As the three walked to the second floor, the stench that was on the first floor was even more potent. The lack of any cleanup or even standards in the building were obvious to everyone as they moved their way to the next set of stairs.
Kale took notice of the doors as they walked down the hallway, there were signs pinned to the walls that indicated whether or not they were in use. Only one of the rooms seemed occupied on this floor, the right room closest to the third floor stairs. Kale couldn't really hear anything above them, the only noises he heard were just the subtle creaks that they made on this floor and the noises from the occupied room.
"Place doesn't seem that busy…" Kale mumbled.
"Must've been cleared out for whatever is happening upstairs?" Jerry guessed.
"If that was the case, why's that one room still occupied? I feel like this place just has a bad record of people coming in…"
As Kale turned to look back at Jerry, he immediately noticed one thing off. Lilith wasn't with them. Towards the Right door that was closest to the stairs they went up, Lilith was peering into the door.
"Ay, Lilith! No looking into an unsanitary room!" Kale yelled at her. She immediately shut the door and looked at him innocently.
"Sorry…" She said as she slowly walked back to the two.
"One of these days, you'll end up regretting something if you keep following your curiosity." Kale frowned. It's been a sort of pattern that kale has noticed with the girl. Her tendencies of snooping around have gotten more rampant ever since the festival. But who could blame her? Most likely she was trying to find out where Sarah went, not even kale knew where she went after that day.
Kale felt a tinge of guilt in him as he looked at Lilith. With her mom now gone, it seems like he was the only guardian for her. Perhaps that was why he was more on edge with her as of recently, the sudden change was something he couldn't grasp at the moment. He quickly shook his head to dismiss that idea, he wasn't father material. At least right now.
Suddenly, a loud thumping noise came from above. A thud of sorts that echoed through the building. From what Kale heard, it sounded like it came from above the occupied room on the floor they were on, which coincidentally was the room that had its lights on.
"Let's hurry." Kale hastily said as he made his way towards the stairs. The stairs would've led right up to that room.
"What do you think made that noise?" Jerry asked, following along with Kale. Lilith followed as well, although at a slow pace.
"Either we found Reginald or we just heard some really kinky stuff going on up there…"
The three steadily stepped their way to the third floor, kale noticing the lights shimmering underneath the first door on his left. Without much hesitation, he quickly drew one of his swords from his waist and cautiously crept towards the door. There were no thud noises coming from the room as the three now approached it. Kale carefully pressed his face to the door, trying to hear any noises.
The soft sounds of breathing and what he could make out as whimpering came from the other side. Was it Reginald? Was it…Maybe Reginald having fun? Kale fumbled his thoughts for a moment before removing his ear from the door. Holding the handle of the door in his hands, he moved to one side of the door, he then looked at Jerry and Lilith.
Jerry readied himself on the other side of the door, readying his plain iron sword in his hands. As much as he looked ready, there was a sense of nervousness to him. Meanwhile, Lilith got behind Kale and looked calm and collected. The two had such differences in terms of experiences and in age. With how young Lilith was, it was odd seeing someone be so calm and nonchalant in this sort of scenario. It'd be more typical for Jerry to be more experienced in this, however he has never been in these situations.
In fact, this is the first time he's been in one like this. His whole career in Prusha mostly revolves around patrolling or chasing and arresting burglar or beast people. And here he was, readying next to a door in a brothel to save his comrade.
"Everyone ready to politely knock on the door?" Kale asked. With no one answering, he continued on. "Ok, let's set up a plan. Alright, we don't want to go all crazy, that's unprofessional. We all work for the king right now, so let's keep up the reputation of good guards." He pointed at Jerry. "Ok, me and you will go in first. Making sure the room is clear and giving orders to whoever is inside. Got it?"
Jerry nodded.
"Ok, good." Kale then turned to look at Lilith. "Ok, Lilith! You will breach the door."
"Huh? Don't you usually do that? I thought I usually trail behind you…" Lilith tilted her in confusion.
"We gotta train you to protect the prince, right? Making sure the prince is safe and secure. If he's stuck in a room, you'll need to find a way to open that door. This is a perfect test for that situation!"
