Stark ended up waiting for about two hours, after which he finally saw what he had been waiting for.
He stood up from the barrel, walked closer to the door and peeked through the window.
The sound of multiple footsteps filled the room, after which Edward emerged. He was accompanied by several guards, one of them being the skinny man from earlier.
But they were not alone. There were a number of slaves with them, dressed in ragged clothes and bound by multiple chains.
There were steel cuffs on their hands and feet, and the cuffs had strange markings drawn in red on them.
'Mana dampeners…'
That meant all the slaves he had gotten were mages. 'So this is what they meant by high quality mages. That means their guy must be someone extremely rich.'
Because of how difficult it was to get mages, slavers often placed a heavy price on their heads.
They all walked down the hall, but when they arrived at the crossways, Edward took the left path, while everyone else went right.
Stark sat back down and waited.
He could not rush in right now, he needed the guards to drop their guard, and they would not do so until the slaves were in whatever cages they had prepared for them.
He didn't know how many guards Edward had watching over his office, so he could not be rash.
And so he waited…
During that time, the same group of patrolling guards walked past the hall, not even bothering to take a look at his small enclosure.
And then after some time, most of the guards that had accompanied the slaves emerged from the right path.
They were ten in number. Five of them stayed back, standing in the halls with their weapons drawn as they leisurely chatted with each other.
Four of them went upstairs, most likely to take their original positions, and then a single guard took the left path.
Stark took a deep breath…
It was time to put his plan into action.
He summoned Shifu and another goat monster and sent them a mental command.
Since they were spirits, they could become invisible, and would only be seen by a person if they had animosity towards them.
So both Shifu and his companion easily walked past the guards and went to the right path— the place where they kept the slaves.
'This better work.'
What he needed now was a distraction, something to keep the guards busy while he hunted down Edward.
It would be a simple in and out mission, no delays, no unnecessary risks.
After a few minutes, there was a loud clang followed by an audible shout.
"I need reinforcements, the slaves have escaped!"
"What?!" came one of the hall guards. "How is that even possible?!"
The five guards in the hall immediately ran towards the sound of the voice, their weapons drawn.
Then Stark stepped out of the enclosure, with Chubby floating by his side.
"Find Edward's office."
The little Spirit darted forward and Stark followed behind it, his feet pounding against the cold concrete, his steps urgent.
When he arrived at the crossway, he glanced at the right path. It went down a few meters, just before a sharp curve, so he could not see the guards.
The left path on the other hand was swirly and curved, like a snake in transit.
Because of this, he could not see much of the other side, someone could be a few feet away from him and he wouldn't know until they sank a dagger in his chest.
So he slowed his steps, his dagger extended and his breathing lowered as he slowly but swiftly moved through the path.
After a few minutes, he finally arrived in a long, well lit hallway. The hall was completely empty, but there were multiple doors on each side of the hall.
Chubby went to work, phasing into the rooms to check, while Stark followed quietly behind him.
'Find him quickly…' he thought inwardly.
Now that the guards were busy, this was the only chance he had to take out Edward and escape.
He had used up his main distraction—if the guards returned to their posts before he could kill Edward, then he would have to fight his way out of there.
Creak!
Stark immediately panicked, turning to stare at the source of the sound.
One of the doors in the hallway had been pushed open, and out of it came a large man.
He was tall, at least a head taller than him and had a beastly face with a large body befitting a grizzly bear.
As he exited the room, he was adjusting his belt, and a woman stepped out of the room along with him, her face blushed red, and beads of sweat glistening on her skin.
Stark immediately darted to a door to escape, but when he pushed the door—
'Shit!'
It was locked…
The man's gaze then landed on him, and for a moment they all froze.
The woman in particular looked absolutely horrified—a nice effect of the sack he had over his head...
She ran back into her room and slammed the door shut, while the large man positioned himself in the hallway, his eyes locked on him.
"You have no idea what you've just gotten yourself into. I will eat you whole, body and bones," he said, spittle falling on his wild beard.
Stark was not impressed.
He positioned his dagger in front of him and took his stance. The man might have been terribly strong, but he was unarmed—Stark had the advantage.
That was until the door to the room suddenly swung open, and the lady that ran earlier stepped out, carrying a large cleaver with both hands.
Stark could see how much effort it took for her to just heave the weapon from the way her knees were bent.
The woman quickly handed the weapon to the man and hurried back inside, shutting the door behind her.
"Thank you, dear…" The beastly man heaved the weapon, placing it on his shoulders, then smirked.
"Well shit," Stark muttered.
"Don't worry, this place is soundproofed by a cloaking spell. We won't be bothered by anyone, hehe. I'm going to have my fun with you."
Stark glanced at the man's cleaver and at his own dagger. Why did his weapon now feel so small in his *hands*?
And to make matters worse, Chubby flew towards him, but instead of showing him the position of Edward's office, he began to fly frantically.
It was something he often did when he was concerned...
He had failed to find Edward, meaning all the rooms were duds.
"Fuck."