“What do you mean the deal is off? What about our payment?”

The voice from the ‘other side’ seemed none too pleased to hear the bad news.

“I’ll pay you! Just… don’t do anything. Withdraw your people!”

Espero Garcia wiped the sweat off his bullets as he impatiently waited for a response.

“Alright.”

When he heard the confirmation, Garcia breathed a sigh of relief and put away the black orb and nervously emptied his bowels.

After the Sultan’s warning, Garcia grew afraid and suspected his plan was found out. It wasn’t anything particularly big, at least to him, but just wanted to ruin’s Silcard’s business by setting it on fire.

…

Ahmed, founder of a small mercenary group in Raml Asfr, stared at the smoke coming from Silcard’s building with a look of slight annoyance.

“What’s happening?”

A middle-aged woman with tanned skin stood next to him, also looking at the smoke and the signs of fire.

“I sent a message but I didn’t receive any response. Something must’ve gone awry.” She calmly responded, seemingly uncaring about what was happening.

The plan was relatively simple: Infiltrate Silcard’s building and set it on fire.

Although Espero’s withdrawal order came just at the right time to stop the operation, the building was still set on fire.

“Keep trying to contact them. Also, try to keep the Yellowjackets at bay until Hamid and Jia come back.”

With smoke coming out of the buildings and fire spreading inside, the handful of passerby freaked out and called out for help.

The YellowJackets, which was the nickname for the guards and soldiers policing the city, were going to respond accordingly and come to resolve the situations.

Ahmed activated the black orb and tried to communicate with Espero Garcia, but he got no response.

…

5 minutes earlier, inside the building

“Who are you?”

The bespectacled secretary, who had just finished checking up on the slaves, sensed the presence of two unfamiliar ‘guests’.

He intercepted one of them, a slim feminine figure wearing a dark brown hooded-cloak that covered her face.

The woman was more surprised than he was, but she didn’t hesitate to jump at him while holding two silver chakrams.

A shield made of blue magical light appeared in Robret’s left hand, blocking the attack just in time, though he was blown back and crashed into the wall.

“Intruders! Help!”

His shout reached the few guards tasked to patrol the building at night.

The woman, Jia, swung her chakrams at Robert again but his shield withstood the impact.

He quickly got to his feet and backed into the corridor. 3 guards holding basic swords rushed toward the woman, however, she was quite nimble and deadly.

She threw her chakrams, which whooshed in the air and accurately hit one of the men’s neck and torso. The poor guard, blood gushing from his fresh and fatal wounds, fell to the ground with a look of terror on his face.

Instead of helping, Robert rushed toward the underground Slave Quarters. He knew there were more than one intruder, so he had to ensure the Slaves’ safety. At the same time, he used an artifact to contact Silcard, who had long since retired to his residence.

It wasn’t difficult to guess the mastermind behind this attack, especially after what happened today.

Robert sprinted downstairs and soon reached the Slave Quarters only to find the guard stationed there lying dead on the ground.

The slaves, fully awake, were grouped up at the back with Kha’rya taking the front, confronting Hamid.

‘This smell…’

Robert hid behind a wall and peeked his head at Hamid, who had poured flammable across the stairs and on the ground.

‘Kha’rya.’

The beastwoman saw the peeking Robert, to whom she gave a subtle signal.

“What are you doing?”

One of the beastman slaves glared at the silent and cloaked Hamid, but he received no response.

Hamid kept emptying a large cylinder while standing at the entrance of the Slave Quarters. He didn’t seem worried about any of the slaves as he busied himself with emptying the cylinder.

At some point, he stopped as if he heard something. One of his companions, the woman with Ahmed, had communicated, but he wasn’t given the time to respond as Robert picked up the guard’s fallen sword and charged him.

“...”

Hamid swiftly turned his body and threw a punch, but Robert slid down across the ground while throwing the sword at him. He had never intended to directly confront Hamid as he was far too weak.

Still, his objective was only to grab the enemy’s attention for a second.

Kha’rya’s body shot forward, almost instantly reaching Hamid and landing a powerful side-kick on his side.

The large mercenary was blown away, losing hold of the cylinder and rolling on the ground. Kha’rya reached him again and tried to stomp on his head, but his burly hands grabbed her leg and flung her away.

Two other slaves, less faster and unarmed, ran straight at him but he easily overpowered them.

With the wall behind him and many Slaves in front of him, Hamid took out a scimitar and prepared to attack.

“You’re going to die!” Shouted the enraged Kha’rya, her body emitting steam and her fur growing longer.

She sped toward him and threw another kick, which was blocked by the scimitar.

A bit of blood leaked out from her leg, but she didn’t retreat. She spun her body with lightning-fast speed and delivered another kick that hit Hamid in the chest.

His body staggered to the back, but he maintained his balance and slashed with the scimitar again.

Kha’rya dodged the incoming blade by ducking down and then tackled Hamid.

Even fallen, Hamid let out a shout and was about to hit her with the scimitar only for Robert’s shield to appear and deflect it.

“Ha! ah! Ah!”

Kha’rya rained down punches on Hamid as she sat on top of him. It was a brutal sight, but none of the Slaves felt sorry for him.

The beastwoman only stopped after the man ceased his futile struggle.

Admittedly, Hamid was a strong person but Kha’rya was Silcard Fedge’s strongest slave. A beastman hailing from an ancient tribe.

“This is enough. We’ll tie him u-”

Robert sighed as he saw the now-revealed yet bloodied and beaten face of Hamid. Alas, Hamid suddenly opened his eyes and let out a savage roar.

Expecting him to use a self-empowering spell or an artifact, Kha’rya threw a deadly kick at his head. Indeed, that was enough to kill him on the spot, but not before a small spark of fire to burst from his ever-so-slightly raised hand and travel toward the cylinder.

“Watch out!”

Robert’s warning shout came too late as thy cylinder exploded and the oil spilt on the ground was ignited. The building shook for a moment and a suffocating heat spread in the Slave Quarters.

The young slaves, notably the children, cried out and hugged their parents.

“O-out! Everyone out!”

Robert managed to conjure a bigger blue shield that absorbed the initial shock wave as well as pushed some of the flames back.

He hurriedly gestured for the slaves to gather up and rush toward the exit as fast as possible. Some of them were injured or sustained some burns, but no one died, fortunately.

Within a minute, they exited the underground spacious room, leaving only the dead Hamid behind.

“...”

Robert’s eyes turned cold as he saw the lifeless bodies of the guards scattered in the corridor.