"Are you going to poison me with this raw meat?"

"But, you ask us for..." answer one of the maids before the maid interrupted by Reginald as he throws the meal to the floor,

"Silence! Do I even permit you to talk back?"

"I'm sorry... Milord..."

All of the adventurers tried to hide their anger at Reginald on how he treats his subordinate. Volya observes him and remembers what his father said in the past,

"A person with power will act differently to their subordinate. So, don't be surprised if you see a man with power that treats the other warmly and then you see a man with power that treats the other as an animal."

Volya only could sigh and then he could hear that Reginald says,

"Oh yeah... I forgot that all of you haven't eaten yet, right? Go eat this meal while you clean the room."

The maid looks at the food and they look disgusted to see the raw meat on the floor. But, their hunger beats their reasoning that some of them start to take the meat.

Reginald smirks at the maid and then notices the adventurers already gathered in the room. One of the knights that escort the adventurers walks to Reginald and in the process steps on the food. The knight then says,

"I already gathered all of them, milord."

"Oh, thank you... Takes a long stroll, eh?"

He then looks at the adventurers and says,

"Welcome, all of you..."

After that, his face changes into a sour face. He then asked all of the adventurers,

"Do you know what happened last night?"

"Aside from my friend Dominik chosen by you to protect you and doesn't find him until now, then none of us know anything," answer Markos

"Seriously? Did your team even already glue together? If not, how could you a.s.sure me that you could protect me?" asks Reginald

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but even though we are working as a team, that doesn't mean we know everything about them. Especially, if there is a case where one of our members taken away without any notice," answer Volya

"Is that so..."

"Then, could you tell us what happened last night? Maybe it has a connection with Markos' disappearance." continues Helena as she bows at Reginald

Reginald only smirks at them and then continues,

"Alright, because all of you are obedient, then I will tell it,"

He clears his throat and then says,

"Because of all of your incompetence, last night the killer almost killed me!"

"..."

"And thankfully, your friend is there. The one named Dominik" continues Reginald

"What happened to him? Where is he? Is he injured?" ask Anna

"Calm down... Let me continue it first,"

"But..."

"Milord said to calm down! So, shut up and stay there!" shouts the knight

"Oh, my Dear Knight... Please don't act too hard for them. It will hard to tell this tragic news to them," said Reginald

"Tragic news?" mumbles Helena

"Yes, your friend fought valiantly against the killer. Unfortunately, he died on the spot."

All of the adventurers were quite surprised to hear that news, especially Anna. But, Volya, Helena, and Markos smell something suspicious from the news. But they stay silent to hear more from Reginald.

Reginald smiles at the adventurer and continues,

"Because of his incompetent, the killer run away and lurking in the dark again."

All of the adventurers start to show their displeasure at Reginald, but they remember that Markos and Helena ask them to act calmly against them even if it's really hard to do it.

Alfred then walks to the front and asks Reginald,

"Then, could you tell us where he fought against the killer?"

"Around here... At the garden near one of the fence," answered Reginald

Volya peeks at Gracia, who is always checking the garden. Gracia only gives a weak shake as the answer. Something missing from the explanation from Reginald.

Helena and Markos notice that Volya just confirmed something from Gracia and they could see Volya using his telepathy magic to them.

'Something amiss... Gracia didn't find Dominik's body nor any blood at the garden.'

Hearing that, Helena raises her hand and makes the adventurers stop asking any questions. She then bows and asks,

"If possible, could we see the body of our deceased friend?"

"About that..." replied Reginald as he looks at one of the knights

"We already threw away your friend's dead body! It's something unsightly to have a dead body on Milord's properties, especially when he will have a party soon!" explains one of the knights

Hearing that answer, Valeria immediately shouts,

"You can't do that to the deceased body!"

"Why are you shouting? Haven't I already told you that it will become an unsightly view for this mansion?" answer one of the knights as the knight walk to Valeria

"At least let us see his body first, so we could take him back to Mistratel family," said Frida as she looks at Reginald

"Huh? That will take too long as we find his body at dawn. We need to make sure nothing is unsightly in this area!" answer the other knights

"Then, let us see their combat place," said Romain

"Why do you need that for?" asked Reginald

"So we could make a good countermeasure against the killer and maybe we could find any lead for the killer," answer Markos

"Unfortunately, we can't grant you that wish. And you don't need to worry as we already a.s.sign the guard to check the place and find any lead to the killer," answer another knight

"Then, why did you even hire us to begin with?" asked Valeria

The tension between the adventurer group and Reginald becomes tenser.

