Chapter 69: Square One

*Early Afternoon*

Anais: “It should be somewhere around here, right?”

Iris: “This is the market place, where else would he setup shop?”

Upon Nathan request, Iris retrieved both Anais and Ena from the library. They had arrived at Loegrey’s marketplace and were currently trying to locate Ramol’s stand.

Ena: “This would be a lot easier, if he were to sell at his shop.”

Anais: “No-one goes to that side of town and even if they did, the shop is in no condition to accommodate anyone. He needs money to renovate, but he won’t see any real profit for a while, let alone at the end of this week, when he promises to pay us.”

Iris: “A profit won’t be made, if he cannot sell due to interference from some ruffians, we have to make sure no harm befalls them. We should make haste and locate the siblings.”

Anais: “Ah, right, I keep forgetting.”

Anais looked at the back of her hand, Ramol was a member of Nathan’s party, so she should be able to locate him with it. Three arrows were dead center of the sensor, showing the three of them and one other arrow was not far off from their position.

Anais: “Ah ha, this way.”

Anais pointed down some street and began walking in that direction with Iris and Ena following behind. They walked for a few minutes taking in the plethora of sights and smells; coming from the many stalls and stands. Fancy weapons and armor, as well as accessories, which had many different effects.

Anais: “Hmm?”

Iris: “What’s wrong?”

Anais: “Aw crap, the arrow started moving, better follow it.”

Ena: “Wait, isn’t that little brother over there?”

Iris: “Kyr.”

Over by a stand, surrounded by people, Kyr stood selling produce after produce. He seemed to be getting swamped, by the constant flow of customers, buying out all the fruit and vegetables they had at the stalls. Some of the customers had begun fighting over said produce.

Man: “Boy, I’ll take these.”

Kyr: “Y-Yes, that will be thirty-three rydt.”

Maid: “Excuse me, I heard you were selling Stratos berry.”

Kyr: “Yes, have to check our stock, it will be a moment before I can get away.”

Maid: “But, I been waiting so long already.”

Kyr: “Sorry, sorry, I will retrieve them as soon as I can, please be a little more patient.”

Young man: “HEY, THAT WAS MINE!”

Mature Woman: “It belongs to whomever purchased it boy and that exactly what I’ve done.”

The woman quickly handed Kyr some coin, before taking her leave, giving a snarky laugh as she disappeared into the crowd.

Young man: “Hey, kid, hurry and get me another.”

Kyr: “Sorry sir, I can’t restock at the moment, please be patient.”

Young Man: “You think I got the time? Forget it.”

The man picked up several fruits and began to walk away.

Kyr: “Sir, you have to pay for those.”

Young Man: “Shut up, you owe me for letting that bitch get away with that.”

Kyr: “You can’t just-”

Young Man: “I can’t just what?”

The man placed a hand on his sword, causing Kyr to back down.

Young Man: “Yeah, that what I though, fucking mutt.”

Kyr did a quick look around. But no one made a move to stop him, everyone going on about their business.

Young Man: “Owww, what are you doing you crazy girl!?”

The man began to scream, his pant leg had burst into flames.

Anais: “Crazy…said the guy who’s blatantly stealing.”

Anais had tossed a Flare spell at him, causing the fire. The young man dropped all the fruits he was carrying while at the same time trying to put out the fire on his leg.

Young Man: “Dammit, you’ll pay for that. Huh?”

Ena began to gather up the produce that had rolled all around.

Ena: “A good rinse and they will be as good as new.”

Young Man: “Hey, Mutt!”

The young man drew his sword and went for Ena.

Anais: “Ena look out!”

Ena: “What?”

Ena turned to Anais, completely disregarding the man coming at her with his sword.

*Swoosh**Smash*

The crowd and man looked on in shock at what just took place. When the man struck Ena with his sword, it broke right in half on her head.

Ena: “Huh, what the hell?”

Ena turned to the man, feeling the itch on her head and notice his sword pointed at her. Seeing his blade broken on the ground, she put two and two together then smiled a big happy smile.

Ena: “Hey, I can fight him right? Like Nathan said; if they strike first its okay to strike back.”

Nathan feared for the lives of anyone that got hit by the crater-inducing punch that Ena could deliver, placed a restriction on her. She couldn’t blatantly start fights, however if someone else started one, it was okay. Someone breaking a sword over her head was within the conditions, and she was ecstatic to fight after so long.

Young Man: “W-What the hell are you?”

Ena: “Oh wait, let me return the fruit to Master Kyr, then we can brawl. Wait right here.”

