Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 205: Chapter 205 — Missing Slaves

Chapter 205 — Missing Slaves

The elevator descended toward Basement Level Five.

Victor stood near the front with Lyra beside him and Nala perched on his shoulder.

For some reason, every time he took this elevator down, his thoughts returned to the same person.

Jacob.

It didn’t matter how much time passed.

Something about descending into Basement Five always brought those memories back.

Team Fifteen.

The caverns.

The Sanctuary.

And the friend he’d buried there.

Victor stared at the elevator doors.

It had been a while since he’d visited Jacob’s grave.

He wanted to go back.

Not just to the grave, either. There were plenty of reasons for Victor to return to the Sanctuary now.

Unfortunately, that would have to wait.

It would probably be a while before he could make the journey again.

The elevator stopped.

The doors slid open.

A cold breeze immediately swept inside.

Victor stepped out with Lyra and Nala.

Basement Level Five looked almost exactly as he remembered it.

Except there were more guards.

Several additional men stood around the entrance, and some of the positions that had once been empty were now occupied. A line had formed near the main guard station as people waited to enter the cavern regions.

More importantly, the guards were checking identification.

Victor watched one man hand over his citizen ID before being allowed through.

Looks like they finally increased security.

Considering how many people had disappeared down here, it was about time.

Victor and Lyra approached the checkpoint.

One of the guards held out his hand.

”Excuse me. Citizen IDs before you’re allowed through.”

”Yeah, no worries.”

Victor pulled out his citizen ID.

Lyra did the same.

The guard took both and checked them carefully.

He was enormous.

Victor guessed he was somewhere around six and a half feet tall, with thick arms and shoulders that made his uniform look almost too small for him.

After several seconds, the guard returned their IDs.

”Everything looks good. You can go through.”

Victor took his ID back.

”Thanks.”

He started to walk away.

Then stopped.

Why look for another guard?

This one was already here.

Victor turned around.

There was only one problem.

He needed the guards to actually answer him.

And fortunately, Victor had something that could help with that.

His hand moved toward his pocket.

Elder Benton’s token.

Victor hesitated.

He already had a plan to use it, but that didn’t mean it was a good idea.

The token carried Benton’s authority. Victor was fairly certain flashing it around would make the guards cooperate.

He was equally certain Benton hadn’t given it to him so he could impersonate some kind of Tower investigator.

If word got back to the old man...

Victor could already imagine the look on his face.

He might actually take it back.

Victor stared at the token inside his pocket.

Then smiled wryly.

He needed answers.

Victor turned back toward the guard.

”Excuse me. What’s your name?”

The large man looked confused.

”My name?”

”Yeah.”

The guard hesitated.

”Christopher.”

”All right, Christopher.”

Victor stepped closer.

”I actually came down here on official business with the Tower.”

Christopher’s expression immediately became more cautious.

”What do you mean?”

Victor pulled out Elder Benton’s token.

”I was given special authority to ask some questions and gather information.”

Christopher looked down.

The change was immediate.

His back straightened.

Then somehow straightened even more.

Victor almost laughed.

A moment ago, Christopher had looked like he could pick Victor up with one hand and throw him across the room.

Now there was genuine nervousness in his eyes.

Apparently Benton’s name carried even more weight than Victor had realized.

”Anything, sir. What do you need to know?”

Victor put the token away.

”Recently, there have been a lot of slaves disappearing in the caverns. Is that correct?”

Christopher nodded.

”Yes, sir. But someone already came down and investigated that. We answered all of their questions.”

”I understand. This is just a secondary investigation.”

Christopher seemed to accept that immediately.

”Of course, Sir Ashcroft. I’ll answer anything I can.”

Victor’s mouth twitched.

Sir Ashcroft.

He tried not to smile.

”No worries. You don’t have to call me sir.”

Christopher clearly disagreed, but Victor continued before the man could argue.

”How many slaves are missing now?”

Christopher’s expression became more serious.

”Almost eight hundred.”

Victor’s smile disappeared.

Eight hundred.

The last number he’d heard had been a little over six hundred and fifty.

Christopher continued.

”We’ve lost around a hundred and fifty in the last week alone. If this keeps happening, we’re eventually going to have serious manpower problems.”

Victor glanced at Lyra.

Her expression had changed too.

A hundred and fifty.

In one week.

”Do you have any leads on where they’re going?”

”Not really.”

Christopher shook his head.

”That’s the strange part. Almost all of them still have active slave bracelets. According to the records, they’re alive.”

”Almost?”

