The final section of the bandit hideout turned out to be a prison of sorts. A number of cells had been created with the victims the bandits had kidnapped being held inside. Each side of the cave housed a total of five cells a piece resulting in eleven cages in total when the individual cell at the end of the hallway is added in.
Jellal inspected each cage one by one as he made his rounds of the cells. The first set of cells housed groups of people numbering in excess of five while the remaining eight cells on the sides of the cave held at most two individuals per cell. The cell at the end housed a single individual who was chained up especially securely compared to the rest of the captives.
The captives in the first set of cells were separated with the men on the right side and women on the left. Their hands were chained together but other than that they weren't restrained in any way. Without having their feet chained together or being chained to the wall they were able to move about freely within the cells. The captives in these cells were typically nicely dressed in clothes that are suited to travel rather than fancy clothes or armor made for combat.
The second and third sets of cells had the men and women separated in the same way the first set of cells did, with men on the right and women on the left. The captives in these cells wore characteristically fancy clothes that gave off an elegant noble-like air. Much like the captives in the first set of cells they were only chained at the wrists while being mostly free to move about in the cell. The second and third sets of cells had a higher quality environment with beds available for each individual in the cells.
The final two sets of cells housed only women. The captives of these cells wore armor reminiscent of the armor adventurers typically wear with some having leather armor and others having heavier knight like metal armor. The captives in the last two sets of cells not only had their wrists chained but also had their feet chained together along with chains that connected them to the walls ensuring they couldn't get too close to one another. One of the women even had her mouth gagged to prevent her from speaking.
The cell at the end of the hall housed a presumably dangerous captive. Each of the captives limbs were chained individually to the wall along with being chained together. The shackles also had spikes embedded in them that would stab the captive if she jerked about with any sort of significant force. Her mouth had been gagged and her eyes had even been covered by a blindfold. The coup de grace would have to be the spiked collar that's connected directly to the wall making it nearly impossible for her to move her head and neck without being jabbed in the throat with spikes. The captive didn't wear armor but an elegant dark red and black gothic style dress.
Jellal couldn't help but wonder what kind of person requires such over the top security measures and how these incompetent bandits manage to catch her in the first place.
After checking each of the cells he circled back around to the entrance of the section before halting his steps. Taking one last look back he gazed deeply at the cells, especially the end cell, before heading back to the area he came from.
With the entire cave having been explored he returned to the entrance to get his backpack. Starting with the grunt living quarters he stripped away anything of value or of use from the rooms and corpses before heading back to the dining hall.
After reaching the dining hall he temporarily set down his backpack since he wouldn't need it at the moment. Moving to a table in the dining room he dragged it all the way to the entrance of the cave before standing it upright, with great effort, blocking the entrance of the cave just in case a random monster happens upon it and tries to move in.
Moving back to the dining hall he didn't grab his backpack but instead grabbed another table. The table was loudly dragged behind the first reinforcing the security. Just like that he went back and forth placing a pair of tables at the intersection, at the halfway point between the intersection and the dining hall, and at the entrance of the dining hall.
Having used eight tables in total he was finally comfortable with the security of the cave and went back to his backpack. Knowing how much stuff he still had to collect, he emptied his backpack before heading to the main living quarters. In the main living quarters he stripped away the valuables and anything of use from the corpses and rooms. Each time his backpack was filled he would return to the dining hall to empty it before coming back for a refill.
Multiple round trips later, he had finally finished consolidating all the useful and valuable things from the two living quarters into one giant pile in the dining hall. Unable to stand the sight of a giant pile of assorted goods he started separating the items into separate piles. In the end he had a pile for weapons, one for shoes, one for clothes, one for miscellaneous items that he deemed potentially useful in the future, and a pile for things that likely have monetary value.
After a bit of deliberation he made another group of round trips from the dining hall to the treasure room. Instead of keeping his piles in the dining hall where they would be in the way he moved them to the treasure room since he was planning on organizing the treasure room in the future as well.
Finally finishing everything he had to do in the hideout he let out a yawn as he made his way back to the fancy bedroom which he'd claimed as his own. Upon entering his room he took off his equipment before hopping into bed and quickly passing out.
For the first time since being reborn Jellal woke up feeling refreshed and well rested. The difference in the quality of sleep you can get in a normal bed when compared to sleeping in a tree is truly remarkable. Ready to take care of the problem he pushed off last night he jumps out of bed to do his morning stretches before putting on his personally made equipment.
'Now that I think about it I was injured last night and … the injury's gone, why is it gone? Is this finally a perk of being a monster, the legendary regeneration? It's only natural a superior being such as myself can recover from injuries overnight, kekeke.
