The Bel Re gang was known widely in the Babour region for freeing slaves. The region did not have any form of government or rulers to rule.

True Freedom. That’s what their leader believed in. Babour has always been the land of freedom, too much freedom. Unlike the Kingdom in the south and Decna in the west, Babour had no rules, it was mostly a barren land, filled with merchants all around the world, selling anything and everything.

That is not to say that there weren’t any original citizens here. Many of Babour’s citizens were children of slaves.

Bel was one of them.

“The merchant we’re targeting today... he’s dangerous.”, said Bel, with hands in his pockets, walking without a care.

“It’ll make every single one of your past missions seem like child's play.”, he added while sighing.

He looked behind towards Ban and Dit, with eyes filled with hope, and spoke, “I hope you both help us with this... our acquaintance... tells me that you both are skilled...”

Bel stopped right at his tracked and turned back before continuing, “I doubt we’d make it past the security without your help.”

He put his hand up and gestured in a positive way, “I’m counting on you both.” and smiled.

Ban came forward and spoke, “You’re taking this too seriously.”, while placing one of her hands on his shoulder and laughed.

“I’m not.”, Bel replied.

“There are innocent lives at stake...”, he added.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let us go and save those innocent lives.”, Ban replied, almost looking down on Bel.

Bel jolted back and groaned and started walking again.

Dit pulled Ban aside and asked, “Are you alright? What are you doing...”

Ban removed Dit’s hands, frowned, and replied, “I hate self-righteous...”

She sighed and continued, “Let’s go. We’re going to get left behind.” before starting to walk after Bel.

Dit was shocked at first but he too followed them soon after.

They all had to walk quite a while to reach their destination. It was outside the major markets in the city, in the middle of nowhere. There stood a big building, almost like a mansion, surrounded by big walls and towers. Towers which from the looks of It had guards posted on them.

Babour didn’t have any nobles, but if they did. This merchant would certainly be one of them.

Bel looked at Ban and Dit’s faces and spoke, “Shocked?”

“This merchant is the most powerful slave owner in all of Babour-”, he added before getting interrupted by Ban.

“Shocked?”, Ban replied. She started to laugh as she usually does, “No. Excited is the word you’re looking for.”

She smiled and gestured Dit to follow her.

They both easily climbed over the barbed wall with wire and made their way toward the nearest towers.

“I’ll take care of this one.”, whispered Ban, smiling.

She climbed up and hung herself on the ledge and threw her dagger tied with the rope at the guard.

The other guard on another tower noticed it.

“Hey-”

Before he could finish saying what he was saying, he got attacked by Dit’s smoke bomb and then stabbed by Dit’s spear.

Ban and Dit checked the guard's bodies and found keys.

“Nice!”, exclaimed Ban.

“Who knew we would get this lucky.”, she added and looked at Dit.

Both went down and opened the main gate using the keys they had just found. Letting the Bel Re gang in the mansion grounds.

“Nice work guys.”, said Bel as he gestured for his people to follow the plan properly.

“Heh. What did you expect?”, Ban replied while smirking.

“As the plan said, you both need to go down and save as many people as you can... It’s where he stores them.”, said Bel, ignoring what Ban had just said.

“Hmph.”

Bel took out his sword and added, “Let’s go!”, and smiled before leaving Ban and Dit on their own.

“Hmph, who does he think he is?”, added a frowning Ban.

Dit shook his head and replied, “Let’s go sister.”

They made their way down to the basement, taking care of the guards stationed there silently.

“He’s so young and he’s ordering me around?”, murmured Ban, almost letting her anger take the best of her.

Dit sighed and saw a gate in the distance.

“Looks like this is it.”

“What is it?”

“The gate... that’s where they are being kept.”

“The goods?”, added Ban, laughing.

“Sister...”

Ban saw Dit’s concerned expression and replied, “The world is unfair... There’s no one there to protect you. No one except family...”

Ban went near Dit, and looked directly into his eyes before continuing, “...Family like us.”

“I get that!”, Dit exclaimed back.