"But, I usually kick down the door…what if they're in front of it?"
"That's why we make sure they aren't! Put your head next to the door and see if they are close to it! Right now, they aren't. So…"Kale pointed at the door. "Swing your legs! Full power it and you'll knock that door down!"
To Kale, this seemed more like a simple job for her. A quick kick and the door goes down. Lilith has seen him kick a down multiple times before, so it wouldn't be that hard to do it on her own.
"…I think you're underestimating my strength, but ok." Lilith seemed concerned as she slowly stepped between Kale and Jerry. She began to think that maybe Kale forgot about that sparring match with her and Kota…oh well, it's just a door. How much force do you need to kick down a door?
"Uh just so you know, just because the person isn't close to the door, it doesn't mean they aren't in the way of that doo-"
"No time! Lilith kick!" Lilith made no hesitation as she quickly took action as she moved forward, gearing up her right leg for a mighty kick.
The wooden door stood no chance against the force she put into the kick, it immediately flew off its hinges and across the room. From what Lilith could see, she saw two figures moving to avoid the door. The two figures managed to avoid the fast moving door as it smashed right through the window, a loud thud could be heard as it slammed to the ground.
Jerry's mouth was left wide open in utter shock and confusion as Kale gave Lilith a frustrated look. She gave no mind to the twos reaction as she peered into the now messed up room.
The wooden flooring was littered with debris. It seems like the door had hit a table on its way towards the window, The table laid on its side with the glass on the top now broken and laid out on the floor. Off to the right of the room was a Large red bed, One of the figures laid in the bed while the other seemed to be attached to a chair and just at the end of the bed.
"Kale, Did she really just do that?" Lilith overheard Jerry. The two older men walked into the room, examining the room like she was.
"Uh, yep…Maybe she went a little too far with the kick." Kale got behind Lilith, looking at the two figures. "And possibly almost killed two people who might be our target?"
"Reginald!" Jerry rushed to the man in the chair. The man looked older, blood splattered on the man's grey beard. Judging by his looks, he looked to be in his sixties. The man's hands were tied to the chair as well. As Jerry pulled the man and chair upright, he began to loosen the ties. "The hell happened here?"
"Lilith, next time you should put less force into that kick." Kale made note to her. Lilith's eyes were focused on the figure on the bed, he couldn't make out the face but from the blue colored Cloak…That's someone from Ozoth. "Check on that person, I'll help Jerry with Reginald."
Kale rubbed his chin, examining the man. "Reginald, huh?…Please tell me you weren't doing foul play in here?" When he got no response from the man, he shrugged. "Let's stop with the dumb talk, kale…" From what Kale could see, it was obvious the man was forced into the chair. The bruised right side of the man's face was something to take note of, its shape was of a horse's.
"Jerry, I think the Minotaur we are after likes to kick things. And more importantly…" Kale looked back at the bed. "He likes kidnapping. Lilith, what'd you find?"
Lilith looked over the figure by the side of the bed. She bent down as she got leveled with the figure and looked at them. "Erm…Blue hair, unscathed. Looks like she's fine, seems like she passed out!"
"Erm…Girl? Like…Your age girl or older aged girl?" Kale asked.
"Older than me, maybe sixteen? Fifteen?" Lilith leaned closer to the girl, lifting the arm of the unconscious girl.
Kale scratched his head. "The hell? Wait, any insignias on her? If I recall, Reginald came here because he saw a princess get dragged in here."
Lilith squinted her eyes, examining the girl's body to find any sort of interest. The girl sported a blue dress, one of its sleeves torn and some parts of the skirt of the dress was dirtied. When Lilith looked at the arm of the girl, she noticed a bracelet. On closer examination, it looked like a dove was etched onto a gold plated piece of the bracelet.
"There's a bird on her bracelet! Er…Is that what you were look fo-agh!" The sudden movement of the figure startled Lilith as she raised herself ip. The hood of the cloak peeled itself, revealing the blue long hair the figure had.
