387 Freeing the last slaves

Before the situation could escalate any further, the Overlord's voice came from the building where I detected the several strong energy signatures. In just a second, all the guards pulled back and sheathed their weapons, with only the one handing on my hand being unable to do so, with his consciousness on the verge of escaping.

"Sir Bart… I think that my order was clear and I don't remember excluding you from it!"

As if forgetting that it was his idea to set up this entire ruse, he now acted as he had any right to use his host's privilege to settle the matters with just a word. Even if he was the lord of this place, that didn't change the fact he dared to set his guards against me!

"If you think you have any power over what I'm doing, then you are in for a big surprise!"

Unwilling to just let go after what he did, I tightened my grasp on the guard's neck, snapping his spine and throwing his body aside.

"Here, I let go. Are you happy now?"

I pretended to not see the fury on his face as he jumped from the window and landed on the street beside me. With a single look at the corpse of his guard required to confirm that this guy was really dead, he turned his head back at me while clenching his fists.

"You didn't have to do this…"

Infusing his voice with a clear threat, I could even discern a hint of killing intent in it! It only showed how much blood he spilt in his life, nailing the last nail into his coffin in my head. Not only this guy dared to provoke me, he even though he could get away with it scot-free? 

"And you didn't have to attempt to provoke me. I wonder, how would you react if that funny idea of yours would prove to be successful? But fear not, I'm a compassionate man!"

With those words on my lips, I took out the scroll that I used earlier to bait him into settling the slaves for me, and with just a single strand of entropy running through it, I turned it into nothing more than a pile of dust.

"I will take those slaves as a recompensation for your attempt at my life. If you still want the remaining part of the technique, you better do not disappoint me with the next batch. Ah, and on the side note…"

Once again taking aim at the guards that threatened the slaves before, this time, I actually executed my action, severing their heads in a simple yet deadly attack.

"... no one who dares to threaten me will remain alive. Did I made myself clear?"

The last line of mine happened at the exact same time as the headless corpses of Overlord's several guards fell to the ground with a loud thud. With my earlier smirk turning now into the expression of wrath, I stared right in the overlord's eyes, as if trying to probe whether he was courageous slash dumb enough to make his move in order to take revenge for his subordinates.

"Oh, and she screamed in pleasure like she never did under your thrust. What a fine woman she is… Capable of recognising a true male!"

Laughing outright in his face, I couldn't help but curse at myself in my mind. By humiliating him like this, I indeed felt better in the situation, but inevitably brough some hell on Katia's head! But nothing could be done about this already unless I somehow force him to get busy with other matters!

"You little… Fine. Take those slaves and get the hell out of my face. I will consider it as us getting even for pranking each other a little. I hope you won't go back on your word when I bring you the next batch of slaves."

Forced to swallow his pride, the Overlord could only hold himself back while trying to get the most of this damned situation he created himself. On the other hand, a smile returned to my face as I waved my hand at the big group of slaves, around three hundred souls strong, ordering them to follow me.

"Ah, before I forget. This time, I'm not going to risk fighting against the current, so I picked a different beach to depart. Send someone to follow me if you still feel insecure or something."

Turning my back to him, I marched forward while making sure that the soon-to-be free slaves would follow me in my steps. 

Him sending people to track my steps was an obvious reaction since I would depart in the direction where he assumed the 'rebels' to come from. By giving him a reason and even baiting him into sending someone after me, I actually tried to make sure he wouldn't do anything of the sort!

In the end, it would all boil down to whether I could be bothered to go after a spy or not. Confusing him about the routes inside the forest was a no-go because I was an amateur at traversing this terrain myself. So with the simplest solution of killing anyone who would dare to follow us, I could at least rest easy that they wouldn't discover the fact I was already allied to the remaining people of the local tribes!

The relation with the overlord was already souring, or rather, I was finally showing him what was the real distribution of power in it, forcing him into obedience instead of acting like a powerless guest. 

With the entire group suddenly making their move, it took a fair bit of time to get them to form up in a single line that would actually fit in the streets. I could only hope that when we would get to the forest, they wouldn't just disperse and run away, thinking once again I'm some kind of monster that is going to work them to the bone!