Anna groaned... it had been days, and digging in the dirt was becoming tiring and monotonous.

She was not really complaining... Seven mana stones just to dig in the ground for seven days was a good bargain.

They were already on their third day and had four more days to go.

Yesterday, they had been joined by sixty plus new workers, and her husband had been able to gather information from them.

According to them, they used to be slaves of a bandit group led by a Level 3, but that had all changed suddenly... like in a snap of a finger.

One moment they went to sleep and the next, they woke up in an almost silent camp. They were sure that they weren’t even asleep for that long.

They were certain that they had slept for at most two hours.

None of their previous oppressors were alive and Talia stood over them, asking them to get to work.

They did not ask any questions, and Anna did not blame them. Any person with just one brain cell who awoke in such conditions would not dare ask a question.

They were given a chance to pay their debt and get transferred out of the mountain after working for a few weeks.

No one among them had a complain and none of them seemed to have a problem with their current life.

According to them, most had been kidnapped from slums in the towns around and sold to the gangs.

Their life here, where they got three square meals and their bosses looked down on them too much to touch them if they did their job, seemed like paradise.

Anna’s eyes moved to the two bosses duelling.

She had barely managed to catch their names from conversations.

The one in charge of the entire operation introduced herself as Talia and they rarely saw her.

The only person they had constant contact with was her brother, called Roden.

Even though they saw him every time, they barely had any communication since he just stood and watched.

That changed yesterday when he was suddenly jumped by someone they had never seen before.

At first, they thought they were under attack then Lady Talia stepped in just in time.

Looking up, Anna could see Roden and the newcomer, called Elda, sparring.

Their blades had been clashing every day, and the lady seemed to switch her weapon often.

There was a second man who looked like Roden’s twin, except for the streak of grey hair.

They barely saw him since he spent most of his time in his tent.

As Anna’s mind wandered, her hand suddenly hit something.

She was not very excited at first as they had several false calls over the last three days and they always amounted to nothing.

She half-heartedly glanced down at the item and her eyes widened.

She was staring at what seemed to be a Grade 2 dagger.

It was dirty and covered in mud, but the moment her hands touched it, she could feel the mana, and she could tell the grade.

She considered taking it and hiding it in her clothes... She was certain she could sell it for hundreds of low-grade mana stones, maybe even thousands if she was lucky.

She stopped.

She did not think she could escape the senses of the two Level 3s on the ground.

She looked around at the people working near her. She raised the dagger up, signalling to her two bosses.

"Boss, I foun..."

Suddenly, they were standing right in front of her.

Her eyes widened even more... She was a mage, but she had not expected to be unable to react to their speed.

"Here."

She calmly dropped the dagger into Roden’s outstretched hand while the rest of the workers gathered around, trying to see the item.

However, they were still of sound mind enough to keep their distance.

"Elda, please call my sister," Roden said to the lady next to him.

Over the last few hours, they had trained together and they had grown close enough to be on a first-name basis.

Only now did Anna get a closer look at the lady called Elda. The only detail she could make out about her face was the upper part.

She had almost grey eyes and short black hair that covered most of her face with her mouth was covered by a mask.

Elda nodded without saying a word. She dashed back to the camp.

She arrived a few minutes later with Talia.

Once Talia reached her brother’s side, he handed her the dagger.

Talia scanned it for a few seconds then she shook her head, disappointed.

"This is not what we need," she said as she handed the dagger back to Roden.

Anna honestly considered it gone... she considered asking for a reward but stopped herself just in time.

She glanced back to ask her husband for advice when she heard Talia’s voice.

"You are Anna, right?"

Anna turned back to Talia... unlike before, Talia was now holding a data-pad.

"Yes," Anna replied.

She watched Talia type away for a bit before grabbed the dagger back from her brother and scanned it again.

"Your weapon will be kept in storage... You may ask for it once you are done with your contract and receive your payment."

Anna’s eyebrows rose. "I get to keep it?"

"Yes... You get to keep anything you find during the contract that is not related to the mission." Talia explained casually. "You may collect them when you are done. Of course, you just have to pay a fee of ten percent of the item’s value to us."

Everyone’s eyes brightened.

The opportunity to come this far into the forest and keep the majority of their spoils was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people like them.

Even with the ten percent taken out, it was still a bargain.

If the dagger’s value was only a hundred low-grade mana stones, Anna had still made ninety with no danger to her life.

"My Lady," a small voice came from one of the younger servants. "Are we also entitled to this?"

"Yes... While you are now Morvath family servants, you are still entitled to your wages, and they will be paid to you at the end of the month."

Roden stepped forward. "Now get back to work."

As if on steroids, everyone was more than happy to return to their jobs. They worked several times faster.

A small smile appeared on Talia’s face as she walked away.