Kale was confused of who it was, wasn't anyone he recognized from Ozoth. Though to be fair, he hasn't recently been there in a good amount of time. Jerry on the other hand…
"L-lady Claire? What are you doing here?!" Jerry stopped in his tracks with Reginald and moved quickly to the bed. "What's a noble from Ozoth doing here?!"
The girl looked confused for a moment, dazing looking around for a moment before coming back to her senses. She looked at the three people that surrounded her and immediately panicked, pushing herself to the back of the bed. "Aah! No! Don't take me!"
"Woah!" Kale held a hand out. "Relax! We're with the king of Prusha! We heard about a guard who found you and came looking."
"L-looking…" Claire looked next to Kale and noticed Reginald. "I-yes…That guard followed him…"
"Followed who? Do you know why you are here?" Kale asked.
Claire curled up into a ball. "I was on my way to visit my younger sister here when my escort was ambushed by some people…Some large man beast grabbed me and took me to this place." She shivered. "He talked about selling me, how much of a good price I was, how much my body would be…" she lowered her head into her thighs, sniffling.
"Miss Claire…Don't worry, we'll protect you." Jerry tried to comfort her. "We'll get you home as soon as we can, but can you tell us where your assailant went?"
Suddenly, Claire gasped. Looking up. "Ah! I-I should've warned you all! He knew someone would come!"
Kale stood up immediately. "What? Eh…kinda figured if he caught Reginald, that Minotaur is probably expecting some guards to take a look here…"
"Yes! That's what it thought of! So it went downstairs to plan an ambush!"
Kale stood in place. "…An ambush? How the hell is he going t-."
Suddenly, the floor beneath kale cracked open. Two large hands gripped onto his legs and frimley pulled him down. Kale was taken by surprise by this, dropping his sword as he plummeted down to the second floor.
"Kale!" Lilith yelled, she quickly hurried to the hole and peered down.
Kale coughed and sputtered dust as he tried to recover. "Cough…Alright, maybe This isn't what I thought it was." He looked up at the hole he was pulled from. "Alright, Jerry! Get Reginald and That Claire girl out of the building!" As kale tried to get up, he saw a fist fly down towards him. Quickly, he rolled to his side and avoided the punch.
In front of him now was a Minotaur , it flexed its arms as it turned to him. Kale looked perplexed.
"Didn't I…beat you before?"
"No. I don't know who the hell you are." The Minotaur said in a gruffly voice. "But you are costing me business."
"I could've sworn I've beaten you Minotaurs before at the stable district!" Kale got up, pulling out his other sword. "Aren't you half man, half horse?"
The Minotaur crossed his arms, looking now disappointed. "Those are centaurs, you fuck. I'm a Minotaur. Half man, Half bull."
"Oh…I see." Kale slowly said. "Can't believe I've been saying the wrong thing this whole time." Kale looked up to the hole he was pulled in from. "Lilith, I need your help down here!"
"Got it!" Lilith then moved out of kale's view.
Kale looked back down and noticed the Minotaur immediately charging for him, its horns pointed right at him.
"Oh shit!" Kale sputtered out as he jumped above the Minotaur, cleanly sliding behind its back and getting one slice onto its back. Tumbling as he reached the ground, Kale recovered and turned to face the Minotaur. It crashed into the wall, pulling back as It ripped a piece of the wall to face kale.
"Damn, my other sword is up there! Lilith, hurry up!"
"That girl cost a lot of Rubees! And I ain't letting this seller get away! He's my ticket out of this hell hole!" The Minotaur roared as it swung its head. The piece of wall stuck to his horn flew off, hitting the wall near kale. Using its hands, it grabbed a couch nearby and hauled it in the air. Kale quickly activated his mana cloak, tensing his legs as he readied to avoid it.
The Minotaur threw the couch with little effort, it spiraled in the air as it came hurling towards kale.
Kale swiftly avoided the throw by moving to his right, His mana cloak enhancing his speed. With swift movements, he began to make his own moves. He went into a full sprint, climbing over the bed as he twirled his sword and held it backwards. Using his momentum, he jumped towards the wall and used his legs to spring himself back towards the Minotaur.
