After a few minutes, everyone was already dressed with their things in their hands. I was reminded while looking at their clothes that this wasn't the same world, as their clothes all looked just as strange as the ones that everyone else in the roads of this city wore. Which meant that things like this—this rescue mission—couldn't also go as it would've in my world.
I turned to Bo'guth, who was quietly looking at the people, and whispered to him, "How should we handle it now? I don't think we can just walk out of this place after what we've done."
"Hm?" he turned to look at me while slightly tilting his head. "Hmm… I guess you're right…"
"Then… should we call for the guards or the police?" I asked, looking between the few people that still gave me looks of concern.
Some of them looked in healthy conditions, which were the ones that allowed me to use healing magic on them. The others refused to even let me go near them, so they still looked bruised.
"I guess that we should do that… although, I'm not sure how well that is going to work out for us, since we're not part of the authorities, and countries in this world don't like people taking justice by their own hands," Igladith interjected, Mirlaneth already sleeping in her arms.
"So we're still in trouble…" I said, before clicking my tongue.
If there was something that I was missing from my time while serving the Holy Gods, was that things like these wouldn't ever be an issue, as even the emperor would regard anything I did as righteous. But right now, that title wasn't worth anything, and looking at the people in this place, it would likely even increase the amount of problems I'd have to deal with if I were to throw around my old title.
It was while looking at the people, and the couple of scared little goblins that were in the group, that I remembered another goblin I met a couple of days ago. Something similar had happened back then when Daniel and the ones with him attacked us, and if I remember Erus' words correctly, he said that he could handle anything that came out of it.
"Can you give me my phone? There might be someone willing to help us," I said to Bo'guth who looked with one eyebrow raised at me.
"You have yet another contact for this? Perhaps that title of yours still pulls weight," he replied, followed by a chuckle as he reached for the Magic Pocket and brought out the phone.
"Nothing like that," I said as I fumbled with the phone. "There was—There was someone…" I trailed off as I still had to focus on how to use some of the phone's functions.
After a few moments of looking around in it, I finally found Erus' information. I didn't think too much about it as I pressed on the call number, but I hoped that at this time of the night, he would still be awake and able to answer.
Some sounds from the phone went by, and finally, I heard the goblin's groggy voice coming from the artifact.
"Greetings and salutations from this most esteemed one to you who is calling him. It is truly the Dark One's grand scheme in life to summon this humble one from the depths of the dark night, just like the howling of the void, stretching to the stars to cover the world in a peaceful blanket of—"
"Please stop," I interrupted, fearing that Erus might keep going forever if I didn't. "I need your help."
"Ah! One would feel ever so pleased to aid those that have given new life to this one! If the mighty one were to explain succinctly, in as many words as the briefness of a long conversation, how he might be of help, then a most kind and swift response shall be had, for he is one to deliver on his words, as they are many, and as many as they are, he shall do as many things as—"
With a heavy sigh, I prepared myself to talk to the talkative goblin.
* * *
A few minutes later—that felt like hours—I was finally able to convey the situation to Erus, and with as many words as he usually spoke, he confidently promised that he would take care of it. How he would do that, however, I didn't know. I would just have to trust him.
If there was one thing that worried me was that I cut him short at the end as he was speaking by saying a quick thank you and quickly cutting off the communication from the artifact. But judging by the little goblin's personality, I didn't think he's going to be angry about my rudeness.
"Who was that? You sure talked for a while," Bo'guth asked while we were all sitting in the same big hall.
"It was a goblin whose name I only recall as Erus," I said, before turning to look at the other people. "We must go out. A group of police are likely already on their way here."
"Police?" someone asked and everyone else stirred on their spots, hesitant about moving from where they were.
I nodded and walked to the edge of the stairs leading up. "It is the way that things are done in this world, aren't they?"
I paused to look over them, before turning to go up the stairs without saying anything more.
I heard Bo'guth laugh, and like me, he followed up the stairs, stopping only half-way to look down on the people. "Come on. Freedom is up this way—unless you want to stay here with the Followers of Leyfall… or go back into those jail cells."
After he said that, the group of people finally moved. The ogre and a couple of others moved without thinking too much about it; others were still hesitant, but after looking at the subdued zealots, they decided to go after me as well.
* * *
Once we were outside—where the couple of guards were still passed out—I noticed that the first rays of sunlight were already threatening to come out.
The roads weren't busy yet, and I wondered if something actually happened after the call I made to Erus, but it didn't take more than a handful of minutes to see the red and blue lights of the police cars coming down the roads. I thought that it would be just like it usually was, where only one car with a couple of police men or women appeared, but to my surprise, it was a large number of them, which kept coming one after the other to fill the empty lot in front of the building.
There were even large cars, similar to the one that Bo'guth had, that for some reason had the word 'ambulance' written backwards at the front.
I wasn't sure about what was going to happen with this many people coming into this place, so I stood tall in front of everyone and prepared myself for anything strange that could happen.
I didn't save Mirlaneth and all of these people along with her just to have them suffer under the hands of someone else, but I couldn't be certain yet.
