Everyone on the call was all congratulating my three new henchmen, who themselves sounded rather dejected. Since they were all promoted, I decided to check up on their overall stats.

  I thought it appropriate to pull up all three of their stats at once out of curiosity. And yet…. I was surprised to see that they were all exactly the same. It was like looking at a three-way mirror.

  At first, I thought I must have accidentally opened up the same screen multiple times, so I closed and reopened them. I even double-checked, but the only thing that was different between them was their names.

  I guess those three were always stuck together like glue, but it is still rather ridiculous. Guess it doesn’t really matter.

  I found it interesting that compared to my own stat they were a bit lagging behind in the attributes which makes sense. They were more recently getting into training whereas I was practicing from the start. Still, I couldn’t help but admire that they managed to get their [Dexterity] up to that point. But what really had me interested was this new skill I hadn’t heard about.

  What a.. keke unique name befitting three Kobolds. Maybe I should go get them a coat too to complement them. It would be perfect. ~

  I just… It was taking everything I had just to keep my own laughter in check. But I shook my head and reminded myself of the current task at hand.

  {“Now that we have welcomed my new henchmen into the group. We should conclude this meeting for the night and continue discussions tomorrow. Keep yourself open and immediately call back if there are any emergencies.”}

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  They all agreed to my orders, and we ended the call, reminding ourselves to meet up back at the kingdom as our rendezvous point. I took a sigh of relief, glad at least that everyone was safe and was ready to let myself drift back to slumb-

  “I am glad you’re rested and recovered, Master Vladimir!”

  My body instinctively jumped in reaction, accidentally bumping into Mordred’s jaw.

  The next moment was pure chaos! Mordred was immediately in attack mode!

  “If you want to get to the boss, you’re going to have to get through me!!”

  He already had his Axe gripped tightly in his hands as he frantically looked at his surroundings for any enemies. His weapon was ready to cut down anyone who got within striking distance! This woke up everyone else who all ended up scrambling around the area, either trying to grab their own weapons or to hide from the danger.

  All the while I was rubbing my head from the pain, noticing that I was laying floating in the air. That is until I realized I was actually laying at the familiar shadows.

  The next moment, several more shadows entangled and wrapped everyone else as a singular voice spoke out.

  “I do apologize for the scare everyone. But Master Vladimir has awakened, now I implore you all to quiet down.”

  Mordred was barely paying attention as he was wriggling his way from the shadow restrains, making more progress than the rest of my minions. All the while he was expressing his annoyance with my shadow butler. “Arg! Get me out of these restrains you damn misty b- wait… you said the boss is awake?!”

  The second he realized what Paimoth said his eyes lit up as he looked at my direction. “Boss! You’re ok!!”

  He started to wiggle free from his restraints, this time with a lot more force than before. Before he could react, Paimoth was surprised to see my Minotaur break free and land at his feet which caused a slight tremor on the ground below him.

  Everyone else was also glad to see I was fine though they had less luck breaking through their own restraints. I had to motion Paimoth to let everyone go which he complied without a word. Once they were all freed, they all ganged up on me and bombarded me with questions.

  I instinctively covered my hearing as it was hard to filter out what they said. I could only manage to pick up what Mordred had to say since he was the loudest. From what I could tell they were mainly asking me if I was hurt as well as knowing what they should do now.

  Just as I was starting to get annoyed with all of the questions it seemed my butler picked up on it and immediately cast shadows around their mouths and muffled them.

  “I believe Master Vladimir needs a moment if you will.” He said to everyone, his glowing eyes flickering as if to show his pleasure of putting them in their place.

  Not like he was any better, considering he was the one who actually started this mess by surprising me out of nowhere. He must have picked up on that as he lowered his head and sinked back for me with his eyes dimming down and released the shadows on everyone’s mouth once he was sure they all calmed down. Though Mordred showed a bit of frustration with him but kept quiet.

  I cleared my throat and began to explain everything that I had discussed with the rest of my henchmen. My Kobold minions quietly cheered when I informed them that I had the three stooges join in my henchmen ranks. Though some of them snickered to themselves to the names I bestowed on them.

  Some of us yawned as I was at the end of my discussions, so we all decided it was best to continue things the next day when we all were more rested. We all returned to our sleeping positions from before and let the weariness drift us back to sleep. But I couldn’t help but noticed Paimoth eyeing me, granted it was hard to tell with their flashlight for eyes. I guess it was just a feeling I’m getting.

  Deciding to ignore it I let myself drift back to sleep after everyone else has. Strangely enough, I didn’t return to that room. Instead, it felt like time was skipping past me until the next day.

  Morning came without incident. Despite that scare from last night, we all managed to rest up quite well. I could even feel my stamina and Mana wall completely rejuvenated. After confirming we had everything packed up to continue our journey back, I gave a quick call to all my scattered henchmen to confirm their whereabouts.

  Damian’s group has already left the forest and was on their way back to the kingdom, all thanks to V’s [Map] ability. Hearing that, my worry for V’s safety had calmed down. On the other hand, Zeph’s group wasn’t too far off on their end. Zeph’s nature as a Vulture Beastman allowed him to fly out of the forest to give a vantage point to the rest. It wouldn’t take long for them to return to the kingdom.

  As for us……

  “It’s this way!”

  “And I say it’s this way.”

  “There’s no way you’re right! I remember the way we came in, and it was this way!”

  “I doubt you were able to remember much with your basic mindset.”

  “What did you say, you misty bug?!”

  “You heard me, or do you need me to simplify it to make it easier for you?”

  …. apparently, Mordred and Paimoth had started to develop a rivalry when I wasn’t looking. Granted, I was somewhat aware of Mordred’s jealousy for my attention, what with that incident with Damian back then. But unfortunately for me, it seemed Paimoth shared the same feeling as well.

  It’s not like I don’t like the attention, but….

  My minions seemed rather frightened. Even the more bloodthirsty Orcs of mine were acting rather timidly. They seemed more wary around Paimoth ever since I woke up. Did something happen that I’m not aware of?

  Just as I was beginning to wonder, those two had looked back at me again. I could almost feel the daggers of their glare stabbing me.

  “Which way do you think we should go?” both had said, eager to hear my own input on the matter with eyes that were practically begging for recognition.

  I cleared my throat and tried to ignore them both, and took a direction neither had chosen as I felt my feet quicken in pace. I could practically hear ‘Rob’, again not liking that name he chose for himself, screaming at me the danger that was coming and trying to escape the danger as fast as possible.

  So, thanks to all that……. I regret to say that…. We were lost.