From Slave to King: My Rebate System Built Me a Kingdom With Beauties!-Chapter 183: Byung Makes A Decision!
The night passed with relative ease for those unaware of what transpired behind closed doors, the goblin town settling into its usual rhythms of watch changes and patrol rotations, torches being extinguished as residents retired to their quarters. But Maui waited some distance away from the guest house, positioned on a stone bench near the town square where she could maintain line of sight to the entrance. She sat there all night, her massive frame hunched forward with elbows on knees, green eyes never leaving that door, hoping—praying—that Byung made it through. Hours crawled by with agonizing slowness, the moon tracking its arc across the star-filled sky while she wrestled with scenarios both triumphant and horrific.
The fact he never came out worried her more with each passing hour. By midnight, anxiety gnawed at her gut. By the pre-dawn hours, dread had settled into her bones like frost. She was already fearing the worst at that moment—imagining his flayed corpse being carried out by stony-faced honor guards, or worse, no body at all, just silence and the knowledge that he had failed and paid the ultimate price. Her hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly, knuckles cracking softly, the only outlet for tension that threatened to explode into rash action.
The night passed its deepest point and the sun began to ascend in the distance, painting the eastern sky in streaks of pink and gold that pushed back the darkness. The town stirred with the first sounds of morning—roosters crowing, doors creaking open, the clang of forge fires being stoked. And finally, after what felt like a lifetime compressed into hours, Byung emerged from the house. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
The fact that he did was nothing short of a miracle—Maui’s breath caught in her throat, relief flooding through her so powerfully her knees went weak. But then she noticed something was wrong.
Byung was stumbling like he had been injured, his gait unsteady, one hand pressed against his side as he staggered down the steps. He looked at Maui with what appeared to be fear in his eyes, his face pale beneath the green skin, and he raised his free hand weakly. "Maui... help me..." His voice was strained, barely audible across the distance.
She looked closer as he stumbled forward another step, and saw his clothes were bloodied—dark stains soaking through his tunic, dried blood crusted on his trousers, fresh crimson seeping between his fingers where they pressed his ribs. Maui’s heart stopped for a second, the world narrowing to tunnel vision as ice flooded her veins. No. No, this couldn’t be happening. Before rational thought could catch up, she rushed toward Byung, her boots pounding the stone pathway with heavy thuds that echoed off buildings.
"BYUNG!" she screamed his name, the sound raw with panic and grief, loud enough to wake anyone still sleeping. There was no way he could have failed the test—yet here he was, stumbling and bleeding, looking like he was on the verge of death.
She covered the distance in seconds, her longer stride eating up ground, and dropped to her knees beside him as he sank to the ground with a pained grunt.
"What happened?! What did she—" Maui couldn’t complete the sentence.
The moment she grabbed him, pulling him against her chest to assess the damage, she noticed something that made her freeze. Byung had a smile on his face—not grimacing in pain, but grinning like a mischievous child who’d pulled off the perfect prank. Before she could process this, he winced at her, one eye closing in an exaggerated gesture. He was fine. Completely fine. Just messing with her.
"You—!" Maui’s relief transformed instantly into fury, her face flushing with heat. She peeked through the still-open door of the guest house and saw the Chieftess seated regally on the bed, already dressed in fresh robes, her honor guards positioned around her. One brushed her long white hair with careful strokes while another laid out armor pieces for the day. The Chieftess looked... satisfied. Composed. Utterly unbothered. Definitely not having just killed anyone.
Maui turned back to Byung and hit him on the head with an open palm, the smack echoing across the square.
"You bastard! I thought—I stayed up all night thinking you were dead!" Her voice cracked despite the anger, betraying how genuinely terrified she had been. But beneath the frustration was overwhelming relief—Byung had done it. Actually done it. The impossible task that had killed countless warriors was complete.
It was done, and this meant everything had changed. Byung had become the authority that now commanded the Stonehide tribe, their loyalty transferred through the ancient ritual of conquest and intimacy. Maui knew immediately what his next objective would be—it would be to take over the territory now controlled by Borg, the scheming bastard who had murdered Kragg and seized power through treachery rather than strength.
Kragg’s death had reached them through whispers and runner reports, but something told Maui—told all of them who knew what that sick orc was capable of—that no ordinary orc conflict would unfold that way. It had to be Borg, the same snake who had been the one to land the killing blow that nearly ended her life during that ambush weeks ago. The objective had supposedly been to capture her alive, yet Borg’s attack had been aimed to kill, the thrust meant to pierce her heart. Kragg had seen this betrayal even then and had allowed her to escape, creating an opening when his forces could have overwhelmed her. There was no way she would have survived that encounter if Kragg had truly wished to take her life. The chief had honor, whatever his other faults. Borg had none. Borg was a pest that should have been gotten rid of long ago but his ties with Shava is what gave him relevance.
But Byung got to his feet soon after the playful moment passed, escaping from her grasp—what he had cheekily called her "juicy lap" in his mind as he pulled away from where she’d cradled him. His expression shifted from mischievous to serious in a heartbeat, the transformation jarring.
"I need to go for a brief walk," Byung informed her, his tone leaving no room for argument despite the casual phrasing.
Maui frowned, worry creeping back despite knowing he was uninjured.
"Do you want me to come with you?" She started to rise, ready to follow wherever he led.
But he shook his head firmly. "I need to go alone." The words were final, and the shift in his personality was extreme—he went from playful prankster to stern and serious in the span of seconds, the cold calculation she’d seen glimpses of now fully surfaced.
Byung had nothing to worry about regarding security—the mine was as secured as it could possibly be, with watch rotations, trained scouts, and now the Stonehide warriors adding their considerable strength to defenses. Whatever he needed to do, the settlement would be safe in his absence.
But before he turned to leave, Byung smiled to himself—a small, private expression that didn’t quite reach his eyes—and said casually over his shoulder, "Make sure Grishka settles in properly. Show her where things are, introduce her to our people. She is one of us now,"
Maui was confused for a moment, her brow furrowing. Who was Grishka? The name was unfamiliar, not any goblin or orc she knew in the settlement. Then it hit her like a physical blow—the Chieftess. Byung had given the nameless legend a name. Grishka. The realization sent a shiver down her spine because it meant more than just a label; it meant he had claimed her so completely that he could redefine her very identity.
Before Maui could ask him any questions—how he’d chosen the name, what had happened in that room, what this meant for their own relationship—Byung was already some distance away, his stride purposeful as he headed toward the forest path that led beyond the settlement’s borders. His mind was fixed on one thing, one destination that had been waiting in the back of his thoughts since the dwarf’s cryptic message weeks ago.
He needed to meet the dwarf in the black forest, claim the sword that was supposedly his by right, and discover what "that thing" was that had chosen him. The answers waited in darkness beyond the safe borders, in territory that edged dangerously close to the dark continent itself.
And Byung walked toward it without hesitation, leaving behind the warmth and safety of the settlement for whatever fate awaited in the shadows.
This might have looked like a reckless decision on his end but Byung knew there must be a reason why the dwarf had met him alone when he could have easily come through the gates as a guest.
The goblins had no qualms with dwarves after all and he would rather it remained that way, the last thing he could afford was to spook him. He needed that sword, the sword that belonged to the King before him.