Still the question of what to do about the captives remains. I could set them free but wandering around a forest without any weapons or an idea of which way to go to reach civilization would kind of be a dick move. Not to mention they could spill the location of my sweet new pad.
I could be a super nice dude and lead them back to the road but not only would that be the same as me personally giving away the location of my new crib, it would also require me to babysit a bunch of random, possibly disingenuous people until they got to a town safely. Since that would be way too much of a pain I think I'll go ahead and rule that option out.
Option three: babysit the captives at my base. I like it more than the first two options but I'm not keen on having to look after so many people while gaining nothing I return so I'll take a hard pass on this one.
Option four: kill everyone. Not bad! No babysitting, no base exposure, no problems whatsoever. Sure I'll have to figure out what to do with the bodies but considering the number of bandits lying around adding a few more bodies to the pile won't change much.
Option five: keep them as lackeys. Not a bad choice. It's basically option three except I don't have to look after a bunch of idiots who got captured by incompetent bandits for free. The main problem is their competency; they did get caught by the useless bastards who used to live here after all.
Options one through three can pretty much be eliminated from the running. While I like option four, murdering a bunch of innocent people without a good reason is below a superior being such as myself. If I can goad them into attacking me on the other hand, they'll no longer be innocent and I'll have the moral high ground. Putting option four aside for in case of emergencies leaves only option five. Honestly I don't need lackeys, especially incompetent ones, but considering the alternatives where I either get shafted or they all go the way of the dinosaurs it seems barring a sudden stroke of inspiration I don't really have any other worthwhile alternatives.
… Now that I think about it, would a bunch of idiots who got kidnapped actually listen to a goblin? … As I thought, option four's pretty good.'
Having come up with zero good ideas on what to do with the captives he decided to put it on the back burner for now. Shifting his attention he started to examine one of the suspiciously plain bags that he found in one of the secret compartments.
After looking at the bag from various angles and trying a number of methods to pry into the secrets he was left scratching his head. He had tried forcing his consciousness into the bag, forcing his magic power into the bag, forcing things that are too big for it into the bag, and even putting things into the bag normally but no matter what he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary with the bag. While sitting there staring at a bag like a totally sane person everything clicked into place.
'Blood! If it's a bag that looks plain but is awesome enough to be hidden in a secret compartment then it has to be an item bag which bends space to hold a ton more stuff than it should be able too. When it comes to claiming ownership of magic items, especially item bags, then the answer should be blood.'
Certain he'd figured it out he took a knife out of his pouch and poked his finger so a drop of blood could drop onto the bag. He watched in anticipation as time seemed to slow down as the blood dropped to the bag below. The drop of blood splashed down on the bag and then … nothing. Even after retrying the methods he had used before nothing seemed to have changed, the mystery of the bag still eluded him.
'Maybe one of those idiot lackeys knows how to use the bags; chances are it belonged to one of them in the first place. Alright it's time for those useless fellows to earn their keep. I can't pick just anybody since they may try to betray me for it later so first I need to find someone trustworthy amongst these lackeys, and I think I know just the way.
With a plan in place he makes his way to the prison area to properly meet his new lackeys. He stops at the door to straighten his cape and make sure he's looking his best so he can leave a good impression as the new boss. Taking a deep breath he pushes the door open and struts down the slope to the cells with large strides.
Arriving at the bottom of the slope he holds his chin high as he takes long slow strides showing off his elegance and high standing. He walks to the middle of the room while glancing at the captives in each cell to see what kind of reactions they're having. Most of the captives were naturally confused while a few looked at him in disdain.
[Oh, what's this? Did those thugs get a new pet?]
One of the noble looking men immediately made the mistake of insulting their new boss. Hearing the taunt Jellal slowly turned his head toward the loud mouth while sporting a malicious grin. While shooting the captive a deadly glare he casually walked over to the cell before taking out the keys he'd picked up off of Murdoc and unlocking the cell door.
The fool took the chance to try to escape by rushing at the one who had just mercilessly opened his cage. His roommate, on the other hand, didn't react at all to the door being unlocked and only watched how things would unfold from his bed with eyes that were sure it was a trap.
The fool's roommate was correct in thinking it was a trap. After being insulted Jellal decided to use option four on the fool whose punch was easily caught. Grabbing the fool's arm he pulled it over his should giving the unsuspecting fool a hip throw and slamming him hard into the ground. While his foe was dazed he pulled out a saw and struck his adversary with the back of it, busting the poor fool's kneecaps. The screams of pain echoed through the room as the man clutched at his knees.
[Do you know who my father is? You won't get away with this he's …]
[Not here. And since he's not here it doesn't matter who your father is.]
Looking at the glaring fool Jellal simply gave a malicious grim before removing the unfortunate guy's head with his saw. With his position firmly established he walked back to the cell and shut the door. After locking the door he looked at the fool's roommate and gave him a light smile.
