"What really happened here?!" Lidya approached the woman who was being held by Camel.
"Arghhh(crying)... I... I... Arghh(crying)!"
Useless, Lidya's question was ignored. The woman continued to cry, showing no signs of stopping.
"Let's just wait, she's in deep shock." Camel looked at them all with a worried expression.
Upon Camel's command, the three youths rested in a room similar to the memorial where the deceased were remembered. They waited until the woman finished crying and was willing to talk to them.
Several minutes later, her tears stopped. Her cheeks were still wet with tears, and her nose was still filled with snot. In her grief, she managed to speak to the people holding her. "I thought it was going to be a fun day for the children. They, who were less fortunate(poor), finally got to study in a school like those rich kids."
"I was too naive to trust that person! I was too foolish not to suspect why that person wanted to start a school for lower-class people like them! I was too stupid not to be suspicious of the location of the school being too far from the village!" added the woman.
"That person, who do you mean?" when Camel started asking. The three youths who were resting earlier walked towards them.
"Who else could build a public facility besides that person?! Him, Duke Asena! Who else would dare to pay a high price for an architect and his workers to build in a place far from the village with a lot of money?!" The woman yelled and glared at Camel. Her face was surrounded by a mix of anger, frustration, and sadness in one expression.
No one knew how much this woman had suffered. She looked utterly desperate when they first found her.
'Is it because she's the last survivor?' Rudi held his chin and looked at the five small Detral bodies lying on the floor.
'Before this, outside this room, there were also tables stacked resembling a barricade tied with ropes. Now the tables are scattered, and many ropes are broken... Did the Detral horde break in? But why did only she survive?'
Something suspicious came to Rudi's mind. He felt that this was not something simple. This issue was not just about the duke turning this school into a Detral farming ground and the woman and her five students being survivors here. There was something more than that.
'but what?' Micah looked out the window. The window shows the school gate.
With a room that could see directly to the gate. The distance between the room and the gate was quite far but with such an advantageous view. The woman should be able to devise a strategy to escape. She could also act as an eyes above and safely escort the surviving students out of this school.
'What is stopping them from leaving?' These words made Rudi think hard. At this point, their biggest possibility was that the duke did something to prevent anyone from leaving them.
'what is it?!' his mind couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't think further. He was already sweating a lot just thinking about one mystery.
"Is there something trying to stop you from leaving?" Rudi tried to ask due to his exhaustion from thinking.
The woman stared blankly at the dirty floor of the room because of the blood stains in the room. "When we tried to escape. Froki and Silvanna tried to be the first to touch the gate. But just as they were about to open the gate. Two soldiers suddenly appeared as if teleporting and stopped them just like that."
"Those two soldiers killed them both with one shot and threw gas at them. After that, they just disappeared somewhere. Shortly after their reaction to the gas appeared, the two children rose again as Detrals and attacked Jer and Bhuya who were frozen behind them at the same time."
"I tried to protect Valta alone, but when we tried to enter the barricade. The Detral horde along with four students who have turned attacked us blindly."
"I kept trying to hold Valta's hand tightly, but the Detral horde separated us. They pushed me into this room, while Valta was pushed onto the fence and eventually died from falling from the second floor."
"The Detral horde then attacked Valta's body lying in the first-floor garden and made her one of them."
The woman recounted the events in full, but Rudi felt that something was still incomplete in her story.
"What a sorrowful thing..." Lidya diverted her gaze and held back the tears that had already wet her eyes and cheeks.
Rudi wanted to ask further about the inconsistency in her story. However, his feelings stopped him from saying it.
Seeing this, Micah raised his hand and asked the woman. "Wait, how did you bring their bodies here?"
The three of them were surprised, while Camel was shocked not only by Micah's behavior of not knowing the place but also Rudi and Lidya were just surprised.
"Hey...!" Camel glared at Micah. He said that one word quietly but full of a threatening tone.
The woman who was being hugged by Camel finally released her hug. She looked at Micah with a disbelief look. However, she quickly turned her face back to normal.
"When I had no purpose in life. I fell silent in this room and waited for my death. That's when I saw the mastermind of all this."
"Mastermind? Is it the duke?" Lidya asked.
"Yes, but not only that! I saw a woman standing next to him and walking into this school with that bastard. Behind them were the same soldiers who killed Froki and Silvanna with one shot, plus one big-bodied person. He looked at the Detrals in this school with a proud expression. She even stroked one of the Detrals in this school without any fear at all. At that moment, the Detrals who were Jer, Froki, Bhuya, Silvanna, and Valta came up to that woman and attacked her."
"But unfortunately, the big-bodied person who looked like his guard came and hit their small bodies. The five of them were immediately thrown against the wall and died just like that."
