The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 343: Runaway Harper

“Dear ‘Victor’, I am speechless….” Olaf said as he sat opposite Alex who was looking nervous. They were sitting in a private room in a high-class nightclub in the capital after finishing the awakening ritual.

“I didn’t mean to… It just asked me that stupid question about three different peddlers arguing about an immortality pill…” Axel said, shrugging his shoulders.

“And your answer?” Olaf asked.

“To scam them and take the pill for myself!“ Axel said as he scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know why, this was the first answer I could think of, and the system just accepted it before I could change it!”

“Haaaa…. It is destiny I suppose… And A DIRTY DEALER is a Merchant subclass at least,” Olaf said after a sigh.

“Sorry…” Axel said as he sipped his ice coffee. He didn’t look sorry at all, but this was similar to Victor in a way, so Olaf didn’t mind.

“Don’t worry, as long as you can access the system store no one would suspect a thing, and this class might be really helpful in…ah… regaining your rightful position!” Olaf said.

“So… When will we proceed?” Axel asked, looking at Olaf.

“Not so soon! You have a tough road ahead of you, First, we need to teach you all the people you should know, so be patient!” Olaf said as he took his phone and sent a message to his bosses, informing them of the results.

…

Harper sat in shock as she watched the men who attacked her earlier die one after another.

It only took that man in white 5 minutes to kill 7 men!

“Are you ok?” someone asked her. It was that man’s cannonball… No, fat followers.

“I am fine…” she said coldly as she shrank back and covered her body.

“That’s good, Take this!” he said, acting as a gentleman as he presented her with the now dirty bed sheet he was wrapping around his body and presented it to her… She didn’t dare to take it… She didn’t even dare to look.

“No thanks…” she said as she closed her eyes and looked away. It was foolish to close her eyes in the midst of a dangerous situation before asserting the other party's intentions, she knew it, but the sight of that fat man’s body was not something a young maiden like her should be looking at.

“But… AHHHHHHHHHHHH…” the fat man screamed as someone kicked his ass so hard he flew away with a shoe mark on his exposed ass.

“Are you ok?” someone asked, making her open her eyes and look. It was the handsome young man who saved her.

“Um…” she nodded, blushing as she covered her body.

“Good!” he said, “What can I call you?” he said.

“Harper…” she answered truthfully. “Just Harper…” She chose to discard her last name.

“A good hooker name! Now sign!” He presented her with a contract that he took from behind his back.

“Ah…. What is this?” she asked, ignoring his hooker comment.

“A contract… Don’t expect this emperor to protect you for free!” he said. “Think of it as the price for saving your life…”

“Ah…” Harper looked at him, still not getting it.

“This emperor doesn’t have all day… Sign it, or you are on your own… Let this emperor warn you though, this place is full of people like those, and it is a matter of time before others get to you!” he said. “You can also go with Liam there… he would surely protect you for free…” he added, making her glace at poor Liam trying to stand up again after getting kicked away.

“...” Harper nodded and took a look at the contract… “I had to act as a maid?” She frowned as she read the contract that was similar to the one signed by Tulip with a few more loopholes and locking-in conditions. This girl seemed to be a little naive after all, and Victor wouldn't be a gentleman if he didn't take advantage of that.

“Yes…” he said. “Don’t worry, I will not violate you or anything like that, on the contrary, I will protect you from this place’s dangers…”

“Fine!” she said and signed away. She knew she would never be able to survive this dungeon alone… She was already in his hands, and she could always try to escape later like this guy had a way to enforce a piece of paper!

“Wait!” Liam, who realized that she didn’t know what she was doing, wanted to warn her about it, but she completely ignored him… In fact, she didn’t hear him at all.

“Good!” the emperor said, making the contract disappear in a flash of light. The next moment Harper felt something squeeze on her heart and she instinctively knew it. If she ever broke that contract she was doomed!

“This contract…” she asked as her face turned white.

“Yes, it is a system contract! Until the end of the raid, you are mine!” he said as he presented her with her new frilled uniform. “Now put it on as I check the corpses…” he said with a determined look in his eyes. He had to do this fast before the Rabbits arrived!

…

“So he got you like that…” Tulip said to poor Harper as they worked the portable stove, frying eggs for their young emperor.

“Ahh… That one got burnt…” Harper, who was still trying to get familiar with moving in a short skirt, said

“Ooopse….” Tulip said as he took the burnt egg off the stove and looked at her crazy young master.

“Don’t worry about it… The pig will eat the burnt ones…” The emperor who was sitting at a foldable table writing a diary said pointing to the pig who was tied to a thick tree branch as a punishment.

“My name is Liam!” Liam scolded.

“This emperor didn’t mean you, But since you like that name so much from now on we will refer to you as Mr.Pig!” the emperor replied without looking up. “Let’s see… This emperor probably should add some unique martial arts too… This emperor knows a good one… This will make those old fogies go nuts… Let’s see…” he told himself with a depraved smile as he wrote.

Tulip tried to take a look, but it was all gibberish, the same kind found in the books her grandfather collected.

“So…Where are you from?” Tulip asked Harper in a forced friendly manner. “How did you end up here?” she added. The emperor ordered her yesterday to act less arrogant, and she decided to try it. Her mother was not here to scold her after all!

“Ah…” Harper hesitated, “Well… I was running away from home. I stopped at a lake to take a bath and the next moment I was here....”

“YOU TOO!” Liam shouted. “THE SAME HAPPENED TO ME! I WAS AT MY SWIMMING POOL!” he said. “THIS IS DEFINITELY DESTINY…. AHHHHHHHH” he didn’t continue as someone threw a chair at him.