Ena happily skipped over to Kyr’s stand, excited about the soon to-be clash. The man just stood there, with a stupid look on his face, along with the crowd with equally stupid looks.

Anais: “Hey, um I know you were just trying to take our friends stuff, but I gonna give you some words of advice, Run.”

The man looked at Ena talking to Kyr and placing the fruits back, then to the broken sword on the ground and the over to Anais. He quickly bolted through the crowd, not wanting to fight Ena in the least.

Ena: “Alright, I’m ready, hmm…where’d he go?”

Anais: “He had to go, but he said he’ll fight you next time.”

Ena: “What, but I didn’t get to do anything, I wanna fight.”

Ena crossed her arms and pouted. She hadn’t been able to let-loose in a while and was craving for a fight.

Anais: “I’m sure they’ll be other chances, come on, let’s help Kyr run the stall.”

Ena, still visibly upset about the man running off, followed Anais and Iris up to the stand. The crowd opened up and let the two through as they approached the stall.

Kyr: “Miss Ena, thanks for helping me, you too Miss Anais.”

Kyr turned to Iris, but she quickly signaled him not to regard her. Kyr got the message and silently thank her instead.

Kyr: “What brings you all here, do need anything?”

Anais: “We heard you were having trouble and came to see if we could help.”

Kyr: “Ah, yes, things like that have been happening a lot recently, mostly when we switch over to selling the weapons; well trying to sell them. Usually my brother takes care of things, but he’s been leaving a lot lately.”

Anais: “I was just about to ask about that, where did he go? He was here a minute ago, right?”

Kyr: “Uh well-”

Old man: “Excuse me, I’d like these.”

Kyr: “Yes, be right there. I have to get back to the customers, would you mind waiting?”

Anais: “Don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere.”

Kyr smiled and left to tend to the customers.

Iris: “What do you suppose…what could possibly pull Ramol away and leave his younger brother by himself?”

Anais: “Not sure, but I’m gonna go look for him. You two wait on Kyr, so nothing like that will happen again.”

Iris: “Okay, but hurry back. I’m unable to do much, without drawing suspicion.”

Anais: “Don’t worry, I’m sure no one wants to mess with the boy, who’s friends with a girl, who’s fine after having a sword broke over her head.”

Iris: “Ah, that is true.”

Anais then checked her hand and walked off into the crowd. From what she could see on her hand, Ramol wasn’t too far off. Just as she was about to find him, his arrow began to move once more, but it didn’t matter.

Anais: “Hey, Ramol.”

Ramol was surrounded by four other men who walked down alley and disappeared off the main road.

She followed them down the alleyway and as she came closer, she could hear someone arguing.

Ramol: “NO, YOUR DEALINGS ARE WITH ME AND ME ALONE. LEAVE THE LYCANIAN OUT OF THIS!”

Anais: “(Ramol?)”

_

_

Sari ran over to her family, relieved to see them okay.

Koshige: “Sari!”

Koshige stood there holding his children tightly, them doing the same, only releasing each other once they saw Sari.

Ai & Kou: “Mom!”

Sari, though her arms around her children, happy to see they were alright.

Sari: “Koshige, what happened here, this, this is appalling?”

Koshige shook his head.

Ksohige: “We tried to stop them, but more and more just followed their lead. He told them, about the deal he made with their loved ones.”

Nathan: “I said what the fuck did you do!?”

Sari and Koshige’s conversation was cut short. Right after Nathan screamed, vines shot up from beneath the ground, entangling all the women there. They let out surprised screams as they were hoist into the air.

Sari: “What are you doing, you’re hurting them!?”

Nathan: “Kinda the idea.”

Sari: “But-”

Nathan threw Sari a look, and she quickly backed down. He was angry. Everything he had accomplished went up in flames. Some of the women let out groans of pain, as the vines tightly gripped their bodies. Nathan made his vines bring down the mother-daughter duo who had killed him. They were scared as they were forced to face him.

Nathan: “Why, he couldn’t hurt you anymore, why?”

Young girl: “H-He deserve it, ughn!”

Nathan made the vines squeeze a bit tighter when she said that.

Nathan: “He deserved a lot of shit, but what I want to know, is why you thought that was up you decide…you had no right-”

Young girl: “WE HAD EVERY RIGHT!”

The girl yelling caught Nathan off-guard, tears flowed as she looked down to Nathan.

Young Girl: “He held me and my mom here for years, doing whatever he wanted to us…….we couldn’t fight back. Every day we were made to sit in those chairs, dress in pretty outfits that were forced on us and everyday he would open those cages and take one of us away for the night.

