Mash left the building to meet up with the others. He had decided to eat his fill at the restaurant he had used to escape. It was good, and he spent a few hours stuffing himself with nearly every item they had available. At first, he had just planned on grabbing something to aid his façade, but then he decided to stay as the food made him feel a little better. It didn’t wash away his disgust. The food was made well, and he didn’t see anyone with gems in their hair. The business was obviously run by a small family and one that didn’t seem to have any slaves. Mash was doubly glad for that fact.

The others were at the inn. He was a little surprised by that. Red had made it sound like they would be at the library the whole day, but maybe they were still asleep. It was only around noon, and they had all slept late last night. Plus, none of them had felt particularly good either. As he thought of that, he decided to take a slight detour on his way back,

An hour later, Mash walked into his room with three large boxes in his hands. He enjoyed the smell of sugar and decided not to put it in his storage space. The others hadn’t left his room despite the fact that they had paid for individual rooms. It was definitely a waste of money, but the inn was designed to only have one bed per room. And they hadn’t known that the inn’s beds would be that bad. He looked over the others who were surrounded by piles of books. Mash had gotten a peek with his domain, but now he realized what Red had meant. She had brought the library to them. Did she buy all of them? They had the money for it, but quality books were expensive.

“Did you find anything interesting? Because I did. And I don’t just mean the boxes of cakes in my hand.”

Out of the three of his friends, only Jill reached for one of the boxes. Red shook her head slightly, rejecting the box as he offered it to her. She spoke quickly and set her book down.

“Thanks for remembering us, but just tell us what happened.”

Thus, began Mash’s retelling of his events. He made sure to mention Lisa and let them know that she might have seen through the ruse. As he explained his encounter with them, he brought up the clue she had given him. It had been especially worded to get his attention.

“Is there something about level 149 that I’m missing?”

Red shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know. We will probably find out soon, but maybe we can ask Kerik later. What happened next?”

Mash grimaced as he explained his encounter with the slaver. His disgust and hatred had come through as he described the things the man said. He was able to recreate the discussion perfectly, with Priscilla providing him and the others with a mental image of the man. They listened to his explanation carefully when he brought up the gemstones and the slavery system in the kingdom. There wasn’t much more left of the story after that though.

“In the end, I somehow ended up with a meeting with the king. That’s probably going to be soon.”

Jill choked on the cake she was eating. She grabbed her flask and drank from it desperately. Luke shook his head slightly. Only Red seemed like she expected something like that. Mash raised an eyebrow at her lack of reaction.

“This was a better result than I expected. I was waiting for something more catastrophic. That went as well as I could’ve hoped, though this meeting is suspicious.”

Mash nodded. Even if Priscilla had been convincing, Mash felt like the meeting with the king was a little too convenient.

“Any idea what the trap might be? Other than the king just trying to enslave him.”

Jill spoke now that she had managed to stop coughing. She asked the question into the open, and Luke answered quickly.

“I doubt it. From what I read, there are a lot of conditions that need to meet for someone to become a slave. Mash isn’t some great criminal so the king shouldn’t be able to force him into a slave.”

“Wait, people had to choose to become a slave?”

Jill asked the question but then shook her head as if that couldn’t be the truth. Luke paused for a moment and only continued after taking a deep breath.

“No. They are forced into it, but it takes more extreme conditions if the person is high level. Turning someone like us would be difficult, but a child wouldn’t even be able to defend themselves.”

That killed the already sour mood.

“Well, what are we going to do about Mash? If he doesn’t meet with the king now it will be pretty suspicious. The gemstones are what hold the contracts right?”

She turned to look at Mash for some confirmation. When he nodded, she continued.

“Could you break it, Mash? I mean if you just free all of his powerful slaves then we-“

Mash moved quickly covering Jill’s mouth while talking over her randomly. He made sure to speak loudly too.

“The cake store was pretty great. My favorite one has the vanilla cream in the middle.”

He glanced back toward the door, as he felt someone approach. The others reacted quickly, and each of them grabbed one of the pastries. There was a knock at the door as they all started to eat a cake. Mash relaxed a little once he realized who it was. He just spoke toward the door.

“Doors open! Come in.”

The door clicked as Kerik opened it. Trek marched in as soon as the door opened, and Kerik followed immediately after.

“Hello. Did ya mention cakes?”

Trek smiled as he saw the three boxes and looked at them longingly. He didn’t immediately grab one but stared at Mash questioningly.

“Go ahead. I got plenty.”

Trek didn’t hesitate to grab two cakes. One had a pinkish frosting and the other a chocolate one. The pink one was supposed to taste like some berry, but it just tasted like sugar. Trek stacked the two cakes and ate them together. Mash hadn’t considered combining the flavors but immediately got the idea. He grabbed one that had the vanilla filling and placed a chocolate one on top. Kerik only grabbed one and looked around at the books.

