“I think the boy has it right, brother. You should learn that you don’t want to make a confrontation. Let’s go get our reward and stop wasting time with this backstabber.”

“I’ve already apologized, even if you chose not to accept it,” Lucas said. “But now, I think that you’re going to pay me the lip service that I’m due and say that you’re sorry to Nick too. Then, you’re going to lower your heads and walk away. If you don’t want me to kill you again, that is.”

Malik puffed out his own chest in response to the threat and leaned in toward Lucas, attempting to appear as threatening as possible. “You think I’m scared of you? You’re just a nobody—a nothing, a negative, a zero. You trying to intimidate me?”

“Don’t think you can push us around just because there’s only three of you and two of us,” Valerie warned. “You’re only alive because the guards would have stopped us from stabbing you in the back.”

Yup, they’re dead, Lucas thought, gripping his staff tightly. He would have incinerated them right there with his AoE fire attack if it wasn’t for the fact that he knew it would summon the wrath of the nearby guards. Still, he wasn’t going to let them get away with how they were treating Nick. Even if Nick wasn’t his friend, per se, he had been reliable and honest and had gone above and beyond what Lucas needed him to do, only filing the occasional complaint as he did so.

“Ah! There you are!” another voice chimed from out of nowhere. Unlike the last two, however, this one was pleasant and welcoming. It was also Lucas’s primary target and his reason for being here.

Lucas turned toward the princess and found her rushing over from what must have been the town hall. “Glad you waited for us, Princess,” he said as a way of greeting along with a huge smile.

The princess beamed at him, her radiant smile shining brighter than the midday sun as she fluttered her eyes at Lucas. “How could I not? It’s not every day that I meet a man such as you.”

“I’m going to be sick,” Nick grumbled.

“Please don’t compliment me so much,” Lucas warned dryly. “It’ll make me uncomfortable.” Especially since I’m about to put you through a very serious ordeal.