I started by re-casting [Greater Invisibility] It was a waste of thirty mana but the bag in my pocket was only invisible because it was hidden in my pocket. If I wanted to pull it out without being seen, I needed to re-include it in the spell. Then it was just a matter of stepping behind Isidre and giving it a little squeeze near her head. There was a small visible cloud of the spores, but I think it was too faint to be seen if you weren’t right next to her. It wasn’t that well lit in here.

You have defeated Isidre Tamayo in non-lethal combat!

You are awarded 25 XP

She collapsed to the ground. Or, more accurately, she slumped over the fence to Manchas’ pen. I took a hit myself, but the antidote did its work. The rest of the soldiers rushed over to their leader.

Yes, that’s right, I thought, stepping back to let them gather in one place. One of them decided to be a bit annoying though. She must have been second in command.

“Lukas! Maik! Go fetch a [Healer]” she ordered, even as she bent over Isidre.

Well fuck. I was forced to chase after the pair as they quickly ran for the exit. My stomach protested at my sudden movements when I was still a little dizzy, but I caught up to them at the door. The heavy bar that kept it shut slowed them for long enough that I was able to throw the bag at the door. It exploded into a cloud of dust that enveloped them both.

You have defeated Lukas Foerster in non-lethal combat!

You have defeated Maik Peters in non-lethal combat!

You are awarded 32 XP

XP for non-lethal is rubbish. That didn’t mean I was tempted to kill them though. Fortunately, since the exit was in a different room from the main stables, the remainder of the group didn’t know that help wasn't coming. I took a moment to catch my breath, then another to let the dizziness dissipate.

Heading back, I saw that there had been developments. One of the group had also fallen unconscious, and the others had backed away from the pair.

“Hatiem?” one of them was saying. “Where the fuck did Hatiem powder come from?”

“Could it be in the smoke?”

“Must be the Tribals getting revenge!”

That wasn’t a bad idea. I snuck up behind them, and cast [Static Image] up in the roof beams. If I’d used [Phantasmal Entity] it would have been a physical figure lit by the lights below. Instead, I went for an unmoving shadow - with rabbit ears. Since they didn’t notice it at first, I added an [Unseen Sound] of a cough.

“There! What’s that?”

Too easy. From behind, the two remaining bags spread out a cloud that got everyone. They fell to the ground before they had a chance to turn around.

You have defeated Dominik Wurfel in non-lethal combat!

You have defeated Birgit Bar in non-lethal combat!

You have defeated Ulrich Krüger in non-lethal combat!

You have defeated Didier Faure in non-lethal combat!

You have defeated Fortun Hébert in non-lethal combat!

You have defeated Kieran Hobbs in non-lethal combat!

You are awarded 105 XP

I went to take a deep breath and then thought better of it, moving a few paces away. Whew!

To my relief, the griffins hadn’t reacted to all of this. Aside from Isidre, I didn’t know which griffins were bonded to which people, but I had assumed that most of the soldiers left behind were here because they’d bonded to an immature griffin. I kept an eye out in case any of this… flock started acting like they were getting orders from a human, but they mostly just stood or sat where they were.

I looked over my target. I’d noticed before that he was one of the smaller specimens, presumably because he was young, rather than a runt. No one would go for all this trouble over a runt. Still. I didn’t know how long it took griffins to mature, but I guessed it would take at least a year for this guy to be ready to ride. What had Isidre been thinking? She could have been riding a full-grown griffin right now.

Or… was I just being shortsighted? I’d sort of been living moment to moment since I’d gotten here. I still had the thought at the back of my mind I’d get back to Sydney and my family at some stage. But from what I could tell, none of the previous abductees had managed to get back. Maybe I should start planning like I was going to be living the rest of my life here.

Well maybe. Right now, I was still in the moment and making sure my life extended past today was my main priority. I approached Manchas with the collar.

I’m sure, as a wild - or semi-wild - animal, he would have resisted the collar. But he didn’t see it coming. As it had been on me when I cast invisibility, it only became visible when I let go of it, and by that time it had worked its magic.

I ordered, and he complied.

[Tame] Skill unlocked.

The collar was intuitive to use, just like Kyle had said. I had doubted that mind control would be so easy, but like a [Skill] it seemed to know what I wanted to do and just went and did it for me. This world was dangerous and underdeveloped in so many ways, but I had to admit that bits of it were so very convenient.

The experience was not like how a bond had been described. I didn’t get any feedback at all from Manchas, except a sense of how in control he was. Perhaps because he was a baby, he didn’t seem able to resist effectively.

Moving back to the main door, I sprayed the area with a disperse [Water Stream] to try and clear the spores. Then I dragged the bodies out of the way and gave Manchas his orders.

I was able to give him both an image of where he was to land and a rough direction from here.

More images, of Kaito’s crew. They had said they’d stay near the location, both for this, and to meet me when I brought Edele out.

That should do it. I’d rather it was Kaito removing the collar, but if Manchas got caught by his family, they were probably capable of removing it by force. That left the possibility that Manchas would lead a flock of angry griffins and the Griffin Riders right to Kaito, but I was sure that they could handle that eventuality.

I opened the door and sent Manchas out. He flinched from the spell, but the magic overrode his natural instincts. He took three steps forward and took flight before the guards could intercept. I got out of there as well, putting as much distance between me and that stinking smoke, and left the scene to the guards.

