That was the least logical and most difficult option to achieve, but it was a peaceful solution at least. However, the fact that she was somewhat of a psycho did make me frown a bit.
Once my mental deliberations were concluded for the time being, I glanced around the conference room.
The first people I noticed were the Plump Fox and her Dumb Hound. We weren’t rushing at all to get here, but we still should’ve arrived sooner than them just due to the fact that we had many forest dwellers on our side. The pair likely got escorted by Mommy’s and Daddy’s arranged entourage. They basically got taxied.
Cedric growled upon seeing us, while Selene grimaced. I could tell that they experienced two very different emotions. Cedric wanted to kill me, while Selene was sad that the greenskins and other monsters didn’t do the deed in their stead.
I saw 8 people standing behind their seated forms, likely their remaining Heralds who didn’t die at our hands.
Next to them sitting at the round table was a masked and robed person.
<That’s her.> Blossom confirmed.
Iris was completely hidden like us, but sadly for her, such a guise couldn’t fool my beloved first mate’s extremely potent nostrils. I couldn’t see her reaction due to the mask, but she was frozen while staring our way, so she likely recognized us as well.
We sported the same weapons and masks that we did back when we met, so it likely didn’t take a genius to piece it together. She already knew that we were criminals, thus us being part of the Consortium shouldn’t come as a giant shock either.
Behind her stood no one. I know for a fact that all candidates were advised to select five subordinates from the people the syndicate themselves provided in the case they had no teams of their own, so she either lost them all already, didn’t select helpers in the first place, or got fed up with them and did the deed herself. I could see that being the truth when it comes to this lovely lady.
Next to her set two people, one man and one woman. The man seemed to be a monk based on not only his attire but his antics too, since he was praying with hands clasped together in front of his face. He had four Heralds intact who stood regally behind him.
The next one was a woman, the first I’ve seen up close that resembled an MMA fighter. She had not much femininity going for her at all. She had bulging muscles and a masculine face, and based on her weapon she was some giant axe-wielder. Unlike my gorgeous Lucille, who was an extremely sexy young lady, this one definitely embraced her class not only in mind but body as well. Her axe was also significantly bigger than Lucille’s, and she wore heavy armor, indicating her to be a proper sturdy melee fighter instead of my light armor-wearing Berserker lover. She had only two Heralds left.
Soren rushed to his seat which was next to the masculine female, all the while dragging the depressed Lyra along her leash attached to her collar. Continue your journey with
I gestured for Ambition to go ahead since I was a real gentleman, and she accepted. This seating arrangement meant that I was sitting between Ambition and Selene.
I glanced at Iris who was staring daggers at me, and nodded. She didn’t make a motion for a good bit but reluctantly ended up returning the gesture, silently agreeing to talk it out later.
Vex then spoke up. “With all of you here, it’s time we begin. I’m your examiner, you may call me Lady Vex. The mission in case you weren’t aware is to head into Phantom League territory and cause as much damage to their properties as you can. Killing, stealing, enslaving, and raping are all allowed. This is going to be a bloody retaliation against them looking down on Lady Black Fang and the Vesper Consortium itself by invading her territories, burning the psychedelic fields, ruining equipment, killing guards and innocent civilians, and the like.”
Dear father and mother, this is your son Quinlan writing. I’ve been transmigrated to a new world for some unknown reason. I had fun and even managed to score four extremely lovely ladies. Yes, I may have bought some slaves, but I only bedded two of them (thus far). I also may have killed some people, but overall I was a very good boy. However, now I find myself in the midst of a vicious drug war between two fantasy cartels of incredible sizes. I’m good, though, there’s no need to worry. Much love, your son, Quinlan.
With my mental letter written, sealed, and sent, I could only sigh. I know I signed up for this, but I would’ve preferred some greenskin culling or some other missions instead of this one. There were too many variables that could go wrong here.
“With that out of the way, here’s the intel I can provide you with. The rest is up to you, you make all the decisions. I’m just going to follow behind silently and examine your decisions and actions.” Vex said while reaching into her storage ring and pulling out numerous papers. She handed one stack to each of the 8 Phenom candidates present. They contained numerous maps, reports, and even speculations regarding where what may be in Phantom League territory.
Indeed, our mission wasn’t to do a specific thing like ‘here’s a barn full of stashed coins, steal them all’ but just to basically ’cause mayhem’. We were given lots of freedom, but that also meant that a lot of uncertainties would be present during the mission. Patrols, guard numbers and their strength, locations of valuables… these were all merely unverified speculations.
We’ve been given a very delicate task which would require lots of careful planning and a professional execution to succeed. Glancing around the table I couldn’t help but sigh dejectedly. With this ragtag bunch, such a thing will be near impossible. I will have to first attempt to create some semblance of team chemistry between us unknowns, so I spoke up.
“Greetings. My name is Devil, and I suggest that before we dive into the nitty-gritty details, we should first get to know each other.”
Iris spoke up next, to my great surprise.