His stomach was starting to make sounds he never knew it could.

  “Haha… Hahaha…”

  As much as he tried to resist the laughter, the moment he focused back on his stabbing pain, it continued to flow out of him unintentionally.

  ‘Master?! What should I do?!’ Naga called out telepathically. ‘I know! I’ll eat him right now! Haha… Haha… What is this?!’

  ‘No… Wait…’ Somnu stopped her, resonating his vision with that of his serpent familiar once more. ‘He’s making us laugh somehow… Even Grudgekeeper…’

  “Ahaha! Somnu, my boy! You are resisting quite well!” Evu’Dral continued his laughter, proudly posing on the throne seat and resting his hands on his hips. “At this rate, we just might not need the bathtub again!”

  This… Somnu’s heart skipped a beat. Does this mean everyone who laughs at his jokes ends up emptying their stomach contents here?! Is that why the others were…

  The scarecrow could see the dark expressions of his friends again, how they couldn’t even bring themselves to talk about their horrifying experience in this very chamber.

  He finally understood why, and couldn’t even bring himself to think of what had happened to them here.

  Instead, Somnu was immensely grateful he hadn’t eaten a thing on the First Layer yet. Otherwise, he might have been forced into an unsightly situation. Something that would ruin one’s reputation forever.

  He at least hoped his siblings and Aurora were spared of that outcome somehow.

  “Hahah… Hahaha!”

  “Ahahah!”

  However, the laughter continued. Even Naga, and Grudgekeeper, had joined in.

  Dammit! I don’t have time for this! This is stupid! Somnu gritted his teeth, planting his feet in the ground and straining his body up. “This isn’t funny!”

  [Distorted Fallacy!]

  “!” The Fortmaster suddenly stopped, looked around for a moment, then plumped himself back on the oversized seat. “Muddleflip, that was indeed unfunny, my blind boy. Allow me to get some shut-eye.”

  “Huh?!” Somnu blurted out. “We don’t have time for that!”

  “Pish posh, Somnu my boy! Bree’Niu shall help you in my stead! Now then!”

  “Hey! You can’t just-”

  Hearing the immediate snoring, Somnu was left at a loss for words. Instead, he shifted his focus from the relaxed Fortmaster to his assistant.

  “...”

  However, said assistant had a transparent barrier around her, as if shielding her from all sound and smell that might have followed. She had her back turned, her eyes focused only on the book in her grasp.

  “Naga.”

  “Yes, master?”

  “Get them both.”

  “Hiss!!”

  As if she had waited for this moment all along, Naga sprang forward, spawning a clone and splitting in two directions.

  “Black sheep balls?!” The Fortmaster woke up in a frenzy as Naga’s clone wrapped around his body and squeezed. “Ah! Mercy! Mercy, my dear handsome boy!”

  “!”

  On the other hand, the assistant simply noticed Naga’s long body wrapped around the transparent barrier. With every small crack, a jolt ran through the Luscairna’s small body. Until…

  “Stop this! You are attacking his great reverence and his assistant!” She stood up and turned towards the supposed blind boy. “This is against the rules!”

  “... are you serious? What rules? You haven’t bothered explaining anything.” Somnu let out a long sigh, sauntering forward, his stick discarded to the side now. Then, he activated [Hollow Gaze], making both Luscairna shiver in place. “I was actually looking forward to this, and you ended up treating me like an idiot.”

  “What is it, my dear boy?! Is your stomach hurting again?” The Fortmaster opened his lively eyes wide.

  “Something must be going on, because Mathros definitely did not put his trust in a leader like you.” Somnu surveyed his surroundings again with Naga’s vision. Then, he noticed something he had been neglecting. “Naga, get me that book.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Yes, master!”

  CRASH!

  “?!” Bree’Niu shuddered, then ran toward her book. “No!”

  WHOOSH!

  However, in a split second, Naga had shattered through the transparent barrier and stolen her target. She quickly carried the book back to the scarecrow.

  “!”

  The moment he looked at the random open pages, Somnu immediately slammed the book shut out of reflex.

  Are you freaking kidding me?! This time, he didn’t resist and slapped the front of his face with his right palm. This entire time, she’s been reading a smut story?! And not only that, but…

  “Give it back!” The Luscairna assistant cried out, tears forming in her big eyes.

  “Tell me how to release him.”

  “No! You can’t!” She reached out with her short arms, despite the long distance between her and her precious smut book. Naga was holding her in place, making the effort all but useless.