“But what does that have to do with treating them as... as that?”, he added.

Ban groaned and replied, “This! This my dear little brother! This helps my consciousness!”

Ban sighed and murmured, “Look. I’m doing this for both of us, you know that. So, let’s just focus on the task in hand.”

Dit looked at her with remorse in his eyes; he couldn’t stand up to his dear sister. Someone who has always taken care of him, someone who has always been there for him. He’d fear that he’d be alone even though he questioned further. He feared that she’d leave him.

Ban went towards the door and spoke, “The weak will always get trampled upon... so, let’s not be weak little brother!”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

She kicked open the door, alerting all the guards inside of it, and laughed.

“Your hero is here HAHAHAHA.”

“Intrude-”

Ban threw her daggers at the guards, who all got killed before they could come near her. Some couldn’t even realize what was going on before meeting their fate.

“Heh. All done.”, said Ban, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“Sister!”, screamed Dit, while looking at a guard who was behind Ban, moments before striking her down.

But before that could happen, Dit threw one of his smoke bombs right in their face. Making them cough uncontrollably.

Ban laughed and spoke, “This will never not be funny.” before stabbing the guard and putting them out of their misery.

“No need to thank me.”, she added and chuckled.

She looked back at Dit and smiled, “I can always count on you!”

Dit nodded in return.

“You should really give me one of your masks that you made to protect yourself from the smoke,” said Ban, while opening the jail cells and letting the people stuck there out.

“I really don’t want to get a coughing fit... like that.”, she said while laughing again.

“Thank you...”, said one of the people stuck there.

Ban looked at them and smiled, “No need to thank us...”

Her smile felt sinister, shutting up all the noise that the prisoners were making. They all looked at her, but no one was brave enough to say anything.

No one except a little child, “W-What’s going to happen to us?”, asked the child.

The sinister look on Ban’s face didn’t change. Dit was going to speak up but before he could Ban spoke up, “Nothing!”, she smiled.

“Get out of here and go to the yard outside.”, she added.

The people didn’t miss a beat and ran as fast as they could.

“HA! This is really fun”, said Ban.

“I really needed to blow off some steam after meeting that Bel guy.”, she added while smiling.

They both followed the people outside, where they met the Bel Re gang again.

“That is a lot of people... I must thank you...”, said Bel.

“Save it. We still have a lot of work to do.”, Ban replied.

“I saw you and your people fighting before...”, Ban added and chuckled. She made a round around Bel and spoke, “It wasn’t very impressive.” while being close to Bel from behind.

Bel jolted in the opposite direction, “I-I know that we’re far less skilled than the both of you!”

“At least you’re self-aware!”, Ban replied while laughing.

“We learned how to fight on our own...”, said Bel while looking down at the ground.

“You don’t have to tell me that.”, Ban smiled. “It was very obvious.”

Bel groaned and looked straight at Ban before shouting, “And? Where did the two greats such as you both learn from?”

Ban smirked before replying, “From the countess’s knights.”, and smiled.

“Then what are you doing here?”, asked Bel, pointing his finger towards Ban and coming towards her.

He scoffed before adding, “Shouldn’t you both be a knight and not mercenaries?”

Ban laughed and said, “This is the life we chose...”. She put her face as close to Bel as possible before adding, “...unlike you.”

Bel’s face got red; it was like a volcano that could erupt at any moment.

Before it got out of hand, Dit stepped up in between them and spoke, “Focus. We have a job to finish.”

Bel looked at Dit and stepped back, he then looked at his gang members before saying, “Hmph, Let’s go. Let’s finish this.” and went inside the mansion.

Ban started to laugh, “Ooh! This is fun!”

Dit sighed and spoke, “Sister...” and shook his head.

“Let’s go!”, replied Ban. They ran and followed the Bel Re gang inside, only to find them starting at a metal door.

Ban came near Bel and asked, “What are you guys waiting for?”

“Do you not see that big metal door...? Hahaha... This wasn’t in the plans...”, Bel replied, nervously.

“Plan this! Plan that!”, screamed Ban.