“Are you learning about the kingdom’s history? I am quite the expert if you have any questions.”

Mash wanted to ask about the levels but, stopped himself. If he said something stupid, he would definitely ruin the plan. Red asked a more general question that talked around the crux of the issue.

“I did notice something. Your kingdom lacks any immortals. I haven’t seen any mention of living legends. What happened?”

Kerik looked at her for a second.

“Your rather good at finding poor topics, but I would not deny someone the truth. We used to be a higher-level kingdom. The old king and many of our strongest fighters died in a fight against frost giants. The new king was much lower level, and he was the one to introduce slavery to the kingdom. I think he took the class out of desperation at first, but now it is what defines the kingdom. Also, what has crippled it. You see, we use slaves in most major fights around the mountain. So, they gain the majority of our levels. Thus, the kingdom is made weaker.”

Mash interjected when Kerik took a pause to take a bite from the cake.

“That doesn’t make sense. There should be a bunch of high leveled people as slaves, right?”

“No, none will level past 149. The slavers can’t force them either. At least none of the slavers have managed it yet. Not even the king, though he is low level.”

Trek answered Mash’s question as Kerik chewed on the cake.

“Isn’t this information private?”

Jill seemed worried for them. As Mash thought about it, it was definitely weird for the guards to release this information so freely. Kerik answered as he had finished his cake.

“It is common knowledge, although I doubt foreigners would learn of it. You would have found it had you checked more recent accounts.”

“The king’s exact level wouldn’t happen to be common knowledge, would it?”

Kerik gave Mash a flat look as he asked. The look alone was enough for an answer. Well, it would’ve been nice to have, even if Mash wasn’t planning on fighting the man. Luke had been keeping his mouth shut, and when he spoke it was with a strained voice.

“The king uses a slave army? How can he have so many slaves? Isn’t there a limit?”

Luke struggled to contain his anger. Kerik sighed as the conversation began to weigh on him. Mash grimaced, as he realized that they were repeating the discussion from the day before. Kerik still answered though.

“No. The gems let him get around the usual limitations of the class. Also, could we move to something else? This conversation grows exhausting.”

He sounded tired. Mash was going to answer but paused when he got a message from Priscilla.

[I am going to try and get their help.]

Red sent the message, and Mash nodded toward her. His nod also worked to answer Kerik, but it wasn’t meant for him. He looked relieved, and then Red spoke and ruined it.

“Ok, we can move on, but I need to ask you something. Would you and any other guards help us if w-“

“Stop!”

Kerik shouted, surprising everyone in the room. It felt odd coming from him, and they waited for more of a response, but nothing came. Trek seemed to struggle with something before opening his mouth.

“Don’t say anything stupid. We, and every guard, are slaves too. Different kinds than the ones who are bound by slaves, but our classes are marked all the same. Every guard has a skill called Slave of the State. It makes us stronger and more patriotic, but it also binds us to the king.”

Trek spoke with finality, and his gaze drifted toward his feet. Seeing Trek look so defeated brought back some of the anger that he had felt before. The wretched feeling that Mash had managed to suppress since his meeting with the Earl returned. A king seemed like a ridiculous person to put on his list, but he realized it was too late. The still unnamed king sat just below the Earl. The list wasn’t a literal thing. It just represented people who were truly horrible. Someone who Mash thought, didn’t deserve any mercy. Red broke the silence.

“What will you do?”

Her words were barely even a whisper. She looked at the two guards. Her face was blank, completely devoid of any emotion. Mash knew what she meant too. If Kerik and Trek told the king, then the plan would almost certainly fail. Red didn’t just stop with that one question.

“What happens if you go against the skill? Can you keep quiet? We won’t harm you guys either way. It would just mean that we can’t do what we had planned.”

Kerik and Trek exchanged some glances. They both nodded at the same time, and Trek replied first.

“We can, but it won’t be easy. You will need to do whatever you had planned as soon as you can. Tonight, if you can manage it.”

“Wait, what do you mean?”

Even as the question escaped Mash’s lips, the two guards fell to the ground. Trek fell forward his face landed in one of the boxes of cakes. Kerik hit his head against the wall as he fell. He slid down the wall and stopped in a seated position. It looked like he had just fallen asleep. Luke was the first to move, and he rushed toward the two guards. Jill cursed and Mash sprang to his feet and searched through his domain. There was nothing there. He was about to say as much, but then he felt someone enter his domain. Their mana identified them. Mash’s mind raced as a question kept echoing in it. Why was Lisa here?