Meanwhile, Helena notices several blunders from Reginald's action and peeks at Volya. Volya notices Helena's sign, becomes a little bit tense, and he feels someone nudge him a bit. He could see that Gracia is a bit worried about what Volya will do next. Volya smile and says,

"Don't worry... Everything will be fine."

When the situation is almost out of control, Helena raises her hand and her action gets everyone's attention. Volya then walk to Helena, bows at Reginald, and says,

"Lord Lawrence..."

"What is it, young adventurer?"

"According to the contract signed by you, if one of our team members died in the middle of the mission then we could check their body and takes them back for proper burial," continues Volya

"Huh? Is there even a clause for that?!" asked one of the knights

"Yes. You could find it on part 3 of the contract number 2, regarding team member that died when taking a high-level mission with a high chance of death, especially when protecting people as honourable as you," continues Volya as he reads the mission contract

"You must be kidding me..."

"On the next number, it mentions that we have our rights to investigate the scene of our deceased members. So, we could find any clue and make sure the safety of our client," continues Volya

"You..."

"Then on part 3 number 4, it's mentioned that you need to pay the burial cost for the deceased member."

"Are you going to blackmail us with that? I believe something like that never exists in the contract!" said one of the knights

Volya then smiles and flicks off the contract to them. He then says,

"Since the first incident, the clause has already been activated. But because you let us send back the body of our friend, we didn't chase you with this clause. Unfortunately this time it's different. Because of your group's reluctance to cooperate with us, we will remind you of this contract."

"Let me see the contract! And you, take my contract into my chamber!" shouts Reginald

One of the knights walks to Volya and forcefully takes the contract copy from Volta's hand, while one his maid runs to Reginald's chamber. The knight gave the contract and Reginald checks the validity of the copy. He could see that no one tampers the copy.

When the maid returned with the contract, Reginald read every line of the contract and his face became pale. The line that Volya just mentioned indeed stated on the contract.

He gulped and mumbles,

"Why is this line now?"

"Huh?" said Helena that overheard that

"Nothing... And if this is true... it will inflict financial loss on me... Maybe I must..."

"I'm sorry, but it's better if we continue with this contract. If you cut the contract short, you also need to pay more for it. You will lose more money in the end," interrupt Markos

"Huh?"

"You could find it on the contract. On the last page," said Volya

Reginald notices that he already lost against the adventurers and because he didn't want to make more trouble with them right now, he then sighs.

He immediately throws the contract and says,

"Alright... What do you want now?"

"We have three wishes," answer Volya

All of the people in the room were quite surprised to hear that answer from Volya. Even Helena and Markos are also surprised as they already speculate that Volya will only ask for two wishes.

Reginald can't hide his anger as it showed with his red face and asks Volya,

"What do you want, young Adventurer? Or maybe any of you know what his wishes are?"

"Alright... First, let us investigate the fighting scene and also Dominik's body. We need all the information to protect you from this killer," answer Volya

"You can't do that as I..." replied one of the knights that interrupted by Reginald,

"Not a problem... I will set an appointment with your group soon."

The knights are quite surprised after hearing Reginald's answer. Volya then continues,

"Then the second one, please let us walk freely in this town without the eye from your knights."

"Ah... So that is your plan. You want to overthrow our lord, huh?!" shouts one of the knights

"No... This mission is based on mutual trust between us and our client. With this kind of treatment, how could we trust each other?" asks Helena

"Do you distrust all of us?" asks Markos subsequently

"Yes... We..." said the knight before Reginald says,

"I a.s.sign them to protect and a.s.sist all of you."

"Then why did your knight regiment didn't help Dominik when he is attacked? If he is fighting in this area, isn't the knight that a.s.signed to him also help him in the fight?" asks Volya

"What do you mean..."

"If the fight is fierce, then your knight will notice the fight and help him. But, I could see the knight that is a.s.signed to him before standing here with s.h.i.+ning armour. We could see that they aren't a.s.signed to protect all of us at all," replied Markos

Reginald can't hide his anger as the adventurer starts to humiliate him more. And he can't execute them as it will raise more suspicion on him from the adventurer guild.

So, he said,

"Alright... I accept your condition!"

"Thank you very much, Kind Sir," said Volya as he bows

"Then what is the last one?"

Volya smiles at Reginald, points at the maid corps, and then says,

"Could you give them a proper meal? They already work quite hard for you, so isn't it better if you give them one?"

