I looked up at the new arrival, clad in black pants and a dark green long sleeved shirt with a black half coat with some sort of logo or emblem or whatever it was on the coat. To his hip was strapped a sword, fortunately in its sheath. Behind him were three more men though they wore matching black pants and leather chest pieces over their shirts with a matching emblem to the leading man. They also had swords strapped to them.
"My...this town is quite lawless these days. Do you just not respect this badge anymore?" he tapped at the emblem, "Do you not respect the people who try to keep you safe daily, the count who always ensures the town is proper enough for you to live well, the crown who have made us into the great nation we are today?" He was definitely overdoing the speech but they all stopped making a ruckus, so I guess it's still a win.
"It be that thief there causing all this trouble Bart," the angry man's voice rang behind me.
"Thief?" Bart looked at me, like he finally noticed me lying on the ground right next to his feet for the first time. He flinched a little, stepping back from me and his eyes didn't hold back the disgust. I didn't need everybody reminding me I looked and smelt like three days worth of lack of shower.
"I'm not a thief!" I shot back, finally getting up of the ground.
"And I'm not Gardof, please ya scum, ya tried to rob me last night. If I hadn't had me axe, you would 'ave made away with whatcha wanted." It was hard to believe this mass of muscle was trying to play victim with a sorry looking guy like me. But he had the advantage, looked like most people here knew him, including this police officer, or guard, or whatever he was supposed to be.
"Really now," Bart looked at me once more, "there've been a lot of you lately in those woods. Looks like we finally caught one," a smirk played on his lips. Looks like the decision's already made and no matter what I'd say they wouldn't have it, but if they think I'd just follow along they were mistaken.
"I already told you, I'm no thief!" And just like that I rushed into Bart, knocking him back a few steps. He didn't go down but that was enough to give me sometime to make a run for it, and run for it I did. However his three lackeys weren't standing by idly twiddling their thumbs. They were hot on my heels, the sound of steel being pulled from its sheath right behind me.
No way giving in was an option right now if I didn't want them putting holes in my body. Nonetheless I realized I might've overestimated my body's condition, or rather just completely ignored it, and no matter how fast I wanted to run there was just no helping it. The closest on tackled me down to the ground, restraining both hands while the other two surrounded me, blades pointed right at me.
"How dare you hit the captain! You look nothing more than a beggar yet you have the guts to pull of a crazy stunt like that?! I'll make sure you won't be running anywhere anytime soon," I didn't like the sound of that. He was already moving to my legs, sword at the ready to slice them off completely.
I struggled as hard as I could, that didn't make the one holding me down too happy. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and slammed my head on the ground. "Stop moving," he said it so viciously I could only comply.
Well, goodbye to my legs, surely I'll miss you, if I actually survive it that is. I squeezed my eyelids tight, just waiting for the pain to flood me.
"That's enough Sarr, you always get too worked up," Bart's voice caught everyone's attention just enough for the grip on my head to loosen and turn to get a look at him, and everyone else.
Looked like I had managed to gather everyone's attention from their various jobs.
"If you do that now and he dies we'll lose our best lead at doing away with those bandits once and for all," as much as I wasn't off the hook I was slightly thankful to Bart for letting me keep all my limbs.
"Restrain him, take him to the holding cells. I still have to deal with the mess he's made over at Teo's," with that I was finally experiencing my first arrest. They tied my hands behind my back and shoved me all the way to their station, this shabby looking stone building somewhere at the heart of this town, Yorkton was it.
There I was, behind bars, for the first time in my life, and I didn't even know if I was still on the same planet. That thought went through my mind so many times. Was I really on Earth, no way some medieval festival would follow everything to the extreme as such. The more I thought about it, the more I was inclined to believe I had been whisked away to some other world, basically isekai'd.
If that was the case, wouldn't Finn be jealous right now, well as long as he isn't chased around by wild animals, angry Gardofs and Sarrs, and thrown in prison.
It was also quite disconcerting that the thought of not even being in the system with my previous world hadn't hit home as hard as I thought it would right now. I could give the fact that I was seriously mentally and emotionally worn down at the moment a thanks. At the moment I wasn't experiencing imminent fatal situations and even though I was sitting on the cold hard floor of a cell, I was safe, safe for as long as the Yorkton guard wanted me to be.
Time passed by quite fast though. Soon the whole place was very dark, I couldn't really make out anything especially with the cells being furthest from the windows. A few minutes later I could hear the shuffling of feet. Now that there were actually people here since Sarr and the others had left to go back to their captain and the single guy left in charge went out as soon as the others stepped out, I expected someone to light a candle or lamp or something, but instead the place was suddenly bright.
Didn't look like any lamp or candle to me. I shuffled closer to the bars and just a few feet at the ceiling, was that a bulb? They have electricity here? I was expecting them to play throughout the whole medieval theme but this was sudden.
I had to look at it better, straining through the pain of looking directly at the light, and this time I properly saw the source of the light. It looked like a cube shaped...crystal...I think. There was another of this cube at the front, and looked like it was just the two for the whole place.
I couldn't tell if it was really electricity anymore, but one thing was for sure, this wasn't your average medieval world. They seem to have their own form of power. In the midst of my thoughts a shadow fell over me, snapping me back to the present, and right before me was Captain Bart, which when I said it in my head sounded awfully close to captain butt, but I was mature enough not to laugh at butt jokes.
"Looks like someone's already adjusted nicely to this place. Do you really like it here that much?" I didn't answer him. Good enough he didn't bother with it that much. He pulled up a chair and sat opposite from me, of course from the other side of the bars.
"Look kid, you don't look much of thief to me. So I'll cut you a deal, tell us where your friends are and will let you off with a light warning," he paused gauging my response, " You didn't steal from Gardof and you didn't hurt anyone, well anyone else," our little ordeal earlier played back in my mind when I slammed into him.
"I would love to have the answer you're looking for but sadly I have more questions," I stated.
"Like what? I'll bite," he drew closer, just a few inches off from the iron bars. If anything I got a better view of his him. He had these deep brown eyes, with his long dark hair tied back into a ponytail and had a little goatee going on.
"First of all where am I?"