He would strip us down and do what he wanted with us, his so-called act of ‘engraving’. And the entire time we sat there, unmoving, forced to look up at his smiling face as he-”

She trailed off at the end, unable to say what he did to them. Tears streamed down her face as she was forced to remember the events that had happened.

Young girl: “But if we made a sound, moved in anyway, he would discipline us and would continue until he was satisfied. Smiling…smiling…as he beat us over and over, to the point where even we couldn’t even control our bowels.

Young girl: “Not just him, any of his men who he thought deserved a reward, over and over and all we could do, is to pretend we couldn’t see, unmoving, emotionless, while a man, or a woman, had their way with us.”

By this time Nathan had lowered the women back to the ground, where they each immediately collapsed, not from the pain of being squeezed, but from the memories.

Young girl: “And now we come to find out that our families, left us here. They didn’t just abandoned us, they signed over lives over to him. My brother, my father…………..they left us here.”

The girl continued to repeat her last words, lost in her thoughts. Koshige showed Sari the documents, she couldn’t bring herself to believe what was written.

Sari: “No, you can’t believe this, you can’t give up.”

Woman B: “That’s easy for you to say, your husband, didn’t run.”

The tension in the air thickened upon that remark.

Sari: “T-That’s-”

Woman B: “Hooray for you, your family never gave up on you, no matter what bull-shit he was put through, he had every intention of leaving with his family intact.”

The last part was a quote from the deceased Gideon. Sari wasn’t sure what she could say right now, for in the end, she was still surrounded by her family.

Woman B: “Don’t give up, can you begin to understand how we feel? You were there for…what a month? In that time, how often did he touch you, dress you up, beat you, take you to bed, or leave you to his men? You just sat in your cell, looking all pitiful, like the world was coming down on you, I would have killed to be in your position.”

Sari didn’t know what to say, the entire time she had no idea how good she had it, compared to the others. Gideon wanted her, but only after he broke Koshige, would he want to take his wife.

Koshige: “Hey, I get your upset, but I won’t stand you taking your anger out on my wife.”

Woman C: “Oh, that’s right, her husband. Willing to do anything for his wife, even sell out the Lycanian.”

Koshige: “Guh!?”

Koshige turned to Nathan, who and turn looked at him.

Woman C: “That’s right, he made a deal, with Gideon. If he helped to capture the Lycanian woman, he’ll let his entire family go.”

Nathan: “Don’t try to rile me up, I already knew that.”

Koshige: “What!?”

Nathan: “I’m not an idiot, I saw all of you back in the woods looking for me.”

Woman C: “And you still came to save us, even knowing that?”

Nathan: “Did none of you hear me earlier? I’m not here to save you. I am here for him.”

Nathan pointed to the mutilated mess that was Gideon.

Nathan: “I was here to turn him over to the guild.”

Woman: “You’re an adventurer?”

Nathan: “That’s right. I had no idea any of you were here or that you needed saving. I only wanted to increase my rank.”

Nathan took a step forward towards the girls, the ones standing taking a step back.

Nathan: “So you can see why I’m upset, to go through all just trouble, to end up hurt, for what exactly, a bunch of woman throwing a tantrum?”

Nathan could feel himself growing angry again.

Nathan: “It’ not that I don’t feel for you, in all honesty, what happened to you is really fucked up. However, what you did, would have probably have happened back in the town, plus I would have gotten my rank up. Oh, and here’s a little bit of trivia for ya, who now have to live their lives on the run, along with the families, BECAUSE THEY KILLED THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO CAN PROVE THEIR INNOCENCE!?”

Everyone finally realizes the rash and foolish actions. Even if they wanted to search for their families, the men in their family, had been made to steal. With Gideon dead, there was no one to who could authenticate Nathan’s claims, so there was no way to clear their names. In addition, if the women returned to society, it wouldn’t be strange for the authorities to seek them out, in order to find the significant others. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t. As of now, they were officially abandoned, not by just their families, but by the world itself.

Nathan: “So you can see why I’m upset, you don’t get what you want, but more importantly, I don’t get what I want.”

Woman C: “W-We didn’t know.”

Nathan: “You didn’t know…you think that’s an excuse? Because he’s dead,……Huh (The hell, my body)?”

Nathan was suddenly impeded by Sari, who stood between him and the woman.

Sari: “Please, don’t hurt them.”

Nathan: “hwaaa?”

Nathan let out a stupid sound when Sari said that. She along with her family stepped in front of the woman and child.

Nathan: “Hey, what’s this, you’re making me look like the bad guy here.”

