The Young Master in the Shadows

“Now that I am already here, how about you bring my other servants too? I don’t have all day!” Victor said as soon as Margret questioning finished.

“That’s possible!” the general said as he looked at the old man Elton who nodded just as a soldier entered the tent in a hurry and then gave a piece of paper to the general.

“What?” the general exclaimed after reading a few lines then looked at Victor with disgust. He always felt that he had seen him somewhere.

“Is there anything wrong?” Elton asked, making the general give him the paper before turning to leave the tent. They have just finished the background check on Victor.

Elton frowned deeply as he read the data, then glared at Victor. “Let’s get on with this…” he spat, squinting his eyes. He was wondering about the toys in the ring for a while now, seemingly they were genuine! What a pervert!

…

So one by one the girls entered the tent for the debriefing, the first one was Lily who made sure to appear as miserable as possible as she told them everything from finding the injured Mina until stumbling upon the Nutcracker trail of destruction at the garden she didn’t have to lie until that point!

“What did you do after that?” the searchers who were doing the questioning asked.

“Ahh… I found a few marks in the trees and following them, I met with the young master who was with Mana and two other girls… ” she didn’t really lie but chose her words very carefully.

“Just that? You did nothing else until the dungeon ended?”

“The young master ordered the girls to go upstairs! The Nutcracker was in the woods, it was very dangerous! I was ordered to remain at the garden level, to keep an eye on the nutcracker’s activities,” she said with an aggrieved look in her eyes… still not technically lying… she had been keeping an eye on her Nutcracker young master all this time!

“Alone?” Elton interjected.

“... Yes…” she said after hearing an entirely different question.

“Did you see the final battle?” Elton asked again making her pause.

“ No…”

“Where were you at that time?”

She paused for a second, “Having a bath…”

“Did you stay there until the end?” the sergeant this time asked.

“Yes…” she answered again truthfully to a totally different question.

“Then we are finished with you….”

“I need to see your face!” Elton suddenly interrupted, making Lily frown, then nod after getting her young master's consent. She slowly lowered her veil revealing a face that even her mother would not dare to kiss.

“Ok, put it back on!” Elton said with a disturbed expression.

Next was Mina, who told the same story Lily did, except when she said that she went upstairs after the young master ordered the retreat… Her story was very credible, especially with her missing hand.

Mana on the other hand completely skipped the story of how Harvey captured her, she told a fabricated story about how she first met the two beggar sect girls who were in the woods and then met Victor after that by chance… Victor had already trained them beforehand just in case. He was expecting worst-case scenarios because of the misfortune curse!

“Is that all?” Elton asked, feeling that she was hiding something.

“Yes….” she paused for a second, “You can ask the two beggar sect girls too! They were there with me!” she said.

“We will question them when it is their turn!” the sergeant said sternly.

“I think you should question them in my presence!” Victor suddenly interrupted. “Those girls are now mine, I should witness their debriefing too!”

“A servant relationship should be official in order to ….” Elton scolded but was interrupted by the two ownership dead Victor showed.

“Those two girls were so scared of the Nutcracker that they offered their bodies to me in exchange for protection!” he said, making Elton curse and order a soldier to prepare the girls for interrogation too while silently cursing. This young master was really evil. He thought.

“Fine, let’s continue the debriefing.... “ the old sergeant said, he was getting tired after getting interrupted repeatedly. “What happened after you met Victor?” a

“After that…..” Mana continued with the same story Mina told earlier, picking her world very carefully.

The two beggar sect girls, who were brought in seconds later, also said the same things with minor variations that Victor added here and there to make it more realistic.

They all said that their young master told them it was too dangerous and ordered them to escape to the upper floor!

When they were asked if Victor escaped with them they all heard a question of whether they were biologically female and answered with a yes and a blush.

After finishing with all the statements, all of the storage rings the girls had were checked one by one. Of course, nothing of value was found, just a lot of GEMs and a few B and C-ranked Artifacts.

“Are we finished here?” Victor asked finally after he was questioned again in the presence of Elton. He appeared to be a little absent-minded, but little did they know that he was at the moment helping Lin who was getting debriefed.

“Yes… You may go!” Elton said after looking at his report. Something was definitely wrong. His intuition was telling him that, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Victor, who was very cautious, nodded to everyone and then turned to leave when he was stopped by one final question.

“Do you know anything about the… Nutcracker, other than what you told us?” Elton asked, making Victor shiver.

“Please don’t say his name like that out of the blue…. What if he heard you and came here?” Victor said, “And no… I told you what I know!” he added.

“How do you know its name?”

“I told that pretty sergeant before, whenever he is around, you hear strange words like HAIL THE NUTCRACKER, FEAR THE NUTCRACKER….” Victor whispered in a low voice.

“Good…” Elton said, then gestured everyone out.

Victor nodded then exited the tent to meet with the girls who were waiting outside.

“Let’s go back home!” he said as they walked out, making sure to pass by the clearing where the players were waiting. He did that to send Rebecca, who was waiting, a message to go and hide in the lady’s room and then wait for his signal when he returned.