"When she tried to leave, she glanced at this room. She realized my presence, but she didn't care about me. She seemed to be testing how long I could hold out here."
The story ended there, the story explained why the five student corpses were there. She also provided new information about the existence of a woman and her guard who were the culprits of all this. She didn't need to explain how she brought the five bodies here. From seeing how long she had been here, and the evidence of drag marks on the floor. It all showed that story.
The four of them who heard the story began to think. The duke was apparently crueler than they thought. They were not just fighting against greed in themselves. Rather, they were fighting against someone who could create a small apocalypse.
"By the way, about the armed soldiers. It seems I saw them." Lidya, who had just heard the story while looking out the window, whispered to them.
"They're coming?!" The woman looked out the window in a hurry. "We're done for! We're done for! We're done for! We're done for! They gonna kill us all! They gonna kill us all! They gonna kill us all! They gonna kill us all!"
"Kill us? We will be the ones to kill them first." Micah spoke with a nonchalant tone.
"You don't know their weapons! Those weapons are very dangerous! One shot from close range, and your stomach won't just be pierced, but splatter everywhere!"
"Ehh (fake surprise)? In that case..." Micah tried to look at the two soldiers. He who was initially dismissive became even more dismissive after learning about the type of armor and weapons the soldiers were carrying. "Ahaha! Is that (pointing to the soldiers) what you call soldiers with terrifying weapons?! Ahahaha! They look like they're wearing pots on their heads. And besides, it's just a shotgun that's only effective from close range!"
The soldiers they saw resembled crusader soldiers wearing full armor with their pot-like helmets.
Neither Camel nor the woman understood Micah's explanation. They didn't know where that dismissive attitude came from. What they saw now were truly terrifying soldiers, but it was not only Micah who reacted differently but Rudi and Lidya as well.
"What do you mean?" (Camel)
"I'll tell you later!" Rudi immediately grabbed Micah's shoulder as if signaling something. His head turned towards Lidya and pointed behind the fence with his head.
The three young men left the room, leaving the two locals still confused there.
Two soldiers with armor resembling crusader soldiers with their pot helmets walked around the school inspecting the Detral corpses that had been killed by the three young kids. The first soldier had a large sword on his back. The second soldier carried a spear on his back. They both held shotguns similar to the Remington model 870 in their hands.
"Micah, you target the one with the big sword, I'll target the one with the spear!" Rudi prepared in his position, behind the pillar while giving instructions to Micah.
"You can kill your target, we'll use the one with the spear for interrogation." (Rudi)
"Then what about me?" Lidya, who was already in position, asked.
"Can you lift their helmets?!" (Rudi)
"If I think about it, I can!"
"In that case, that's your task, remove the helmet of the one carrying the big sword, then freeze the legs of the one holding the spear!"
"Understood!"
Rudi aimed with his crossbow at the soldier's hands. That way, the last soldier wouldn't be able to use his weapon to fight back.
"Wait for my signal!" Rudi shouted quietly.
The command was acknowledged with nods from his two friends.
Rudi saw the soldiers getting closer and closer to here. Their inspection led to a clear conclusion because the Detral corpses were lined up like a road.
When their distance was felt to be close, Rudi raised his hand towards Lidya and ordered her to act.
Lidya, who saw the signal, immediately used her magic. She created a strong pressure upwards and made the pot helmet fly into the air. Seeing that happen, the soldier with the large sword was immediately shocked and reflexively tried to catch his helmet. However, at that moment...
*Dor!
His head was shot by a Desert Eagle. Micah's shooting skills slightly improved due to his days in Hun Village. He took the time to practice shooting for moments like this.
"H-Hey?! E-Enemies?! Where are you?! I'll shoot!" The soldier with the spear held his shotgun with trembling hands. If he shot, it seemed his shot would be futile because his gun was still locked.
In his panic, he tried to run. But his leg was suddenly frozen by a chunk of ice.
"What?! What is this?!" He was terrified beyond belief.
He aimed his shotgun randomly and tried to shoot. But,
*click! *click!
The shotgun jammed, "useless!", due to panic. He forgot to unlock his weapon.
*Ctar!
In that panicked moment. A bolt shot towards his palm. Instantly his palms opened reflexively from the pain of the bolt's stab.
"Argh!" He screamed and fell while trying to free himself from the ice chunk locking his leg. The shotgun in his hand was covered in blood and fell near him. His mind was blank, and he considered the weapon useless.
He tried with all his might to free himself, but all his efforts were useless. He looked around and raised his left hand up.
"I surrender! I surrender! Please release me! I'll give anything you want!"
Mission accomplished, they got one person they could interrogate. The mystery of this school would be revealed by this soldier.