What can I say? Dorle didn't lie about the situation up there, towards the north and the street's middle, being worse. While their arrival and quick capture of the woman had allowed them to concentrate on evacuation, rescue, and later on fire fighting, they had no chance to prevent the culprit's companions from setting up new fires, ones that Dorle had no people to spare by that moment.
The courier had said that the situation changed with the arrival of reinforcements, but the more I walked the street, the more still-raging fires I saw, coupled with an increasing amount of injured people, far more than the ones at the junction. Yet, to my surprise and later shame, even the burns-covered people didn't shy away from the effort to combat the fire or help the ones incapable of moving.
Forcing myself to ignore the ongoing chaos and suffering, some merchants kneeling and crying as the warehouses and stables burned, I somewhat calmed myself by thinking something like {I need to find the girls, then I will help, I will!}
Fire and more fire, with only a few buildings successfully saved, and mainly because the inns and housings counted with running water, the pipes of which soldiers, commoners, and merchants alike broke to allow the water to pour out, that was the only thing I saw as I reached the last of the arsonists' preys.
On this northern side, the situation was slightly better. Still, unable to traverse the crowded and smoke-filled street, I was lucky to cross it as most burnable things had already burned down - it wasn't anything pleasant.
Without the assistance of the soldiers, it was up to the merchants and their employees to rescue both people and what could be of the animals and cargo from the burning stables, warehouses, and inns. And while I am the last one to be able to say something, most merchants did throw themselves to the fire only for their own stuff, barely helping others. Or at least that was what the girls told me when I, dazed and tear-eyed from the smoke, found them.
As for how I did, I can only thank the gods, or a single Goddess actually, as it wasn't even instinct but some divine guidance that led me towards a raging fire just some buildings away from the wall hugging the hill own, where in the reddish light of the blaze I caught upon a supple figure that shouted out, in a barely recognizable command-like tone, "The damn fire take your crates! Go burn with them if you want, but you will first move the injured away!"
_______
To see Angelique there, shouting at a merchant two heads taller, standing over her like a mountain, and still cowering as she raged on was something I didn't expect at all, indeed. Neither could I have imagined that the man, easily older than me and obviously important, as his clothes were anything but cheap, would actually go and pick a dirty, dressed in pure rags, woman from the ground and run away towards the barely visible wall's direction. Yet, it did happen. And right before my eyes.
And what about me? I didn't help at all, did I? Worried about the girls and not even attempting to do something for others! An actual wave of shame washed over me when I saw Angelique, knowing that if she was okay, there was no way for Kierra not to be.
Still, the shame was quickly washed away by a pretty late feeling of relief, {They are okay!}
_______
"Angelique." Different thoughts surfaced - mostly shaming myself for avoiding all that happened around me - but I still approached, calling out to her, at least my relief being true.
"Lindar!" A moment before giving out commands and nearly cursing at a merchant, and the next moment, the young girl, as what else could I consider her, was already hanging on my neck, "You came back! I am so glad you are okay!"
"And I am glad you are also doing well, but what happened? And where's Kierra?" Maybe a touching reunion wasn't on the agenda, considering time and place, but I could not ask something, could I?
"She's up there-" Angelique's head bobbed towards the wall, or at least to its direction, a cloud of smoke already covering what was visible before, "-we are fine, but more importantly, you are, so, will you help?"
In that quick return to the business at hand, that was the essence of both girls. I had already noticed it before, when even if scared out by the attack on the caravan, they had spent nearly no time to recover and return to their duties. And now, it was the same, with the third question being already about me helping.
To such a request, and especially to such a requester? I could not say no, so as Angelique let my neck go, dropping back on the ground, I found myself nodding, asking how I could help.
"This building served as a housing for forced servants, and while most managed to get out before the fire from the nearby buildings propagated, we haven't been able to get everyone who got injured away." To my continued shock, Angelique explained everything as she was in charge, which probably wasn't so far from the truth but still astonishing. "Help move them, please!" It was only by when she asked me to help that I recognized the usual Angelique and recalled that she was just some twelve years old.
***
Near the raging fire of what was their housing, six people were sprawled on the ground. From them, only one was conscious, a man in his late thirties. As for the others, four men and a woman, they presented various signs of injuries, with only some being actual burns.
As an added point to shame myself, I had actually deactivated all the information from [Status Screen] before, a nearly futile attempt not to be affected by the events around me. Yet now, I forced it back, and as I examined the people's health, thinking of what I could do to help them except carry them towards the wall, where Kierra and the provisional aid station were, I also looked at their stats.
Not that anything was surprising as the six of them were pretty average in everything, my [Status Screen] only showing a couple of adventure and martial skills for the still-awake man.
NAME & TYPE LEVEL (Hiding anything below average) Danger-Sense 11 Identification 12 Subterfuge (Lockpicking, Traps, etc.) 13 Slashing 11 Quick 14
And I would have ignored the stats altogether for my [Record} if not for their shared title, one that explained what Angelique meant when she said forced servants.
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Kingdom of Neverc, Slave, Conditional, Criminal Sentence.
Criminal slaves, huh? That's pretty much a first for me, even if I had heard of them several times. There was also another part on each, denoting their current [Proprietor] and a number, probably of days, before their conditional sentence ended. In the case of the man, it was:
Proprietor - Orlen, Remaining servitude time - 89.
In any case, I had a task, and it was to move them. With my cheat-like [Analyze] allowing me to know who was in the direst condition, I didn't hesitate more, rushing towards one of the men, even a boy, as he hardly looked the sixteen years required to be considered an adult.
