“Stop.”

The word was spoken normally, but Mash froze. It echoed within the room. It sounded like it was bouncing off the walls. His fist was inches from the ground, but he was frozen. He could barely even breathe, although some sweat had started to build on his palms. The single word had come from the General, and it had trapped everyone in place. It was a command, uttered by one who had the right to do it. The air itself seemed to freeze at her voice.

“I am known as the Castle Keeper. Do you really think I would let you damage my castle?”

This time her voice had returned to its usual jovialness, but he still felt like there was an edge to it. It was only something that someone who was completely self-assured in their ability could say. Mash was annoyed with being sealed or trapped. He tried resisting the control but just couldn’t manage to move. However, even if his body was locked in place, his magic wasn’t. Mash let it flare out. Lightning started dancing at the edge of his skin, but Mash halted as he felt a familiar chill air enter the room.

“I thought you wouldn’t be doing that.”

Arthur’s own words seemed to clash with the General. It broke her control, but his casual tone stopped Mash from doing anything hasty. His domain let him get a good grasp of the situation, and he simply bent down and picked up the chair. He had already been hunched over. He was less than a second away from destroying the ground. Amazingly it wasn’t broken. The chair didn’t seem like it could’ve withstood the impact. Jill was in the process of standing after her failed teleport, and Luke was moving toward the door. Normally, they had such great coordination, but now they were completely caught off guard. All but Red, who remained seated. She met the general’s eyes, but the older woman was looking toward Arthur now.

“The cold king’s domain? When did you get that?”

“Earlier today.”

His brother’s two-word response seemed inappropriate for the situation. He just answered the General like nothing was wrong. The General too had revealed private information casually. Also, what was the cold king’s domain? His brother had talked about his skills before. He said that he got the skill today, but how? Mash knew for certain that his brother didn’t have a way to steal skills like Mash or Luke. Luke’s skill was more like borrowing than stealing though. Once everyone had retaken their seats, the General continued although she was more focused on Red now.

“It is a passive skill an aura or presence skill that is amplified by our location.”

It was an explanation of a poor one. She could’ve told them ahead of time, but he guessed that they wouldn’t have noticed if not for Red. There probably weren’t many people who could recognize it so the General probably never needed to mention it. The display of power that had passed between the General and his brother was rather odd. Arthur wasn’t much higher leveled than Mash, but Mash hadn’t been able to do anything against the skill. How? And where did his brother get a new skill? Those were questions for later.

“We have no intention of joining. The only thing we plan on doing is going back north and killing some more monsters.”

Red spoke as a matter of fact and wasn’t exactly being polite anymore. Mash noticed the shift in her tone but said nothing. He was annoyed at people who used their skills so casually. Even if he could respect the General, it didn’t mean that he did at the moment. He agreed with Red, and just leaned back into his chair. The General was quick with her response.

“Even if the war happened, it would be several weeks or maybe even months from now. I’m merely telling you now so that you can be prepared. I expect you will get involved whether you want to or not.”

Her gaze drifted toward Mash as she spoke. He frowned at her but couldn’t disagree with her. None of them even tried to protest it. With how their lives have been going, he expected to be right at the center of the battle. The General probably had the same information as the king and knew that they would get involved somehow. Mash wasn’t sure how to respond to her stare, but he didn’t need to either. Luke was surprisingly the one to speak up. He confronted the General directly, not bothering to talk about his real meaning.

“If you believe that, then why are we here?”

“As Arthur had mentioned, I wanted you to join the fight formally rather than showing up randomly amidst all of the chaos.”

Mash had just been listening, but that didn’t feel fair. They would be far in the north and completely separated from the conflict. It wasn’t like he wanted to get involved. If anything, he was trying his best to not get further invested, and he said as much.

“We were being honest before. We won’t be anywhere near the fighting unless my brother needs our help.”

The General leaned back to sit straight in her chair. She looked at him and the group as a whole and laughed. It was a mocking fake chuckle that could only be insulting.

“Do you even realize what your track record has been? The orphanage, the demon invasion, hundreds of refugees from a dungeon, uncovering those spies, and I would bet you were somehow involved with the sudden influx of dungeons. You and your group have been involved in every major headache in the past few months. Any one of those things happening in a year would already be unusual. Did I miss anything? How many more surprises do I need to prepare for?”

