Chapter 58: Realization

The serious aura in the atmosphere prevented Laura from speaking.

It was Azaroth who initiated their conversation once again, "I remember that you took an oath that if I free you, you will follow any request I have as long as it's not against the Elven Kingdom."

As Laura remembered this promise, she somewhat regretted taking such an impulsive oath.

If he asked for something personal, she wouldn't be able to deny him.

She blushed as she thought that she knew what Azaroth was going to ask of her.

"Yes," Laura affirmed with a low voice.

Azaroth could guess what she was thinking just by hearing her tone and observing her expressions.

In fact, any adult with some experience could see it.

"I want you to become my subordinate for the next 30 years," Azaroth spoke this with a straightforward look in his eyes.

Laura heard his request and blinked her eyes twice. It seemed as though she had heard something unbelievable.

"Me? Become your subordinate? Do you even know my identity? I am-" Azaroth raised his hand before she could finish speaking.

He waved off with that hand and spoke, "Yeah, yeah. I know that you are a Princess of the Elven Kingdom. But let me ask you. What use was your identity in that prison? Could you have gotten out of that prison without my assistance?!"

As his expression turned a little fierce, he scared Laura quite a bit. But his words forced her to think about this matter deeply.

Azaroth spoke a little more fiercely then, "Let me tell you the answer. No. You would have remained there until someone bought you for his sick purposes. You are outside the prison because of me. You can enjoy this fresh air because of me! You owe me your life!"

'He is right. Also, if my identity was released, the big kingdoms in this human society would have targeted me and use me against Mother.'

'30 years isn't a lot of time. Mother did say that Elves live up to thousands of years. And the Royal Elves live for even longer. So 30 years should be a breeze. But I still have to help a little brother in 12 years.'

If Laura's mother knew her daughter's thoughts, she would have definitely smacked some sense into her head. But unfortunately, she had no idea what was going on in her daughter's head.

So Laura gladly replied to Azaroth's request, "Okay. I agree with your request. I will be your subordinate!"

Azaroth had expected this response from her so he wasn't even surprised.

He had some basic knowledge about the wood elves and after analyzing Laura using that Spiritual Imprint, he was more or less sure what she would decide.

He just needed to phrase his words carefully.

Such as 'Requesting' her to become his subordinate.

On the surface, he seemed to be requesting her but he was quite forceful about it. To an onlooker, it might have seemed like an order rather than a request.

And the second important thing was to give her a time frame she considered short but would be enough for Azaroth to do what he wanted.

30 years was the approximate time he thought that might be accepted by this girl.

For a human though, 30 years was a lot of time unless they reached Emperor Level or the level of a Saint.

After reaching such a level, even humans would live on for centuries and a millennium.

"I am glad you agree. You won't live to regret it." Azaroth promised with a gentle smile.

Laura had a faint blush on her face as she saw his gentle smile. Her ears were beet red but she broke eye contact with Azaroth and replied, "…Enough of this. Where will I stay until then?"

Azaroth heard her question and was somewhat confused.

In reality, he had a plan of taking her along with his other servants to the Kloras Town that would be under his complete control.

He was planning on starting a completely new administration with that place as its center. However, it seemed as though the formalities were taking longer than expected.

The territorial and tax collecting departments were assigned to some individuals who weren't all that fond of Jonas Rhodes so it was somewhat expected.

All Azaroth could do was wait.

But during this time, where should Laura stay? She couldn't return with him to the Rhodes Estate.

If the servants saw her, they will definitely inform Jonas.

At that time, Jonas would definitely grab her from him. If not for her identity then due to her beauty.

If Jonas was said to be a rather great talent in the Sinyalian Kingdom then lust was a temptation he couldn't resist at all.

According to Edwin Rhodes' memories, there were rumors that Jonas Rhodes had even tried to hook up with one of the concubines of the King.

But these were mere rumors and there was no clear proof so the King hadn't taken any action against Jonas yet.

Although even Azaroth wasn't sure if these rumors were true or not, it did tell him that he couldn't allow Jonas to meet with either Laura or Yrellea.

Azaroth couldn't tell Tronte about Laura or Yrellea just yet. He seemed rather infatuated with Laura and he wouldn't take a composed decision.

Suddenly, an idea struck in his head as he smiled cunningly.

"…I do have a place for you. A place where you can stay hidden easily until we move to a different place."

~~

Meanwhile, it had been quite some time since Azaroth ran away from the headquarters of the Silent Death Organization.

The Silent Death Organization and the Merchant Union had realized they had been duped.

It was only after Sir Ashton found 10 treasures hidden in different rooms on different floors.