"Hraaagh!" Kale yelled as he went full speed at the Minotaur. The Minotaur didn't have much time to react as it tried to lift its right arm to defend itself. With a swift swing, Kale went in for a slash. The sword clashed with the Minotaurs arm, the sword cutting right through its hand. Kale landed next to the Minotaur after that slice, he turned to quickly lead up with another strike. But he was met with a heavy kick to his face, sending him sprawling and his sword spiral out of his hand.
Shit, maybe focusing my mana cloak into only speed wasn't going to cut it. This damn Minotaur has some thick ass skin! Kales thought ran as he turned to face the Minotaur.
The Minotaur was already on his tail, it used its other hand and quickly grasped Kale by his face.
"Mmph! Oy, You Gawt Big Hwand!" Kale said muffled. "Lilif! Need helf!"
Where the hell was that girl? Surely she didn't expect him to take this thing on his own?
The Minotaur grunted, looking around the room for something. "Fucker, sliced my hand up." It then spotted a wood frame of the bed, at the corners of the frame were two protruding wood pieces that spiraled into a sphere at the top. "Hoho…This'll be fun for me."
"Mmph!" Kale frantically tried to pry the Minotaurs hands and it slowly walked to the bed. It was preparing to impale kale onto one of the ends. "Lilif!"
*Thud!*
The sudden sound of a thud against the window of the room attracted the attention of both kale and the Minotaur. As the Minotaur moved to face the window, the sound of footsteps could be heard from upstairs.
"The hell? What th-." The sudden explosion from the window cut the Minotaur off as Lilith came tumbling through it. The Minotaur was taken aback from what he was seeing as Lilith rolled and quickly got her footing, using the momentum to her advantage to attack. She drew her shortsword and twirled it in her hand as she came rocketing towards the oversized beast.
"Draaagh!" Holding her shortsword backwards, Lilith went for a gut punch. Her fist slammed into the Minotaurs stomach, sending the Minotaur flying across the room. Kale was let loose, falling to the ground as he watched the Minotaur collide into the wall, smashing it and then slowly falling to the floor.
Kale was heavily breathing, trying to catch his breath as Lilith skittered beside me. "Kale?" she asked, concerningly. She then gasped to herself and grabbed something from her cloak, plopped it onto Kale's lap. It was his sword he dropped. "Got this for you, you dropped this when you fell. Are you ok?"
"Ok? Yeah, me being face grabbed and almost impaled is the least of my concerns…it's not, I am not ok!" Kale yelled. "Where the hell were you?" He faced Lilith.
"I was helping Jerry and that blue haired lady out before I came back to help."
"Wha-you didn't even see if I was doing ok?"
"Well I heard you call for me, and I was trying to find ways to get down there." Lilith explained. "Then I had a cool idea since the window was open! There were curtains that I could use to rope down the second floor window! I could catch the Minotaur guy by surprise when you're fighting him by smashing through it!"
Kale took notice of what seemed to be a makeshift rope of cloth that swung aimlessly against the outside of the window.
"Took me a lot longer than expected since I had to tie them together…But it worked!" Lilith seemed quite proud of her work.
"Yeah, at the cost of me almost dying! As much as I like your creativity, this would get anyone else killed!" Kale got to his feet. "Ugh, this didn't go the way I planned it. You didn't learn anything for your Guard work." Kale began to walk towards the Minotaur, rubbing his face.
"H-hey! Least I was trying!" Lilith followed. "I got Jerry and the blue haired girl out of danger!" When kale didn't respond to her, she continued. "Wha-I thought the hostages were more important! If that's what you're trying to teach me! I got them out and then got the person who was attacking them!"
As Lilith continued to talk, Kale knelt down near the Minotaur and examined it. He poked at it to make sure it was still alive. Sure enough, it was still breathing…Although his stomach was slightly deformed.
And unbeknownst to Lilith, Kale was smiling while hiding with his back towards her. This wasn't a part of his plans on teaching her things, but somehow this was working for him. So he rolled with it.