Reaching outside of the camp and walking for 100 feet or so, Victor quickly found his car where Alex was waiting. She kept her hiding disguise when the dungeon was cleared and made her way out as soon as she regained consciousness.

Although Tom and his party saw her inside, Victor could always claim that they saw someone else who died inside. And the council had no power outside the dungeon’s perimeter anyway.

If any of the inquisitors were to recognize her as the thunder sect’s young master, it would be a lot of mess! And Victor was not going to risk taking chances with her bad luck!

Victor quickly hurried inside the car and lay with the girls at the back then scolded poor Lily because she was slow. He ordered her to drive home. Alex, who was keeping her disguise, just in case, had to be pushed under the girls’ feet to the car’s floor. There were many sentries around after all.

…

When Victor returned to the camp 20 Minutes later, he made sure to keep his disguise as he checked the tents one by one, then cursed! Three of the five tents had Inquisitors with Lie detection skills! This was a close call!

If any of the girls made a mistake, he would have been in danger.

Lin had already ended her questioning and she was now on her way home. She told the story they agreed on with Zoe. And with Victor using his disguise skill through her, he made sure to cover her words when necessary.

The only remaining variables were Rebecca and Zoe… Victor was considering drugging one of them to delay her debriefing, but Thankfully, he watched Zoe enter one of the rooms so he quickly followed. Rebecca as a girl can take her time in the toilet.

Zoe’s story was the truth of course! She even told them about Alex and how he ran like a maniac. This made Elton frown as he heard nothing of Victor's driver being in the dungeon.

The true problem was when Zoe reached the part where she climbed to the garden floor.

“I…. Met with Lin there,” she stopped talking, trying to keep her sentences as short as possible. She was not good at lying.

“And?”

“Ahhhh….” she hesitated, “We fought the beast! That idiot Alex seemed to be the one who woke it up! He confessed after getting his ass kicked… we were in a really bad situation…”

“Oh… “

“Alex had this sword hilt that he took when waking the monster… ahh… the moment I held it, it changed into an ethereal sword… The monster explored as soon as it touched him!” she said.

“That’s it?”

“Yes,” she answered the question of whether she was a girl.

“You mean you were the one who cleared the dungeon?” Both Elton and the sergeant asked in astonishment.

“Not alone…. But yes!”

“Can I see the sword?” Elton asked.

Zoe hesitated for a moment, then took the sword hilt from her ring and handed it to him.

He inspected it with a frown. “Can you really activate this?” he asked.

Zoe nodded and touched the hilt then focused, making the ethereal blade appear again.

“I see…” Elton nodded, managing to hide the greed in his eyes.

“Did that driver, Alex, survive?” Elton asked Finally.

“Of course not!” she replied angrily.

After another few questions, Zoe’s interrogation ended.

“I need to know what your class is…” Elton finally said after some hesitation.

“Oh, it is…….”

“STOP!” A commanding voice sounded as an old man entered the tent, then punched Elton without saying another word. The poor inquisitor tumbled to the floor with his hand over his stomach moments later. He almost fell on Victor’s feet.

“Uncle Falcone!” Zoe exclaimed.

“Didn’t I tell you to not reveal a thing?” Falcon scolded her as he looked at Elton.

“Elton… It's been a while! Did you forget the lesson I taught you 20 years ago? Don’t you know the rules?” he asked as glared at the sergeant who was trying to call for help, making him fall to the ground in seconds... The smart man didn't faint but acted as if. He knew his place!

Elton spat blood then stood up slowly, “Falcon, don’t overestimate your power! You are no longer with the council! The brass had already requested that all relevant data shall be collected!”

“The family would see to that!” Falcon said as he grabbed the shocked Zoe’s hand and then walked out.

Victor, who was watching this, almost cursed loudly. What the fuck was wrong here? Why was Zoe’s luck so good! She was truly a scion!

Looking at the injured Elton who could barely throw himself into a nearby chair, Victor smiled… “Sorry uncle falcon, you will have to take the blame for this…” he said, adjusting his position to make sure that the sergeant who was still playing dead would be able to witness the Nutcracker in action!

…

Rebecca’s turn came three hours later. there was a delay after some chaos ensued due to one of the high-ranking inquisitors getting kidnapped by some monster. Investigators found nothing but a hallucinating sergeant.

There were talks about delaying the questioning, but after multiple complains from the teachers, the questioning resumed briefly.

Thankfully Rebecca didn't need Victor’s help as the inquisitor who questioned her didn’t have a lie detection skill. She told her story perfectly. Totally skipping the part where she met Victor.

At the end of the day, Victor was utterly exhausted as he sneaked out of the base. Using the disguise skill while on high alert was a very hard job.

Too bad that his day was not over yet. He still had one very important thing to do!

…

"What else did you reveal?" Falcon asked in a tired tone as he inspected the sword hilt. He always knew that Zoe was lucky, but now he was suspecting whether she was a scion!

"Nothing... Victor had already instructed me... Oops...."

"Victor?" Flacon exclaimed. he mentioned nothing of this sort when she told him what happened earlier.

"Ahh..... Please don't be angry... But... It is like this..." Zoe slowly began to speak, she chose to tell the truth this time, Falcon was like her father after all.

