Two guards wearing black, worn cloaks embroidered with faded red writings walked purposefully through a dimly-lit corridor, the only source of light a single lit torch carried by one of the guards, casting grim shafows on the stone walls.
They dragged four blank-faced prisoners bound in thick, chains inscribed with magic-suppresant runes along somewhere. The leading, shorter guard was muttering something under his breath while adjusting his oversized cloak, while yhe other one remained silent but gripped his claymore tensely.
Both had their hoods drawn down.
Soon, the shorter guard slowed and signalled for his partner to stop, hearing voices ahead.
Soon, they spotted a group of fellow cultists dressed in black cloaks chatting and laughing while approaching them. A large, tanned man with an eye tattooed to his forehead was at the head, laughing at the joke of another.
The group ahead paused their conversation and the buff man suddenly walked up to the slightly taller guard, his steps slightly shaking the floor.
He grinned widely as his gaze slid over the chained prisoners before settling on the two guards.
"Nice catch. Mind if we...have a little taste." His eyes gleamed with a lecherous and slightly mad light.
One of his lackeys moved forward, inspecting the bound and noticed a young girl in the group.
The shorter guard chuckled mildly, though a bead of sweat rolled down his head.
"Nah dude, I need to get this batch to the boss ASAP." He tried to avoid the group but as soon as he took a step, the burly man's hand landed firmly on the shoulder of the other, silent guard.
"I was talking to you."
The shorter one tried to frantically defuse the situation, smiling nervously.
"Ah, sorry. My friend here is a bit of an airhead. He can't speak, literally...unfortunately."
The burly man paused, as if confused, then retracted his hand and turned away.
"Ah, my mistake."
"No, it's okay, this isn't the first time this happened." He said awkwardly.
"Though, I have a question. If you're friend can't speak at all..." He turned back, a mad light in his eyes "how did he accept the initiation oath?"
"Eh?"
Suddenly, a greatsword flashed forward, aimed to cleave his head straight off. The blade was too fast to dodge, but he didn't need to.
CLANG~
Suddenly, a silver halberd rose to intercept the large blade and diverted it off course.
The taller guard rushed in front of him, positioning herself between him and the tanned behemoth.
"Len, Now!"
The shorter one suddenly dropped low as a bolt of pure ice blasted over him, slamming into the tanned cultist and blasting him into the darkness.
A few minutes ago
"Hmm, I see."
Rael held his chin in a thoughtful manner as he pondered the information he had just received.
He had just interviewed the remaining prisoners as well as the green eyed girl's other sister.
The two other men in the cell were named Dorm and Todd apparently, and Todd was the sly guy who had been taking his portions whenever he wasn't looking while Dorm was a gruff, quiet man with a scabbed scar over his right eye.
Despite the complicated and unfamiliar terms used, he was able to glean that Dorm was basically an earth-elemental augmenter while Todd was, unsurprisingly, just a mildly skilled thief with a bit of a wind affinity.
On the other hand, the three older women, named Hura, Karin, and Maki were surprisingly all weapon users. Not that they were that good, just that they didn't have the ability to use magic and therefore had to rely on weapons, not that it had stopped them from being captured, but Maki was allegedly the most skilled of the three and was most comfortable with a claymore.
The other two seemed geared towards ranged and distanced combat but if the whole dungeon was similar to this corridor, they would not really have much to do.
Lastly, the green-eyed girl's twin sister named Ema. Her element was a strange one, but one that made Rael's lips curl despite himself.
Prophecy.
It wasn't really an element but it was arguably even more important and deadly when used right. Unfortunately, it wasn't something consistent but spontaneous and unpredictable. It was also mildly influenced by some sort of faith.
Either way, it was going to be very useful given the fact that he had no idea how strong the Duke was going to be...or anything else for that matter.
He was going on blind.
But not anymore.
It at least showed important moments. He was sure because she had apparently seen him killing the guard earlier ahead of time and told her sister, Len to prepare for the second one.
