The only saving grace was my ability to use the barrier freely, as it was something I already shared with others, and it would only be strange if I suddenly refrained from using it. Thanks to this fact, my travel through the forest limited itself to just running in an overall straight line, while only avoiding the trees and allowing the barrier to carve the path amongst the bushes and other small vegetation.
Despite being all alone, no magical beast dared to cross my path. I could wonder whether it was the case of some sort of internal communication between the tribes that experienced me culling their numbers without even a single weapon in hand back when I was leading the first batch of locals away, or if there was any other reason that warranted this situation, but my journey remained calm nevertheless.
That is before I reached the vantage point from which I could not only detect the city guards with my energy vision but also see the city itself. And it changed quite a bit since the last time I was here!
Starting from the outer rim of the town itself, what once used to be just empty, open space that could at most serve as the perimeter for the potential defences was now filled with trenches, barricades and a primitive, wooden wall. The number of patrols outside of that area also increased, from just a few of them back when I first visited, to at least fifty energy signatures that I detected in my immediate area alone!
*What do you think I should do? Try to save the slaves first, or go in with a bang straight away?*
"If you turn aggressive out of apparently nowhere, they will know for sure that you perceive them as enemies. If you just go in as if their preparations didn't bother you, you might either reaffirm them about not being their enemy, but that also means going right inside the trap. I can't decide for you."
Just from this short exchange, I could tell the difference between old Bonger and the current one, holding my killing intent back. Before this hurdle became a thing, he wouldn't cut the discussion so decisively!
But he was right about one thing. I was the one to make the calls, as I was the one to suffer through its consequences. With how talkative it recently became, I started treating it as an equal partner, but there was a reason why I was the host and he was…. the system.
With this thought in my mind, I decided that even if they somehow hoped to trap me for whatever reason they could come up with, there was nothing I could do about it. I still had to go there to save the remaining slaves, and doing so in an aggressive way would only let the Overlord use those peoples as a card in his fight with me.
Raising up, I moved to the side, quickly getting on the small path leading to the city. While I could easily get there sooner and save quite a bit of time, I wanted to take a look at the state of the city before really approaching him, forcing me to take this time-costly endeavour.
"Halt! Stay where you are!"
Almost immediately after I revealed myself on the path, a voice of one of the closest guardians set me in place. Considering the primitiveness of these people culture, I had to admit that their semi-military forms were quite developed to reach the level known from a certain German-speaking country of the late first half of twenty century of Europe…
"Come on, are we seriously going to do this?"
The chances that this guard didn't recognise me right away were seriously low. Since I didn't want the enmity to explode right away, pushing it for a slightly later date, looking at the first reaction I got after revealing myself I might have to recreate my plans.
"Going to do what?"
This time, it was the voice of another guard who came out from the bushes. From a slightly better dress and a proper sword attached to his hip, I could tell he was serving as some kind of officer of sorts.
"You know, spend half the day in here, confirming that I am who I am, that I have the right to enter the city, that I do not carry any illness that could spread through your community… Wait, if that's not the case, why did you stop me?"
Seeing the confusion on the guard's faces as I continued to spew the utter bullshit from my mouth, I quickly changed the direction I was going for and pushed the responsibility on them. As long as I could avoid hostilities before freeing the slaves, I was down for acting in the most ridiculous way!
"We are stopping everyone. We got the word that those primitive tribes are preparing to descend from the forest in order to attack our glorious city and free the slaves prepared for you. I hope you will forgive us this small mistake, as this kid only recently joined our ranks."
Swallowing what he was about to say earlier, the guard switched his approach as well and even forced the young guard to lower his head for me! That was the proper attitude to have when speaking with better than you!
"Lead me to the city then. With everything going well in my new outpost, I want to get those slaves as soon as possible. Measly one hundred people are not nearly enough to kickstart the construction of my palace after all!"
At this point, I started wondering whether I would receive "bullshiting" ability from Bonger. Considering how I used this high-class skill over and over again almost through my entire life in this world to put smoke in the eyes of others, I think I at least deserved some sort of titled! If I were to write a memories book somewhere in the future, I knew I would call it "bullshiting my way through the heavens!"
"Yes, sir!"
From this point on, the rest of my journey moved rather swiftly. Not bothered by the other guards since I was already accompanied by the two of them, I swiftly got to the city and then followed the main route to the Overlord's mansion.
As soon as I appeared on their doorstep, a pair of bouncy boobs appeared in my vision, before I managed to defocus my sight and recognise Elea. Only then did I even manage to look past her and notice the overlord and his wife, that bore the full responsibility of how well endowed Elea was.
"Welcome back to my place, I hope you put those slaves to good use."
With his face not even souring when Elea threw herself at me and pressed her soft mounds tightly to my body while burying her face in my chest, the Overlord smiled amiably while inviting me deeper inside the mansion. Even without making a single step in, I could see how busy it turned with many foreign-looking people running everywhere around.
"While I heard from the guards that those primitives are going to try something, is it really worth all the effort? While I'm down to extend our trade for yet another batch and I would make sure to make it worth your while!"
Once again resorting to bullshiting my way through, I played a card of someone actually interested in seeing the outcome titled for the Overlord's favour! Seeing how there was a high chance that Elea's fiance would appear here at any given moment, I attempted to push her away, only to fail miserably while actually enjoying the soft skin on her naked arm. Just like before, her clothes didn't leave much for one's imagination, making it a bit harder for me to keep my eyes away from her charms, especially after denying Helia any intimacy and going through all those events with the locals' princess!
"That would be best for us as well. After all, there are only so many slaves that we could keep feeding! Would you like to get down to the business right away? Also, there is someone that wishes to meet with you!"
Good. For now, it seemed that I managed to convince the Overlord that I didn't side with the locals. While he could be faking his approach just like I did in order to pull me deeper into his trap, As for the request of meeting with someone… Since it was a bit risky to talk with other people, as some of them had the natural gift of feeling when someone was bullshitting, I decided to play it safe.
"I'm sorry, but getting here is actually quite rough. I had to depart with the first light in the morning in order to arrive at such an early hour, so I would like to take a short rest first. I hope it won't pose any problem for you."
*If you read this novel somewhere else than on w-e-b-n-o-v-e-l-.-c-o-m that means you are reading at a pirate site. Please support the author at the original site.*
Chapter end
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