Mash fell silent at that. When she laid out the events that she knew of like that, he realized just how many things they had been involved in. Even if they weren’t to blame for any of those situations, he had escalated nearly all of them to violence. It also made him realize, that she didn’t actually know everything. The stuff in Krall and probably Jeral too. She didn’t know of the things he had done within the dungeons as well. He felt a little relieved to know that she didn’t know everything. Mash coughed awkwardly to clear his throat but didn’t know how else to respond. The General was eyeing him more carefully now, and he realized that he must’ve given away his thoughts on his face.

“So, what do you want from us?”

The General turned back to Red. The question drew her attention and she started rubbing her chin with one of her gauntleted hands. After a second of thought, she responded.

“Well, I don’t know how to deal with you four. Capturing or killing you would be extreme, and several important people would be on my ass. Recruiting you was the simplest solution, but that probably wouldn’t have worked. The king still doesn’t want you lingering in the city for too long, but I think that ship has sailed. No, I think I will settle for monitoring your location.”

One of the General’s gauntleted hands entered into a small storage space that opened up beside her. Mash could peak into it with his domain, and he realized it was a lot bigger than the opening would let on. That probably meant that she could adjust where the door opened to as well. She moved her hand like she was digging through items. She spoke casually all the while, even nonchalantly mentioning that she had considered him. Mash was glad that he had friends, actually, it was family, in high places. The General wasn’t done just yet, and pulled out a pair of bracelets, and proceeded to toss them to Luke and Jill.

“Sorry, but the two of you are going to be carrying them. I don’t think they would be able to withstand the others’ skills.”

Mash nodded slowly but stopped when he realized what she had just admitted. He couldn’t contain his excitement. He didn’t know that there was a way to peak into people’s skills or class. Could he, do it? Was there a monster he could eat that would let him?

“You do have a way to see our skills!”

Mash exclaimed. He probably shouldn’t have, but it had just come out. Even though he had expected it, the confirmation was still surprising.

“Did you really just figure that out?”

That came from Jill, and Mash turned to glare at her. Although, his gaze drifted to her wrist as she put the bracelet on. It just looked like a simple silver accessory, with no special frills or gems. It seemed almost like a shackle but was too thin to be one. Mash felt traces of mana engraved into the metal, but it was hidden with the metal. The armor on her other wrist was much more like a shackle. She had put that on without much protest. Any protest really. In his domain, he saw Luke doing the same and turned to look at him. Luke noticed and spoke.

“Seems fine. It’s just a bracelet. Plus, we do cause a lot of trouble.”

Mash just stared at them in disbelief. How could they just put that on? What if it lets her control them? They were definitely more skeptical than that normally. It must be that skill again, and he wanted to say as much. Arthur seemed to know what Mash was going to say.

“It does exactly what she said. I have a few of them on me as well.”

Mash looked at his brother, although the gesture was unnecessary. He could see Arthur with his domain and already knew that his brother trusted the General. His brother’s confirmation told him everything that he needed, and Mash settled back into his seat. He had been leaning forward as the conversation progressed.

“Well, as riveting as it is to hear you bicker, I am going to need you to leave. Although, I’m sure we will meet again soon enough.”

The way the general said that was ominous. It was definitely intentional too. He didn’t need any fancy tricks to know that. The grin she was wearing, told him that she knew exactly what she was doing. Mash’s opinion of the General had not dropped over their encounter. She was rude, boastful, and arrogant. However, it felt like she was allowed to be those things. The whole interaction infuriated him, but there was something about the woman’s directness that he respected. So many chose to hide things, but she shared almost everything when asked.

Mash stood without saying any formal farewells. The others replied politely, but he just waltzed right out of the room. He might receive a lecture from Arthur about it later, but he was surprisingly tired. He had used inhuman hibernation earlier and it had dealt with his fatigue and stress, but he still felt like it had been a long day. Meeting with a god and making a sculpture for them wound up being one of the smallest events of the day. He almost couldn’t believe that it had all happened in a single day, and he had lived it.