Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  A fully armed group of Orcs was equipped with black standard armor, and the first few Orcs were bearing Large Shields.

  On their backs were the same words, “Winterfell Garrison Guard.”


  The Orcs had good training and quality equipment. They used their Shields to clear the way and carried Bows in their other hands, Longswords at their waists. They moved stealthily, though the scales on their armor emitted slight noises.

  They arrived in front of a building, and the leader signaled to the rest with his eyes to say, “The target inside is a highly dangerous creature with many years of intelligence experience. His ways are brutal and without mercy. Everyone has to be extra careful. Don’t let him escape!”


  The other Orcs replied with their eye signals as well.

  “I understand, Captain!”


  “Don’t worry, Captain!”


  “We had the best training!”


  “Captain, your wife eloped!”


  The leader’s eyes became sharp. He pointed to the door and made a hand gesture that meant for them to prepare. An Orc then walked to the door and knocked, saying with a kind voice, “Greetings, I’m here to check the Mana meter. Is anyone home?”


  Nobody replied. Even after calling out a few times, there was no reply.

  The leader showed two fingers and nodded. The same Orc knocked on the door and said, “Greetings, the smelly worms and irrigated clay that you ordered are here. Please open the door.”


  But there was no reply.

  The leader signaled with his eyes that said, “Prepare to burst in!”


  The Orc nodded and took out a metal strip, picking the lock. Before long, the door was opened.

  They dashed in without any delay, and some shouted, while others fired their arrows with closed eyes.

  After a few minutes of calm, they saw the serenity in the room. A Gnome lay on the ground with his eyes wide open. It was Bond, the intelligence agent. There was an arrow lodged in his skull, and he had a terrified look on his face.

  “I killed the agent?” one of the Garrison Guards asked nervously.

  “No, he wasn’t killed by you.”


  The leader walked over and checked Bond’s breathing. He discovered the strangle marks on his throat, a length of rope to the side, and a piece of paper in his hands. The words on the paper were, “Will—A Gnome agent’s regret.”
……

  “Pom!”


  Nicholas pounded heavily on the table with his fist and shouted, “What? Bond killed himself? The Garrison Guard was at the door when he killed himself?”


  “Yes, Dungeon Lord. This is the full report.”


  A Sludge Monster handed him a report. Nicholas examined it and asked, “Where is Lord Sherlock?”
……

  Twenty minutes later.

  “It looks like he committed suicide to escape punishment.”


  Sherlock sat inside Nicholas’ office and commented as he looked at the report.

  “Hmm, it seems like it.” Nicholas said gravely, “I reported this to the higher-ups.”


  Sherlock nodded. The three Hamsters discovered the secret meeting between Bond and the mysterious figure, learning that the investigation on Eternal Kingdom was a ploy to sour the relationship between the Merchant Alliance and Eternal Kingdom. The final goal was Michelangelo’s relic, which was in Sherlock’s hand.

  There was a dark, insidious force plotting against Sherlock.

  How did Sherlock handle it? He reported it to the Garrison Guard.

  To be more precise, he informed Winterfell. After all, the incident involved Bond, who was a Winterfell intelligence agent, so it was better for Winterfell to deal with it. However, he hadn’t expected it to have such an outcome.

  Sherlock ended the meeting with Nicholas amidst an atmosphere of worry. Nicholas was very worried because he didn’t know of the insidious plot that could affect his precarious Dungeon Lord position. Everything was a mystery.

  When Sherlock stepped out of the Winterfell Dungeon Lord Main Hall, Bru said, “Lord Sherlock, this isn’t a simple incident. From Fat Otaku’s testimonial and memory, the enemy schemed against us. With Bond being silenced, things look very bad for us!”


  “I think I have an inkling of the scheme.”


  Sherlock walked to a newspaper vendor and stopped, looking at a newspaper placed outside. The newspaper obscured all of the advertisements and discounts and showed the unimportant news. This was to prevent creatures like Sherlock from browsing.

