The next day at dawn Nix was left alone, following the path we defined earlier to the next town.
As Nix continued her journey I went to talk to Leonardo again, told him to take a look at the caravan carriage I stole and see if he can make it look more normal and bigger if possible.
I have plans for this carriage, yesterday I left it in the hands of the people of the village, but I don't want it to happen like it did with the boat, I don't want something that looks so simple unfinished, I want something normal and that doesn't attract attention.
Leonardo said that he can make a drawing of the carriage, but he has no experience in woodworking, I said that it's ok, as long as he has a good drawing for the people of the village to use as a base, I'm sure the Nymphs will be able to do a job yet better, I even gave the wood from the monsters I killed in the cave yesterday to use.
After that, I spent the rest of the day training my control over the shadows and the Shadow Rune that Nix has been teaching me.
When it got dark I switched shifts with Nix, during the way running through the mountains I ran into some adventurers I ignored as I continued my journey to the next town.
I took this time to continue thinking about the plan we will make this time, as far as we know this next city is a little smaller than the previous one, also fewer places to attack.
Aside from the government building, Duke's castle, 2 noble mansions, and the underground secret room in the center of town, I don't think there's anything else to attack.
The place that has the highest risk of having a strong enemy is the Duke's castle, as far as I know, this Duke is a Demon and he's in the capital, so he shouldn't be in the city right now, but it's been a long time and things may have changed. change, I must be prepared.
I spent the rest of the night running at full speed before I saw the Suns rise over the horizon, so I open the Dungeon to trade shifts with Nix again.
After sleeping for a while, I wake up and go back to training until it's time to switch shifts with Nix again, we repeat this cycle until we get to the second city.
As soon as we get to the city we have a meeting with everyone who will participate in the plan, I give the orders of who goes and I also tell everyone to finish everything tonight.
This time I leave Nix and Layla behind to prepare, I want them to lead the Fairies and Spirits to steal the black stones across the city just like we did before.
The black stones in the sewer are just on the ground and go up to the magic control circle from what I noticed in the last city.
Rakan, after studying the drawings Leonardo gave him better, managed to discover that we can stop the activation of the magic before it happens if we destroy the connection of the magic control circle with the other magic circles that cover the entire city.
This knowledge is very useful, so I tell Elsaris to take care of it during her quest, with everything decided, we wait until nightfall to start the quest.
———-
Pov Duchess:
This is a horrible place and every day it gets worse than the last, I'm from a merchant family, I thought I could have more success in life marrying a noble, because of that I ended up meeting a handsome Duke thinking I could live the rest of my life in luxury.
I was very wrong, but I didn't know it at the time.
The Duke seemed like a very polite person, but every time I was around him I felt like I was in danger, I was a fool at the time, I ignored that warning feeling inside me thinking it was just my nervousness.
I continued to interact with the Duke thinking I was seducing him until the day we were married, it was our first night together when he demonstrated who he really was, I remember my horrible state the next morning, the bruises and cuts all over my body, the lingering pain and the cruel smile on that Demon's face when he said he'd make me his toy until I broke, that's because he hated Humans.
Since that day I discovered that the Duke was a Demon, not only he but also all the servants and employees of this place were Demons that he himself transformed to serve him.
All Demons say horrible things to me whenever I am nearby Duke's orders, those who refuse are killed in front of me, many of these Demon servants were Demon worshipers but some were people who were forced to transform against their will.
I couldn't run away from here even if I wanted to, the Duke put a bondage mark in a place on my body that others couldn't see.
Over the years the Duke grew tired of just using physical and verbal abuse on me, so he made me watch as he destroyed the stores that belonged to my family, driving everyone into poverty.
When my parents had nothing they came to ask for help for me, I wanted to help them but the Duke forced me to say no and make fun of them, I was forced to see my father and mother's bodies the next day when their bodies were found, they started suicide out of desperation.
My pain and suffering amused the Duke, my gaze filled with hate and fury only made him enjoy it even more during his daily abuse and torture against me, that's what he wanted, he wanted me to go back to defying him just for him to break me again.
In the last year he started humiliating me in public, he said how he wanted to humiliate me in front of the whole town, but it will ruin his facade of being a good Human Duke.
Because of that, he started taking me to his secret meetings where other Demons, Vampires, and Demon worshipers were present, sometimes I was naked, sometimes being forced to walk on all fours like an animal being pulled on a leash by him, sometimes she was beaten up in front of these monsters for their amusement and sometimes she was forced to kill or torture innocent people for their amusement.
These meetings were a new way for the Duke to humiliate and torture me, but he was so sure I would never escape him that he didn't hide anything from me as he talked to his companions.
I had discovered that this Realm had long been in the hands of Demons and Vampires, I also knew that these bastards were hated even within their own race as extremists who hated Humans.
It seems that what they are doing here is not known to the Demons of the dark continent, I also found out that these Vampires were from a demonic faction acting hidden here, there were two other factions that they called fools of the human side and Goddess puppets.
I also discovered the atrocities they intend to do, but just knowing that was useless as I couldn't do anything.
Each day my hatred, fury, sadness, and despair only increased.
Many times I thought I would go crazy, but I held myself in the hope that one day I would make him suffer, while I lived one day an enemy of his would come here and I could see his death with my own eyes, I didn't mind dying as long as it was after watch your eyes filled with terror and despair before.
Many years ago I learned not to go out of my room much, but when I went out I learned to hide from the lives of others so that I could walk around the mansion without being seen, I did this for two reasons, the first was to look for food, this for that all these years I could only eat the Duke's leftover food or anything disgusting and unpleasant he found, there was even a time where he fed me poisons for fun, leaving me on the brink of death before he healed.
Because of that, I needed to steal real food from the kitchen without being noticed this was very difficult as Demons have stronger senses than Humans.
The second reason was to read books, this Demon was specialized in magic, because of that he had a large collection of books that I read entirely without him or his servants noticing, moreover I also knew where he hid his secret collection of forbidden books full of Demon magic, this one was more difficult to read as it was not in a language I could understand, I had to learn the Demon language to learn to read these books, it took me two years of study.
But even after reading so many books, I can't train the spells I've learned, I can't even remove this enslavement mark from my body due to the orders I received the night this mark was engraved on my body.
But I would not lose my will, I have discovered by reading these books that there is a possibility of becoming a Demon if my hatred completely consumes me, I also have the possibility of becoming a ghost if I die with a strong will and hatred.
So I lived waiting for an enemy of this Demon to appear or for me to die, I no longer had any attachment to my race or life, all I wanted was for the last thing that Demon to see was my smile of triumph at the moment of his death.
"It's impossible for anyone to notice what they're doing, I just have to wait…." (me)