”Maybe fifteen or twenty are registered as dead.”

Victor frowned.

Fifteen or twenty out of nearly eight hundred.

Those deaths weren’t necessarily unusual. Basement Five had always been dangerous. Slaves died in the caverns.

Victor knew that better than most.

But nearly eight hundred people simply disappearing while their bracelets continued reporting them alive?

That was different.

His thoughts returned to the children they’d rescued.

Those children hadn’t come through the Tower.

They’d been brought through the caverns.

Hidden routes.

Victor suddenly felt a chill.

Eight hundred is only what we know about.

How many others were there?

People taken from villages.

Children transported through hidden tunnels.

People who never had Tower identification in the first place.

People nobody here even knew were missing.

Victor’s stomach tightened.

If the Evil God Organization was gathering people for sacrifices...

How many did they need?

Hundreds?

Thousands?

And for what?

He didn’t like where that thought led.

Victor forced his attention back to Christopher.

”How are this many people disappearing without anyone stopping it?”

Christopher grimaced.

”It’s not exactly that simple, sir.”

Victor waited.

”Slaves are assigned to mercenary teams before entering the caverns. Once they’re out there, things happen.”

”Things happen?”

Christopher shifted uncomfortably.

”Slaves have always gone missing. Beasts attack. People get separated. Expeditions go wrong. Sometimes entire groups don’t come back.”

Victor’s jaw tightened slightly.

Normal business.

That was essentially what Christopher was describing.

People disappeared, and because they were slaves, nobody looked too closely.

Victor knew exactly how easy that was.

It was how he’d ended up with Team Fifteen in the first place.

And Alex Graveborn had been responsible for putting him there.

Victor’s eyes narrowed.

Graveborn.

The name had already been sitting in the back of his mind ever since his confrontation with Alex.

”Are there specific mercenary teams losing more slaves than the others?”

Christopher paused.

Then his eyebrows rose.

”You know... the last investigator didn’t ask that.”

Victor waited.

Christopher thought for several seconds.

”Yeah. Actually, there are.”

”Which ones?”

”A few teams have bad records, but Team Two is the worst. By a lot.”

Victor’s attention sharpened.

”How bad?”

”I don’t know the exact number without pulling the records, but they’ve lost more slaves than any other team down here.”

”Anything unusual about them?”

”They’re one of the stronger teams.”

Victor frowned.

That didn’t fit.

Christopher seemed to realize the same thing.

”Most of the guards down here aren’t even in the Spirit Gathering Realm,” he explained. ”Same with a lot of the mercenary teams. But Teams One, Two, and Three are different. They’re some of the strongest groups operating down here.”

Victor glanced at Lyra.

She was listening closely now.

”So one of your strongest teams somehow loses more slaves than everyone else?”

Christopher slowly nodded.

”When you put it like that...”

”Who controls Team Two?”

Christopher answered without hesitation.

”The Graveborn family.”

Victor went still.

There it was again.

”What about the other teams with unusually high losses?”

Christopher thought for a moment.

”A few of them are independent or contracted to the other main families. But several work under Graveborn contracts.”

Victor didn’t respond immediately.

Some of the teams losing the highest numbers of slaves were connected to the Graveborn family.

One coincidence meant nothing.

Two could still mean nothing.

But Victor was starting to see a pattern.

Could one of the Three Great Families actually be involved with the Evil God Organization?

He didn’t know.

And after everything he’d learned recently, he wasn’t stupid enough to jump straight to that conclusion.

But the Graveborns had just moved much higher on his list.

Victor glanced toward Lyra.

She met his eyes.

She hadn’t said a word throughout the conversation.

Victor could tell from her expression that she’d made the same connection.

He looked back at Christopher.

”Thank you. You’ve been a lot of help.”

Christopher straightened again.

”My pleasure, Sir Ashcroft.”

Victor almost corrected him.

Instead, he sighed.

”I’ll make sure your higher-ups know you were cooperative.”

Christopher’s face brightened.

”Thank you, sir.”

Victor nodded and walked away with Lyra.

For the next hour, they moved between guard stations throughout Basement Five.

Victor asked the same questions.

Sometimes he used Benton’s token.

Sometimes the guards started talking before he even needed to.

The details changed slightly from person to person.

The overall story didn’t.

And again and again, one name appeared around those teams.

Graveborn.

Victor didn’t like it.

By the time they approached another guard station, he had more questions than when they’d started.

He was about to call out to the guard when a familiar voice came from behind him.

”Victor!”

Victor stopped.

”So this is where you are.”