I still didn’t have time to go over my level, as I needed to get home and make sure Edele and Cutter made it back safe. Soon, I told myself. Maybe while having a hot bath.

Halfway home, I saw my first ogreling on the street. That’s not good. My bath was going to be delayed.

I hadn’t fought them before, but I didn’t think they were much of a threat to me. My damage was so small though, that even backstabbing it was going to take a few rounds to kill one. Still, I couldn’t let it keep trying to break down that door. It would eventually succeed.

You have inflicted 166 damage!

You have inflicted 172 damage!

You have inflicted 168 damage!

Contribution to Wave 4 noted.

Not as bad as I thought. But I wasn’t close to done. More of them were coming down the street. Too many for me to stop, but I could pick off some of the stragglers.

Griffin’s don’t swoop silently - not even a little bit, they screech as they come in - so I was able to dive to the side when one came in and picked up the ogreling I was lining up a shot on.

What the hell?

Looking up, I saw that the griffin was being ridden, so his target was probably the ogreling and he just didn’t see me. Further observation revealed that the sky was almost clear of griffins, and the ones I could see were all being ridden. They were doing the same as my own accidental near-murderer - swooping down and coming up with monsters in their claws.

Does that mean it worked? The griffins went home? I resolved to get back more quickly - it was too dangerous to fight invisibly on the street now.

Once I stopped detouring for monsters, I made my way through the streets quite quickly, only slightly slowed by the need to keep an eye out on both the streets and the skies. The door to our house was barred, which was a good sign - it meant someone was inside.

I cancelled [Greater Invisibility] and started hammering on the door. “Cutter! Are you in there?”

There was a muffled shout and the door was opened. By Cutter.

“Cutter! You’re alright!”

“Course I am, Miss!” he said brightly. “It was dangerous and all, but I was more than ready for it.”

“And Edele?”

“Her ladyship is in the kitchen,” he said somewhat dismissively. “I got her some food - I’ve been taking care of her like you said.”

“Her ladyship?” I asked, heading over to the kitchen.

He shrugged. “Well, she’s a right proper toff, isn’t she?”

What the… was my translation broken? I gave him a hard look, which he probably didn’t deserve. There must be some equivalent slang which the system decided to translate that way.

“She talks like a noble?” I asked over my shoulder, but I was already in the kitchen so I could see for myself.

Edele had risen at my entrance and curtseyed as I came into the room.

“My lady,” she said. “Are you the one I have to thank for my rescue?”

“I am,” I said, “But now I’m wondering if I got the wrong girl. Why is an adventurers daughter talking like a noble?”

I was taking Cutter’s word on this. While I had to admit that her word choices sounded more educated than Cutter’s, I was pretty sure he was talking about her accent, which I couldn’t hear. The System translated so effortlessly for me that it took an effort to hear the difference between languages. Distinguishing between dialects or accents was completely off the table.

The lady in question smiled nervously. “The Baron insisted on etiquette and elocution lessons for myself and the other girl. I don’t know why. You mentioned my father, is he here?”

“No, he’s still where you left him,” I said. “Come nightfall, I’ll get you out of the city and meet with a group that can take you to him.”

“I see,” she said. “May I ask why you didn’t free my fellow hostages?”

I grimaced. “I came for you because of an arrangement with your father. I’ve got somewhere to take you. I don’t know the other’s stories, I don’t know where they need to go if they even have a place. I can’t afford to keep hiding them in the long term, they’d just get me caught.”

In theory, I could have dropped them off with her, they’d probably be just as safe, assuming Mandel allowed it. I wasn’t sure if his trust issues extended to his daughter's friends/fellow hostages. But they probably did have places to go, and a mountaintop in the wilderness was the worst place for them to start that journey. She seemed to understand, just nodding sadly.

“Then, is there anything else for me to do before sunset?” she asked.

“Keep Cutter occupied,” I said with a grin, “Maybe teach him how to talk proper.”

It was - finally - time to attend to my level. I thought about running a bath, but… there was still too much going on to get out of my armour. I sat down and brought up the ability point screen.

Ability

Actual

Base

Cost

[Strength]

3

2

37

[Agility]

3

2

37

[Finesse]

4

3

58

[Soul]

3

2

37

[Intelligence]

5

4

79

[Charisma]

10

8

163

Unspent Ability Points

255

Let’s see. I resisted the temptation to put [Charisma] up again. It was surely high enough. I needed to address some of my weaknesses. Intelligence to six seemed a good idea. That would increase my magic points, and be useful for other kinds of magic if I could get them. If I couldn’t, it would qualify me to take a different mage [Profession]. That would mean giving up that +3 to [Illusion Magic], so only in an emergency.

That would bring the costs of all my lowest scores to 39, but I could still afford to take each of them to three. Did I want to increase [Soul] though? It hadn’t been doing much for me lately. It seemed safe to leave it at two. That meant I could increase [Finesse] which would help my dagger-work.

A few quick thoughts and my stats were increased. I turned my attention to Development points… when everything suddenly went white.

What!

I looked down at myself, but I was still there. It was just… everything else that was gone. A voice sounded from behind me.

“You would probably have wasted a lot of time looking at Development points, but all the good ones are eight points, so you’re better off waiting until your next level.”

I slowly turned to look at the man standing behind me. He was a complete stranger.

“Hi, I think it’s time we had a talk,” he said.