“My name is Randall Tvenai, you next,” he spoke back before immediately turning at the two others standing directly against the edge of the table sprawled out with a few mugs of leftover beer sitting freely.

  “Terryn.”

  “Oliver Kosen,” the blonde man said right after the bald one, both succinctly before shutting themselves. They didn’t even look around the demon lord’s slave anymore. Instead, glances were thrown at the large map atop the table, describing the lands of the current Helasta, as Lutiel judged.

  Quickly peering down through the shoulder of Randall, he watched him move away slightly before turning towards him. “Come closer, you need to understand it better,” he said, only for a remark to befall the table.

  “Are you going to give him your ass next?” Terryn asked under the unamused face of the leader.

  Simply continuing with a blank look whilst omitting the disappearing jeers, his eyes focused onto the small, wooden figures placed around different spots.

  Most depicted beasts, disguised as demons, with only a few showing a human. Rummaging through his pockets, he swiftly emptied them onto the table, tens of coins falling out. The majority of them shined out a bronze gleam, with the rest being silver.

  Turning to his right, Randall’s head stopped at the hooded figure standing in the middle of a group composed of three almost identical shadows. “You can start. Have you got any news?” he spoke calmly before a solemn silence scattered throughout the whole space. Any works on expanding the hideout stopped briskly as well, the pickaxes no longer digging away.

  And, suffocating in the peaceful airs, the fabric around the hood flinched barely. “Yes,” the deep voice uttered tersely, yet as it engulfed the space, tense glances filled with potent vigour wrapped around him.

  Looking at the hiding demon, the people around the table couldn’t help but envelop their faces in a more serious expression, not caring about the minute issues at hand. “Tell us,” Randall spoke immediately, furrowing his eyebrows with a lowered glare.

  “From our ventures, we have acquired notice of three important events, one of which isn’t so desirable. Which ones do you want to hear first?”

  “Save the bad one for the end,” the leader spoke, holding his chin in thought while staring at the nonexistent face of the hood.

  “Fair enough. In roughly a month and a half, right before the calendar starts anew, there is to be held a tournament for young nobles inside the city. Because of the occasion, more energy will be needed, hence why the coal docks will begin gathering more boulders from the sea.”

  “How is that supposed to help us?” Terryn interjected all of a sudden, his crossed arms firmly pressing against each other. However, at the words, the cloaked figures weren’t able to speak out swiftly enough before Randall gathered focus.

  “Just listen for now and you will understand,” he barked back, leaning over the table. Putting his fingertips against four bronze coins, he moved them towards the shore around the city, where a small figure stood calmly. Repeating the motion before his eyes came back at the demon, he gestured for him to continue.

  “In the three days they will be raising their workflow, instead of extracting from three explosions, they will be increasing it to six, which means more demons aboard the ships,” the voice steadily unveiled the information, falling onto Terryn’s ears whilst his face eased up. Though, quickly, he fell into thought.

  Without stopping for his, or any of the revolutionaries’ reactions, the demon simply continued. “At that time, Thomas will have already notified Lady Zyponia of our supposed attack on the docks, gathering even further demons to protect the place.” Suddenly, the yellowish brown eyes flinched, his bearded chin turning at the white-haired slave. However, before his lips could part away, the blonde man stretched his voice out.

  “Are we sure she will take the bait?” Oliver asked, and just like most of the humans around, he glanced at both the man in question, as well as the leader.

  “That’s one of the missions we have handed out to him. He will have to get closer to Zyponia for her to fully trust him,” replying swiftly, his head turned to the left, glancing at the slave just like almost all gathered there.

  “Hey, slave,” Terryn quickly caught his attention, to which others followed back and forth at their exchange. “You think you can do it?”

  Silent for a few breaths, Lutiel stared at his mellow eyes for a while, however, with a firm stance around the face, he didn’t leave them hanging. “I’m sure of it. Although she seems cold, she’s started to open up slowly.”

  “I bet a good fucking will do the job,” he spoke through a meager grin, swiftly losing the man’s image around his eyes. “Randall, you could have given me that job, you know my tastes,” saying to the man with a hidden excitement in the eyes, they swiftly festered however.

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  “Even flies don’t linger around your ugly face, why do you think she would?” Replying with a question, jeers of laughter fell around whilst Terryn’s brows furrowed, a scowl forming as he broke into silence.

  “Please continue,” said Randall a breath later, directed at the hooded faces.

  “At the same time when the tournament happens, the guards around the city walls and the inner part will also be increased.”

  “Why is that?” The man in blond asked all of a sudden, finding the reasoning at fault. And, turning to him understandably, the cloak swiftly replied to all of the curious ears, albeit disappointing them somewhat.