'No wonder they've been staring at me weirdly.'
It was as if someone had dropped him into a magic arsenal. Provided that arsenal was malnourished, dirty and smelled faintly of piss.
But he soon encountered a problem.
There were only two disguises and nine people in the room, excluding the ten year old boy of course.
He couldn't take the kid for various reasons. One of which was that he would inevitably be a burden and slow them down. Second was that, a child like that would inevitably get killed or seriously injured in the fights he knew was going to come.
Lastly, it just didn't sit well with him to drag a ten year old into this.
After a bit of thinking, he came to a decision.
He and one of the others would have to disguise as the guards and take a few of the others along.
Len was a given, as she was the only one with a confirmed means of magical attack. Dorm seemed like a proper swordsman, he had the same firm gaze of a seasoned veteran that Rael had seen in soldiers of his world before so he seemed like he'd be useful.
Maki too. Though the lack of magic seemed like it would put her behind when up against magic users, he instinctively knew that she would be able to handle herself. Though, just the fact that she was a survivor of her village wasn't much to go off but there was one thing he noticed about her that made her infinitely more dangerous than a normal person, even if the person had magic.
Then, he had Ema.
She also had a healing ability which she was currently using to soothe Remis and her little brother's sore wrists.
'A healer huh...'
Hero parties in stories usually have a healer around in case of injuries. This usually ends up saving them many times from dying due to severe injuries, poison or just bleeding to death in a battle.
Though, he definitely didn't plan on getting hurt too much.
'Just as long as we don't meet someone too strong.'
But he still decided to take her along.
'Just in case.'
"Okay, I've decided. Those who would be coming with me to escape this shithole are: Dorm, Len, Maki, Ema,..."
And lastly...
He turned to look at the blue haired girl.
"...Remis, you'll be coming with us. We're getting out of here."
Remis' eye widened a bit before dimming again as she looked towards her little brother in fear.
"How about Art? Isn't he coming with us?"
Rael raised a brow as if she just asked a stupid question.
"Of course not, he's staying here." He narrowed his eyes at her in turn before turning to the remaining bound prisoners. "And so are all of you."
The little girl paled as she took a step between her brother and Rael.
"Can't you take him instead of me, please?" She placed her hand on her chest, pleading.
Rael deadpanned. "No. Of what use will he be when we're trying to escape. I'll rather not have to watch over dead weight while crossing swords with the jailers."
Remis' clenched her fist, her voice strained in helpless despair, tears were beginning to form at the edge of her eyes.
Len gazed at Rael with a disapproving look but didn't say anything, though it seemed like Ema had something to say.
Ema clenched her fist in frustration. "So you're just going to leave them in here to die."
Rael turned to her...and blinked.
"When did I say that?" He asked.
"Eh?" Now it was Ema's turn to blink in confusion. She was certain he was prepared to leave the others he hadn't selected behind. Even the others were somewhat shocked.
"Oh, you misunderstand." He rolled his eyes with a slight smirk. "If I had my way, I'd uncuff all of you and stack you between me and whatever defences this place has to offer."
Then he sighed. "But it would be too much of a risk to just pack us up at once. These corridors are narrow so it would be a recipe for disaster if we all tried to sneak out, or even fought in them, not to talk of the limited weapons we have."
"But then, what about us?" Todd asked nervously.
"As I said, you'll all be staying here while we figure out a way out of here. If we manage to find a way out, one of us will come get you."
"But you will come back for us,...right?" Todd still asked nervously.
Rael just snickered and coiled the rusted chain around his arm before rolling down the long sleeve of the black cloak.
"Hehe. Maybe."
As long as they don't get caught.
Hopefully, they wouldn't get caught...too early.
But somehow, Rael felt that that would definitely be the case. So just in case, he decided to prepare some countermeasures.
***
Now
"Why the fuck did I have to flag it?"