The soldiers along the way didn’t bother them at all, only watching with curiosity painted all over their faces as Bahir, in front, with Bruno behind the old man, held by the prison guard, walked through the corridors of the castle.

Most of them were dimly lit, with occasional small windows providing the illumination. Eventually, they came to the highest floor where they stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. From behind, soft moans, occasionally disrupted by more raspy groans, reached their ears. There was also a creaking of the wood.

Bahir knocked on the door, patiently waiting for a response, but it never came. There was no disruption to the noise coming from the room as well, hinting that whoever was inside chose to ignore the knocking. After waiting for a long moment, the old man repeated the motion.

This elicited a response.

„Go, check who it is!” A raspy voice reached their ears, muffled by the thick wood.

Not long after, the door opened, but only slightly, and through the narrow gap, a naked woman peeked. They could see her exposed skin, but she was careful enough not to show them anything indecent. The woman had long brown hair, a gentle face, and soft, pink lips.

„Yes?” she asked, raising her voice to overpower the now loud moans.

„I would like to speak with the king,” Bahir informed. „It’s important.”

„Can't you hear that I’m busy?!” Katyan’s response came directly from him, followed by a groan. „Ahh.”

„We will wait for the King to finish,” the old man announced, grabbing the handle to close the door.

His action forced the girl to step back. Her reaction for a fraction of a second exposed her impressive bosom to the three.

With a smirk on his face, Bruno observed the whole situation, not even trying to hide his amusement. The guard behind him was torn between fear, embarrassment, and arousal. Noticing it, Bahir gave them a hard glance, underlined by his furrowed eyebrows. His lips pressed tightly against one another, but he didn’t say a word.

This led to all of them patiently waiting in silence in the corridor, listening to the moans and groans coming from behind the door. Although both Bahir and the guard seemed somewhat uncomfortable about the situation, Bruno found it quite funny, only further irritating the old man.

Fortunately, the climax of their situation came to an end only a moment later, which was signaled by a loud groan that reached their ears, followed by a loud shout, „Take it all, you bitch!”

Moments later, they heard footsteps, and the door swung open, revealing Katyan, tightly wrapped in his long fur coat. Behind him, several naked women hastily tried to cover themselves.

„What the fuck do you want?” growled the king.

„My king,” the old man bowed. „The alchemist sent by the pirates insisted on speaking with you. Forgive me, but he refused to cooperate if I wouldn’t introduce him to you,” he spoke, still in a bent position, with gestures of his hands pointing at Bruno.

„Your majesty,” the young alchemist theatrically bowed, with the smirk on his lips making him awfully look as if he was mocking Katyan, but the ruler appeared to be oblivious to this detail.

„What the fuck do you want?” he growled.

„Only a moment of your time. I would like to inform you about the reason behind my visit to your kingdom. I’m afraid you might have a false grasp of the situation, generously provided by this old man, who to me clearly has ulterior motives,” Bruno said with confidence.

Katyan grunted, quickly taking a peek at Bahir, who managed to straighten his back somewhat but didn’t offer his view on the subject.

„Fine,” the king threw, turning around and re-entering the chamber.

The space was big, with a massive bed on the right, where all the women now found makeshift shelter, hiding under the bed sheets. Straightforward was a door leading to the balcony, and on the left, by a big fireplace, stood a decently-sized table, surrounded by three chairs and one armchair. Walls were covered by paintings, with occasional sculptures adorning the corners. The floor, made out of stone, here and there was covered by decorative rugs.

Katyan headed toward the table, sitting down on his spot. Bruno followed him, taking position right in front of the king. Noticing that the prisoner started moving, the guard tried to go after him, but Bahir prevented him, by fencing off the soldier with his hand before he as well entered the room, only to close the door.

„Speak,” Katyan urged.

„My name is Bruno, and I’m an alchemist. My path intertwined with the pirates not too long ago, which eventually brought me here to fulfill a task given to me by Hugo Wagner. I was supposed to fix the problems the kingdom of Zoulan was facing, to ensure a stable flow of the ore. Increase it, if possible,” Bruno began explaining.

The king was clearly bored by the speech, as he rested his head on the hand that already found support in the armchair itself. He even rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting.

„I approached the task by first increasing the efficiency of farming, to assure availability of food for the population of the kingdom. As you might, or might not know, my work already bore fruit. Although on a small scale, you are now able to harvest the appropriately prepared fields every two weeks. This means that less work is required to bring more food. Soon the kingdom will be even able to export the grain. Unfortunately, for some reason unknown to me, this man,” Bruno pointed at Bahir, „accused me of conspiring against you and trying to overthrow you. Which was not my intention, nor was it the intention of the one who sent me here, Hugo Wagner.”

Katyan first glanced at Bahir. It was hard to read from the king’s face if he understood everything the young alchemist said, but there was no question if he caught the last sentence. The old man, however, didn’t react in any way, although his and Katyan’s gazes met.

„I trust Bahir. He was with me since the beginning, and his wisdom saved this kingdom,” said the King. „If he sees you as a threat, there must be something that caught his eye, so spare me your whining,” he said with a voice that hinted at boredom. Then he got up.

„I see. Thank you for your time, Your Majesty,” The young alchemist bowed theatrically again, then headed out of the room, straight into the hands of the guard who awaited him in the corridor. The old man followed, with a smirk of victory adorning his lips. Bruno didn’t give him the satisfaction of noticing it, but he had a good idea of how the treasurer must have felt.

Without any incidents, the young alchemist was escorted back to his cell. Bahir followed. When Bruno was safely behind bars, he pulled out the piece of paper carrying the instructions on how to decipher the secrets hidden in the notebook.

„Now finish it,” he said with a smile as he stuck it through the bars.

Bruno sighed but took it, then, with the piece of charcoal still present on the floor, he added a little bit to the text, before returning the whole thing. Upon grabbing the piece of paper, Bahir scanned the changes with his eyes.

„Is it everything?” he asked.

„Yes.”

The old man chuckled, heading straight for the door. „Close everything, and keep watch outside,” he instructed the guard, who followed him.

Soon the lock clicked, and Bruno was, once again, alone in the dungeon. Despite the outcome, he was smiling.