Finley was growing anxious as they kept on finding one treasure after another in his subordinates' rooms.

Each one seemed to deny any charges of stealing. Moreover, each one had an alibi that they were guarding the perimeter last night.

Also, it felt as if they were being led away from their basement. The location where they store all their merchandise. Just to be careful, Finley ordered his men to go and check up on his merchandise.

Their merchandise being their slaves.

However, when the man returned, he spoke with an agitated and angry tone, "Boss, something has occurred! I can't find any guard in the basement. And there seems to be black sand flying in the basement!"

"What?!" Not just Finley but Sir Ashton displayed shocked faces as well.

Suddenly, the gears in their minds began to move nearly at the same time and they realized it.

'Shit! We fell into a trap! Someone was diverting our attention!'

When they began thinking in this direction, strangely enough, everything fell into place.

Why the treasures from the Merchant Union were stolen? Why were these treasures scattered in random rooms of the guards?

Now, the question remained just for whom this trick was created.

Was it the Silent Death Organization or the Merchant Union?

Both had come to their own conclusions.

Sir Ashton immediately spoke to Finley, "Forgive me, Sir Finley but I need to return to check up on something. I shall make up for this later."

Finley was more than relieved to hear this since he personally wanted to check the scene in the basement.

"Let's continue this conversation later. If this is what I think it is, then whoever this is, they made a complete fool of us, Sir Ashton."

Sir Ashton gritted his teeth but didn't deny. This was a fact. There was no point in being struck over their pride and refuse to accept it.

They first had to catch the culprit responsible for this!

As the delegates from the Merchant Union left, Finley immediately went to the basement. The other Silent Death Organization experts following him on his face.

They were shocked to see the ashes on the floor. But the shock was just a secondary emotion, the main emotion they felt right now was anger.

Rage that flared them up greatly.

Finley was surprised that other than the death of his guards on the first basement floor, there was no one missing from the slaves.

'Was that a tactic to lure out the Merchant Union's men? Let's check the other basement floors.'

And they found a similar situation on the second and third basement floors. On the fourth basement floor, they found that a cell had been broken.

If Finley remembered correctly, it was the cell where the Succubus was trapped.

But soon, his face turned pale. It wasn't because of losing the succubus. Although the succubus was quite useful in generating their profits, they knew about where they lived so it wouldn't be much of a trouble to get more of them.

Finley's face had changed because he remembered another individual who had been under guard.

Moreover, her value was above that of anyone else they had ever captured.

Naturally, her disappearance was going to make him even angrier.

On the other hand, Sir Ashton had returned to the warehouse to know whether anything else happened or not.

However, Azaroth didn't want anything else from the Merchant Union's warehouse.

The only thing he wanted was with him.

A blue striped egg.

The only reason he kept this egg with him and didn't plant this treasure in some other room of the Silent Death Organization's base was that his Mystic Eyes of Perception also couldn't completely see through it.

The only thing he saw was pure golden electricity.

It didn't mean that this egg contained a beast that was possessed some sort of bloodline equal to a Demon God. Azaroth couldn't use his Mystic Eyes of Perception to their true potential because of his low rank.

But still, Azaroth was convinced that whatever this beast was, it wasn't weak. It was a mutant!

Perhaps this was to be displayed in an upcoming auction nearby but now that Azaroth had stolen it, there was nothing they could do other than search for him.

The problem for them was that they had no idea about their opponent's identity!

Was he one of their own? From the rival organization? Or someone else who took advantage of their rivalry?

Firstly, what both the organizations did was sent a large number of their men outside and search for anyone running away.

The Silent Death Organization's grunts were told to search for the individual with the elf. Also, any news about the Succubus was to be reported to the main base!

But it was somewhat more troublesome for the Merchant Union to search for their robber.

After all, they had no idea about his physique and his motive.

For that reason, Sir Ashton was conducting a search amongst the men who were in the warehouse that day.

And very quickly, they found their comrade's dead body.

This raised more questions than it answered.

Although the Silent Death Organization and the Merchant Union had a different approach, their target was the same. However, because of their suspicions, they couldn't just trust the other party so easily.

So, they weren't sure if the other organization had genuinely suffered as well, or were they absolutely uninvolved or maybe they were the ones orchestrating this entire event.

This sort of confusion had done more harm than good to both of their organization.

If they had calmed down and tried to gather every piece of evidence, they might have followed up on Azaroth's location but unfortunately, emotions guide the humans.

It's impossible to completely ignore one's emotions.

Well, it's definitely true for those who haven't undergone strict training or firm discipline.