Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The name of the man was Laris and he was the guild member of the Seven Swords Guild and also the one put in charge of the operation. He walked towards the far end of the room with a cruel and mocking smile plastered on his face.

On the far end of the room was a door leading towards the cellar. Children wearing light green clothes and had a pair of fairy-like wings protruding from their back, could be seen inside.

Some had light green hair while the others had dark green, but the one thing in common was that they all had a collar with strange runes and a gem inscribed on it. The gem shined with a dim light and seemed to be strengthening the collar.

Although the collar looked ordinary from a glance, if one forcefully tried to remove it, the gem would either explode or strangle the person to death. The children that were collared, belonged to the Forest Spring Spirit Clan and currently, they all had a hollow and vacant look in their eyes as they quietly sat hugging their knees.

The man named Laris looked at them from the window which was only a few centimetres big and only allowed the air to pass through with a big smile. 'A big haul' the man smirked to himself and was quite delighted. The way he seemed to look at the Forest Spring Spirits was as if he was looking at a commodity and not a person.

In these past few days, they had captured quite a lot of Forest Spring Spirits and plundered a good amount of Spirit orbs from the adults. Whenever he looked at the spatial ring on his hand, he couldn't help but feel exhilarated.

Of course, it wasn't easy for them to plunder the spirit orbs from the forest spring spirits as those incorrigible fellows kept self-destructing their spirit orbs. They had to kill some to make an example and also to unnerve their rebellious spirit.

After they set up a few examples the rest of the group quickly lost their will to fight. The Forest Spring Spirit race being unsuitable for combat also played a huge part for them to quickly subjugate them, cutting their losses short.

Once their rebellious spirits were broken, they plundered the spirit orbs from the adults and enslaved the children with the Collar of Enslavement. How could the children have any thoughts about resisting after being cruelly enslaved by the collar?!

However, it wasn't smooth sailing from the get-go. He recalled that there were quite a lot of Forest Spring Spirits that rebelled very hard so as to allow some of their member to run away. Even to the point of casting some peculiar magic he had never seen before which threw them off.

Obviously, Laris would allow the treasures he just got hold of, running away from him. He selected teams of adventurers to give chase. But it was rather hard for his group to chase them all around the forest while they continuously ran towards the territory of the Ancient Treants.

He couldn't help clicking his tongue whenever he remembered how some of the Forest Spring Spirits immediately self-destructed their spirit orb and couldn't help but curse out hatefully. "You damn foolish Forest Spring Spirits do you even know the worth of the spirit orbs. Self-destructing your spirit orbs is truly outrageous, I have gone through a lot of trouble to get my hands on them".

Laris felt like he would vomit blood whenever he recalled the scenes. Those spirit orbs were supposed to be his or rather his guild. He could only imagine the anger and the consequences he would have to face if he returned with just these many Forest Spring Spirits and Spirit orbs.

Therefore he continued hunting the ones that fled towards the depth of the forest. Although his men created a huge ruckus and died at the hands of the monsters in the process, their deaths were irrelevant to him. Although Laris was told not to create any commotion, he couldn't help it since they were in a foreign territory where every monster they met wanted to kill them.

HIs guild had given him strict orders. He had to capture some of them alive and if it seemed impossible then he had to forcefully plunder their spirit orbs.

Laris had passed this message onto his team to prevent any Forest Spring Spirit that is about to self-destruct their spirit orbs. Although diving into the territory of the Ancient Treants was quite risky, but the allure of the spirit orbs was just too strong for them to let it go plus he was informed of a piece of news that he just couldn't simply ignore.

It was at this moment, a man entered the bamboo house and bowed in front in front of Laris. The man who had just entered, had a sly face and looked like he was in his thirties. He was wearing a worn-out magic robe and held a sturdy wand with a gem as small as a peanut inscribed on it.

The class of the man was a [Wizard]. If Cecilia was present here at this moment, she would instantly recognize this man as he was the very same man who was brought into their settlement for treatment a few months ago and also the one that disclosed their location to the adventurers.

Laris looked at the newcomer with cold unperturbed eyes. Laris knew the man, he was called Miser and he was a level 215 [Wizard].

The man named Miser was an adventurer from the city controlled by his guild, the city of Morgress. He had accumulated quite a bit of debt and was on the verge of becoming a slave himself.

However, a few months ago he came up with news that shook the entirety of the Seven Swords Guild. It was specifically because of the news that Miser provided to their guild, that the guild master decided to send his team to check its authenticity and pardon his debts.

Although Laris was doubtful at that time, but sure enough to save his skin MIser did not lie to them. When Laris and his team arrived at the location guided by Miser, they found the hidden settlement of the Forest Spring Spirits.

Laris glanced at Miser who was giving him a flattering smile while rubbing his palm together. He asked "Is the information that there is a Royal spirit among them is true? If you are making this up to save your hide then don't blame me later for being merciless".

Laris snorted and sat back on his couch once again.

Miser panicked and his face became grave when he heard Laris, he hurriedly replied: "Sir Laris, I am speaking the truth. How can I lie to you, if I did It would be akin to digging my own grave".

Laris squinted his eyes when he heard those words and said with a smile "Don't think I don't know what kind of a person you are. I know every single damn thing that you did back in the city. Hehe, your soul stinks like those filthy gutters of the slum areas of the city.

"I know all about the dirt you have on your hand and It is exactly why I had been made in charge of this operation by the guild master.. Don't forget that your life is in my hand, I get to decide whether you live or die".