BXBX NOVEL Chapter 226 226 - Stringed Puppet
Coming back to reality, Haruki had decided to keep everything Asmodia had told him a secret for a while. For now, focusing on getting to the silver-clothed man and retrieving Serena's lost soul took precedence over everything else.
Storming out of the log cabin, he made his way to the goblin queen's lab at the end of a long tunnel. There he wanted to talk about the looming threat of getting attacked any instant. However, as he came out into the fuming lab with bubbling vials and the hint of magic lingering in the air, he was met with a look of shock from the goblin queen as well as Medusa who was also there for some reason.
"We need to take everyone out, this place isn't safe," ignoring their surprise, Haruki directly got to the point.
"Wh-what?" Still in a daze from Haruki's sudden appearance, the goblin queen couldn't grasp what he was getting at.
"I…I should clean up what we were doing," slipping behind the queen, Medusa pulled herself out of the conversation and started cleaning up the apparatus on the workstation.
"Just do as I say, I'll set up an exact replica of this entire dungeon with my ability so you don't have to worry about rebuilding anything," holding his palm forward, he summoned a plethora of demonic spies to scan every corner of the dungeon. "The only difference you'll notice in that place would be the lack of monster to gain levels, but that's a price I'm temporarily willing to pay."
Laying out his entire plan, he'd left the two utterly confused. However, recalling the threat they were under, and given that Haruki's plan seemed quite reasonable, none of them had anything to refute him with.
"Is this all because of that man who cursed the priestess?" Taking a step forward, the queen of goblins with a deep frown.
"I know you've worked hard for this place, but, it's better for you to be cautious instead of losing your whole tribe a second time," with no time to spare any patience, Haruki warned.
A bit taken back by those words, the memories of her past were rejuvenated anew. Lowering her head, she felt her heart squeezing tight at the thought of losing her children once more.
"Fine," she mumbled, her head sombrely downcast.
Although Haruki noticed the change in her demeanor, he didn't say anything to comfort her. Instead, he glanced over to Medusa and hinted at her to take care of the queen while he was gone attending to other tasks.
"Get the people ready to leave soon, I don't want to wait around for that guy to raid and whittle down the population before we can escape," giving them that last order, he turned around and left the tunneled lab.
Heading straight to catch up with his companions who were already making preparations for their departure to the next kingdom since last night, Haruki gathered them all up with his hive mind ability. Once they were gathered at the makeshift central hall of the dungeon, he started giving them their orders about what he planned to do before and after leaving.
The very first task was to lace the dungeon with traps and aggressive familiars in case the man really did show up to assault the dungeon's inhabitants.
"Riley, we're gonna leave tonight so make sure the entrance to the dungeon is secured," after Riley, he turned to Asuka and the demi-cats. "Help the monsters into the dungeon portals, and make sure nobody gets injured in the crowd."
Leaving Moriyana, Margarette, and Fay for last, he had them gathered up around a desk with a parchment laid on top. Taking a quill pen from a helper goblin, he began mapping out the dungeon map that the demon spies were showing him.
"Moriyana," marking multiple points of interest on the man, he glanced up at her to draw her attention. "I want you to use your illusions to lay traps that can help us capture this guy even if we're far away from here."
"I can try, but if he's strong enough to tear a soul, I doubt he'll be trapped for long," she replied with a hint of worry.
"What about us?" Fay interjected.
Shifting his attention to her, the very first thing that caught his eyes was Stella wrapped up in her arm playing with a necklace hanging by Fay's neck.
"You should take care of Stella while Margarette and I check up on any last-minute preparations," the very moment he said those words, Fay's expression confounded in doubt.
She felt as though Haruki was undermining her capabilities. But even then, she kept those doubts to herself as she didn't want to ruin the flow of the serious moment. With everyone off to do their jobs, Haruki took just a moment to collect his thoughts.
Still at the central hall, he was accompanied by Margarette and Fay as they were the only ones left behind. Resting his head on the desk, he began to wonder how everything got so messy in a matter of days. From feeling heavenly after turning all the monster girls into demons to feeling so burdened with responsibility in just a few days' time.
"Asmodia, the mistress told me that we don't have much time," raising his head, Haruki glanced at the two standing in front of him. "To protect the natural order of things she said, I never knew I was signing up for something like this when I signed that contract with her."
Having no clue as to what Haruki was talking about, the two exchanged confused glances at each other before turning back to Haruki.
"Haruki, you seem tired, are you okay?" Asked Fay.
Pressing her hand against his forehead, Margarette tried to check for a fever before remembering that demons don't get illnesses the same way as humans did.
"I'm fine, just a bit lost…" Taking a deep breath, he finally pulled himself out of the desk. "And to think I wanted revenge on the people who'd wronged me, but now I don't even know what I'm trying to achieve or who I'm fighting for."
Moving past the two, Haruki couldn't be certain if he even wanted to continue fighting against the emperor.
'I've been dragged into a battle that started way before I was even born, that too by a being who has all the knowledge of past and future. Do I even have free will or has she been playing with the strings of my life all this time?' Deep in thought, he kept on wandering until eventually it was time for more work.