516 DXVI. The Painting On The Wall

In the main hall of the palace, as he might suspect, Dag met no one and headed directly to Kranus's private office, hoping to find his teammates there. 

The man on his shoulders began to moan, regaining consciousness after being stunned and slightly moved his legs as if stretching himself from a long, deep sleep.

As soon as he barely heard his voice, in a violent gesture, he threw the squire to the ground, slamming him with his back on the stone floor of the interior of the palace.

"Ouch! Aargh..." 

He writhed several times for the pain, having not yet realized that he was inside a building and no longer in the middle of the street.

"Hey... hey! Wake up! Oh!" Dag exclaimed, slapping his face and continuing to treat him as if he was a soulless wild beast.

"Yes... yes, fuck! I'm awake! I'm awake! My head..." the man whispered, rubbing his temples.

"Get up and follow me, without asking any questions. I'm not going to hear your voice again, okay? You'll talk only if someone asks you a precise question" Dag replied, grabbing his arm and lifting him from the ground.

The skinny man, who had not yet fully recovered, crossed his feet staggering, and just as he was about to fall, Dag grabbed him by the armor, holding him standing on his feet.

Soon after, the two of them began walking again to Kranus's room, which was guarded by two other guards.

"Well, if there are men outside it means that they are inside" the young Master thought, satisfied that he had a proper intuition.

"Stop there! Commander Kranus gave us the order not to let anyone pass and..." 

"Yes, yes, be quiet... I have no desire to argue with you, Kranus is waiting for me" Dag replied, rudely interrupting the guard and lying about Kranus, who was actually unaware of his presence.

Manually moving away one of the guards who was standing in front of the door, he opened it forcefully and entered the room.

Kranus, who was sitting at the table with Atran and Kron, immediately raised his head and a smile lit up his face, followed by a confused expression as soon as he noticed that along with Dag there was not Freydis but an unknown man.

"Sir, I tried to stop them, but this boy says that..."

"Close the door and let him pass, don't worry. He's one of our new Masters, you should recognize him, you idiot!" the ice mage replied, scolding the man on guard who was trying to justify himself and ordering him to do his own business.

He obeyed and looked down, closed the door.

"Dag! Who is this?" Kranus asked, without moving from his personal chair. 

"Ned?" Atran asked, lowering his gaze to the stranger and trying to recognize his still dazed face.

"Hello, chief..." he whispered, barely holding himself to his feet.

"Do you really know this man?" Dag asked, turning to Atran and awaiting explanations from him.

"Uhm... yes, he's my men's squire. Can you explain to me what's going on?" the head of Outpost 1 asked again.

"He was spying inside my house as we stitched up the wounds of the girl we saved from Bloodfang, Claire. When I saw that there was someone at the window, I ran out, suspecting that he was a spy and he started to run away, but he didn't go far" Dag continued, saying one thing at a time, so as to make his interlocutors understand all the dynamics of the facts.

"A spy? Ned? Hahaha! This man can't even wield a sword, you didn't see it yourself? It's just good at polishing our weapons and helping the stablemen with straw for horses!" the blonde-bearded warrior chuckled, patting Ned on the shoulder, who was still leaning against the table with his head down.

"That's precisely why he could be a spy" Kranus interrupted, suddenly rising from his wooden throne and walking around the table, towards Dag.

"That's right, I thought the same thing. And then... if he wasn't a spy, why run away from me? If it wasn't for my wolf's nose, I would have completely lost track of him, because this man didn't want me to catch him and changed his direction several times" the young Master replied, looking at him with a disgusted expression on his face, beginning to imagine what torture he will face if they would found out he was a member of the Lies Of Loki Clan.

"My lords... excuse me if I intrude, but... I was just curious to look at that girl's naked body... really, I didn't want to hurt anyone! There are no women at the Outpost and I've never seen a naked woman in my life... when I noticed that that girl's clothesless body was wrapped only in fur, I approached... but really, I didn't want to hurt anyone! Chief, you believe me, don't you?" Ned whispered in a low voice, begging for the mercy of his commander. 

Atran stammered a few words between his lips and before he could respond concretely, Kranus raised his arm forward, and immediately, a cold air current took shape and struck the squire's chest, lifting him off the ground and slamming him with his back against the bookcase on the other wall of the room.

"Aargh!" Ned yelled in panic, realizing that his boss's boss had bad intentions towards him.

Surprising everyone in the room, even Dag who didn't expect such an exaggerated reaction, Kranus stuck the man to the wall as if it was a painting and when he lowered his arm, the cold air that enveloped his body immediately turned into ice, preventing him from any kind of movement.