As Mike's conversation is coming to an end the guard who left was able to quickly return with his captain of the guard and explain the situation along the way. So when they both showed up the captain took everyone into the city to their barracks for questioning about what everyone experienced. Everyone of course compiled with the guards as the quicker they got done with this the sooner they could try to restart their lives as citizens of the city.
When they entered the building some of the people had to sit outside of the building as it was two little to hold the escapees. Mike however noticed that mainly elves were sitting outside in the sun while the humans were given the privilege to stay in the building where there was shade and not as hot from the sun. Mike had already told the group before they were at the gates of the city to of course keep quiet about the money they found as well as the documents that Mike took from the underground. He would not mind them telling the guards about the leader of their operations as he made it out to be the old guy that ran the place before he was killed by the three figures and Irina took over their operations.
Mike waited for a good hour and to make things better he would constantly switch spots with the elves outside to make sure they would not get too hot and burn up in the sun for staying out too long while the others were in the shade. None of the guards cared about what Mike was doing but was still discouraged by them to show them any kindness which he just ignored as they were still considered people in his eyes, unlike others apparently.
Eventually, Mike was next to be questioned by the guards and was brought into a room with two chairs that surrounded a desk in the middle of the room that had a quill and inkpot off to the side. Mike sat down as another guard entered the room. All guards were standard gear consisting of metal breastplates that are on top of chain mail and some other pieces of metal protecting their vital spots. The rest of the armor consisted of boiled leather pieces that were sewn together to go underneath the chain mail and protect the rest of the body parts that had no metal or chain. For most cities, this kind of equipment is quite good since most people back on Earth have the common misconception that guards of cities would be wearing full metal armor as knights but that is not the case.
Metal is hard to refine down into something usable for use particularly in the medieval ages as there were not a lot of methods for refining and improving raw metal. How this town was able to equip a regular guard with this many pieces of metal showed that this place was pretty important to the kingdom or they just had a lot of metal to use since this place was a fantasy world with magic and other races besides humans.
Mike got all that from the guard who sat down and took out a piece of paper from a sachel that was hanging on his hip. He places the paper on the table while also reaching out to take the quill and inkpot on the table. After dipping the quill inside and positioning his hand over the paper he finally talks.
"Name, place of residence, previous job, and your story of what happened please," The guard says in a monotone voice like someone over the intercoms of a grocery store would do back on Earth
"I am Michael Bridlington an apprentice of Royal Wizard Dike and I want him to know I am here," Mike says
"Hahaha right kid if you are an apprentice of a royal wizard then I hold a goose that lays golden eggs" The guard laughs at Mike for his claim
[Ice Blast]
79
Mike blasts the spell into the guard's face causing him to take an insignificant amount of damage and make him shut up to take Mike's claim a bit more seriously. The guard gets up and leaves the room while Mike just sits there and waits for him to return.
When the guard returns he is accompanied by the captain of the guard who Mike recognizes from the decor that he wears and the better state his gear is since he has to be presentable at all times it looks like he cleans his armor regularly.
"Mr. Bridlington please come with us to see your master," he says before turning around and leaving the room while Mike just follows behind silently
Mike took notice of how when he left the room some guards that were nearby started to follow behind them and escort him. Mike thought nothing of it since he knew that Sarenthia would be able to deal with most enemies easily so a few guards were not a problem for her. Of course, Mike was not going to get cocky over having a flying sword that could kill people easily since he would not be able to gain exp from people that she killed Mike was reluctant to let her fly around unless he was in a situation he could not handle.
The group walks down into the dungeons of the building where they house the criminals of the city with there being three different levels from which to place a criminal. Now, what was the point of having three levels? It was meant to be a form of torture as the lower they go the less oxygen there is to breathe and since it was a pain to dig to the third level the cells were really small of about the size of 2 feet in length and 6 feet in height for the entirety of the room. The third level was used as a form of torture and interrogation for prisoners that were given death penalties and other such criminals just to make them suffer or used as torture to get them to spill about stuff they knew. When Mike was here before he was placed on the first level with Roblin since they were not yet deemed guilty by their court system.
Mike was surprisingly happy to be going down here as it would help improve his [Intermidate Pain Resistance] skill with this experience and give him some idea on how to improve it.
