"Crown Prince of Liberl...?", Van uttered as he drew a cold breath. "Let alone me, how did a Crown Prince end up in one of these lodges? Shouldn't the whole country be searching for you?", Van continued to ask.
"I'm sure Liberl is, even as we speak. But the DG Cult has rarely made its way into the records of any database. Up until now it's been very secretive. I am sure local police and detective agencies have started to see a rise of abducted children though.", I answered Van, giving a bit of insight.
Thanks to seeing a pattern in the rising number of abducted children, from here on several police agencies across Zemuria would enter a joint operation.
The DG Cult Extermination.
Many lodges in the next couple years would get their location discovered as a result, which would cause several top policemen, detectives and subsequently the Bracer Guild to deliver a fierce and harsh assault.
The lodge the five us in Altair, Calvard would be spearheaded by one of Crossbell's rising policemen, Guy Bannings. The older brother of the Crossbell protagonist, Lloyd Bannings. Accompanying him would be Arios Mclaine, the future Divine Blade of Wind. I am not sure Arios had achieved this title yet but he is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
it was rumored even the Septian Church became involved in the lodge raids, which Kevin himself took part in. It wasn't just them, Ouroboros would also end up raiding a very special lodge out of the ones the DG Cult had.
Which is the very same lodge our destination the operation I had in mine will take us.
Paradise.
Before the DG Cult Extermination officially begins in three years, there is still a time gap for us to cause a little bit of chaos.
I do feel guilty doing this but as far as Renne goes, for Renne to become Renne we will have to storm Paradise after she has been taken there. If we storm the place while she is still Renny, well, essentially at that point the Angel of Slaughter will cease to exist. And who knows, maybe we would join Ouroboros in raiding the place if the timing aligns?
We have already stayed a year in the Altair lodge, which would bring us to S1195 and Renny wouldn't be abducted until S1196, while her being rescued won't happen until S1197, so there is still a full two years to spend time on.
However, do I really want to spend another two full years down here idlily sitting away behind a cell?
Hell, no!
I share the same sentiment with Van a 100%. And unlike these four, I do have enough power to break out of here. I could have left earlier like I told Campanella but I wanted to stay down here to make sure I encountered these people.
And well, encountering the Calvard protagonist down here too was an additional surprise.
But for me personally, I was "abducted" back in S1192. But in actuality, someone probably placed a hit on me to be taken into this place back when the Red Constellation raided our villa. It's been a whole three years since then. However, with that thought, I heard Van let out a curse.
"Those policemen can't do shit. With their networking shouldn't they have found us by now?"
"Haha, it takes time, but through combined efforts they'll eventually bear fruit. But I do agree with you, if we have the means, there's no reason not to stay down here any longer.", I said, agreeing with. "Any objections?", I continued to ask.
Ennea remained quiet but shook her head no.
"None.", Van answered.
"I do not.", Tio replied in her usual flat tone.
*It's about time. This stupid limestone cave is even more boring than the last one we were in. All they do is inject us with Gnosis. All of the prisoners are too jacked up on it to even cry out for help anymore.", Sherryl said, letting out a retort. "it's been very quiet lately.".
After Sherryl said that, the Van, Tio, Ennea and I all looked at her at the same time, with a deadpan look in our eyes. Sherryl saw this and tilted her head in confusion.
"What?", Sherryl asked, confused.
"Sigh. You...", I tried to say to Sherryl, only to let out a sigh while shaking my head a bit.
"You'll need to learn how to be considerate later, Sherryl, but now isn't the time for that. I might be asking the obvious question here but moving along to the actual operation, who here doesn't know how to fight?", I asked to keep the conversation going.
Even though I can use the guard to get us out of here like last time, we still might end up fighting along the way. We now have five people compared to three, It might look more suspicious seeing five kids being transferred out, it doesn't hurt to ask this.
After asking that, I saw Ennea keep her hand down. It was obvious coming from her, since she was an assassin for a period of time. But surprisingly, I saw Van also keep his hand down. Well considering how he was kept down here and lived the life of an orphan, learning how to defend himself probably wasn't out of the question.
I too kept my hand down, considering that father taught me his military style, I learned magic under Roselia as well as rapier swordplay from the Sword Fox.
The only ones to raise their hands were Sherryl, as well as Tio.
"I do not know how to fight.", Tio simply answered. "I've only been living with my family before I was taken to this place.".
"Neither do I, so I'm pretty much in the same boat. What I tried earlier when we were still acting was a just a momentary decision.", Sherryl said, feeling embarrassed as she said that.
"Well knowing you two it makes sense. Ennea is self explanatory but you now how to fight, Van?", I asked Van, looking at him.
" 'Course I do. Living on the streets isn't as fun as you might think it is. Someone had to do it, so might as well have had it be me to teach fighting. It's mostly street fighting though. I am not proficient in a weapon, if you were trying to ask that.", Van answered me which caused me to nod my head.
"So it was like that. It should be enough though. And as for me, considering that I grew up under the care of being the son of a brigadier general, you all could guess what I have gone through.", I responded. The four nodded their heads at me in acknowledgement.
"I would like to bring something up though, about me to be specific.", Sherryl suddenly said, which drew my attention.
"Oh? What would that be?", I asked with interest.
"I've been wondering why Gnosis hasn't been showing much effect on me, so I was wondering if I just had resistance to it, but turns out I was wrong. I've been feeling my muscles start to get denser as well as my breathing improve, both in capacity and quality. I've been able to start holding my breath for longer periods of time.", Sherryl explained the situation.
"Is that so? Well if Gnosis does effect individuals, the effects tend to vary based on the person. But from what you're describing, you may have a good potential to learn martial arts. Especially battle qi.", I answered Sherryl's suspicions, which caused interest to appear in her eyes.
"Really? But right now I don't know how to fight yet like you...", Sherryl tried to respond, feeling dejected again. This caused me to let out a chuckle.
"Heh, why don't we test it then? You didn't put in any effort when we were acting earlier, but no one is stopping us now to try it out. Might be a bit cramped cause of the cell but it'll do.", I answered Sherryl with confidence.
"Can I really?", Sherryl asked to be sure. Hearing that, I took my time to stand up, dusting my gown down from the cold cave floor beneath us. Seeing this, Sherryl also took this to stand up as well. I approached Sherryl, and squared my position against hers.
"Of course, I won't move from here. Strut out your right foot and rotate your punch to strike me in the chest. Might as well see what strength you have before we leave this place.", I said, which caused Sherryl to nod in acknowledgement.
"Okay. Be ready, Big Brother!", Sherryl responded. In one swift movement, Sherryl did as I instructed to a tee.
"Haah!", Sherryl yelled out, swiftly striking out her fist right into my chest. I was not expecting much to happen at first, but remembering what Sherryl had said, I soon started to regret thinking that. Before we knew it, I felt a very tough impact strike against my chest.
Perhaps it was due to our level differences but it did not cause much pain. But Sherryl's force was strong enough to knock me off my feet, getting blasted right into the wall. I felt the wall knock against my back, which caused me to lose some air out of my lungs.
It wasn't just just my eyes, but Van's eyes also turned wide in shock seeing the force a young six year old Sherryl just used to send me flying across the cell.
"Holy shit!", Van uttered in shock with a curse. Unconsciously, he shifted his current position a bit backwards, moving away from Sherryl slowly a bit.
"That...was something alright.", I also responded in amazement. As for Sherryl, she too had a shocked look as she currently looked downward at her fist.
*
Giliath demands your power stones!
Someone might make an unexpected appearance next chapter but bet you can't guess who? =3=
Battle maid anyone?