"I see..." falcon squinted his eyes after hearing the full story. His evaluation of Victor has just reached a new degree. "You did well... Did that man Elton ask any questions about the family secrets?" he asked. He had long suspected that Elton secretly worked for the von Zwei family when they worked together in the council forces.

Too bad that before he could find sufficient evidence, Falcon who was a commander back then was kicked out because he helped Zoe's father escape.

"No, but he kept asking some very inappropriate questions..." Zoe who was totally unaware of some old secrets said puffing her cheeks.

"Inappropriate? Like?"

"Ahhh..." she blushed... "he asked if I had any STDs... he also asked if I was a virgin... and if I would like to sleep with him....." she whispered shyly.

"That bastard!" Falcon flared, "I will make sure to break his balls the next time I see him!"

Too bad, Falcon had no idea that the nutcracker had already done that!

...

“Tom, you are amazing! How did you manage to hide your storage ring?” Peter asked as he walked out of the camp with Tom, Madeleine, and two other girls who had just become Tom’s new lovers.

“This is one of my secret skills!” Tom said smugly, silently praising the system for helping him hide his ring which contained not only his but his group's entire loot.

“Let’s go party!” Madeleine said winking and Tom in the process.

“Yes…”

“TOM!” a shout made them stop. It was teacher Isabella who finally managed to finish the mountain of paperwork she had to do.

“Teacher….” Tom said nervously.

“Are you ok?” she asked. She was planning to go search for him in the dungeon, but it was cleared before she could manage to reach the lower floors. Thankfully he survived.

“Yes….” he said nervously, he didn’t want his friends to know that he was banging the teacher. Not yet anyway. “I will not be able to attend the private lesson tonight…. Maybe we can arrange it tomorrow?” he asked.

“Oh… yes…” she said seriously, hiding her blush, “See you then…. A friend of mine wants to meet you though, so can you come a little early?”

“Of course, he said with a dashing smile, “I am very happy that you survived too, teacher!” he said, making her nod, then turn and return to the camp. She still had work to do.

“Let’s go have a bite!” Tom told his friends as he chuckled, making Peter who totally notices the chemistry between his teacher and best friend almost burst out cursing. Why can’t he have a girlfriend like this womanizer? He tried to approach some girls from the normal class in the academy, but those girls were too smart for him.

;

WARNING :

THE NUTCRACKER IS APPROACHING

IT IS TARGETING YOU!

IT WILL KILL ANYONE WHO STANDS IN ITS WRETCHED WAY!

RUN RUN RUN AND SURVIVE… SURVIVAL PROBABILITY 11.14%

;

A sudden warning caused Tom to stop walking.

“What?” Peter asked.

“I need to go fetch something…. Why don’t you guys go open a room in the Black Fish Bar… I will catch up with you later…” he said as he began to run off the road.

“Where are you going? Shall I come with you?” Madeleine asked, thinking that this was one of their usual games…

“Ahh… No, I am good…” he said as he began to run faster, totally ignoring the strange look in his friend's eyes.

He ran and ran. Purposely choosing to go off the main road. The dungeon was in a remote mountainous area anyway.

“System… Did I lose him?”

;

WARNING :

IT IS HERE

IT IS TOO LATE TO RUN

PRAISE THE NUTCRACKER

MAY IT HAVE MERCY ON YOUR BALLS

;

“Sh*t!” Tom cursed and wanted to turn and run again, but suddenly he lost all the power in his body, he just collapsed to the ground totally unable to move.

The world slowly turned dark around him. In his mind, he could hear many howling overlapping voices.

HAIL THE NUTCRACKER

PRAISE THE NUTCRACKER

FEAR THE NUTCRACKER

A demon soon appeared walking out of the darkness. It was a tall muscular humanoid creature. It had two long black horns, two long wings, and white hair that covered a pitch-black face. Only the eyes were shining with a red ominous light.

It opened its wide mouth revealing its sharp teeth then howled as it reached him. It was planning to eat him. Tom could see the hunger in its eyes.

He wanted to move or use his skills, but he failed. His body was not responding.

Suddenly a blue screen appeared in front of Tom. It was the system defending him, he could see it from the back.

The nutcracker who was preparing his meal paused as he read the ancient letters engraved on the blue screen. He sighed then looked at Tom with admiration,

“”” CHOSEN ONE, I CAN NOT KILL YOU “””

“”” HOW EVER THE ANCIENT PACT MUST BE WITHHELD”””

“”” AN OFFERING IS A MUST “””

With that, the Nutcracker reached for Tom’s finger, making the hidden ring appear again.

Under Tom’s astonished eyes, the demon simply unlocked the ring and then began to browse through it, taking out treasures one by one.

Thankfully it stopped after taking three artifacts that Tom didn't recognize and was planning to get appraised later.

The Nutcracker threw the ring back at Tom. then began to laugh crazily as it vanished.

Minutes later Tom could move again.

He just sat there questioning life. What the hell was that thing? Why did his pants feel wet?

;

MISSION COMPLETE

CONGRATULATIONS ON SURVIVING AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE NUTCRACKER

THE REWARD HAD BEEN ISSUED

;