Ch.77 I Wish to Keep the Deal


    <span style="font-weight:400">After leaving the tree line they rode north towards the mountains on horseback. After a few hours, they reached the edge of the mountain range and entered a ravine where a small river flowed through.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Devin led them past the boulder rocks to the other side of the ravine. Where he pulled out some sort of pendant that lit up.


    <span style="font-weight:400">At that moment some figures came out of the shadows.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Oy! You return!" Yelled one of the figures that was a ck Rose Mercenary.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Yes! We return with our prize!" Jeremiah said proudly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The mercenaryughed, "Oh! Never thought I would see a dark elf in my life."


    <span style="font-weight:400">"You better watch yourself. The Kings yer gave her permission to defend herself." Sims said with a grin.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Really? That''s a shame." One of the mercenaries said as they approached.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Like it matters. It seems this one prefers thepany of women.” Dietrich said to hisrades.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh? Really? I always knew dark elves were fucked up… But that shou~” The merc was interrupted.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“She’s NOT for fucking…” Jeremiah scolded the man.


    <span style="font-weight:400">They were soon surrounded by 5 men who stood about 6 feet tall. Their faces were covered with masks and their weapons were held tightly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rya cringed at the thought of being touched by all these men.


    <span style="font-weight:400">''Fucking touch me! I dare you! You are all ugly sons of bitches!'' Rya thought angrily.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Is Rudolf awake?" Jeremiah said coldly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Aye, he''s in the cave nning something. My guess is, we are assaulting Ironside. He had the same look back when we invaded the Dwarven Kingdom." One of the mercenaries answered.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Good, with thisbat ve. We should make short work of Ironside''s defenses." Jeremiah said as he and the others dismounted their horses.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Yea. I''m going to go get Rudolf and the rest. We can depart shortly." The leader of the group said before turning around and heading back to the cave.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Follow ve. You will be useful here." Jeremiahmanded.


    <span style="font-weight:400">''FUCK YOU!'' Rya screamed under her breath as her body moved against her will.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She followed behind the mercs like a puppy dog.


    <span style="font-weight:400">***


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rudolf was sitting in a dimly lit room deep within the caves of Ironside. He was talking to a man and a woman. The woman seemed to be focusing on an artifact while the man was standing by as a bodyguard to the woman who was dressed in Duke ric Revelia''s robes.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"How long is this going to take?" Rudolf asked impatiently.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The bodyguard responded, "Keep distracting her and it will take longer. Or do you wish to anger Duke ric Revelia more after what happened to his son?"


    <span style="font-weight:400">''Tck! Dietrich, you better be right about this dark elf. My life will not end because of your failures!'' Rudolf thinks to himself as he wants to make it up to the duke by ending the prince''s life for his men''s ipetents.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Fine. Do whatever you need to do." Rudolf said annoyed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After a few minutes for the woman to finish whispering a spell as her mana enters the artifact, she ces it down on the table next to her. The artifact lights up in a blue glow and a figure forms in the particles, no taller than one meter.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The figure looked like an older man who had a royal look to him. His face was slightly wrinkled from age, but his eyes still showed intelligence and anger.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Rudolf... What''s this about my son''s death and my pathetic excuse of a nephew surviving the Tomb of the Horde!" Duke ric Revelia said angrily.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"I am sorry, Your Grace. It seems I was mistaken about the prince. He seems to have a dark elf that aided him in defeating the dungeon core and killed your son. If I''d known, I would have sent Jeremiah with~" Rudolf quickly cuts off when the duke interrupts him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"EXCUSES! MY SON IS DEAD! AND NOW MY INCOMPETENT BROTHER''S SON HAS WON THE FAVOR OF MOST OF THE NOBLES! HE IS ALL BUT GUARANTEED THE CROWN!"


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rudolf tried topose himself before speaking to the duke.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Your Grace, I am sorry. We are stealing the prince''s battle ve as we speak and if what my men say about her is true, we''ll use her to destroy Ironside and the prince. We''ll me it on the goblins, so the current king is med for the failure. At least you will be on the throne when this is all said and done, Your Grace."


    <span style="font-weight:400">"How is all this going to bring back my son?"


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rudolf thought to himself for a moment.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"It will not, Your Grace. But if this dark elf is as powerful as we think she is. We''ll give her as a gift to you so you can take the throne." Rudolf said.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"A gift? You still wish to be given lordship over Fiafyrnds?" Duke ric asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Yes, Your Grace. I have never been given a chance to rulends and I wish to be one of your lords if you still wish to keep our deal."


    <span style="font-weight:400">The duke shook his head. "I will be steading assassins after you if you fail to kill the prince... But I will consider keeping some lesser version of the deal if you do bring the prince''s head and give me this dark elf. Do whatever you wish to Ironside. They''re mostly dwarves anyway."


    <span style="font-weight:400">''Hmm? So, the duke might keep his end of the bargain? Well if he doesn''t I might have to use this dark elf on him if he thinks he can assassinate me.'' Rudolf thought to himself.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He walked up to the duke and bowed his head.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"It will be done, Your Grace. The ck Roses alwayse through in the end." Rudolf said.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"You better Rudolf! Failure doesn''t look good on you." Duke ric warned.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"If you require anything else from me, I shall do what I must toplete our deal," Rudolf said.


    <span style="font-weight:400">With that, the magical connection was halted as Duke ric vanished from the artifact.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The woman in the robes opened her eyes and grabbed her artifact.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"I hope you seed, Lord Rudolf. It usually gets ugly for those that fail the duke." Said the bodyguard of the magic speaker mage.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Worry about yourself, I''m used to dealing with men of Duke ric''s ilk. You two should leave if you know what''s best for you!" Rudolf said.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The speaker mage and the bodyguard looked at each other and nodded.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"We better get going." The mage said.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Aye... Lead the way, ma''am." The bodyguard said.


    <span style="font-weight:400">They left the room and walked down the corridor of the cave leaving Rudolf by himself.


    <span style="font-weight:400">"Tck! So, the toothless lion has nine lives? Well, he''s not going to have any left after tomorrow." Rudolf thought to himself.