“Because you want to keep your precious free will,” you answer Chi’s question.

“I either help you or you force me to help you anyway?” Chi asks. “That’s an ultimatum!”

“And you’re hardly in a position for any better deal,” you say and cross your arms. “You’re my prisoner and completely at my mercy. As you can see, I treat well those that are loyal to me—”

“Your slaves,” Chi interrupts and corrects you.

“So far I only brainwashed those who wished me harm. The alternative would be killing them. At least they’re still alive! I find that a preferable solution.”

“I don’t!” Chi continues to argue. At this point, it seems like arguing just for the sake of arguing.

“Alright, look at it this way. Whatever your reasons may have been, whatever the laws in this land are, you all did a lot of reprehensible things. Some worse than others. And this is your “comeuppance”. Ten years of service to me as—a slave or not—seems like a mild punishment. If it makes you feel any better, I have no intention of harming anyone who serves me well. Which includes your Alpha, Beta, and the others.”

“A thinly veiled threat,” Chi says.

“If that’s how you see it,” you say and shrug. “Either way, you really don’t have much of a choice.”

There is a long pause. Finally, Chi says, “If that minotaur girl really was related to the Demon Lord in any way, my brother would definitely try to sell her to the Doom Brothers. They never leave the capital of Lignom. Whether your sister is alive or dead, he will try to take her there.”

You take a deep breath. Assuming, what Chi says is true, how do you even get there in time?

“Can you use teleportation magic like your brother?” you ask Chi.

“No.”

“Do you know anyone else who can?”

“Greenbark did. Though I didn’t see him among your group,” Chi says.

She could just be naming the person she knows is not with me, you think and say, “I’ve sent the dryad on another task. Is there anyone else?”

“Not that I know of. Such magic is hard to come by. Which is why killing Erik was stupid.”

“Delta, let’s go!” you command the bunny and walk out of the cell.

“You’re leaving me here?” Chi asks.

“I have things to do, and you can’t even walk,” you answer as you slide the steel bar door shut. “I’ll need you to stay here for now. You won’t be harmed.”

You lock the door and hurry out of the dungeons. You'll need to post some guards to keep an eye on Chi. Beta can wait. Whether you use your [Submission] skill on her or try to get her to follow you through Chi, it will take time. And time is what you don’t have.

If you do try to save your sister then you need some form of teleportation magic. And even if you didn’t want to do that—such a spell is too useful not to have. Without it, your movements are severely hampered to the point of being aggravating. You’d effectively be pinned to one location, probably this place, managing others to grow your forces and kingdom. Not to mention you’d be unacceptably reliant on Pythia and her troglodytes for scouting and information relaying.

Though if the bandits haven’t found more such skill users in all this time, do you even have a chance yourself? Yes! You have something, they did not: Pythia with her troglodytes, and Ariadne's sister, somewhere in a brothel of a nearby town. What better sources of information?

Luckily, one of them is right here! When you exit the staircase and enter the main hall, you see Pythia, swinging on one of the iron chandeliers, that hang from the ceiling, attached by a rope made of dried-up entrails.

"I'm bored!" She shouts the moment she sees you.

"I can see that," you answer calmly. "Get down from there! I have a couple of questions."

Pythia jumps off the chandelier and glides down to you.

"Pythia, reporting for duty!" She says with a grin and salutes you.

"Do you have teleportation magic?" you ask her directly.

"No, I do not!"

I expected as much. The damn harpy hardly needs it. Though just to be sure you ask her, "Do you know someone who has such magic?"

"That's another negative!" Pythia says and continues to salute you.

I wouldn't be so happy in your place, you think and wonder what to do next.