Chapter 9: The Master Wants to See Me? Fine—I'll Bring the Whole Camp to Watch
803words
I had just taken two sips of hot broth when Firewood came tearing into the shack, panting like he’d outrun a wolf.
“You—you’ve been summoned! The Master wants you. ‘Immediately.’”
I froze with the wooden spoon still in my mouth. “…The Master? Which master?”
“Who else? The one at the top—the guy whose face looks like it was carved from ice and whose smile makes you feel like you owe him three lives!”
I jumped to my feet with a jolt. “…Frostnight?”
The entire shack fell silent. Even Raccoon dropped the half-gnawed bone from his mouth.
“You going?” Firewood whispered.
I turned around. “What else can I do? Run away now? I’m not Caro from the next shack who sneaks off in the night.”
“But what if it’s a trap—?”
“Then let the trap swallow all of us whole,” I said calmly.
Raccoon stood up immediately. “Where you go, I go!”
“Me too!” Firewood gripped his little shovel tight.
“I’m bringing the spiked board!” Amy was already stuffing tools down her back.
I looked at them, and my eyes started to sting. I quickly coughed twice to cover it up.
“…I just asked you guys to come with me. Why are you acting like we’re going to war?”
“Team, assemble! March in formation! We, the Gray Tower—”
“Move out!”
We departed at dawn.
Twenty-some people in rags and patched shoes, walking through mud and straw, but each one walking proud—like a tiny army.
I led the way. Beside me, for the first time ever, stood the little wolf cub—
No, scratch that. He was now officially Gray Tower Technical Advisor: Cold-Faced Pretty Boy.
“You sure dragging a whole crew isn’t just a fancy way to die?” he asked flatly.
“Absolutely,” I replied without looking back.
“I’m not afraid of dying,” Firewood added from the back. “We just don’t want you to die with no one to clean up the body.”
I almost cried again. “…Could’ve said that nicer.”
“Alright then—we just don’t want you to die alone,” Raccoon said sincerely.
“…Still not great.” I sighed.
By the time we reached the master's territory, the two wolf guards at the gate were dumbfounded.
“What are you doing here? You’re just a slave—wait, what’s that behind you?!”
I waved cheerfully. “That’s my entourage. The Gray Tower delegation.”
“You brought a mob to see the Master?! Are you insane?!”
“Exactly,” I said, calm and confident. “Only a crazy person would dare come.”
“You go in. Alone. The rest—”
“We move as one,” I said firmly. “Anyone stops me, I drop to the ground and cry nonstop for three hours.”
The wolf cub twitched at the corner of his mouth. “Is that one of your new skills?”
“Essential survival tactic.” I shrugged. “Besides, if they really hit me, you’ll step in, right?”
He hesitated, then nodded. “I will.”
I glanced at him—and for the first time, he didn’t look so annoying.
Master Frostnight sat in the grand hall, cloaked in silver, his expression colder than death itself.
The moment he saw me, his brow furrowed.
“You are Daphne?”
“That’s right. Certified by my own mouth, signed by my mother, rejected by my ex-husband.”
His brow twitched. “I hear you’ve been… making waves.”
“The wind’s just too strong. Blame my hair for being this fluffy.” I grinned.
He didn’t smile. He just said coldly, “I summoned you because there’s a ‘trial’ coming up. We need a slave to lead a team. Will you accept?”
“A trial?”
“Cleansing the hunting grounds. Clearing out berserk beast-form werewolves. Dangerous—but rewarding.”
Before I could answer, Raccoon whispered in horror behind me, “Last time someone went, they came back missing half a face…”
Firewood tugged my sleeve. “Don’t go, Boss…”
I looked straight at Frostnight and smiled. “Can I bring people?”
He frowned. “Bring people?”
“We fight as a unit. Gray Tower doesn’t do solo.”
He gave me a glance, then swept his gaze over my ragtag ‘troop.’
A flash of amusement—or maybe contempt—passed through his eyes.
“Do as you wish.”
“Deal!” I snapped my fingers. “We’ll be ready by nightfall. We’ll bring you back a squeaky clean hunting ground.”
Frostnight said coldly, “You better come back alive.”
I grinned wider. “Then you better prepare my reward. I’ll be collecting it.”
As we left the hall, the wolf cub leaned in and whispered:
“What are you really planning? You seriously want to drag this whole bunch into a death trap?”
I answered quietly:
“You think I don’t know? This so-called trial—it’s just a clean-up mission for ‘excess slaves.’”
“But I won’t let them die. I’m bringing them out to see the master’s world—and then come back alive.”
“This isn’t a trial.”
“This is our first counter-surveillance exercise.”
He looked at me, and for the first time—
There was admiration in his eyes.
