Chapter 4: Escape
Zach thought he'd be given at least a day to prepare. Instead, in the span of an hour, he was dressed in the finest clothes, handed a sword forged from rare materials, and gifted a silver storage ring with space enough to hold five million gold coins. His father gave him a warm blessing. His brothers sang his praises.
And before he could process any of it, he was sitting in a carriage, surrounded by over twenty knights mounted on demonic horses tiger-shaped beasts with diluted demon blood, each the size of a warhorse galloping out of the main city at breakneck speed.
From start to finish, Zach felt like a man who'd woken up in a stranger's body belonging to a female, been called "darling" by a husband he never met, halfway through the act was murdered, then reincarnated as a chicken, only to be slaughtered again… and finally wake up back in his own bed as if nothing had happened.
That level of confusion the kind that makes you question whether reality is trolling you was exactly what clouded his mind.
Some might have called Zach stupid. Maybe he was. But he wasn't xianxia-young-master level stupid for sure.
He was smarter than, say, a brown cat.
And smart enough to realize something was wrong once the adrenaline faded inside the speeding carriage.
He pulled back the curtain and poked his head out. Up ahead, his eyes locked onto Gerald who seems to haven't seen him making his eyes narrowed instantly.
Zach let the curtain drop, shifted to the opposite side of the carriage, and opened the left curtain. He spotted who he assumed was the leader as he wore a more striking armor and had a scarred mark on his face exposed, a line running from lip to chin like a knife's kiss.
Zach put on his best naive, arrogant-young-master voice.
"Hey! You're the leader of these knights, right? I've got a question. How long will it take for us to reach Sir Briggs's kingdom?"
The man's mouth curled into a smile. The scar only made it worse.
"Oh, genius young future sword god," he said smoothly. "No need to worry. Your storage ring holds enough food for the journey. If you want fresh meat, tell us and we'll hunt it for you—"
"You're not answering my question," Zach cut in, his tone sharpened with annoyance.
The man inclined his head slightly. "It will take a week and a half to reach the border. Another two weeks to cross the Ancient Forest. And at least five more days to reach Sir Briggs's dukedom."
"So… about a month?" Zach frowned. "Isn't that exhausting? Why not use a flying beast or a ship?"
He knew full well from his memories that such options existed.
The leader's smile didn't falter as if he had expected those questions. "The Ancient Forest is home to beasts who see anything flying above them as a challenge… or prey. To avoid provoking them, we take the ground road. Do not worry, young Lord, we will get you there safely. Every man here is a high-level knight. And I… am Master level."
Hearing those words, Zach looked at the scared-lipped man without blinking, and the scar-lipped man looked back at him with his smile still plastered on his face, making Zach wonder if his lips didn't ache from how they stretched so far and wide. Calmly sighing, Zach pulled the curtain close and sat down. Taking deep breaths, he started thinking deeper.
"If I was the king, and a ruthless one at that, and one of my bastard children dared to sleep with one of my women, I would have killed him instantly," Zach muttered, but then frowned.
"But what if there are rules even kings can't go against? Or let's say competitors? Yes! What if the king is afraid of something that will damage his reputation and give his enemies leverage to overthrow him? Let's think from that point. So, if I'm a ruthless king and my bastard child slept with my woman… I can't kill him. That will make the news spread, and with further digging, they might find out what led to it. For instance, if he didn't kill the concubine and Gerald to silence them. But if he kills them, people might still make the connections. Anyway, if such a situation was presented to the king where his child slept with his woman, would I send him to go study with a top personal? Never. I would find ways to kill… him."
Zach trembled as he came to a sudden realization which made him terrified. He looked left and right, realizing he was surrounded by twenty knights.
"What will happen if these twenty knights kill me in the forest? No one will know. They might put the blame on a beast attack! Not only that, Gerald is also following us, meaning he will likely die too, to make the casualty of the attack more severe. If only he dies, it would be suspicious, so it's best to assume that half of the knights here are those who might have offended the king one way or another, and he is using this chance to get rid of them! God! How vicious!" Zach almost yelled out in shock at the mere thought of it.
It was the kind of feeling one gets after being muddy-headed and suddenly knowing all the answers to what was bothering them. Zach felt like he was about to pee himself.
Now that he knew the answer, Zach didn't want to die and immediately tried using his golden finger. After all, every MC he had seen always had a life-saving skill that helped them, right?
Thinking so, he internally tried to communicate with the system. "Hey system, do you have a temporary power-up ability for first timers?"
[Host should establish his dungeon!]
Seeing those words, Zach didn't give up and continued asking, "Do you have any skills? Even one with huge drawbacks can be manageable!"
[Host should establish his dungeon!]
Seeing those words, Zach felt like cold water had been poured on him, waking him back to reality.
Not wanting to give up, Zach quickly replied, "If I establish my dungeon right now, will I get power?"
[Do host want to establish his dungeon in current location?]
[WARNING! Host will be bound to the dungeon if established at current location, which is located at the main road of the dungeon, and host wouldn't be overpowered and will instantly be killed by even a Middle Level Knight or Mage!]
Upon seeing this, Zach gave up and sat down with his eyes closed, his face turning into a sad smile that made it look like he was crying and smiling at the same time.
He had truly fucked around and stepped on the tiger's tail this time.