At dawn on the 10th, outside a courtyard near the city walls of White Tree City, an ordinary-looking knight opened the gate and headed straight into the courtyard's main building. Familiar with the place, he found a hidden door in one of the rooms and entered the cellar.
After passing through a short underground passage, the space immediately opened up. Before him lay a circular room roughly twenty meters in diameter and six or seven meters high. The domed ceiling was covered in illuminating Magic Pattern Plates, while the floor was laid with cork. At the center stood a half-meter-high grill platform covered in heating Magic Pattern Plates, leaving the entire basement free of dampness or chill.
Beside the platform, a broad, towering knight sat on the floor, enjoying the food warmed atop the grill. Seeing the young man, he smiled and said, "Leiman, did that cow agree to your proposal?"
"Yes, Father. She's already tempted," the young man nodded. "Even if she doesn't bring her people to White Tree City, she won't flee easily."
"That'll do. Without either thugs or a slave camp, the White Tree Family will decline," the knight said with a smile. "We've already traded all the slaves for hard cash. Once something goes wrong on White Tree's side, we can directly buy up their houses. In the future, our Lizard Family will be the most powerful slave owners in the region!"
"Father, I think we ought to prepare more thoroughly. For instance, if that Imola doesn't dare come, should we find a force to charge into the city in her place?" the young man asked.
The old man nodded. "Heh heh, naturally. But we can't dirty our own hands with such a thing. We need to find some family to stick its neck out first!"