[Congratulations on getting a room to yourself.]
Leaving behind a snide comment he returned to the center of the room to continue his business. Putting on a business smile while looking around, he cleared his throat before stating his business.
[First allow me to introduce myself; I'm your new boss, you can call me master, your highness, sir, your eminence, or if you have no sense of style I guess you could just call me boss. Naturally a superior being such as myself wouldn't go through the effort of visiting you just for mere introductions; I would like a few volunteers who are comfortable handling bodies.]
Jellal looked at the fool's corpse in disdain as he mentioned bodies. The captives were rightfully nervous and hesitant to volunteer. In the end the one to volunteer was a little girl who looked to be about eight years old. The other women in the first cell tried to stop her and convince her not to volunteer but she stubbornly persisted with a stern face. Jellal watched on with a smile as the little girl came to the cell door with unyielding eyes. Happy with his first volunteer he opened the cell door to let her out. With the little girl beside him he looked around at the other cells in disappointment before turning to the girl.
[I like you, what's your name young lady?]
[My name's Meredith, boss.]
Glancing around the room yet again he stopped his eyes on the right side before mocking the captives.
[Meredith is volunteering to help all by herself and yet you just sit back and do nothing but watch. And you call yourselves men?]
He shakes his head and sighs continuing to wait for volunteers. The first new volunteer was surprisingly the fool's roommate. After that an adventurer volunteered along with another woman from the first cell. Having decided he had enough volunteers he let them out of their cells and led them to the dining hall. Upon arriving at the dining room his subordinates were shocked to find Murdoc's headless body sprawled out on the ground.
Knowing it would be troublesome to deal with the lackeys if he didn't know what to call them he reluctantly asked for their names. The sole man of the group was named Vincent and apparently has some distant relation with some high ranking nobility. His sharp features and calm temperament were quite fitting for a noble.
The brown haired woman from the same cell as Meredith was named Beth. Although she claims to be the daughter of a prosperous merchant her gentle air and shy temperament is enough to make you wonder if she actually has what it takes to be in a line of work that constantly interacts with people.
The final member of the group is a novice adventurer named Sia. Sia's the only member of the group that isn't human, as evidenced by her cat ears and tail. Her hair is a very noticeable silver causing her to stand out amongst the group. Jellal wanted figure out what kind of personality she had but gave up when she gave minimal answers to questions while glaring at him.
[I suppose we should start by gathering the bodies in one place. Beth and Sia can begin by dragging the bodies from that hallway back to the dining room while Vincent returns to the cells to collect his former roommate. As for Meredith, you and I will be taking a good look at the food storage.]
Vincent quickly dragged back his former roommate's body before joining Beth and Sia who were making constant trips to the main living quarters. It took the trio half an hour to bring all the bodies into the dining hall.
While the trio were taking care of the heavy lifting Jellal and Meredith were playing around in the food storage room and the kitchen. Meredith's eyes sparkled as she ran around the storage room checking the different ingredients.
After getting an idea of how they were looking food wise they moved on to the kitchen. The kitchen used magic stones to power the stove and sink. Jellal could only follow Meredith around as she confidently demonstrated how each of the appliances worked.
Seeing that the others had finally finished gathering the bodies from the main living quarters they joined up with them to prepare for the next step. After moving the tables that blocked the way to the grunt living quarters he had Vincent and Sia drag the bodies from the dining hall to an extra-large pile in the grunt living quarters.
Beth was tasked with cleaning up the excessive amounts of blood that was forming puddles all over the cave. Originally he had planned to have Meredith stick with him while he made sure Vincent and Sia didn't try any funny business but she insisted on helping the others. When faced with her unyielding gaze he could only relent and ask her to help Beth clean up the blood.
Beth finished her job before the pile in the dining hall had disappeared so she joined Vincent and Sia move the bodies to the grunt living quarters. Meredith wanted to help them move the bodies but Jellal was stern in his opposition and refused to allow her to touch the filthy bodies.
Seeing the preferential treatment Meredith was receiving the other three helpers began feeling concerned about her safety, after all goblins aren't known for their kind treatment of the women of other species.
Jellal began to feel odd when he noticed the trio of workers giving him a strange look every time they passed by. Without knowing why he was getting strange looks he could only confusedly stare back at them while tilting his head.
When all the bodies were finally gathered in one place, he gathered the group together before giving them a thumbs up before sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
[Good work everyone. Now, how do we dispose of the bodies? If you want to go through the trouble of building a grave for them I won't stop you, but that's a lot of work. Personally I think we should torch the bastards, but I don't want to give away the location of my brand new base. So, any suggestions?]