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~ Third Person POV ~

“Some day, eh?”

“Get off your bloody horse, heretic.” The sound of spitting could be heard through the damp and dreary tunnel. The person who was assaulted with such liquid stayed silent. A grin etched on his face as he stared amused at the sight of the pathetic zealot.

“Horse? Excuse me for being quite frank with you,” the person glanced around him, shackles restraining his limbs, “but I don’t see any horses around here.”

The zealot went red in the face and contemplated whether executing the damned heretic was worth the consequences he would suffer afterwards. Deciding it wasn’t worth it, the zealot backed down and spit on the shackled person once more.

“Enjoy your last days, heretic.” The zealot left the tunnel, leaving behind the shackled person in the cage, along with other shackled people in some other cages. Once the zealot was out of sight, the person sighed and got the shackles restraining him off, as if he was never restrained in the first place.

“Fuck that guy.” He whispered to himself, the sound inaudible due to the groaning heard around the area.

‘Now then, what was the plan again? Ah yes, raise hell.’

There was only one way for him and his other friends to leave this hellhole alive, and that was to sacrifice the others to make their escape. Judging from the common soldiers he was acquainted with, none of them seemed trained enough to handle a sudden breakout.

“Psst. Lara, you there?” He whispered through the iron bars loud enough for the person on the other side of the prison cage to hear.

“… Commence the plan?” a voice, clearly feminine, responded back across the darkness. The man grinned and grabbed the iron bars caging him inside his prison.

“Let’s raise hell.”

And he bent the iron bars enough for him to pass through.

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“It should be around here somewhere.”

“…”

Two silhouettes silently trekked through the somewhat dense foliage underneath the pale moonlight. Both of them wore cloaks that hid their lethal weapons from plain sight, as well as shrouding their faces in darkness, making it next to impossible to see what they looked like.

“Ah, now I remember.”

The lead cloaked figure tapped on a rock situated in a somewhat strange rock formation. He tapped it in a weird pattern; a zigzag pattern with a square encasing it. The cloaked figure took a few steps back and waited.

The other cloaked figure, who was wondering why they were waiting, was about to ask something when a tiny click was heard. It wasn’t anything loud, otherwise, it would spook the animals surrounding the area.

The rock formation silently slid apart and revealed a stairway going down. Darkness was thick only a few steps away.

“This is an escape route, remember? Of course, it would be silent.” The lead cloaked figure whispered towards their confused ally, which made sense, of course, seeing that if the mechanism was loud, it would alert their enemies to where they were currently.

“Right…”

Both of them took their first steps down the dark stairs. The only source of light coming from the mote of blue light floating on the hand of the lead cloaked figure.

“Can I ask something, Sir Luke?”

“Ask away, Merethyl.”

The two cloaked figures, now known as the knight and elf, stopped for a brief moment, before continuing downwards, the stairs seemingly endless.

“Why is the Human faction allowed to discriminate, enslave, and execute those they deem heretics without any major backlash?”

“…” Luke stayed silent at the question. Anyone with a brain would like to ask that same question while tearing the roots out of their hair, leaving them bald. Curiosity was not the only reason. For a kingdom with a working society, mindless genocide against their own population was an incredibly baffling and shitty move to make.

“… Well…?” Merethyl pressed her question, her pointy ears wiggling at the anticipation of an answer to all this mindless slaughter.

“… You are not going to like my answer.” Merethyl frowned at his response, but Luke continued. “But since you are one of the victims, you have a right to hear this. I won’t talk about it now; we need all of our focus on our current objective.”

“…” Merethyl was torn between beating the answer out of the knight, and focusing on their objective. The memory of her sister with a dismembered leg made it easy to decide on an answer. “Alright, but I want answers once we return.”

“As you wish.” Luke replied and the both of them went silent once more, the echoing of their footsteps rebounding off the close walls. A few minutes into their descent later, they finally found flat ground, albeit incredibly dusty.

Luckily, both of them had masks on, so the dust wasn’t anything harmful.

“If I recall correctly, this path will lead us straight to the sewer system.” Luke looked at Merethyl behind him. “Once we arrive there, I suggest quickly using your magic and writing the layout on paper.”

Luke handed her a piece of paper of high quality, given to him by Sir Jionni, of course.

“Why?” Merethyl tilted her head at the suggestion.

“Since you were part of a D-rank Hunter team, I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t encountered a monster that could sense magic.” Luke trekked on, Merethyl following him as the mote of light continued to light their path. “Anticipate them, sure, but sensing them is not part of the monsters’, labeled in C-rank and below, repertoire.”

“Humans, as well as Demi-humans, are not exempt from this. Only powerful beings can sense magic.” Luke glanced one more time at Merethyl, before continuing on his trek. “And before I escaped, I learned about a powerful mage who had arrived earlier to… witness the execution of the heretical noble family.”

Merethyl said nothing, but she could feel the anger radiating off of the normally gentle knight.

Their trek continued in silence after that conversation. The only sounds audible were their footsteps within the dark tunnel. About half an hour later, they heard the sound of water droplets. The two of them knew they were close, but did not rush their speed. They needed to conserve their energy for when they needed it.

“We’re here,” Luke muttered as he scanned the area around him. Stinky water, filthy walls, and other things you would expect from a sewer system. Luckily, the walkways weren’t that filthy. He then created a flame with magic, lighting a ready-to-light torch he made on the way here.

“… You really need to maintain this place. What if monsters come and inhabit this area?”

“Trust me, we would’ve liked to, but pressure from the other noble families forced my Lord’s hand to buy… Better furnishings for his household, damned politics.” Merethyl winced at that. She would never understand nobles and their need to show power socially, such as who was richer, who was more beautiful and whatnot. “Anyway, use your magic, and quickly sketch the area. It doesn’t have to be good, just readable enough to show a rough guideline.”

Merethyl nodded and commenced to use her magic. A brief surge of power burst through her body and into the sewer.

“You have at most two minutes. I have my utmost faith in you.” Luke said as he timed her with his watch. Ah, the wonders of electricity.. Sadly, magic took precedence over electricity, but hey, at least there was the internet, however limited it may be.