Everything started to make sense.
'Well, no. In fact, it's just a tremendously small amount of things... But it's still alright.'
He nodded to himself without showing many surprises.
'So it's like this after all. I have to admit, I wasn't quite able to discover everything by myself, but it seems I had a pretty good idea of the truth...'
The Church of Peace was in need of children whose identities couldn't be traced and nobody would look for even if they vanished in the wild. For this, they had supported certain criminal organizations from the shadows. Carl was the person in charge of this particular town, where he helped Big Kor to do his business and watched over it at the same time.
'As for my mission... Mannie just said even Big Kor had trouble finding orphans these days, which is why they called me under false pretenses to find their hiding place. To make sure I did, they threw me in a very scary and dangerous environment by myself, forcing me to get help and therefore interact with the other kids...' At this point, Nem's expression was quite distorted and ugly... Just kidding, he still looked like a cute kid that bit into a lemon for the first time.
'So, Carl followed me around to find out where exactly that place was as well as making sure I didn't die on the way. Right after I described the place in detail and confirmed its existence, which he probably wasn't even certain of, he told what he found to Big Kor and left Lunhart. Perhaps because he wants to avoid having anything to do with what he expects will be a massive kidnapping...'
Now that he thought about it, Nem had indeed told everything about the underground refuge to Carl, since he couldn't find a reason not to. He did leave out the fact that they had a plan to escape in case they were found, though. Still, it might not be an ideal plan, considering it was made by adolescents. Nem almost clicked his tongue in annoyance.
'Now Big Kor is preparing to grab the kids with his entire club of scummy bastards, and to make even better, it's my fault. Shit ! I have to do something...'
Nem hesitated between leaving right at this moment or listen in on the rest of the conversation. After all, he still hadn't figured out much about the boss himself or the metalworking factory, for example. Stuck in thoughts, he didn't realize something was wrong until the door he was leaning against was suddenly pulled inwards.
As he staggered a bit to find his balance and recover from the surprise, he saw the shocked and puzzled face of a male servant staring at him with the door's handle in his hands. Nem's dark-red eyes widened slightly and he glanced all around him, noticing pretty much everyone was starring at him in a daze. He straightened his back and declared :
"Good day, gentlemen. Ah, and ladies too, sorry... Uh... I'm taking my leave now."
Before the servant could grab his arm, Nem was already running away. He faintly heard somebody order to ring the alarm before he completely left the room.
'This isn't a completely hopeless situation, haha, I have trained for this after all.' Nem was as nervous as he was excited and fearful.
Fortunately, his training did always include a plan for an escape route in hostile territory. Although, to be fair, it wasn't the monastery's training, but something he came up with on his own, since he wasn't very confident in improvising in a situation where time was of the essence with his pathetic sense of orientation.
This time was quite easy, he hadn't climbed any stairs, so he had planned a very easy and straightforward escape : jumping through a window. It would attract a lot of attention, but it had the benefit of being fast and adaptable. After all, there were a lot of windows in this manor, and he could remember a very nearby corridor, which he entered barely 15 seconds after he started running.
'This might hurt a little... Oh, that's worth a try !'
Running towards the nearest window, Nem suddenly spotted a large cloth laying on a short table, with a flower pot on top. He hurriedly yanked the cloth from the table, shattering the pot therefore pouring water all over the floor. He put the thing over his head, protecting his entire body, and ran towards the window, making sure to protect his face. Then, he jumped through.
In this world, glass windows already existed and weren't that expensive, but they were very fragile and often kept a slight tint from the sand they used to make it. This particular window was brownish yellow, normally making the light inside the manor feel invigorating even when the weather was cloudy. However, when Nem jumped, it completely shattered into small pieces, only leaving a single cut on his forearm.
He winced a little, and blood immediately seeped out of the wound, but when his feet touched the ground, the boy just threw aside the now slightly bloodied cloth and kept running without checking his arm.
'Shit ! Dammit !' Not particularly aiming at anyone, Nem kept throwing swear words inside his mind, since the rest of his body was fully occupied with running to save his life. He wasn't holding back at all, this time.
There wasn't anyone around him for now, but it was just a matter of seconds before they came around this side of the manor. With the commotion he had made, and the alarm that was going to...
DING DING DING !
"Ah, fuck !" This time, he couldn't resist shouting it out loud.
Nobody would hear him anyway, since the sound of the alarm was so overwhelming everyone inside the barriers must have heard it. Nem didn't know if there was a different sound for indicating the rough position of the intruder, but he decided he had to prepare for some people to collapse on the manor.
If Nem originally had some thoughts of hiding around here and wait for the trouble to pass, he had to give it up now.
He hurriedly climbed on top of a nearby small house to look around and get his marks back on his surroundings.
'Oh thank the Gods, I'm going in the right direction already, the situation was already bad as it is, I almost thought I would need to circle around...' Nem didn't spot anyone looking at him either, and he hurriedly jumped off, rolled on the ground and kept running.
He had fortunately been going roughly in the right direction, meaning the one he had come from earlier. Based on what he knew, the opposite direction would bring him right to the city walls, which would make everything a lot more complicated, especially since he had no idea what kind of defense there was over there.
Of course, they were guards who seemed pretty well trained where he was going, but Nem preferred to deal with the devil he knew rather than gamble with his life so soon.
He really had some confidence, and it wasn't for nothing, since he was so fast he didn't even encounter anyone until more than halfway to the fence. To gain time, he had climbed over a pile of wooden crates that were blocking the space between small buildings. Right when he was on the highest box, two men came from the right.
They weren't dressed like guards and weren't even armed. They immediately spotted him, pointed and shouted :
"Here, that's one of them !" Apparently, they thought that a single child couldn't have come here and evaded the guards alone. It was a reasonable assumption. Still wrong, though.
Before the man had even begun speaking, Nem eyes had flashed with a cold light and when he finished, a knife was already flying towards him. In this situation, Nem wasn't even able to hesitate or risk slowing himself down. The urgency and training were both deeply engraved into his body and mind. Therefore, he aimed for the chest, the easiest place to hit a human.
Immediately after, he used his high vantage point and the effect of surprise to jump onto a small shed with a metal roof with one foot bringing him just in range of the second guy. Taking support on the shed, Nem leaped and swung his other foot on his head while he was still busy looking at his friend, knocking him out cold with a loud THUD.
The boy fell on the ground and scraped his knees and shoulders. He took a deep breath and glanced at the two men, one bleeding from the side of his head and the other with a knife in the stomach. Then he started running again. The truth was that even with his extraordinary physique, Nem was already breathing very heavily, but the fear and excitement made it easier to ignore and surpass his limits, so he didn't notice at all.
The entire fight took only a few seconds and perhaps couldn't even be called a fight at all. In the end, it only cost Nem one knife but made him more watchful of his surroundings. He ran in a straight line, only changing direction when he heard movement around him. More importantly, Nem was more careful every time he had to climb something, always keeping out of sight.
With his heartbeat not slowing down in the least, Nem made it to the metal fence in more than twice the time it took to cover the first half of the journey, but without having to fight. When the top of the barrier came into view, Nem immediately hid in a corner and used all his senses to check if anyone was waiting for him.
He could hear a lot of shouting from behind him, indicating that they had somehow figured out his general direction, but came out with nothing in the front. Nem's nerves were taut and he griped his remaining knife enough to make his hand turn white.
The moment when Nem would climb up that fence was the moment when he would be the most exposed since the chase began. Of course, he couldn't wait either, since the ones behind him could catch up at any time.
Finally, he made his decision.