"Eh?" said one of the maid

"If you treat them well, I believe they could serve you better in this mansion," continues Volya as he smiles at the maid

Reginald look at the maid and then says,

"Alright... I will give them a proper meal."

"Thank you," said Volya

The tension in the room becomes tenser, especially between the knights and the adventurer group. Reginald looks around him and then shouts,

"Leave this room at this moment! I don't want to see any of you right now!"

"As you wish, milord!" said Markos as he leads the adventurers' group to bow at Markos

They then leave the room and let the knight close the door behind them. After they walk a bit far from the room, Volya starts to shake and fall on his knee. All of them could see his tense face. He then says,

"That experience... Stressful for me. If it takes a bit longer, I definitely will fall to the ground like this ahahahaha..."

"Eh? You could feel that?!" said Anna that surprised after seeing Volya action in the last week

"Yes..." said Volya as Romain helps him to stand up

Markos suddenly chuckles and pats Volya's back. He then says,

"At least you are brave enough to say it."

"Why did you choose me to say that? You are more senior than me, Markos!" protest Volya

"Well... As I said, you have potential. And this incident shows me that you indeed will have a bright future in Adventuring live,"

"Or... Will end miserable soon enough," jokes Volya

"Oh come on! Don't feel down like that! At least we become more independent as he will take away his knight to check on us right now..." said Helena as she pats Volya's back

"You are right..."

All of them then laugh together after seeing Volya's face right now. Their laughs end with Frida asks all of them,

"Then what should we do now?"

"Hmmm... At least I know we can't check the scene today," answer Miklos

"Then... The usual stuff, maybe?" asked Anna as she looks at Volya

The other adventurers look at Volya and he notices it. He immediately says,

"Wait! You want me to a.s.sign the task to all of you?! Isn't Markos already giving the task for all of you?"

"Well, with one of the member is died, we need to tweak the plan a bit," answer Markos

"And we know that from Markos that you help him to a.s.sign the team for the last three days," continues Alfred

"Urgh..."

"Just do what they want, Volya. Isn't it good that they trust you now?" said Romain as he laughs a bit

Volya sighs at them and then looks around them. He then says,

"If you are really alright to ask me to a.s.sign all you, then..."

Volya takes his time to think for a moment until he said,

"Markos, we will do with our original plan for today. Minus Dominik."

"I also thinking that is our best action now," answer Dominik

"And Helena, I think we should do our errand tomorrow after Reginald's knight didn't follow us anymore," said Volya

"I agree with that..."

"Oh, you have errands at Lerwick?" asked Frida

"Yes, we have one," answered Helena

"And because of that, tomorrow Helena, Gracia, Romain, and I will not join your mission for a while. Maybe until the noon," continue Volya

"It's not a big problem for us," said Valeria

"And we will need Markos help for tomorrow, too," said Romain

"Huh? You need me?" asked Markos

"Yes, because you know this town better than us," said Helena as she points to the outside

"Then, who will lead this group while the three main leaders are gone?" asked Anna

"Ummm... I think uncle Alfred could lead all of you for a while," said Gracia

"Oho... You choose me to lead the other, Gracia?" asked Alfred

"Yes."

"So be it! I will lead this group tomorrow if there is no objection from the other," said Alfred as he laughs

None of the adventurer objects and Volya reconfirms again about their plan for today. After all of them confirm it, they continue their day as planned.

Meanwhile, at the dining hall, the knights under Reginald are gathering around him and asking him about the permission given by Reginald. Until one of them said,

"Let me execute them! Like what we do to their friends!"

"And then cause more ruckus at the Adventurer Guild? No! We will not get any food because of that," answered Reginald

"But..."

"We need them... To wake him up..."

"..."

"And we can't taint our hand with blood anymore. Three people in their group is a sly fox."

"Then... What should we do?"

"Call that woman..."

"Eh? Are you sure?"

"After all..."

Reginald then whispers at all of the knights and end it with,

"Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

"Then leave this room..."

"Sir, yes Sir!"

After they leave, Reginald rests on his seat and said,

"Lord Gyallos... This will become a big problem..."

"Are you sure about that?" asked a sound from his back

"Yes... Tell Lord Gyallos, I could take care of this roadblock."

"Sure~"

Reginald then slams his hand on the table and shouts to the empty room. For the first time in his life, someone wins against him. And humiliate him.

And he will never forget about it. Never.