11 Midnight Massacre I

Long after the night had fallen, the slaves returned to their staples. They weren't allowed to sleep inside the mansion despite the weather. They slept with the horses and cattle. The stables stunk to high heaven. To a Dictator who used to sleep on a designer bed and state-of-the-art air conditioning, the stables were equal to hell. All the slaves were long asleep after their hard work in the fields. The moment they lay on the ground, they went to sleep. However, two slaves were awake. They were none other than Hunter and Kolvar.

Instead of sleeping under the reed thatch roofs, Hunter walked outside the stable and lay on the ground, looking at the sky. He used his hands as pillows. Kolvar came beside him and sat on the ground. Hunter stared at the new sky. He couldn't believe he was staring at four strange moons in the sky. Back on earth, they only had one moon. But this planet had four moons. Crimson red, pale blue, sea blue, and jade moons glowed in the starry sky. According to Phoenix's memories, each moon represented an element of nature. Fire, wind, water, and earth, respectively.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Hunter asked Kolvar.

"I forgot how beautiful the night sky is," Hunter sighed. Ironically, after being a slave, Hunter felt free. On earth, he was shackled by many things. Now he was truly free.

"You're acting so weird today, Parker,"

Hunter ignored Kolvar's remark.

"And your leg. It was magic, wasn't it? A normal potion couldn't have done it. Parker, where did you get it? Did you steal from Elisia?" asked Parker. Suppose it was the case, nothing but cruel death awaited both. Many questions riddled Kolvar's mind.

"Do you always ask this many questions?" asked Hunter.

"Everything is going to change around here, Kolvar. What you witnessed in the morning, it was just a glimpse," said Hunter. After returning to the manor, Hunter joined Kolvar in the devil's button field. He worked the field with new vigor. Not that Hunter liked to work, rather, Hunter wanted to see how the devil's button field worked. He wanted to understand the entire procedure. He wanted to know how the devil's button transformed into the devil's breath.

The process was somewhat similar to producing wine. First, the slaves had to plant and take care of the devil's breath. When the devil's buttons reach maturity, the slaves then harvest them, dry them, soak them in the water for a few days, fill them in a barrel and send these barrels to a brewmaster. He or she would add their own secret ingredients to produce the devil's breath.

Usually, the brew masters would take a big chunk of the profit, but luckily for Xander, his son Jaden was a talented brewmaster. According to the artistry guild, Jaden was a 3rd-grade brewmaster. Every specialization in the world was divided into seven grades. 1st grade being the lowest and the seven grade being the highest. When a mage or a warrior finds they have a special talent, they could choose to pursue the specialization or continue being the mage or a warrior. Only some exceptional people became successful in pursuing both. These people were either freakishly powerful or extremely rich, depending on their specialization.

"Are you going to murder more people?"

"What did I tell you about asking too many questions?"

Kolvar quickly shut his mouth. He sensed a coldness in Hunter's voice. It terrified Kolvar to the core.

"And the answer to your question is yes. I am going to kill people. Starting from everyone inside this manor,"

Kolvar's eyes went sideways. His body trembled just hearing those words. However, Hunter remained calm. He took out the dagger he was hiding inside his ragged tunic. He played with the dagger.

"I wonder what they are doing inside," Hunter asked. For some reason, Kolvar felt like Parker was expecting an answer from him.

"Sleeping I guess," Hunter raised the sword. The bright light coming from the moons illuminated the manor, and Hunter looked at the reflection on the blade. Particularly, Hunter was waiting for the soldier guarding the back door to leave his post.

Kolvar saw Parker slowly rising.

"Here's the deal. I am going inside. You're coming with me. If you make a sound, I will end you," Hunter threatened Kolvar. He cautiously sneaked toward the manor, using the darkness to his advantage.

"Hey," Kolvar's heart skipped a beat. He tried to stop Hunter.

"Also, do what I say when I say. Don't fuck this up," Kolvar's legs automatically followed Parker. Usually, it was always the other way around.

The soldier who was guarding the back door made his way to a tree. He whistled a tune of a strange song, and when he reached the tree, he lowered his pants a little lower to empty his bladder. The unlucky soldier ended up on Hunter's radar because of the back door key. Without a single worry in the world, the soldier continued to whistle. He had no idea Hunter was sneaking behind him.

Suddenly, Hunter grabbed the soldier from behind, stabbed him in the throat, and cut the vocal cord. The soldier frantically squirmed and trembled. Due to Parker's weak physique, it was tough for Hunter to keep the soldier still. That's where Kolvar came in.

