Ch 28: Pushed to doom [pt1]

“You! How dare you come late to the meeting? I told you to be on time or we would all leave you behind. And yet, you came late. It seems like I need to discipline you.”

Baron Luke was in a bad mood today. Both Ashura and Kurina shot Alex sorry gazes and Alex was certain that Baron Luke’s rotten mood had something to do with them.

In such a situation, there was no other way to pacify Baron Luke than to accept one’s punishment. At least, that would make the punishment easier and shorter for Alex and he might even get lucky to not have a lot of injuries.

Baron Luke stalked his way toward Alex and raised a whip he had taken out of his inventory. It hit Alex’s skin and the wound burned.

This feeling was familiar and Alex knew he needed to brave through it. He could not afford to get distracted by begging whipped.

Alex closed his eyes in anticipation of the whip’s second attack but he heard a loud gasp before someone stepped in front of Alex.

“Dear guest, I would ask you to refrain from trying to hurt our other guest. I do not care what relationship you had outside of our city, but if you are a guest in this city, you all are on equal footing with each other. So please respect this rule.”

Baron Luke was even more angry at being denied his *right* to punish his slave. His anger finally passed his boiling point and he yelled at Sha.

“How dare you say that to me? I am the master of that piece of things behind your back. His life? It doesn’t matter since I control it anyway. So, what if I were to punish him a little? It would be something I am entitled to do.”

Baron Luke bragged and no one in his group could speak up against him even if they did not agree with him.

But unlike their group, their guide had a lot to say about this topic.

“Baron Luke, we respect you as our guest. But if you continue to behave like this, then you will no longer be a guest of ours and we will have to ask you to go back without taking anything from here.”

“And we will come after you and kill you if you tried to steal from us. So, you better make a correct choice.”

Baron Luke instantly panicked as soon as he heard those words. He could not believe that someone would say them to him in the first place.

The outside words considered slaves as less than even pets. And as such, you would never get into trouble even if you abused or killed them. That was the environment Baron Luke had grown up in.

To be told that these ‘things’ he carried around with him were on an equal footing with him in this city was beyond maddening to him. And it made him rage out to defend his principles.

But as it had been proven again and again, every human had one thing they held above their beliefs. And in Baron Luke’s case, it was money. He could not let anything affect his source of money.

*cough*

“Now that I think about it, you are right, guide. Maybe I was getting a little too ahead of myself. Anyone can run late for a meeting so I will graciously forgive my slave for being late this time.”

Baron Luke pretended to be a model citizen to get back into Sha’s good grace. And Alex quickly took his place beside Kurina and Ashura.

“We are sorry. We tried to convince Baron Luke of what we say during the night but he refused to believe it.”

Ashura apologized as he looked at Baron Luke with a complicated expression on his face. Ashura also kept his voice quiet so that his words would not reach Mahiru’s ears.

On the other hand, Kurina deployed no tact and she did not even care if she was heard insulting Baron openly.

“Ha, that man would not care even if he did believe our words. He would just send us all to die while he reaps the profit. Baron Luke is just that kind of man.”

Kurina’s words could have landed her in deep trouble if they had been heard by Baron Luke. But fortunately for Kurina, she was not heard by anyone but the group of slaves she was with.

“You all, stop messing around and hurry up. We have a schedule to keep up with and we only have so much time on our hands.”

Baron Luke yelled as he followed their guide. Whatever misunderstanding there seemed to be between the two seemed to have been resolved.

The group moved toward the mines once more and their guide took them to another place.

“Remember, the rules are the same as yesterday. You can take out as much as you want from here, but you would only be allowed to take it all back if you find that blue stone.”

Sha instructed them all before he stood at the side. He kept an eye out for things as the team excavated the grounds once more.

But just like yesterday, there was no blue stone in the vicinity and the search yielded no results. It was time for them to give up.

“Go back? No way! I am heading back until I find that blue gem and get the right to keep my precious jewels. I earned them fair and square after all.”

The Baron seemed adamant in what he wanted and he even dragged his group after it. The rest of the gang had no choice but to follow the Baron as he walked deeper into the cave.

Alex did not know if it was Baron Luke’s luck or skill that led them directly into the centre of the establishment and helped them find a small Barrel worm.

This small one looked to be even younger than the one they had faced yesterday but it was not alone. There was another flower-like creature just adjacent to it.

“Tsk, I don’t know if I should call your group as lucky or unlucky at this point. That Barrel worm is an infant and it does not have any combat capability. But the flower-like creature adjacent to it might be a problem.”

“You see, that flower is a special creature that can stimulate the human body and mind to lose control sexually. It’s a dream flower and it releases a chemical called alprazolam which can make you quite frustrated.”

Sha explained it all in a quiet but experienced voice.

“So, it’s a sex flower. Yeah, I get it now. I will not ask you how you know all this but what should we do now?”

Kurina asked as she looked at the Barrel worm and its companion. She had wanted to take this opportunity to get the blue gem for herself and then negotiate with the Baron about her freedom.

But that dream seemed to be looking more and more distant by the minute.

“Ha, what is there to ask about? We will still go ahead and secure the Glue stone we came here for. Do you think a sex flower can stop us? Now, my slaves, go ahead and take care of the Barrel worm.”

Baron Luke commanded without any shame. Since he was not the one who had to deal with the worm and the flower, it did not matter to him what happened next. He was going to be safe all the time.

But the rest of the slaves looked at each other with awkward expressions on their faces. No one wanted to be the first one to head out.

Finally, Kurina decided to decide.

“Baron Luke, I am willing to be the one to bring you the blue stone. But I want you to promise something. You will free me from being a slave as soon as I come back. Do we have a deal?”

Kurina asked as she held her body back from shaking. She did not want to show her weakness in front of her companions.

“Huh? Is that all you want from me? Yeah sure. If you want to be free after this, then I can grant you your request.”

Baron Luke agreed quite easily and that should have been a red flag for Kurina. But in her elated happiness, she did not notice the signs of doom. She quietly walked out of her hiding position and approached the Barrel worm.

The tiny worm noticed Kurina but it was already too late for it. Kurina killed the worm and a small blue stone fell into her hand.

‘I-I did it. I managed to kill the Barrel worm.’

Kurina’s happiness lasted only a minute before she felt the dream flower spray her with a certain liquid that made her body burn.

Once its job was done, the dream flower quickly disappeared. But Kurina felt as if her body was on fire and her lower half ached. She needed something hard to please her body.

‘I need Alex and his big cock splitting me apart. He is the only one who can help me now.’

Alex’s tried to control herself but she ended up collapsing as soon as she took a single step.