  “If you don’t…” Somnu brought the book closer to the salivating maw of Grudgekeeper, newly formed on his stomach area.

  “!” Bree’Nie shuddered in place, her entire being beginning to tremble rapidly.

  “Is this a joke, Somnu boy?! If so, why do you look so scary?!” Evu’Dral narrowed his eyes, apparently unbothered by the serpent clone squeezing his body.

  Somnu sighed and brought the book even closer to Grudgekeeper, just enough for the row of teeth to open wider in preparation.

  “N-no! I will do as you say, so please…!” The assistant begged, falling to her knees.

  KLANG!

  The sharp row of teeth closed on each other, nothing but empty air as their prey. The scarecrow had removed the book at the last second.

  Then, he threw it so it landed right in front of Bree’Niu.

  “Do it quick, you’ve both wasted too much of my time already.” He ordered.

  With sniffling in her nose and tears running down her face, the Luscairna assistant reached down for the book and shouted.

  “Release!”

  “?!”

  Suddenly, an ethereal, borderline magical, wave of energy shot out of the book and connected with the Fortmaster’s body a distance away.

  A moment later, everything returned to normal.

  “Sheep balls!” As Naga’s clone disappeared around him, Evu’Dral stood up with renewed vigor. His eyes, however, seemed much sharper and more focused than before. “I asked for rest, but this is how you treat me, Bree’Niu?!”

  “I-I’m sorry! You… You just…” She hesitated, stumbling through her words. “You promised I could do whatever I wanted!”

  “That…” The Fortmaster suddenly narrowed his eyes. “Being trapped into your book with other unclothed males was not part of it!”

  Somnu let out another long sigh, deactivating his skills except for [Resonance].

  From what he could tell, she had trapped the Fortmaster’s serious side into the book, enjoying herself as she watched him trying to escape a book riddled with male romance.

  It shouldn’t have mattered much if Somnu was simply another new Sleeper coming to the fort for the first time, perhaps that would have been the normal welcome and didn’t require much effort.

  “There were no rules against it…” The assistant still tried to defend her actions.

  “Pish posh, you knew it was wrong!” The Fortmaster leaned his back on his throne and closed his eyes for a moment. “And that’s why you did it.”

  “Alright, enough you two. I’m really growing out of patience here.” Somnu grabbed onto the stick Naga had fetched for him before taking her place on his shoulder once more. “You will answer all my questions now, then you will lead me to my sister.”

  “...”

  “Are we on the same page?”

  “Yes, my dear boy.”

  Evu’Dral glanced at his assistant once more, but she avoided his gaze, bringing her book closer to her chest.

  “Sheep balls… Forgive the unsightly welcome, Somnu my boy. I am indeed quite glad you have made your way back here again.”

  “It’s my first time here, let’s not do this again.”

  “Yes, let us move onwards to the issues at hand.” The Fortmaster rubbed the sides of his head for a moment. “I see, Mathros… Yes, yes! The wretched murderer within our walls… What are your plans?”

  That’s more like it… Somnu relaxed his facial muscles for a moment, then fixed his posture. “John Doe is someone who can possess others. I don’t know what his limit is, or if he even has one. So far, I've encountered two of his pawns, and I know for a fact he has many more.”

  According to John Doe, he had pawns positioned all over the Abyss of Lethe in anticipation of Somnu’s arrival. The two, or even triple that much wouldn’t be enough to cover that much space.

  “Sheep balls… That is no good news, I fear, Somnu my boy.” The Luscairna leader frowned, his hands clenched into fists on the armchairs of his throne. “You are telling us our one target is in actuality, a small army of Sleepers?”

  “You could put it that way, yes.”

  “What a conundrum this is… There won’t be any time to rest it seems.” Evu’Dral stroked his chin fur a few times, then turned to his assistant. “Bree’Niu, our folk is in grave danger, and so are the Sleeper guests! Report now, when was the last victim?”

  “... Yesterday, around noon, your great reverence.” The assistant fixed her glasses after having wiped her tears away.

  “That means he is still yet to strike today, right?” Somnu asked, basing the timing on what Henry had said.

  “Yes, we are expecting one of the three missing Sleepers to turn up as the next victim soon.”

  “?!”

  Hearing that, Somnu felt a chill run down his spine. He needed to be sure, he couldn’t take the words of the dumbed-down Evu’Dral as any security.

  “Which three Sleepers?! Say their names!” He shouted.

  “Rosemary, Karl…”

  The anticipation in that last second made Somnu’s heart skip a beat.

  “And Aurora.”