"Mister Immortal, sir. Wait up."
Rune stopped mid step and let out a tired breath.
"You know," he said without turning around, "I had almost made it back without someone stopping me."
He turned and saw the five Broken Crown recruits he had seen the other day, the same ones Stryker had been speaking to outside the dungeon.
Rune raised an eyebrow. "Before we get into whatever this is, does the Crown hand out my schedule? Or do you all just keep people waiting around for me at all hours?"
"No. No, sir," the man at the front stammered quickly. "It is not like that. I apologize. We just… we wanted a moment to talk to you."
Rune studied them for a second, then shrugged. "At least you are not attacking me. What do you need? I am in a decent mood. I just cleared another floor."
The man swallowed. "We want out of the Broken Crown. We just do not know how. They keep ordering us to attack people and steal from them."
One of the women stepped forward, hands clenched. "They also keep trying to give us new gear and supplies. Anything they can, really. It just increases our debt, even though we already paid a lot of it off with the crystal we got using your information."
The largest of the group, a man with a heavy shield strapped across his back, spoke quietly. "And if you do not keep up with the interest…" He hesitated. "They have a punishment."
"They kill you," the man continued. "Over and over. Force you to revive at the faction's temple."
Silence settled between them, heavy and uncomfortable.
Rune lifted his head as the weight of it sank in.
This was not his mess. He had not forced them to sign contracts they did not understand. He had not put them in chains made of debt and fear.
But this was too much. He couldn't just stand by while these people were exploited.
"So you came to me," Rune said. "Why?"
The first man swallowed and spoke again. "We have no other options, sir. Once we got close to paying off our debt, they stopped letting us take any work that actually earned merits."
His hands clenched. "They made it impossible."
"They trapped us."
"Alright," Rune said. "That is enough for me. Let's go."
The group blinked. "Sir?"
"You can show me where their headquarters is in the city, right?"
The man hesitated. "Right now, sir?"
"Yes. Right now. Is there a problem?"
Another pause.
"Well… sir," the man said carefully, "you are not wearing anything except your boxers."
Rune looked down at himself.
"Oh. Yeah."
He nodded once, completely unbothered.
"Well, that works out perfectly then."
The recruits exchanged confused looks.
"It is all part of the plan."
As they moved through the city, people began to follow behind them, forming a crowd.
Rumors had been spreading for days. Stories of how the one and only Crazy Immortal Goblin had taken on a squad of the Crown in the woods, laughing and shouting for them to hit him harder.
Now that same figure was walking through the streets in nothing more than boxers, five Broken Crown members trailing behind him, all headed straight toward the faction's headquarters.
Curiosity turned into momentum.
By the time they reached the gates of the Broken Crown manor, a crowd of around 70 people had gathered behind them, murmurs rolling through the street like a tide.
Rune stopped in front of the gates and looked up.
"Hey," he called out. "You. Guard."
He cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Open up. And tell whoever thinks they are in charge to come outside."
A pause. Then Rune smiled.
"Tell them the Immortal Goblin is here to have a word."
The man at the gate glanced at the other guard, voice low and tense. "What do we do? I think that is really him."
The second guard swallowed. "There is no telling what he will do. I heard he is insane."
"Go," the first guard said quickly. "Get the vice captain. Now."
One of them broke into a run, heading toward the manor. There was far less distance between the gate and the main building than most faction estates, a consequence of the manor's prime location near the heart of the city.
The remaining guard hesitated, then pushed the gate open.
"Y… you can come in," he said carefully. "Please."
Rune stepped through without comment. The five recruits followed close behind him. The gate closed again, heavy iron slamming shut as the crowd pressed forward, voices quieting as they strained to see what would happen next.
Rune crossed into the front courtyard just as the manor's doors opened.
Several Broken Crown members stepped out, tense and uncertain, eyes fixed on him as they tried to understand why the Immortal Goblin was standing in their courtyard wearing nothing but boxers.
Behind them, a man hurried out in a suit of polished armor that looked just a bit too large for his frame. He fumbled with the straps as he moved, trying to tighten them while still maintaining some sense of authority.
"I am Vice Captain Mick of the Broken Crown," he announced. His eyes flicked past Rune to the crowd packed against the gates, watching intently.
Mick was not a fool. In fact, he was sharp enough that the Crown had recently promoted him and left him in charge of the headquarters while the other officers focused on the fortress push.
This situation was already spiraling, and he could see it.
He forced a polite smile. "Why don't you come inside, and we can discuss whatever your business is in private."
Rune did not move.
"Why would I do that?" He glanced back at the crowd, then returned his gaze to Mick. "I would lose all of my leverage."
This had been Rune's plan from the start.
Walking through the city like that was never about bravado. It was bait. The crowd that followed him was the real weapon. With that many eyes watching, the Crown could not act freely. Attacking an unarmed man in public would shred what little reputation they still held.
And there was more to it than that.
Rune was the Immortal Goblin. A known wildcard.
If they attacked him here, on their own grounds, while he stood defenseless, and somehow still lost, the damage would be permanent. The Crown would never recover from it.
Mick understood this the moment Rune refused to move.
He saw the trap. Clear. Right there in front of him.
And now he was stuck inside it, forced to play on a stage Rune had already built, with an audience waiting to see how the Crown would choose to act.