But before he could enjoy that moment any further, Dribb shoved him forward from behind.

"Keep walking."

Caius nearly lost his footing from the push, stumbling a step before catching himself at the last second.

That immediately made me grin.

Good job, Dribb.

Caius glanced back at him with visible annoyance, while Dribb looked entirely unapologetic about it.

A moment later, Zarah walked toward me.

She must've noticed I wasn't particularly happy about the situation despite how smoothly things had gone, because she quietly leaned into my side once she reached me.

"Are you alright?"

I let out a slow breath.

"I have my concerns," I admitted, my eyes drifting toward Caius and the others as they were escorted deeper into the clan, "but it's nothing too damning."

"That's good," Zarah said with a small nod.

Then her gaze shifted toward the prisoners as well.

All around them, my goblins watched with open hostility. Some glared from the walls, others from the pathways and buildings nearby, their suspicion obvious as Caius' group was marched through the base in chains.

"What are we going to do about them?" Zarah asked quietly. "They're even more troublesome than Jael's goblins."

"Yeah, about that…" I muttered, my gaze lingering briefly on Caius and his group as they were escorted farther into the clan. "I'd need the opinion of the others first, so get Granny Flogga and bring her to my quarters for a meeting."

"Alright."

Zarah leaned in and kissed me lightly on the cheek before pulling away and heading off without wasting time.

Meanwhile, I left the rest to Narg.

If there was anyone I trusted to make sure prisoners stayed prisoners, it was him. Between his cautious nature and the fact that he already distrusted Caius' group to begin with, there was almost no chance he'd lower his guard around them.

So instead of following, I activated [Warp].

The space around me folded for an instant, and in the next blink, I was already back inside my quarters.

The familiar room settled around me quietly.

I walked over to the round table and dropped into my chair before letting out a slow breath, finally allowing some of the tension in my body to ease now that things had calmed down—at least temporarily.

Then, as I relaxed slightly, my eyes shifted to the side—

And I nearly jerked in surprise.

Ariel was there.

Just lying off to the side and staring directly at me without making a sound.

"What the hell…" I exhaled before narrowing my eyes at her. "Why are you just lying there like that? At least make your presence known."

She didn't respond.

Not even a twitch.

Just continued staring at me with that same unreadable expression of hers.

I let out another breath and leaned back slightly in my chair.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

It had actually been a while since I'd last seen her. The last time I asked about her, someone mentioned she had gone hunting or wandering around outside the clan—or something along those lines. I couldn't quite remember the exact explanation anymore.

"Oh… so now you're curious, oh mighty Chief," Ariel replied, her tone thick with resentment as her tail flicked lazily behind her. "I didn't think you cared about my whereabouts."

I blinked at her.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked, genuinely confused by where this was coming from.

"Exactly. Why wouldn't you?" she shot back immediately, her voice rising. "Especially when our lives are linked, and if I die, YOU DIE TOO!!"

She practically yelled the last part.

I immediately shot up from my chair and moved toward her, trying to hush her before someone outside overheard.

"I told you to keep your voice down about that," I scolded in a harsh whisper.

Ariel scowled at me, clearly unimpressed.

"Treat me like I'm important, and maybe, just maybe, I won't go around blurting out your secret to everyone."

I frowned.

"Are you blackmailing me?"

"Blackmail? What does that mean?" Ariel asked, sounding oddly genuine.

Or maybe she was being sarcastic again.

Honestly, with her, it was difficult to tell sometimes.

"It means saying you'll reveal someone's secret if they don't do what you want," I explained as I looked at her. "That's blackmail."

Ariel blinked once.

"Then… I guess I'm blackmailing you," she replied without hesitation. "But I'm not asking you to do what I want. I'm asking you to do what you should."

I stared at her for a moment before letting out a slow sigh and dropping back into my seat.

"By treating you as important, what exactly do you mean?"

"I don't know…" Ariel muttered, shifting slightly where she lay. "Maybe at least tell me where you're going sometimes. Or take me along on one of your missions so I can actually grow stronger."

Her ears twitched slightly before she continued.

"So I don't die… and you don't die too."

She looked away for a brief moment.

"That's not hard, is it?"

I exhaled quietly.

When she put it that way, it was difficult to argue against it completely.

Truthfully, I hadn't been intentionally ignoring her. There had just been too much happening lately—fights, the King's Games, the clan, Caius, everything stacking on top of each other without giving me much room to slow down and think.

But that didn't really change her point.

Our lives were linked whether I liked it or not.

And if something happened to her because I neglected that fact, then I'd have nobody to blame but myself.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said at last.

"You better," Ariel harrumphed before turning away dramatically, her tail flicking once behind her.

I sighed once again.

At one point, I had actually wanted some kind of pet or animal companion, and when Ariel first appeared, I thought she would fill that role.

Instead, she acted more like a nagging girlfriend constantly complaining that I didn't pay enough attention to her.

Which was absolutely not what I needed right now.

Still…

As irritating as she could be, she wasn't wrong either. This wasn't some ordinary relationship I could casually ignore whenever I got busy. Whether I liked it or not, Ariel was someone I needed to pay attention to.

No… more accurately, someone I had to.

My life literally depended on it.

And now that the stakes around me had risen so much higher, that connection between us had become even more dangerous to neglect.

Before I could dwell on it further, the others began arriving one after another.

Narg entered first, followed by Zarah, Flogga, Gork, Gobbo, and finally Bundi, who looked like he had come directly from working on something outside given the faint dust still clinging to parts of him.

Once everyone had settled around the table, the atmosphere naturally grew more serious.

I looked at each of them briefly before finally speaking.