Good job, kale! He thought to himself. Way to go for a mentor! Now he'll just need to keep a blank face to her so that she won't forget about all this!
Clearing his throat, Kale began to talk while examining the Minotaur. "Always remember, especially with the prince. You are his shield." Kale pulled a piece of cloth up from the Minotaur. It was a makeshift pouch of sorts that held a letter with a stamp of an insignia. "Hm…looks like a noble was up to no good." It was a lion that was in a red casing of sorts.
"Hey, I've seen that!" Lilith peered over him. "That old dude I was talking to!"
"It is?…Oh yeah, that guy you were harassing." Kale opened the letter, reading it as Lilith peered behind him. "It could be someone from that family, but let's read what this says."
The letter was about purchasing a slave, specifying a type and where they were from. It seems this person who ordered was looking for someone from Ozoth who was from a noble family, someone who's age ranged from thirteen to eighteen. It claimed that this was a high priority and it was needed soon. Seemed like this person had a knack for blue haired women.
"Gross…" Lilith said in disgust.
"Yeah, sex trafficking…or maybe it's being serious about the man being hungry."
"Wha-Like eating someone?!"
"Hey, I said maybe. But it's a good thing we stopped it." Kale squinted as he read the last few lines of the letter. "Ah, signature from the guy… tsk,tsk,tsk, Shouldn't have put your name on this."
Kale pointed at the name in the letter. The name 'Eric Demont' was signed. "Hm, name is familiar. Looks like I'll need to ask someone about this. Perhaps the guards? I could ask Jer-"
"We could visit The castle and ask King Lucian!" Lilith smiled as she said that. Kale could hear her tapping her feet excitingly at the idea.
As much as kale didn't like that idea, this situation was a large issue that could be told to King Lucian.
…Thinking about it now, Kale realized that he didn't actually hate the idea, but rather the fact that Lilith had her own alternative reasons to it. Ever since the festival dance, she and Kota have been quite clingy to each other. More so than usual. Perhaps Kale missed something that happened since none of the two would speak of what happened during the dance.
However much of an issue it was to him, at least it was getting Lilith over her mother leaving. Which made up for it.
"Well…I Suppose we can report this to Lucian himself. He could probably have the other look into these sorts of things…Actually, he'd probably have me look into these." Kale folded the letter and slipped it into his cloak's pouch, turning around to face Lilith. "Unless you plan on speaking to kota there."
"I-well…He is working there with the prince right now." Lilith awkwardly sputtered. "He's probably bored with teaching Chris, so maybe a quick visit would be good for him? B-but I'll still remember why we're there!"
Kale gave her a long stare. She began to tap her index finger together as she was being stared at.
"…uh huh. promise?" Kale asked.
"Yes! A hundred percent!" Lilith pumped her fist. "Just a quick visit! Nothing else!"
"Hmph, fine. I guess we'll head to the castle then." However, Kale pointed behind him towards the Minotaur. "But first, we'll need to make sure the guards come and get him."
***
Two hours passed as some of the day shift guards came storming into the building. Kale sat in a chair on the first floor where everyone else was, Jerry sat close to Kale while the Eldesche receptionist eyed them.
"…So you three put a hole in the love inn, huh." The reptilian woman hissed. "Not that I give a damn, But it made a hell of a ruckus down here."
"Ah-The Minotaur did. Didn't expect him to be beneath us." Kale replied. "Sorry for the trouble. Hopefully you don't lose this job."
"Whatever, I'll be out of this place soon." The eldesche woman trailed her finger across the reception desk. "Find a new job and pray I don't end up seeing you or any of you."
"Haha…right…" Kale awkwardly laughed. His gaze turned towards Lilith and Claire, who were talking to each other. At first, Lilith was unsure if she could strike up a conversation with the older girl. However, with Kale's encouragement, she was able to talk about the girl's blue hair and the two began to chat it up.
Kale watched with intrigue. It wasn't often that Lilith talked to other kids near her age besides Kota and their small friend circle. Maybe it was because this girl looked somewhat similar to Amelia, Lilith's other friend.