"Grab his legs and arms," Hunter whispered. Panic and fear overwhelmed Kolvar. His mind couldn't process what had just happened. So his body automatically did what Hunter told him.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing an Apprentice level 6 warrior. The reward is 6000 Experience points and 400 Badass points]

[Congratulations to Host for reaching the Apprentice level 1]

Hunter felt a strange sense of energy within his body. The feeling, he couldn't explain it with words. The closest thing was dipping in a hot spring after a long day of labor. His body and mind felt rejuvenated. To be honest, Hunter had never felt something this good in his life. But he was not in the situation to enjoy the benefits of stepping into the cultivation. He had a body to hide. Hunter quickly dragged the body around the tree and rolled it onto the slope leading to the devil's button field.

"This is murder," Kolvar mumbled.

"He…he did…nothing wrong,"

"He stood in my way. That's the only reason I need," Hunter said. He was nonchalant.

"Besides, he had this," Hunter showed Kolvar the silver key to the backdoor. He turned around and continued to sneak toward the manor with the silver key in his hand. While Hunter was working in the field, he focused on conversations, especially with the guards. From one of their conversations, Hunter learned Xander had placed several defense arrays in the manor, mainly to reduce the number of soldiers. For a rich person, Xander was stingy with the astral coins. Luckily for HUnter, these arrays were designed to detect intruders, not the slaves with slave bonds. Once the slave bond had been placed in one's soul, the slave couldn't raise a finger against their masters. In Hunter's case, Parker had the slave bone. When he died and most of his soul departed, the slave bone got nullified.

Because Hunter's soul merged with the little pieces of Parker's soul, the arrays failed to detect Hunter as an intruder. The arrays thought Hunter was a slave entering the home. It was a risk to enter the home as many things could go wrong. But Hunter always preferred the high-risk, high-reward way. Kolvar followed Hunter, trembling in fear.

When they reached the backdoor, Hunter slowly put the silver key in the keyhole. The old door slowly creaked. Hunter didn't open all the way but just enough for him and Kolvar to squeeze through.

"Show me the guards' rooms," Hunter whispered to Kolvar. Parker's memories about the house's layout were limited, unlike the layout of the torture dungeon where Elisia used to punish bad slaves. All Hunter could see was darkness. It took him a second to realize he was in another world where there was no electricity. He could vaguely see an outline of a spacious hall, a sofa set, and a couple of statues.

"Come on Parker. If someone sees us, they will kill us," Kolvar panicked. Killing and committing crimes was like having breakfast to Hunter. To Kolvar, this was new and shocking.

"Use your brain, idiot. We already killed a guard. If we don't finish this, they will execute everyone in the morning. So pull your shit together and show me the way," Hunter patted Kolvar on the back to give him a boost of courage. He didn't push the elf too much. Hunter knew all too well that Kolvar was not the murdering kind. Granted, Hunter would make a killer out of him. But it would take time for Kolvar to change.

Kolvar felt he had no choice at all. Reluctantly, Kolvar sneaked forward, leading Hunter toward the stairs leading to the first floor. The house contained a total of three floors. The first one had a hall and kitchen. The second floor was where Xander's and his family's rooms were. The third floor was used to store goods. Additionally, the manor had a basement where Xander and Elisia vented their anger or disappointment on their foes and slaves.

Hunter followed Kolvar without making a noise. After they climbed the fifteen or so steps, Hunter saw an empty corridor in the light coming through the windows. Each side had three doors. First, Hunter wanted to know where Xander was staying.

"Xander's room. Show me," whispered Hunter. Usually, Xander's personnel guard would stay outside the room. Since the guard went to the city to get his new armor, Hunter was lucky to find the room and corridor unguarded. Hunter didn't make a single noise till he reached Xander's door. He put his eye on the keyhole to get a look inside.

"The door is locked," Kolvar said.

"What do we do?" asked Kolvar.

Hunter had a plan, more precisely, a system. He quickly entered the system to buy a picklock. He doubted an almighty system like this would lack a picklock. As Hunter expected, the system sold one for just fifty badass coins. Kolvar vaguely saw two straws-like things in Hunter's hands. He put them into the door, moving his hand up and down for a few seconds. Then, to Kolvar's surprise, the lock clicked. The door finally opened with a small creek.

Inside the room, Xander was snoring like a bear on his queen's bed, next to his wife, Elita. Hunter slowly rose up. He started at Xander and Elita like a predator. His lips slowly curved upwards, revealing a devilish grin.