"Damnit, did they just cause chaos somewhere else?" Tibaut said.

They couldn't make out any words but it seemed like something was happening on the other side of town.

"I don't suppose we can take a breather?" Grace asked as she turned her head in the direction of the sounds.

"Of course, not. Let's get going."

She turned her head back to him and as he started walking, she covered her mouth with one of her hands and her eyes shot open in concern when she saw what was at his side.

"Wha- what the hell happened to your hand?"

"Oh, that." He lifted up his arm and took a good look at it. It wasn't in the worst state it had been in but this was definitely in the top 5. Bones were showing, in addition to shards that had broken off. The blood had covered most traces of skin on his hand but on closer inspection, some of the skin he was looking at wasn't skin but exposed flesh.

He shrugged his shoulders and began walking again.

"There's no time for this, let's get going."

"Are you kidding me!? At least cut the fucking thing off."

"What are yo- Oh right."

The blood loss from his destroyed hand had left him a bit lightheaded so he completely forgot that having someone like Elizabeth wasn't the norm.

"Actually, no it's fine."

"You call that fine? Your hand looks like it got mauled by a bear!! How did that even happen!?"

Grace must not have been a fan of gore as she was reacting very strongly towards it.

"Trust me, as soon as I get back it'll be good as new."

Tibaut had slowed down his walking as they made their way towards the noise.

"Just cut it off, trust me, I know the lord has money, but there's no way in hell he has any potions that can heal that."

"Is it that bad?"

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

She slapped him on the back of the head.

"Of course it is. I'm surprised you're not on the ground rolling around in agony."

"(Training with Elizabeth really has changed my sense of pain.) It's not like I'm enjoying it, but there'd be no point in doing that."

Grace turned her head away and scoffed.

"Don't blame me if you get an infection and you have to lose the whole arm."

As Tibaut heard this, he decided it wouldn't hurt to be too safe and use a cure spell on it. Just in case.

As they walked, Grace decided to walk on ahead, due to how much Tibaut had infuriated her.

There she finally heard a voice shout clearly.

"KY!?!? WHERE ARE YOU!?"

It wasn't just one.

"LILIGRAM!!!" "DIANA!!!!"

"MARLENA!!!"

Tibaut had gotten in range as well and rushed over.

There were various men outside their homes shouting various names. They all looked distraught. On the ground, Tibaut could see several of the guards and other men unconscious, though they had no discernible injuries.

He could see the doors and windows on some of the houses had been broken down or removed from their hinge.

Most of the men shouting had bruises all over them and some even looked to be in tears.

As they walked over to investigate what happened, one of the men ran up to Grace. Tibaut instinctively stood in front of her but quickly realized he wasn't a threat.

"W-whe-where'd you find her!?" He asked, sounding jittery. "Where are the rest of them, don't tell me you just took her and left the rest!?!?" He started to raise his voice and grabbed Tibaut's collar.

"What the hell are you going on about?" Tibaut asked. Both Grace and Tibaut looked at him with confusion.

"Oi fellas this bloke has a woman with him, he has to know where they went." He shouted, sounding desperate.

Some of the men turned their heads his way and ran over while others sat against their houses looking at the night sky or crying.

"Spit it already, who knows what they're gonna do?"

"You bastard, are you one of them!?"

"Please just tell us where to go…"

("Ugh this looks bad.") Tibaut thought. ("Based on these context clues… shit. Never mind that, I'm hoping I get these guys to settle down peacefully. I'd feel pretty bad beating the shit out of these guys.")

Tibaut put up his only working hand (The blows he received to his arm earlier made him squint as he lifted it) and tried to calm them down.

"Come on, could you guys clearly explain what's going on?"

They all responded in a cacophony of anger, distraught and hope that got nothing across.

"Oi, Tibaut!" Shouted Grace as she waved at him.

She had somehow managed to get behind the crowd and was dragging along one of the officers. Seeing how his discussion with the men was going he ran around them and headed over to her.

"Think you can wake these guys up? Cause from the looks of things, we aren't going to get anywhere with those guys."

"I'll try."

He put his hand on the guard and a green glow was emitted from it. The guard soon began groaning and started moving his limbs.

"What the?"

"Could you deal with those guys?"

Tibaut helped him to his feet and tossed him to the crowd walking over.

They (Tibaut) ran around this part of the village waking up those that were unconscious.

"Alright, now let's get out of here and back to the mansion."

She looked at his hand.

"I agree."

They begin walking outside the village. Tibaut had his one working arm clenched as tightly as possible.

"So… they got kidnapped." Grace said, trying to confirm her suspicions.

"Yeah." He responded while gritting his teeth.

An awkward silence fell between them and they continued walking through the night.