  The important point was the content that had the words, “The second successor to Eternal Fire will be visiting Winterfell!”


  “The second successor to Eternal Fire? Wasn’t Andrew the third successor? Why would the second successor visit Winterfell? Wasn’t Andrew sent to prison recently?”


  Bru raised his doubts, but Sherlock only shrugged to indicate his ignorance. It was obvious that the visit by the second successor wasn’t that simple……

  At Victoria City……

  “Things are like that. It’s too terrifying!” Big Boss stood before Lilo and explained the occurrence in detail.

  Second Boss said in fear, “That’s right, they used the fragrance of food to tempt Fat Otaku. If we weren’t fast enough, we would have been killed by that Gnome!”


  “O…… I can still eat……” Fat Otaku, who was lying on the ground beside the other two Hamsters, said incoherently, looking blissful.

  “What happened to him?” Lilo, who was sitting in her chair, frowned as she gazed at Fat Otaku.

  “Lord Sherlock peeped into his memory not long ago. According to his request, Sherlock placed some memories inside. Fat Otaku hasn’t recovered.”


  “Should be some blissful memories.”


  Big Boss and Second Boss explained.

  “What did Sherlock say? Did he know the mastermind? If there is any mishap before the conquest of the Heavenly Kingdom, we will get back our loan with interest. Did you emphasize this point to Sherlock?”


  Lilo wasn’t concerned about Fat Otaku’s condition.

  “Yes! We conveyed your words. Sherlock would like to reassure you that he never deceived you,” Big Boss replied.

  “Ah, I understand.”


  Lilo waved her hand and gestured for them to leave.

  “Let those coolies work and train harder. If they can’t deal with the Ogres, they can’t fight with the Heavenly Kingdom.”


  “Yes!” Big Boss and Second Boss replied.

  They dragged Fat Otaku, who was still lying on the ground, out.

  Lilo took out a crystal ball after the three Hamsters had left. The image of Sherlock appeared in the crystal ball. He was playing computer games in the Dungeon Lord Main Hall, seemingly alone in the room. The small Black Dragon with an unknown gender wasn’t around, but his nest was still at the corner of the room.

  The door of the Dungeon Lord Main Hall was opened, and a conservatively dressed Succubus came in. It was Evelynn.

  There was an expression of disgust on Lilo’s face.

  Lilo’s hand grasped the crystal ball, and voices could be heard coming from it.

  “Er, Lord Sherlock?” Evelynn stood behind Sherlock’s computer and tried to get his attention.

  Sherlock removed his headphones and looked at Evelynn in a daze.

  “What’s the matter?”


  “Er, Lord Sherlock, the Dungeon doesn’t look very busy……”


  Sherlock was taken aback. He had been doing inspections, building factories, going to meetings in Winterfell, browsing the forum, and updating content. All of that caused his time for computer game research to go down by a few hours. Wasn’t he busy?

  Evelynn felt that she wasn’t precise enough and quickly said, “No, I mean, I’m not very busy. But seeing Lord Sherlock very busy, I’m unable to help you. So I was thinking of……”


  Evelynn took out two tickets and looked nervously at Sherlock.

  “Recently, there has been a nice drama performance in Winterfell. I would like to invite Lord Sherlock to watch it together.”


  “You feel sorry seeing me so busy, so you’re inviting me to a drama performance? Is that it?” Sherlock asked.

  “What? Is this Succubus hindering Lord Sherlock’s great plan? I can’t forgive her! Dismiss her immediately! She’s here to create trouble!” Bru said to Sherlock, but he ignored Bru.

  “Yes, yes. Can I……”


  Evelynn looked pitiful.

  “In fact, I’m very busy, so……” Sherlock looked at the tickets in Evelynn’s hand. He was bewildered for two seconds before he smiled and said, “So, though I’m busy, I can’t disappoint Miss Evelynn. It’ll be my honor to accompany Miss Evelynn to the show.”