She held Bel by his shoulders and added, “Get a hold of yourself!”

Bel looked Ban straight into her eyes before sighing and speaking, “Alright... Change of plans.”

He shrugged Ban’s hands off him and looked at Dit, “Take your sister with you and check what’s behind that door... We’ll carry on upwards and meet that merchant.”

“Hey, I’m right here!” replied Ban. Dit nodded and said, “Let’s go sister.”

“You too?”, said Ban sighing. “Alright.”, she added and reluctantly followed Dit to the metal door.

Dit placed his hand on the metal door.

“This isn’t going move with physical strength alone.”

“Nothing a good old kick can’t solve!”, said Ban, before kicking the door at full force. Only to hurt her legs and the door not budging at all.

Dit sighed, "Let's just try using the keys we got before... maybe that’ll work?”

“Nice Idea!”, Ban replied, laughing.

Dit tried all the keys they had. The first one didn’t work, and neither did the second. Maybe the third one? Nope. They kept trying. With only a couple of keys left and Ban’s patience growing thin.

“Haaaaah. Maybe we don’t have the key-”

Before Ban could finish what she was going to say, the door opened.

“Who knew that the fifteenth time was the charm?”, added Ban laughing.

“That’s a foul smell.”

Dit didn’t like it. He didn’t like any part of this.

Slaves. Humans are stuck. The sight was horrific.

“They... they were used as test subjects... For what awful experiments?”, asked Ban.

“This...This is horrible.” said Dit, falling to the ground almost on the verge of tears.

“This is life.”, replied Ban. “They were too... weak. Weak like us back in the day...”, she added.

She tried to comfort Dit and looked around. The chamber was mostly dark, maybe that was for the better.

“It looks like some of them are still alive.”

“Let’s save them”, she added.

Dit wiped his tears and nodded.

“You are still soft little brother!”

Dit didn’t pay any attention to the taunt and tried to remove the shackles from the people as fast as he could.

“Calm down. They are not going anywhere.”, said Ban, in a calm voice, and helped Dit do it properly.

The people stuck there had no will to live, they kept sitting down. They hadn’t realized that they had finally gotten freedom, or maybe they did. Maybe they simply didn’t care anymore.

Ban put her hand on one of Dit’s shoulders and comforted him before speaking, “We did what we could. Let’s go.”

Dit nodded but couldn’t lift his head up.

“Yo-you go..you go on a-ahead.”

“Alright, little brother. Take your time.”

Ban left Dit alone and went above the staircase. On the way to the main room, where the merchant mostly spent his time in. She saw many dead bodies, alongside some members of the Bel Re gang.

She went into the room and pointed back at where she came from and spoke, “I guess they’re not going to the afterparty huh?”

“Shut up!”, screamed Bel as he rushed towards Ban and grabbed her collar.

Ban laughed and put her hands up.

“Can’t take a joke?”, asked Ban, while smirking.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”, Bel replied screaming and crying. He let go of her collar and dropped down on the floor.

“Boss-”, said the remaining surviving members of the gang, trying to comfort Bel.

The merchant had hired some elite mercenaries and stationed them near his room. Hoping that it’d save him.

Seeing this commotion, the merchant tried to sneak through.

Ban saw that and threw a knife at him, killing him instantly.

“I consider this a job well done.”, said Ban before going near the merchant’s body and taking the slave key off it. She then walks down and meets up with Dit who looked like he was still contemplating something.

“You alright?”, asked Ban.

Dit nodded in return.

“Good. Let’s go.”

They both went outside the mansion, only to find Esting waiting for them there.

“I could hear the screams from down here.” said Esting while smirking.

“I guess it didn’t go to plan?”, he added.

“When does it ever?”, replied Ban laughing.

“But it was fun!”, she added.

“Fun?”, thought Dit to himself.

Ban threw the slave key toward Esting, which made him smile.

“Good job. Meet me at the shop tomorrow”

Ban nodded and put up her hand while looking at Esting, gesturing farewell.

Dit followed her, the memories of this day are some that he'll remember forever.