Sari: “Please, there must be another way, to get what you want.”

Nathan: “Oh, yeah, a whole bunch of different ways, but you see, this way was the less tedious, ugh (again, my body).”

Koshige: “Regardless of taking your anger out on them, won’t bring him back to life.”

Nathan understood that clearly, but it was just incredibly frustrating, everything he had gone through was for nothing. They killed every single one, no way to prove anything was accomplished back at the guild.

Nathan: “……….What?”

Iris: “Master this is-”

Nathan notice something he over looked in is haste. Next to Gideon there were some vines, but there was no corpse. Looking it over her quickly noticed the trail of blood, heading back into the hideout.

Sari: “Hey!?”

Nathan wasted no time and took off into the cave. He was losing a lot of blood, from what Nathan could tell. Nathan sped up, there was a good chance he would bleed out if he didn’t hurry. Down each corridor, if there was no blood, he quickly back-tracked and took another corridor, soon he could hear foot steps up ahead.

Nathan: “Gotcha.”

Nathan didn’t need the blood anymore so he sped up, closing in on the culprit. He needed to hurry, but the look of the pools of blood, it wouldn’t be long before he bled out.

*slam*

Nathan caught up just in time to see a large door being shut and lock with a *ka-chink* sound. From the other side, it was effectively locked. Nathan looked up at the stone impediment, it was like any other wall in the cave. If he had not seen it shut just then, he would have probably thought as such.

Nathan: “Iris.”

Iris: “Understood.”

Iris had already equipped the “Alssein Eye” and with a wave of he hand, an encore of the *Ka-chink* sound was heard.

Nathan: “Hnnnnnnnnnngggh!”

Nathan swung the door open and was rewarded with a wonderous sight. All manners of gold and Jewelry were sprawled out across the floor, without doubt all the treasure they pilfered over the years. Though it was tempting, Nathan skipped past it all the treasure and headed straight for the adjacent room.

Jonathan: “Shit.”

Opening the door Nathan found a room full of all manners of parchments and to the back of the room, was the bespectacled man from before. From his look, he didn’t seem like a grunt. HE was searching the shelf, only stopping when Nathan entered.

Jonathan: “Ugh!”

Jonathan held his gut in pain, the blood dripping, had cease to stop, Nathan had to stop, or he would bleed out soon. However, the moment Nathan took a step forward, Jonathan open the book he was holding. Nathan could guess from just the look of it, a Magic Tome.

Nathan: “Hey, you sure you wanna try fighting in your condition. Your just gonna make things worse.”

Jonathan just held the book up in front of him.

Nathan: “Look, you can’t move around so much, you’ve lost too much blood. I can heal you, but I need to get close.”

Jonathan: “………………… Thanks, but I’ll take my chances.”

Jonathan activated the spell, but it was difference from any Nathan had seen before. He ready himself, whatever it was, he wasn’t gonna let it stop him.

Jonathan: “I want forget this, you will regret making an enemy of us.”

Nathan: “Hah, you think you’re getting pas-”

Nathan instantly realize something important. His Threat Detection wasn’t activated. Nathan moved to stop whatever Jonathan was doing, but it was too late.

Jonathan: “Relocate!”

Just as Nathan got within reach, Jonathan vanished leaving nothing, but a blood spot. Nathan looked around, but it was a silly thing to do, Jonathan was gone, but just then, his Threat Detection activated. Turning quickly, he found one scroll was left unraveled in the lone table in the room. The scroll began to produce smoke and Nathan went wide eyed, realizing what it was.”

Nathan: “IRIS!”

*Booooooooooooom*

An explosion rock the room, tearing it apart and bursting out the door into the hall. The earth shook and parts of the ceiling caved in, burying everything inside, as the blast took its toll on the building.

As the dust begin to settle, pieces of the ceiling continued to fall. However, in the middle of the room was a giant bubble, encasing both Nathan and Iris.

Iris: “Master, are you okay?”

Nathan: “I’m fine.”

Iris took down the barrier they had erected around them, shielding them from the blast. Nathan looked around at the devastation, the room was non- existent. The tomes and scrolls that were littered about…not one survived the explosion. Entering into the larger room, Nathan found that most of the gold and jewels were still intact, but the artifacts were destroyed, broken and thrown about by the blast.

Nathan didn’t care; it was just the booby prize. He leaned against the wall before banging against several times. Gideon was dead, the glasses guy had run away, and he was caught in an explosion. Thinking about how everything went south so quickly Nathan screamed out, echoing through the demolished cavern.

Nathan: “FUCK!”