From one of the police cars, a man dressed in important clothes walked out. He was the same man that had been at Bo'guth's community when I went there, but this time, he didn't appear to be in the same dismissive attitude that he had when I saw him.
With a grim expression, he walked with a couple of well armed police men, that carried a sword on their hip and a loud weapon on their hands, to stand in front of me. He took out a phone and looked at it for a moment, before looking up to me. "Are you… 'The most highly dark one, hellish of all beings, and prettiest of gloom flowers, Althea Sanctus'?"
I frowned at such a title, but could easily guess who had sent these people. "Yes… I am Althea."
The man looked over and around me to the rest of the people that had decided to stand behind me. "And these are the people that you saved?"
"Yes. They were being kept captive by what I assume are the Followers of Leyfall," I said and turned to look at them.
They all carried different expressions, from relief to some lingering apprehension towards me, but it seemed as if just seeing all the police surrounding the location caused them to lose some of the hostility they carried for me. The Police Leader looked at them for a moment before turning to me once more.
"We'll assess the situation. You'll have to stay for a while, however, as we make sure that everything is okay…" his expression then changed to one of pity. "We'll probably have to take you to a station as well to get the facts straight… I hope you cooperate with us."
It was an expected thing to do, especially when random warriors and mages do the job of the guards. "I won't cause any trouble."
"Good," he replied and moved his hand up to gesture a few of the other police to move forward.
The police moved with a jog to the building we walked out of, while some of the people that walked out of the ambulance cars moved to tend to the rescued. In just a few seconds, the zone was full of chattering as the police and the people from the ambulance car talked and moved around.
I quietly watched people moving from one place to another for a few minutes. Some of the wounded people that refused to be healed by me were taken to the ambulances, which made loud sounds and left the place just as fast as they had gotten there. The ones that I healed and the ones that weren't wounded were instead being held by the police as they were talked to.
"Captain!" a man that had gone into the building exclaimed as he was leaving the building, heaving. "There's a few restrained people in a basement and… several corpses."
The captain's face turned grim as he frowned. "Several corpses…?"
"Yes… it appears like almost all of them were cut down with a large sword…" the man continued standing straight and looking at the sword on my back. "There were also signs of combat all over the place."
The captain turned his grim look at me as he walked past me and into the building. "I guess… we'll take a look." He paused in his step to look at me and a few of the other police. "Please keep an eye on her."
"Yes, sir!" a couple of men replied at the same time and took positions next to me.
"Is there a problem?" Bo'guth asked once he noticed that I was being kept in place. "We called you guys earlier tonight to report my daughter as missing, and thanks to Althea, we were able to find my little girl. I don't see any reason to be hostile with her."
"Well… there's a few dead people downstairs… so we have to look into it, that's all," one of the police said.
"Hmm… is that so…? I hope you're not thinking about other things just because we're people from Tenebreius," Bo'guth continued, giving the police men an unusual glare.
"No, nothing like that. That's just the way that we have to proceed," the police man replied without having much of a change in attitude—despite being glared at by such a large demon.
"Really? Your people didn't seem all that concerned about my daughter being missing and my house being attacked last night. What happened to the procedure back then?" Bo'guth continued, his hostility rising slightly.
"I don't know anything about that," the police man replied, his expression turning to one of annoyance this time. "Listen, Sir, we're just doing our jobs here. If you have a complaint, there's channels you can use for that."
Bo'guth scoffed, tilting his head back slightly to look down at the man. "And would those channels have saved my daughter if—"
"Bo'guth," I interrupted him before he got even more hostile. "Settle down. You didn't do anything wrong. I'll take responsibility for this."
It was true that he didn't do anything wrong. Even if invading this place was okay, and we could get away with that, I was the only one that killed anyone in there. Neither Igladith nor Bo'guth did enough damage to anyone to kill them.
Bo'guth looked surprised at me. "We can't allow that, especially because if it wasn't for you, neither my daughter nor all of these people would be outside right now—Heaven, who knows what kinds of things they would be suffering right now."
I shook my head. "It's okay. I don't know how things work in this world, but I'd rather wait and see than go on another… righteous war and cause more harm than good." I couldn't help but put on a soft, sad smile. "At least… not willingly."
Bo'guth looked down at me, unconvinced. "I can't allow you to be repaid like this after—"
"Sir!" one of the men standing next to me called to the captain that was walking out now.
The captain heavily sighed and looked at me with a serious expression. "You're going to have to come with us to the Prosecutor's Bunker." He turned to the men next to me. "Please take her in."
The men next to me quickly moved to grab me by the arms and I felt compelled to resist them, pushing them away. They looked at me with surprise for a moment before grabbing me once more, with more strength this time.
"Please don't resist," the captain said as he looked at me with a frown. "Don't make this harder than it should be."
"Sorry, I was simply not expecting it," I replied but the man didn't seem too convinced by my answer as he simply shook his head and turned his back on me.
Bo'guth clicked his tongue in annoyance as the couple of men on my side took me with them to one of those police cars, placing me on the back of the car, and closing the door behind me as I waited to see what would happen after this.