  “We will get to why soon enough. Now, since so many guards are needed to keep attention on the most valuable assets, the mountains won’t be protected nearly to the same degree as normally, which means a lesser shielding for the fortress overseeing the iron mines, the place that never loses its number of demons inside.”

  “So you’re saying the demons from the mines will come to strengthen the place?” Oliver asked, fuelling the tense air around the soldiers. The excitement riddled within their eyes was unlike ever, especially at the demon’s following words.

  “Yes,” he spat out succinctly before immediately going on. “Without the fortress, their sight of the lands will decrease tremendously, and they need it more than ever now that we started using explosives. They can’t allow themselves to lose it and suffer casualties like at the ball.”

  Standing in the middle of the cheers and enthralled whispers, Lutiel didn’t speak out anything. ‘What a load of shit. There is no way the demons would care. Even if they did, how many humans will you sacrifice in order to take back the mines?’ He thought to himself while changing between the cloaked demons, as well as the merchant. Yet, seeing as the one that bound him to Zyponia glanced at him discreetly, the man quickly went back to listening on the matter.

  “The timing’s perfect. Luciel has finally shone his light upon us,” Terryn said before gritting his teeth, clenching the jaw into a full smile. However, as joyful as the people around were, they quickly fell into silence. Another statement fell out from the hood’s shadow.

  “The tournament isn’t just for this city. Edging close to the border of Nemir, the city of Evrig, which is the residency of Genor, will be taking part. They will be bringing demons of their own here, which decreases our chances of success, but it’s still higher than attacking on a whim,” he said, making the rest fall into complete silence, almost wholly rid of their prior vigor.

  Even Randall didn’t seem too fond to hear the news, however, leaving his eyes down at the map for a brisk few moments, he finally spoke up.

  “You’re right. We don’t know just how many months or years we would have to wait before another opportunity falls into our hands. We need to take what we have,” he added, only to bring his head up at Oliver’s words.

  “No, isn’t it even better now?” He asked, all of the interest catching his voice.

  The leader furrowed his brows somewhat, however, Terryn was the first to utter out his ridiculousness. “How is another demon lord ever better?”

  “Just think about it, all of the attention will be gathered at the arena where the tournament will be held. All we have to do is create commotion big enough for them to start moving,” he started speaking before moving his right hand towards the eight coins around the coast. Pulling them out into the middle of the city, he raised his head at the leader.

  “The docks were going to be a feint regardless, so why even bring the army there? Just plant some big explosives to stir up movement. Now, let’s actually send the soldiers to the tunnels below the city. Just blow up a few buildings to let them know of us,” he continued, making Randall ponder silently for a while.

  “That’s very much possible, they are also going to be distracted for far longer than with just the coal docks. What do you think? Can you provide that much explosives?” he suddenly turned to the merchant, who simply glanced around the table, sighing highly at the expectant looks.

  “Yes, I can get a lot more than what was used for the palace,” he replied, quickly stifling the gleams of excitement. “It won’t be cheap, though.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” the man raised his chin somewhat, no longer caring too much about the demon. “You will get a bonus on top of your share of mined ore,” he added, already looking at the men around the table.

  “Is there no more information?” Suddenly, Terryn asked, but the hooded demons shook their heads faintly, making him lean backwards slightly, the head churning. Gradually, as a few breaths passed, he finally looked down. “Okay, let's see what it will look like, I need to describe it to my men,” his voice trailed towards the leader he was staring at, making him nod at the suggestion.

  Slowly descending towards the map, he supported himself against the table while looking around the men coming closer. Taking hold of a free figure of a human, he started away. “First of all, the plan can still change, but a rough draft shall be drawn. After Thomas woos Zyponia, he gives her a solid reason to notify the demon guards to solidify the defenses of the coal docks.”

  Moving the figure of a human towards the shore, he brought over two silver coins as well, surrounding the figure before taking them away.

  “Although they will be puzzled by the explosions with no attacks, it won’t take them long to realize something is amiss. So, before they get to the mines and the fortress, the groups stationed inside the inner parts of the city will start detonating their own explosives and bringing down buildings. And at the same time, the main forces that hid away near the mines will finally start to move and attack.”

  Scattering out the bronze coins around the city, he pushed the majority of them towards the mountains on the map, the ones overseeing the city. “Even if they want to protect the mines, they will still send less demons there since they need to deal with the army exploding the buildings.

  Taking a few silver coins to the city, he halved them before pushing three coins towards the pile of bronze near the mountains. “The worst scenario will be if they send both Zyponia and Genor to deal with us, and that will most likely happen, however, we don’t have to worry about that. There is a plan for that already,” he said, supporting his fists against the paper whilst looking at the men with a faint smile.

  “It’s time we bring back glory to the empire,” uttering under the smirk, immediate reactions stirred up from the front, all while Lutiel’s indifferent eyes stared at the map blankly.