The day after commander Wang met with the dark lord.
"Commander Wang."
"Yes, your lordship."
"Where is No-… Where is the criminal being kept?"
"I regret to inform my lord that the criminal escaped from her confinement while we were preparing for our departure."
"Pft." I almost burst out laughing as I tried to imagine her escape. My smile seemed to terrify mister Wang as he grew pale at the site of my face.
"I-If your l-lordship wishes. We could d-delay our departure u-until we capture her."
"No. She will follow us to Latnos regardless."
Earlier this morning I woke up to find a letter resting next to my handsome face. Apparently, Nox escaped my men, snuck into my room in the middle of the night and left a note on my pillow. All without getting caught. The letter mentioned how she would be waiting to be paid in Latnos, as well as some rather graphic threats of what she would do to my beautiful body if I didn't pay after renting her services. I found the whole letter rather silly.
"Why bother renting her, when I could just buy her outright?" I accidentally said it out loud.
"Your Lordship?"
"Oops… I mean forget what you heard." I said, trying to cover up my mistake as I climbed into the high-quality carriage.
The carriage I climbed into was shaped like a black and red shrine. It seemed to be mostly made from a black metal called adamantite, a rather rare and expensive metal on the 1st continent. That said to a wealthy man such as I it was as common as any other pebble on the ground. I couldn't help but compare it to the expensive looking carriage Nox pulled out that one time. It was a work of art that looked like it stepped straight out of mythology alongside the beasts that was pulling it.
*sigh*
"Is something the matter my lordship." Commander Wang asked while I climbed up the stairs.
"It is nothing. I am just thinking of my regular carriage."
I said, while glancing over at the bulky horses pulling this dark shrine on wheels.
"I beg your forgiveness. But for the sake of your lordship's wellbeing, this will have to do for the time being." commander Wang said as he was closing the carriage door.
Soon after, the carriage carrying the dark lord departed, escorted by black armored soldiers on horseback
…
A day later, after departure.
"Huh… What happened? Why are we stopping?" The dark lord said from the comfort of his carriage.
The carriage had moved at a steady pace towards Latnos since their departure. Only stopping to feed the horses every now and then, as cultivators of the golden core stage which made up nearly all the soldiers outside can go on for days without sleeping. However, the horses had just rested not long ago, and we still were quite far away from our destination, which meant something must have happened outside.
Instead of getting a reply, the door to the carriage was opened as I could see a grinning commander Wang with an elderly man I recognized standing to the side.
"WHAT IS THE-"
*Whoosh*
Before I could even finish my sentence, commander Wang grabbed me by the collar and flung me out of the carriage and into the muddy ground.
Inspecting my surroundings I saw my own soldiers mixed together with men wearing the outfits of the Hollow sect. The Hollow sect is a cultivation sect hostile to the Dark Palace. As for the elderly man, he was the one who interrupted my advancement to nascent soul back then.
"Finally! I can stop pretending to be your loyal dog. You arrogant prick!" commander Wang said in an angry tone.
"You betrayed me! Why?"