“So, he is a man with no ambition?”

  Muyaun says “That is the way it appears. However, what I have learned about his past would seem to indicate otherwise. He was not born to be a duke, he was a lesser noble and worked his way up to duke.”

  “That sounds more like someone with strong ambition.”

  Muyaun says “Exactly. That is why I feel like he is playing a game, even if I can’t find any evidence.”

  “If that is the way you feel, then trust your instincts. He is probably up to something, just hiding it really well. He will be working to hide whatever he is doing from the other dukes.”

  Muyaun says “That is going to make things difficult. I don’t have any spies in the north of the empire at all. It has never been an area that I have paid any attention to.”

  “That’s understandable. Do you know where the duke is holding our people?”

  Muyaun says “Yes. They have set up a camp outside of one of the northern fortresses and they have all of them there under heavy guard.”

  “Wait, they are not near the capital?”

  Muyaun says “No, they are not near any city. The only things close to the camp are military forces.”

  “Well, that sounds like a trap. How are our people being treated, do you know?”

  Muyaun says “Not well. They are not in good shape. Moving them won’t be easy.”

  “That won’t be a problem. I can open a portal straight to the fort. What forces do we have in the area to help?”

  Muyaun says “I have three of my scouts in the area to help me gather information. That’s it. Our troops have not come this far north yet. The nearest ones are a couple of days away at least.”

  “I can always go fetch some troops if we need them. We can probably manage just with your scouts.”

  Muyaun says “I will do whatever you ask. What’s the plan?”

  “First I need to know numbers. How many of our people? How many guards? Are the guards sleeping at the camp or the surrounding camps? I also need to know how many military camps are around it and where they are.”

  Muyaun says “Understood. I will call back my people. They should have all of that information by now.”

  “Alright. I will wait here and meditate.”

  I doubt that I will have enough time to explore the hallway, so I head to the soul palace. Maximus is asleep when I enter, but he soon wakes up and runs over to welcome me. I spend some time brushing him and giving him some attention until I sense Muyaun’s return.

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  “Did you get the information?”

  Muyaun says “Yes, master. However, it isn’t good news.”

  “I wasn’t expecting it to be. Tell me.”

  Muyaun says “The camp contains around ten thousand beastmen. There are also about five thousand human slaves mixed in. Their condition is a lot worse than I thought, most of them will need help to move. Even without interference it would take a couple of hours to move the camp.”

  “Meaning we won’t be able to just raid the camp. We have to take and hold it.”

  Muyaun says “Exactly. There are four large military camps surrounding the camp. In total there are about ten thousand soldiers stationed in the four of them. The guards sleep in the military camps, but there are several dozen on duty at all times. There are also other soldiers who sneak into the camp whenever they get a chance.”

  “How far from the main camp are the military camps?”

  Muyaun says “A few hundred yards. Easily within sight.”

  “This is going to be harder than I thought.”

  Muyaun says “My people and I could take out the guards, but not without alerting at least one of the military camps. It is also doubtful that we could evacuate the camp before the guard changed.”

  “If they were all gathered in one camp I could handle it, but four camps complicates things. I can’t block all four camps at once on my own. It looks like we will need to bring in more people after all.”

  Muyaun says “Agreed. At the least, we need people to help the freed slaves get through the gate. The problem is that aside from the four main camps, there are scout camps scattered around. It will be impossible to bring in any size of group without being spotted.”

  “I will open a gate in the camp. We will bring troops in directly.”

  Muyaun says “Then we will be fighting in the camp, it will be hard to protect our people.”

  “I will figure out some kind of barrier to keep the military camps from noticing what’s going on. Our main priority is to get our people out safely. However, I don’t plan to just leave after that. These people need to be punished for what they have done to our people.”

  Muyaun says “Yes! They even dared to set a trap for us. They have to pay!”

  “Alright. I will contact Leonarr so that he can start preparing. We will move tonight.”

  Muyaun says “Yes, master!”

  I plan out the attack with Muyaun and then contact Leonarr to give him his orders. This way, he will have several hours to get the troops and support personnel ready. After that, I start working on a barrier spell to use to keep the military camps from interfering.

  Since the plan is to attack at night, I will simply create a barrier out of darkness. Other than blocking sight, all it needs to do is absorb sound so it isn’t too hard to figure out. Then, once that is done, there is nothing for me to do other than wait for night.

  So, I return to the soul palace to spend some more time with Maximus and work on the palace. I also do a little rearranging since I haven’t changed anything since I added more space. It is hard to tell, but it looks like the space might have grown by a few inches.

  Eventually, Muyaun comes back and notifies me that night has fallen and we can begin. She has three male fox tribe members with her, they should be the scouts. I follow as the four of them lead me through the patrols and to the slave camp.

  Once we are close, I have them wait while I circle around the camp, carving a line in the ground. It isn’t a perfect circle, but it will do as the marker for the barrier spell. When I cast the spell, it basically raises a curtain of darkness all around the camp.

  As soon as the barrier is up, the four of them go running off to start dealing with the guards. I step inside the barrier, take out the crystal, and use it to make the biggest gate that I can. Even before the gate is fully formed, beastmen scouts come rushing out and scattering into the camp.