'Am I going to become a masochist?' Mike thinks to himself as he moves to the third floor with the group [1]
Once there they move to the end of the small hall which was the worst place to be since that was the farthest place from the way to the surface so the oxygen that someone could breathe was significantly reduced as a result.
As Mike was going forward however he heard a familiar voice.
"Okay, then you ready to talk yet?" Dikes voice bounces throughout the quiet hallway
"Heya Dike! How you been?" Mike calls out when he hears Dike's voice
"..."
Mike gets no response but he hears some footsteps moving towards the group and before he knows it Dike comes walking out from the darkness.
"Mike!" Dike cries out in joy
"Haha master it is good to see you," Mike says as he moves out of the entourage that had surrounded him
"Where have you been? I have been turning the city upside down the last few days looking for you," Dike says as both of them awkwardly stare at each other not knowing what to do since a hug does not seem right as they are not that close yet and anything else would be weird to
"Eh hem!" The guard captain clears his throat clearing the awkward atmosphere between the two of them
"I take it Wizard Dike that you know this kid?" The captain asks
"Ah yes, Roger I do know him. This is my apprentice that I have been looking for over the past few days with the guards but seeing as how he has returned of his own will and looks perfectly fine you can stop the search now and I will be sure to punish him as needed" Dike says in confirmation and in a bit of a deadly tone with the last set of words that brought chills to Mike
"Actually sir this young man returned with a group of escaped slaves who were missing citizens about to be sold in the city and elsewhere from what most of them are telling us," The captain chimes in
"Oh? So you did not run off with some damsel that you found at that tavern?" Dike asks while looking at Mike
"What are you talking about? I never went to any tavern," Mike says with confusion etched on his face
"Oh well, I assumed that when I went looking for you through the token I gave you and ended up at a tavern I thought that you had gone there to indulge in some behaviors for a while and left your token there by accident. Thankfully that is not the case now" Dike says
Mike is still confused at what Dike was saying as his guess of what happened was really random and weird, to say the least. Still, Mike was not going to care about that as he realized that his wolf puppy was not with Dike like Abbey said.
"Um... Dike where is my dog?" Mike asks with a fearful tone
"Hmm... Oh I left him at the inn"
"..."
'Note to self never allow Dike to take care of my pets'
"Anyway we should head back up and leave them to rot down here," Dike says as he starts walking toward the stairs
"Let who rot down here?" Mike asks while not moving
"Someone who attacked me while at that tavern I mentioned," Dike replies as he continues on to the stairs
Mike does not follow them but goes down to see who Dike was talking about. In the darkness Mike sees a figure sitting in a cell curled up into a ball on the floor not making a sound as they sit there. Mike can see that they look very similar to the guys who captured him from before.
"Hey remember me?" Mike asks
The figure moves and looks up at Mike.
"It's you," They say
"Nice to see you Two," Mike says as he recognizes his voice
"What do you want?" He asks
"Not going to ask how I got out huh? Well I want nothing more than to see you rot in here along with the guy who hijacked my body"
"..."
Silence pervades the area for a bit
"Don't bother Mike this guy is not spilling anything even after my magic touch" Dike says from behind
Mike was startled by Dike showing up out of nowhere but what in the world did he mean by 'Magic Touch'? Mike probably did not want to know what it was about.
"Well I can tell you one thing Dike he was one of the three that got me before"
"Oh really now? What were their plans?" Dike asks
"Don't really know but they wanted you out of the city or dead and they wanted to use me to force you to"
"That seems a little extreme to get a Royal Wizard out of the city especially since the people who want me dead are that organization right Two?" Dike asks
"..."
Silence falls once more but Dike takes that as a confirmation before turning around and leaving with Mike from the dungeon. During this time everyone that was going to be sold into slavery before Mike saved them had recounted what happened and gave a location for the sewer entrance that connected to the place for them to use. So when everyone returned from the depths of the dungeon Mike saw that everyone was just waiting for him to come out since they were now free to go since all the guard's questions had been answered.
Mike leaves Dike for a bit and starts redistributing the gold to everyone to use since most of them needed some sort of start-up for their lives once more. Once done Mike says his goodbyes and returns back to the inn with Dike where he plans to take a bath to get rid of the stench from the sewers and to get something to eat as he was starving.
___________
1. Masochist - Someone who enjoys inflicting pain onto others or to themselves