With his scythe in hand Marcus moved over towards the unconscious Osman and jammed the point of his scythe into his throat. After that he did the same to the remaining unconscious grunts in the warehouse. He then collected all of the valuables off of their bodies and was happily surprised by what he found on Ander.

‘I guess being the leader of a group of criminals can be profitable, he has some type of magic storage bag like Poulsen, and Wade did, and his sword is made out of some type of metal I have never seen.’

Dropping his spoils into the magic bag Marcus also found a key ring hidden in one of Ander’s pockets. With the keys in hand Marcus walked back over to the cage that Lilia was being kept in.

‘Hm, should I use Irene’s appearance, or should I continue using my own, a familiar face might help the girl calm down, but I do not plan on being her sister for the rest of her life.’

Waying the pros and cons Marcus eventually decided to stay as his original appearance so as not to give the girl false hope that her sister was alive. Standing in front of the cage that Lilia was in he could see the brown-haired little girl with a striking resemblance to Irene huddled in a corner shivering from fear and cold. Flipping through the keys Marcus soon found the one that unlocked the cage, and when he entered, and Lilia saw him she curled up into a ball facing away from him as if he was a monster.

‘I guess the poor thing is traumatized, but luckily for her I am not a monster, well I am but I’m not a bad monster.’

As he approached Lilia she gave of a scared shriek when she could feel Marcus standing over her. Marcus’ heart hurt a bit at this since on this world this little girl could be considered the closest thing he has to family.

‘I know I am not Irene but some of her memories and a part of her resides in me so in a way Lilia is like my little sister. Oh well, I have no plans to live with and raise her, but I will do what I can to help here and there.’

While Marcus was thinking Lilia had closing her eyes and waiting for something horrible to happen to her, except nothing ever came and she eventually turned around to see Marcus staring off into space with a pensive look on his face. When Marcus noticed Lilia had turned around, he put on his brightest smile and crouched down before saying, “hello there Lilia my name is Marcus and your big sister Irene sent me to come rescue you, so if you would come over here, I can take that uncomfortable collar off of you.”

Looking at Marcus with a dumbfounded expression for a few moments, when she finished processing what Marcus had said a glimmer of hope twinkled in her eyes before she responded.

“Big sister Irene sent you, where is she, is she nearby, can you take me to her, I want my sister.”

Hit with a bombardment of questions he did not want to answer Marcus wished he had never mentioned Irene, but it was to late now and he was going to have to live with it.

“I am sorry little Lilia, but Irene did not make it, she did everything she could to save you and when that was not enough, she had me promise to do it in her stead. I know that it is hard to lose a sibling, but I promised Irene that I would save you so here I am.”

Looking at Marcus tears started to well in Lilia’s eyes before she started balling, screaming about how she missed her sister and wanted things to go back to normal. Seeing that she was not going to stop anytime soon Marcus moved over and hugged Lilia letting her cry into his shirt until she cried herself unconscious.

‘Huh, I definitely need to learn better tact, next time I rescue someone the first thing I mention should not be their dead sister. Though in some ways this might be easier since I do not have to deal with a scared child anymore.’

After letting go of Lilia Marcus rifled through Ander’s keys until he found the right one. Marcus then inserted the key and unlocked the collar, and he heard a click and some runes lit up on the collar before it popped off. Having freed Lilia, Marcus picked her up and went around the other cages releasing the people from Irene’s community first. He told each of them the same story about how Irene had tasked him to save them and how she did not make it. Once all of them were freed he handed Lilia off to one of the older women before freeing the rest of the people in cages. With everyone freed Marcus led the formerly kidnapped people out of the warehouse.

He then directed the group to head east towards the center of Loursend to find some guards that could help them and that he would catch up in a few moment. After the group had moved a little ways away, Marcus ran back into the alley where he had left the outside guards and quickly dispatched them before he piled all of the bodies together and lit the rest of the warehouse on fire. Not staying to watch the place burn Marcus ran in the direction of the people he had just rescued. On the way there as the fire intensified, Marcus heard a familiar ding.

‘You have leveled up to level 16.’

Not very surprised Marcus figured that the remaining magical beast in the warehouse had pushed him over the threshold to the next level.

After running for a few minutes Marcus caught up to the group to see that multiple guards were surrounding them looking a bit perturbed to have to deal with such a hassle this early in the morning. Having confirmed that Lilia and the others were being taken care of Marcus deactivated his solid form not wanting to be on any sort of record since Ander was supposed to be backed by some power in the city.

Marcus wanting to make sure that Lilia was okay shadowed her for a few days checking that she was not neglected. After a few days, the people that had been displaced by the slavers were let go to have to fend for themselves.

‘I guess that is medieval society for you, there are no social programs to help people that have been kidnapped and displaced.’

Once the group that Lilia was a part of had separated from the rest Marcus appeared before them to help them out once again. All of the people recognizing him as their savior immediately started to heap praise upon him thanking him for rescuing them.

“You are all welcome, I was just following the last wish of my friend Irene so there is no need to repay me in anyway, and in fact if you want to head home, I can get you back or if you want to stay here, I can help you find a place to stay for a little while.”

The group then started discussing about whether they wanted to stay or take the long trip home. All of the mothers and children decided they wanted to head home but a few of the young adult women without any family left decided stay. With everyone having made there decisions Marcus began leading them towards the adventures guild. Once he was outside the entrance to the guild, he took out the bag he obtained from Ander and brought out five silver for each of the six girls that were staying. Now that he had given them some money, he told them that they were on their own and wished them good luck. He then lead the remaining Fourteen people inside the guild hall and told them to wait while he talked to one of the receptionists. Choosing the booth who was manned by a middle-aged woman with blonde hair who seemed to be the most professional Marcus waited in line. Once he arrived at the front the woman asked him, “What can I do for you today sir.”

“I have group of fourteen women and children who have been displaced by illegal slaver and they want to go home. I am here to hire a group of adventures to escort them back.”

After telling her the job he needed done Marcus took out a large pouch of coins and counted out forty gold from it. The receptionist a true professional did not get flustered or even bat an eye.

“I would like to hire a maximum of ten guards each one receiving four gold upon completion, I would like the quest to be ranked at steel, and the date to be set five days from now.”

The receptionist nodded and handed Marcus some forms to fill out offering to help him if he could not read and write. With the request set up Marcus headed back over to Lilia and the others, and he pulled out another pouch of money and handed it to the de facto leader of the group.

“Here there is thirty gold worth of assorted coins in here use them to pay for lodging nearby and to pick up any supplies you all might need.”

Marcus then pulled her in close and whispered in her ear.

“And just to make certain, you will not run away with this money or spend it selfishly I will be watching you; my main objective is to keep Lilia safe and if you do anything that I feel jeopardizes her I will not hesitate to end you.”

Pulling away from the woman he just terrified Marcus then walked over to Lilia and pulled her aside.

“Hey there kid this is goodbye for now, but I promise to come and visit you sometime in the future. I know this has been hard on you, but your big sister would want you to grow up healthy and strong so do you best for her. Also, this is for you in case you ever need money for anything but make sure not to show it to anybody lightly or you may attract some unsavory people.”

Marcus then put a small pouch containing thirty copper, ten silver, and three gold into Lilia’s hand, and as he was about to get up, she jumped on him giving him a tight hug as she began crying.. Hugging her back and consoling her for a few minutes, Marcus eventually had to pry her off and send her back to the rest of her group.