The fifty-and-something kilos of the thin boy felt pretty light, even as I placed him on my shoulder. So, considering the situation, I decided to quicken the pace of evacuation, moving towards the next person in bad shape, the woman. With her face covered by a cloth and her clothes being a mess of dirty rags, I can not really recall many details about her, but she appeared pretty young as well, at least to the few things I could see in the full-of-smoke air.
"Guh." Groaning as I loaded myself with a second person, I actually thought I overestimated my [Strength], and so, silently as I could, intoned the word, "Drikawr."
_______
To be honest? I didn't pay much attention to anything around me as I acted. And while if I search my [Perfect Memory] - I should be able to get some details - I don't feel a need to do so, at least not now.
The few things I remember about this night were me carrying the people, lowering them on already prepared spots, not more than some cloth spread on the stone pavement, and quickly returning to get more. And more later, even if there had been only six near Angelique, three runs while carrying two each time, I was then asked to move an entire dozen people from the previous site the injured were. With the reason, the smoke, and Kierra, who had become something like a leader to several unhurt women hurrying around the wounded, I could not say no even if I wanted, not that I did.
Then some boxes with inflammable stuff to be moved out. And after that, something else..?
_______
Anyway, I spent most of the time until the soldiers' arrival carrying people and things from place to place. Which, to their defense, arrived pretty quickly, just an hour after my rush. Considering the amount of stuff they had to do..? I can only say it was fast.
And orderly as hell, as when the first four city guards arrived, they didn't attempt anything on their own but asked the first person around, curiously it being the same merchant Angelique shouted out at before, and after learning who was currently in charge, offered their services. To yet another shock of mine, for tonight, the four guards didn't even ask anything when sent towards a child and followed Angelique's orders as if they were her subordinates!
At some point, I would also share the meager bits of what I knew about smoke suffocation, telling everyone to use damp towels as respirators and even forcing, through Angelique and one of the merchants, everyone to cough up what they had rescued of wine, sweets, and clothes. The first for the conscious injured, the second for everyone on the rescue - after all, no one canceled sugar's effects - and the third to serve as pillows, with a timely recall that a good and high one could help ease breathing.
***
With the constant arrival of new guards, in pairs more often than not, the situation appeared to ease. Two hours later, there were hands for most tasks, and even a couple people with experience in treating injured arrived, easing Kierra's nearly impossible task.
It would only by this point, where I found myself without anything of use to do, I noticed what I should have done before - me being alone. {Where the fuck is Dart?}
Yet, I would not have a chance to either search for him or even try to guess where he was, as just some seconds after I noticed he wasn't around, my [Mana Sense] triggered. And as drops of rain, coming from what was a clear sky, at least before I entered this hellish street, started dropping.
----------------------------------------
While it may appear that I overslept, in all truth, I didn't even sleep more than a couple of hours, having gone to bed by sunrise after spending a few hours speaking with the girls on our return. The previous night's events ended with the appearance of the Cyan (or maybe blue? I am unsure, as the word [Yur] could mean either) Cloak serving at the Viscount's court. An official mage, water one to be exact, that, while I didn't see, I perfectly sensed, as it was no one else's but his spell, the one to stop the fiery madness.
Honestly, I was amazed no less than everyone else by the sudden drops of rainwater that quickly became torrential rain. And I was stunned not because of the spell itself but the nearly soothing effect of it. It was like the water drops that fell on everyone were washing away stress and fatigue while quelling the fire as rain should.
And while the mage's actions were the stellar part of that conclusion, it is undoubtedly the person behind the guards' orders to merit praise, as by the moment the rain started ceasing, some ten minutes after it started, nearly a hundred guards had arrived, ready to help. And they weren't the last ones, as Kaid - who commanded every resident of the city, able to do so, to return home - also revealed all guards on leave were being summoned to the location.
Speaking of that command to return home, it was not so simple as it may appear, as to actually leave the street, each person had to cross an [Identity Plate] equipped post set up at the junction with the main road.
On a side note, I did find Dart, or maybe I should say he was the one that found me, right as we were about to cross that checkpoint. My questions about where he was, even if he couldn't answer, never left my throat with his singed clothes and the smell of burning hair around him enough to explain that he wasn't simply avoiding stuff, as I did for the most part.
***
While I had all the reasons to continue in bed, I decided not to. The girls and I agreed that today would be a free day, with them not working and us spending some time together. And while the so-dutiful Kierra wasn't very up to, and even after the agreement, by the end of my half-true retelling of Chubu's events, she barely consented to such, and only after I said that Arxibiela would understand and promising to notify her by myself. Not that I needed to, as I don't know about anyone else, but the local head-honcho for the [Royal Hounds] would have a much better understanding and knowledge of what happened.
Hell! I was sure Arxibiela was already working hard, searching for who was behind this. After all, even if the [Royal Hounds] cared nearly-nothing about the Kingdom itself, they would definitively need to stop such terror actions, less, at some point, it involved the King's lands or people.
After confirming that there were no sounds in the house, which meant the girls were still asleep, not that it was of any wonder, I quickly rushed towards the bath, making haste but keeping low. And it did work, as after a wash-up, there was no sign of either Kierra or Angelique having woken up. {Let's see what we have of ingredients.} Considering that breakfast would still be a welcome and required part, I went downstairs, thinking about what I could whip up for it.
Regretfully for my plans, and irritating as I felt it, I had no chance to examine the pantry even, a knock on the entrance door distracting me from such reasonable purpose as making food.
Rushing and then opening the door as quickly as I could, I immediately closed it behind myself, intending to give the girls their rest. Yet again, it was not bound to happen...