“Shut up! This emperor has homework to do!” The emperor screamed, then took another chair from his storage space and sat on it.

“Didn’t we agree that you should protect me?” Liam retorted. “This is a clear breach of contract…. AHHHH” This time he was hit by a rock.

“Shut up! Bastard! Use the right pronoun! How dare you ‘YOU’ this seat? Don’t you know how much ridicule this emperor suffered to affirm his noble identity?” the emperor shouted. “And the contract clearly stated that I will protect you from the dangers of the dungeon. This emperor is a force of nature, not a danger of a dungeon!” he added then returned to his diary.

“Why were you running away from home?” Tulip decided to ignore the two barking dogs as she threw away another burnt egg and asked Harper. Harper

“Ah… My father wanted to forcibly marry me to some depraved pervert… I had no choice!” she said, making Tulip affirm her guess.

“You are from some aristocratic family right?” Tulip asked. Harper had the signs of a refined young lady like herself, and the arranged marriage tradition was not that common in the world anymore.

“Kinda… My grandfather was a big shot, but after he went missing, my family's situation became not so good…” Harper nodded nervously. Maybe she had said too much…

“Oh…Well… My mother always said that arranged marriages are the worst! She was forcibly married to my father, and it ended up in a disaster! So you don’t need to be so reserved around me, I am on your side!” Tulip nodded reassuring Harper. “So was the groom some perverted old man, a fatty like that pig, or a wimp like my father?” she asked. The little girl really liked to gossip.

“Well… He is a young man. I have been engaged to him since birth. The engagement was called off when I was 9 because the groom was deemed unsuitable, but lately, my father went and apologized for breaking off the engagement, then he begged that guy’s father to accept me again by kneeling in front of his house for seven days straight!”

“Oh… What did that guy do to make your father, who I suppose is some important guy, lower himself and ask?”

“It happened so suddenly, The new groom I was promised to marry as a replacement lost his ability as a man, while the original groom proved himself to be very valuable after earning himself an elite status in his family!” Harper said. “Despite that, his perverted nature didn’t change, Last week he held a wedding with 10 women at the same time. My father was planning to present me to him there as a wedding present but I escaped!” she said, making the emperor who was engrossed in his writing until a moment ago stop and look up at her with a very strange expression.

“OH! I know! You were promised to that douchebag Victor Von Weise, right?” Liam asked immediately. “I saw that pervert’s wedding in the news………AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….. Why did you ba…. Your Highness hit me this time?”

“Just felt like it… Don’t scream, this emperor is trying to concentrate…” The emperor said as he returned to his writing. Liam could tell that he was still listening to the girl’s conversion though.

“10 Women at the same time?” Tulip asked in surprise.

“Not only that, This guy has some sick hobbies! He went to some brothel and did that thing with a 30 old woman… ” she said with an angry blush. She got really emotional!

“What? Really?” Tulip gasped.

“Yes… It was all over the news before they erased it and covered it up!” Harper said. “I knew a friend who witnessed everything, so I am sure it was him!”

“Oh… I have been dungeon diving for the last few weeks… I rarely watch the news anyway..” Tulip said feeling a little ashamed. She had no real friends, so she didn’t feel the need to follow the news.

“Oh… I wish I were like you… A full-fledged player, if I were, my father would have never sold me like that…” Harper said with dreamy eyes.

“This is your opportunity then!” Tulip said encouraging Harper. “This place seemed to be a dungeon in some sense, so if you could kill some monsters you would level up, and maybe if you could get some authority points before you reach level 10, you will be a full player!”

“Ah… really?” Harper asked.

“Yes…” Liam said. Inserting himself into the conversation again.

“Don’t listen to them…” the emperor interrupted. He seemed to be looking at Harper in a different light now. “You can’t level up by killing those mutated monsters!”

“What do Mutated monsters mean?” Tulip asked. She never heard that term before.

“The ones we faced until now, experts for the rabbits, are not otherworldly creatures, they are ordinary monsters who were sucked into the dungeon and transmuted… Killing them will not get you any experience points!” he said.

“Oh….” Tulip frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Use the fucking right pronoun!” he scolded.” And Yes… 100%,” he said.

“Then the rabbits?” Harper asked.

“If you have a death wish you can go try and kill them…” Victor said. “But don’t worry, This emperor is sure this trial will not disappoint you!” he added as the notification he was waiting for appeared in front of his eyes… He pressed <YES>

“HAA HAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA!” He began to laugh like a madman, scaring the girls and causing three more eggs to get burnt!

Earlier he put a few pills containing some of his blood inside three of the corpses and waited for the rabbits to eat them. He chose two corpses with bloodlines and one without.

Those men wearing fur were very similar to the dark-skinned men, they even had the same tattoos on their bodies, so Victor expected the rabbits to attack them sooner or later.

His first plan was to make a few of the rabbits his blood slaves. It failed as no notification appeared despite the rabbits devouring the corpses… Those rabbits didn’t consume the blood!

His second plan for the master of the rabbits to consume his blood also failed. Seemingly the blood didn’t end up getting eaten at all.

His third plan, which was his favorite one, was the one that succeeded, and it was a far shot, but it really worked. His presumptions were 99% accurate.

Now, this place was his playground, and he only had to wait until the ones pulling the strings from the shadows made their move… No... Wait?

Victor opened his eyes wide… He was not the only hunter here… Well, he didn’t mind the extra food!

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