn't there to see it. He believed only what he saw and felt, nothing else was real.

After that the two went to check up on the remaining human officers. There were only four of them including Leo who sneered at Ace. The kid didn't stay quiet and spit at his shoes. Caro had to use a lot of his power to protect the goblin from being removed from the living.

"Don't do that again" Caro said chastising the goblin who lowered his head.

"Big man said fight, me fight" the goblin answered going beside Caro.

"What do you mean? He didn't say anything!"

Ace snarled at the man showing his teeth. He had seen goblins do that a few times when they were fighting but he knew nothing for real. But pretending like you knew what you were doing was an easy way to go around that.

"Are you sure that's it?" Ace growled and jumped on the man who danced out of his way "Okay okay, that's enough! I believe you" Caro said with a slight smile and chose the path to his study.

On their way there Ace received a message from Monthu. He made sure the man wasn't looking and opened it up. /I see you're still alive. Are you in the castle?/ It was such an obvious question but he probably should answer to it if only to annoy him even more.

"Eat!" he said to his companion pointing at his mouth.

"Do you know where your dining room is?"

Ace sniffed a few times as if he could smell it and pointed behind himself. He had seen the place when he was wandering alone at first. It was a middle sized room with a large bar like thing behind which a large female goblin stood giving everyone a blob of so called food.

Ace went there and took his share debating whether it was better than barley bread or not. The taste was on the same level as the bread. It wasn't as hard and more easily edible but all green and jelly like which was disgusting. While eating he sent Monthu a single yes.

/Do you have anything to report?/

/Nope/

/Are you suddenly siding with them?/

Ace thought for a moment what to say. It wasn't like he wanted to change his allegiances out of the blue but he didn't want to help Monthu either. The victor was already decided with plenty of time till the quest’s end so he felt no need to interfere more. The leader of this place should have his last moments of glory too.

/I have my reasons. I'll be the neutral party for the remaining time./

/Does that mean you have nothing to do with the approaching army?/

/What army?/ Ace asked surprised. He didn't remember having done anything about it.

/There are over a thousand players coming this way. They seem tired and travel worn as if they had been going for days. Doesn't ring any bells?/

/Not really. I don't remember asking for any help. I really don't.../ Ace wrote perplexed. He didn't like when things happened so much against his plans. 'What could those people possibly want?' If he gave the other faction a chance to fight back didn't mean, a third should come and get it all over with. /Can you keep me updated on what's happening?/

/And why should I let you inform them?/

/He thinks I'm a goblin.../ Ace answered with a sigh. He would have liked to talk to Caro like normal human beings but there were just too many discrepancies between them, for example like opposite sides...

/Good disguise, easily made/

/Hahaha, very funny. So keep me updated/

That done Ace turned the chat off and still wondering who it could be went to find Core. He found the guy in his study reading a map. It showed the whole castle interior with all secret passages. Ace made sure to imprint it in his mind and sat down. Caro glanced at him but continued with his work, marking something.

***

Monthu sat in his office thinking about this new development. It was a surprise to hear that Ace had nothing to do with it but it left even more questions open as to their origin.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Come in"

"How's it going?" Hawk asked closing the doors behind himself.

Monthu motioned him to a chair before his desk and answered. "I don't have any information to work with here and I prefer to try and reason with them"

"You think they won't attack on sight?"

"Fenek reported that they look very tired, I doubt they'd want to fight in that condition" Monthu said.

"I suppose so. The camp is in an uproar now. Most of them are afraid they'll steal our quest or prevent us from finishing" Hawk said explaining his reason for coming.

"Is that so? The worst that could happen is all of us would die and have to come back. I doubt they'd stay to purposely delay or destroy us" Monthu said and stood up to leave.

The doors burst open in his face.

"General! Come here quickly!" a knight in bright shining plate armour said in a huff.

"What happened?" Monthu asked hurrying after the guy. Hawk followed after.

A few steps away around thirty knights sat on their horses in their best show off armour. One of them went forward holding the reins of a free horse.

"The army is sending their representatives to talk so we must go" the guy said giving Monthu the reins, who looked a bit shocked.

His war horse to a knight was his most prized possession alongside his lance. None would hand it over freely under normal circumstances. Something was going on here.

"This is Spark. Take good care of him" the first knight said petting the animal gently.

"Thank you..." Monthu said unsure of what else to do and mounted the light brown haired horse.

"Godspeed" the guy said and turning around walked away quickly.

Monthu looked to his companions.

"What is exactly going on? And why wasn't I informed about it earlier?"

"We heard rogues talking about it and knew you couldn't meet them on foot. Jay suggested giving up his Spark and letting you ride there among us" one of them said turning his horse towards the gates. Others followed and with Monthu in the lead they left with their heads raised and armour shining in the sun.

They rode silently all lost in their own thoughts. Around a mile away from the first wall they stopped and waited for the approaching twenty to reach them. They walked slowly and only after half an hour finished the last mile separating them.

A beautiful female in leather armour stood at the front with her head raised high. She had middle length light brown hair which softened her sharp features and made her look more feminine, her obvious curves added to that too. She had a rapier strapped to her waist and two daggers. She seemed a year or two shy from twenty.

Dark haired paladin stood at her right with his broadsword at ready. There was animosity in his face as if he expected them to be troublemakers.

The rest stayed a step back but had their weapons ready too. Most of them were fighters with a few mages and archers in the mix. They were made probably of friends as otherwise their composition would require at least a few healers too.

"I'm Vera and I'm looking for the kids that came here with you. Where are they?" the female asked with the smallest of introductions.

"I prefer knowing who you are before answering your questions" Monthu said calmly, hiding his surprise.

"We're the Royal Ravens’ guild and we're looking for a kid. The Lasran city lord said you had two of them coming here. Show them to us"

"That is a very demanding voice you use while asking to see kids. Don't you think I'd be careful with them around strangers?" Monthu asked with a raised eyebrow.

The female's cheeks pinked slightly. "I'm sorry, I'm just very tired and worried. We've come from Lavana in search of him but he's nowhere in sight! Can you please at least tell their age so we could know if there's a chance of him being here?" she pleaded.

Monthu thought for a moment and seeing nothing dangerous in it answered. "One of them is eight years old while the other looks around thirteen." He felt no need to explain Ace's difficult situation to them.

"He could be either" the guy next to the girl whispered to her but everyone heard it.

"Can you let us see them?" the girl asked hopefully.

"No" Monthu said without even thinking. His brother surely had nothing to do with them and they were nothing but trouble.

"Why not?" the girl asked annoyed.

"War is going in here. I'm not going to let the kids meet random strangers just because they asked to."

"We have more manpower!" the right hand of the girl said in a shout his face angry.

"You might have it but we have a wall" Monthu said to him, calmly noting to put the trebuchet on fire on his way back.

"Kev calm down. We're not here to cause trouble" Vera said before turning back towards Monthu. "I'm sorry about him. We've come here in peace. Can you please allow the two of us to come back with you? You can use us as hostages if our army tries to attack" she said promising her life away. It wasn't everything in a game but death meant huge losses of experience in skills and levels.

"Why do you want to see them so badly?" Monthu asked.

"He's our soul. The kid we're looking for is everyone's little brother and we can't take it knowing he's wandering all alone in this monster filled worldu” the girl said passionately.

'That's hardly a description of Ace but if they could help us get to the castle it's worth a shot.'

"Fine but only the two of you" Monthu said in a cutting voice that allowed no debates.

"Great" the girl said happily revealing her bright pearly teeth.

Monthu shook his head slightly turning his horse around and followed by his silent escort plus two new members on foot faced the castle.