…Kale squinted his eyes at Claire. Something crossed his mind as he paid more attention to the girl's look. Amelia also had Blue hair and a similar face structure to Claire. Surely Amelia and Claire's look wasn't a coincidence?
Another thought came to Kale's mind. A more serious one.
"Ahem…uh Claire!" Kale's voice got the attention of the two girls. "I might want to ask…But you said you were here for a sister?"
Claire nodded. "Yes, I was here to visit my sister. She's been here for a year or so, and our family wanted me to check on her." Shen then scratched her cheek, looking a bit more embarrassed. "To be honest, I was unsure if I'd be able to find her here. I haven't been to Prusha since I was child. Heh, kinda glad that someone found me…"
"Yeah, being sold off to a another noble as a slave wouldn't be great." Kale leaned forward. "Who is your sister?"
"Oh! Yes, Her name is Amelia. We both come from the Mallory Family."
Lilith gasped in surprise. "Whaa-Your related to Amelia?" Lilith moved in front of Claire, looking at her closely.
"You know my sister?" Claire seemed surprised by Liliths response. She also avoided eye contact with Lilith.
"Yeah! We became friends! But…You aren't really like her."
"My sister is…Quite something in our family."
Kale nodded as he watched the two. His thoughts were correct, which raised concerns for him. He slipped out the letter he got from the Minotaur and examined it again. It's safe to assume that the Minotaur isn't working alone. Claire did say before that she was ambushed on her way. They'd most likely be in the kingdom right now if the Minotaur was here too. If whoever else finds out the lady they kidnapped escaped…Then they'll be in a hurry to find another one. Which means…
"Lilith, Let's quickly head to the castle. Now." Kale stood up as he said that. "Claire, you come along too. Just for safe measures."
"I'll stay here with the other guards." Jerry called out. "If you're in a hurry, go on, we can take care of this." The guard sat tired on the chair. "It was a pleasure working with you today!"
"Thanks, Jerry!" Kale looked back and waved at him as he began to walk.
"O-oh! What's with the urgency?" Claire stood up as well, watching as Kale headed towards the entrance door.
Kale stopped right at the door, his hand pressing against the door knob. He turned his head and glanced at her. "Sorry to say this. But I'm afraid once you leave this door, your sister will be a target."
Lilith had a concerned look on her face as she stood up as well. "Amelia? Isn't she at the university right now? We should head over there first then and grab her!"
"She should be fine there, I don't think anyone is dumb enough to waltz in there and grab a girl. They'll need to wait. Now come on!" With that, kale swung the door open, the fresh air wafting into the building as he moved outside.
Lilith hurried on behind him but stopped, looking behind at Claire who looked confused at all this. "Don't worry! We'll keep you safe! Plus, I don't think you'd want to stay in a place like this! You need some fresh air!" Lilith went in for a grab at Claire's arm and pulled her. The older girl gasped as she was pulled outside with Lilith. The sun beaming onto her face. Claire raised her free hand, blocking the sun as she adjusted to the outside world. As she looked onward, she spotted a small crowd looking at her and the building. Some of the people were confused, others infuriated by the commotion.
Kale stood beside the entrance door, arms at his hip as he watched the two girls. "Alright, let's head to the castle. And quick too." His gaze turned towards the other side of the street. In his sight was an older man, the same one that Lilith encountered. The older gentleman had a surprised look on his face as Claire walked out, and Kale could clearly see the insignia of a lion on him as well. "Faster we get to the king, the more time we have. So let's ge-."
"You're wasting time talking! Let's go!" Lilith said as she began to speed walk while gripping Claire by her arm. "Come on, slow poke!"
"I-You!" Kale tried to talk back but but his tongue. Technically she was right. So he sighed and walked behind them. "Let's go…" Kale walked as he was keeping an eye on the older gentleman who looked like he was angrily muttering to himself.
Lilith happily marched across the street, holding Claire's arm. "Let's go see Kot-Er, The king!"
Author note: starting off this Volume with some Action! And it won't be the only action scene, I made sure through this Volume that there will be many fighting scenes! Just remember that I am on a Bi-weekly upload now! So I'll be back on the 13th! L