Dark Lord in Chains 48

Sapphire gave me a few more details about the disappearances before moving to the next topic. I let her do so after asking an appropriate, not wanting to raise any suspicion about my undue interest. Yes, it was suspicious, but ultimately, not really related to the issue of the wards. 

And since I had set up my alias as a mercenary partner of the dark lord, showing undue interest in the event that led to my deposing was not a smart move. 

Instead, I let her stand up, my cum still dripping down her leg, before speaking. “That seems more than enough to give me an initial direction to start,” I said, not bothering to ask for a written document. 

“It’s good enough to start,” I said, happy to receive a distilled intelligence report of the major happenings in the Empire, allowing me to have a much better sense of what was going on, especially when comparing it with the report I managed to acquire from Fernhand. There were several consistencies between the reports, of course, as not only two women were getting their information from opposing intelligence officers, but also they had their own priorities of manipulating me through the information they were providing. 

Luckily, getting information from both of them gave me a significant body of reliable information about the political situation to work with, I just needed to cross-check the rest of it to validate, to prevent myself from making a dangerous mistake. 

Sapphire looked exhausted as she stood up, which was understandable. Giving a detailed intelligence report to a dubious ally was mentally exhausting enough with all the decisions that needed to be made, and being fucked anally during the whole process could hardly make it any easier. “That’s enough for you to start your investigations, I hope,” she said even as she fixed her crown, the only piece accessory she was wearing on her naked body. 

“Yeah, it gives me several directions to check,” I said even as I put my hand on her waist, caressing lazily while still sitting on her throne, as it belonged to me. Admittedly, I had a lot of experience in showing domination on a throne, though mostly, I wore imposing black armor rather than linen pants. “We just need to go pick the shield, and everything will be golden.” 

“Right now?” she said, but even as she asked the question, she leaned down to pick her dress that was sprawled on the floor, only to flinch back when I cast a spell to burn everything, leaving her only with her cloak. “You’re pushing your luck,” she growled as she turned to face me, but this time, I was happy to note that her arousal was much stronger than her anger. “You can’t expect me to walk naked in my own palace.” 

I smirked as I grabbed her waist, wrapping tight. “Well, I’m sure that it would help the personnel morale immensely,” I said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “But no, I don’t expect you to walk around the corridors. But don’t tell me that there are no secret tunnels between here and the treasury.” 

“Even if there is, do you think I would reveal them to you?” 

“Of course not,” I said even as I put my hand on her breast, caressing gently, highlighting her physically revealing state, reminding her of the irony of her statement. “You’re a mighty queen, I could hardly expect you to reveal anything.” She looked at me, still annoyed at my latest action, not because of the nature of the action — I had done much more outrageous things to her — but my consistent insistence to push the boundaries further and further. “If you want to trust the royal mages to check the secret passages to make sure there’s no ward waiting to trap you…” I lingered. 

I didn’t mention the failure of said mages in detecting the dangerous ward that was playing with the loyalties of her subjects. I didn’t need to, not at this point, where was forced to give in even more to our lopsided business relationship just moments ago due to said failure. 

I was pretty sure that her disappointment was still vivid enough to need no reminders. 

“Do you think the enemy has discovered the secret passages?” she asked, though, from her tone, I could sense it was a rhetorical question, mostly trying to get some time to make a decision. 

“Well, not exactly impossible,” I still answered. “It’s certainly easier than setting an undetectable ward in the throne room. But if you don’t feel comfortable showing me the secret passages despite trusting me with finding your mysterious enemies…” 

Ultimately, it didn’t take long for her to make a decision,  and her emotional entanglement and her political desperation — not to mention the weight of her previous decision to rely on me extensively — left no doubt about the nature of that decision. “Let’s go,” she whispered in a defeated tone before she turned and started walking toward a corner of the room, her hips dancing beautifully despite her emotional distress. 

She definitely deserved her reputation as the most amazing dancer at the Empire. 

I followed her as she walked toward a particular corner of the wall that was concealed by some large vases and other expensive artwork, each precious enough to meet all expenses of a small town for a year if sold, before reaching in front of the wall, and unlocking the entrance through a simple spell, much less secure than the other entrances to the tunnels. 

It was understandable, as if there was a need to use those tunnels for any king or queen, then clearly, time was the essence. 

I stepped into the tunnel after her, my attention still on the way her naked ass danced with each step even as I gathered my mana to activate the tether, using it as a detection sonar to make sure there was no trap left in by our mysterious enemy. 

A deadly trap was not likely. If the nature of the ward they had set up was any indicator of their strategy, they were clearly pushing for a long game, and killing someone that stepped into the secret passage was a good way of revealing their hand sooner than they desired. Unfortunately, direct harm was only a small portion of effects that could be delivered through a well-crafted ward, making it a necessity to keep me aware despite the dance of her hips. 

And that proved to be a correct idea soon enough. “Stop,” I suddenly called to her when I noticed a ward a few steps ahead. 

She froze immediately while I let my mana flow freely, leveraging the fine control given to me by the Tether to analyze the ward quickly. “Is it dangerous?” she asked as my mana started to get thicker. 

“Not directly, no,” I answered, which was easy to tell immediately. The ward lacked the strength necessary to turn it into a weapon. I went deeper into the structure, only to meet with a complicated spiderweb structure, reaching toward several different locations to gather information. 

Due to the unfamiliar nature of the construction, I had no idea how it was actually storing the information it was gathering. I failed to find any outward sign of a connection with another magical object or directly with its caster, but unfortunately, the foreign nature of the construction principles meant that I might be missing it. Luckily, its external information-gathering aspects were much simpler to analyze, allowing me to cast a spell to prevent it from being detected. 

“It’s ward to record people using the secret tunnels,” I explained to Sapphire even as I gestured her to walk again. 

“They discovered the tunnels, but using them just to spy on me,” she said, further unsettled by the ease the mysterious enemy was displaying by accessing some of the most secret locations in her Empire. “Are you sure it’s just that?” 

“That’s the only active effect, but I can’t guarantee there are no other functions ready to be unleashed by its owner or someone with the key,” I corrected her. “Secret tunnels already have many convenient spells and traps installed it, if the ward could somehow steal their control, it could easily prevent you from using it in an emergency.” 

“Can’t you remove it?” she asked as she turned to face me, once again displaying her amazing tits, her nipples furiously erect thanks to the combined assault of her arousal and the cold. 

“I can, for a price,” I said with a wide smirk, earning a frustrated growl before continuing. “But I don’t recommend it for the moment. I need to study for a long time to make sure I could remove it without triggering any traps that might have been integrated as a fail-safe.” 

“And doing so would alert them that we have noticed their presence,” Sapphire completed, easily realizing my train of thought despite her unsettled mind. 

I smiled, confirming her conclusion before gesturing her to start walking once more, following her from a perfect distance, enough to enjoy the show properly, but not enough to let her fall into a trap before I could intervene, just in case my earlier fiddling had triggered some kind of failsafe. 

Luckily, it turned out not to be the case, and soon, we were standing at the secret entrance of the treasury, Sapphire unlocking a number of complicated wards, which included a number of secret passwords, blood wards, and a plethora of other complicated tricks. 

… while I enjoyed the beautiful way her body was dancing, my mind was already on the next steps…