A big grin appeared on Fortis's face and she quickly stood up to give a proper bow to her new master. Amber could see that she was a clever girl who probably had an interesting back story, but that was something she could slowly explore at a later date.
"Master, may I inquire what your name is?"
"For now, you may call me Lady Jinks. After you've signed a special type of contract with me, you can learn my real identity. Although when we're in certain public situations you're to always call me Lady Jinks. I need to know that I can trust you with more sensitive information first. I have high hopes for you."
"I will do my best," says Fortis.
"Could you please release my magic restraints?" said Fortis while pointing at the metal bands around her wrists and ankles.
Amber blinked a few times while looking at the little girl. She'd never seen magic restraints in person before, but she remembers briefly reading about them in the book 'Duchess Dash.' They mentioned them when they were talking about the prisoners that were in the dungeon where she's supposed to end up eventually. A shiver ran down her spine remembering the graphic and gory details that she had read.
She remembered staying up late reading 'Duchess Dash' at that time. She had nightmares that night after reading Arabella's torture scene. Arabella herself hadn't been wearing any magical restraints during the torture scene because all of her mana pathways had been blocked throughout the book. At least now Amber knew that since she can use magic, she's capable of deviating from the original path of the story. Her death and everything leading up to it were too frightening in the original story. She could easily cry if she thought too much about it.
Amber had a neutral expression on her face like she wasn't phased in the least, but inside she was a bit freaked out. Either she was quite a bit older than she looked, she was very gifted at such a young age, or they were overly cautious. She couldn't believe that she hadn't realized what those restraints were at first.
Amber pointed her finger at one of the restraints on Fortis's wrist. At first, the metal resisted Amber's magic, but then after a few mental tugs, the bands started to unravel. Underneath the metal of the bands, there was a thin red string loosely around her wrist that was glowing. Fortis shook it off like it was some nasty bug that had landed on her. It was the core of the magic restraint band. Amber bent down and picked up the red band. She felt a sudden sickening jolt while it was in her hands. The glowing red band gave her an inexplicable feeling of dread and panic.
She felt like she was horribly sick while it was in her hands. It felt like a combination of having the stomach flu and not being able to throw up and being overly drunk. It was the most horrible full body sickness she'd ever felt. She quickly shoved it into an empty bottle in her pocket and closed the lid tightly. As soon as she lost contact with it, she felt a million times better. She couldn't imagine how awful it had to be to have those nasty things attached to you for a long period of time. Her eyelids lowered in disgust as she made quick work of the other band on Fortis's wrist. Amber held out the bottle to Fortis without a word and she shoved the other band into the bottle. Amber didn't want to touch those nasty things, but she was going to keep them to experiment on at a later time.
Fortis took a deep relieved breath as soon as the last band was off of her. She held out her hands and pointed at an empty cot in the corner of the room. That cot lifted up in the air and floated around the ceiling. Fortis smiled happily and then lowered the cot back down. She pointed her finger at Nova and soon Nova was gently lifted up in the air.
"I'm ready to go when you are," Fortis said.
Amber chuckled and smirked at Fortis. "That'll do nicely."
Amber turned to the orange haired man. "Now it's time to direct me to the vault as payment for my trouble."
Sweat poured down his face while the girls who were in the room slowly crept up from the floor, while looking at them nervously. One of the girls kept looking in between Amber and the orange haired man. She skirted around the outside of the room and came to the outside edge of the opening where the bars had been. She hesitated at the edge of the room for a moment while looking fearfully at them and then dashed out towards the elevator.
"You get back in that room!" Screamed the orange haired man.
Amber glared at him and then pointed her finger at his neck. His mouth gaped open in shock and he fell over in pain, gasping while holding his neck.
"You'll need to remember who's currently in charge if you want to survive to see the end of this day. I did not give you permission to talk or object in any way. I did not have any objections to that girl leaving and so you have no right to any objections either. Do I make myself clear? You may answer."
"Yes," he gasped out while lying curled up on the floor.
"Very well," Amber said.
Amber looked over at the other girls hesitating to see what would happen. "You're free to leave if that's your wish."
A couple of other girls crept over to the edge of the room and then bolted. After seeing some of the other girls leave, there was a mad dash of girls running out of the room. The orange haired man laid on the ground with a pale face and his eyes closed in resignation. He had to leave this place as soon as possible. If he didn't, he would have to pay for this disaster with his life. The boss would not take kindly to losing so much merchandise. There would be no other way to pay but with his own life, and likely the entirety of his family. His only course of action was to flee.