Chapter 282: Waking Thea up
"What?! He nearly caught you?"
The man seated behind the desk shot to his feet, disbelief etched across his face as he stared at the cloaked figure before him.
"Yes, my lord." The man struggled to steady his breathing while pressing a thick piece of cloth against his bleeding shoulder. "I was just as shocked. He sensed my presence. That has never happened before."
The dagger that had pierced his shoulder had mysteriously vanished, but the deep wound it left behind continued to pour blood.
The man behind the desk frowned.
"Your concealment has never failed you. So why this time? Did you misjudge him?"
The cloaked man slowly shook his head.
"No, my lord. After he slaughtered our men in the forest, I had a rough estimate of his strength. Since he couldn’t detect me back then, I believed tonight would be no different."
He paused before adding,
"Especially when he should have been exhausted."
The room fell silent.
The other man sat back down before he rested his chin on his clasped hands, deep in thought.
"It doesn’t make sense..."
After a long moment, he exhaled.
"After me, you are the strongest member of our society. Yet that man almost captured you."
His expression gradually turned cold.
"That makes him far more dangerous than we anticipated."
A chilling silence settled over the room.
Finally, he spoke again.
"We have only two options."
"We either recruit him..."
A brief pause followed.
"...or eliminate him."
The cloaked man lowered his gaze.
"I’d much rather see the first option succeed."
He clenched the blood-soaked cloth tighter around his shoulder.
"Because if we choose the second..."
His voice turned grim.
"...it would likely cost us a large portion of our group."
He looked up to meet his leader’s eyes.
"Or the two of us would have to fight him together."
The man behind the desk let out a dismissive scoff.
"Not if we have his weakness in our hands."
Leaning back in his chair, he folded his arms.
"We’ll have to proceed carefully, though. If we’re exposed, the incident will become far too big to keep hidden from the public."
The cloaked man nodded.
"I’ll have my men keep watch on them for now."
A satisfied hum escaped the seated man.
"If everything goes according to plan, we may gain a very capable warrior."
A slow, chilling smile spread across his face.
"And if it doesn’t..."
His eyes turned ice cold.
"...this village has seen countless corpses left to rot in its slums. A few more won’t make any difference."
.....
Luke made his way back to the room, his brows knitted together in a deep frown.
Whoever that person was, they had been tailing them.
He had seen them enter the inn as well, which meant there was a high chance they were still somewhere nearby, keeping an eye on them.
It was obvious they belonged to a larger group involved in criminal activities around the village.
’System, first of all, create a map of this village.’
[Command accepted.]
[Initialising the process...]
He needed to know every route through the village in case something happened.
He wasn’t too worried about himself. It was the people traveling with him that concerned him.
This wasn’t his home, so he couldn’t simply set traps around the building. That alone made things much more difficult.
Even so, there were still preparations he needed to make.
Now came the hardest part.
’Should I tell them?’
Standing outside the door, Luke carefully weighed his options.
Through the room, he could hear Monica and Roxanne chatting cheerfully as they planned where to visit next.
Laila and Thea were fast asleep, completely relaxed and unaware of the danger quietly lurking in the shadows.
So, should he stay silent and avoid raising any alarm? They were here to relax and enjoy themselves so this could instantly change the mood.
But not telling them seemed like a bad option.
He knew they had plenty of men to spare, and Luke couldn’t be everywhere at once.
Unaware of the danger, they wouldn’t be vigilant.
"Haah... I have to do this after all."
Opening the door to Thea’s room, he walked over to the bed and found her sleeping peacefully.
He gently shook her shoulder. "Hey, wake up."
Thea only mumbled in her sleep. "Nn..."
Luke sighed and shook her a little harder.
"Thea, wake up. We need to talk."
Still no response.
Growing impatient, he rolled her onto her other side.
Without thinking much, he gave her a sharp slap on the bubbly butt.
Pah
"Eiiik!"
Thea jolted awake with a startled yelp and hurriedly sat upright on the bed.
She looked around in confusion before her eyes landed on Luke.
Realizing what had happened, her eyes widened.
"You... mmfh!"
Before she could shout at him, Luke quickly covered her mouth.
"Listen, it’s an emergency, and you weren’t waking up. I didn’t have any other choice."
Thea immediately tried to bite his finger, but Luke pulled his hand away just in time.
"You’re completely out of your mind," she grumbled as she got out of bed, rubbing her sore rear. "The way you treat me is like I’m your slave."
Luke shrugged.
"It’s not just you. Any woman I don’t respect gets the same treatment."
Thea glared at him.
"How can you not respect me? I am the..."
"The chief’s mate? So what?" Luke interrupted, folding his arms. "Other than being someone’s partner, who are you on your own? If the chief threw you out today, could you even survive a single day by yourself?"
Thea immediately fell silent.
His words were logical, yet they irritated her all the same.
Luke shook his head.
"Look, I’m not trying to judge you, but I’d appreciate it if you could be a little quieter than usual. For once, try acting your age."
Thea scoffed.
"I don’t need your opinion to know my worth. And if you don’t like my personality, then don’t talk to me."
Luke nodded.
"Understood. But for now, come with me. I need to tell everyone something important."
She crossed her arms.
"Why should I go there? Call them here instead."
She closed her eyes after making her declaration.
That was why she failed to notice Luke’s hand descending toward her untouched butt cheek.
THWAP
....
Click
The door to the room opened, drawing the attention of the two women who were already awake.
Laila, however, was still fast asleep.
"Ah, Luke. You’re back," Monica greeted with a smile before noticing the woman beside him.
Thea entered the room with a flushed face and a fierce glare fixed on Luke.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
The seriousness in his voice immediately told the women that something was wrong.
They both nodded and gave him their full attention.
Luke walked over to the bed and gently nudged Laila.
"Laila, wake up. Hey."
He lightly shook her a few times until she let out a soft groan and slowly opened her eyes.
"Luke?" she mumbled, her voice still heavy with sleep.
"Wake up. We need to talk."
He gently helped her sit up.
Thea could only roll her eyes at the obvious difference in how he treated Laila, but she kept her thoughts to herself.
Once everyone was awake and focused on him, Luke let out a quiet sigh.
"Okay. First of all, don’t panic."
~~~~~
A/N:- You know it’s bad when someone begins with that.
Anyway, I hope you liked the Chapter. Join my discord for announcements and images I can’t post here.
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