Reinhold fully understood what he was doing. He thought about how dangerous this world was, beings that held cosmic powers that no mere mortal could hope against, terrifying creatures that could defy logic, and even normal humans could be blessed with physical abilities that could rival or even surpass these abominable mutants.
He couldn’t save everyone… but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t save those that he cared about.
As this father-daughter duo was running full speed at the gaping hole in the city walls, the father looked around seeing no one stopping them.
Unknown to the duo, there was another group, their cloaks had a very clear insignia that could not be mistaken for anything else other than the mercenaries of the guild. A rough-looking middle-aged man wore a tattered cloak, two sabers poking out his back. This man was running at full speed right behind the duo, veins popped out as he tried to run as fast as possible toward them.
He realized that at this speed he wouldn’t be able to make it on time. Thinking quickly on his feet, he grabbed a similarly sized rock that Aya casually threw aside back when she was looking for bodies, he mustered as much strength as he could and threw it slightly above the hole in the wall. The man looked extremely tired after doing so.
This piece of debris hit the wall and fell down a few meters in front of the father-daughter duo. The father backed off, hugging his daughter as pieces of rock flew by them. The man’s back had a few shards of rocks piercing his back.
The father gritted his teeth and kept moving forward, dragging his daughter behind him. If that letter was to be believed, then this was their only escape.
The cloaked man saw his futile attempt to stop them and kneeled on the ground, using his right hand to hammer down on the ground. Cracks appeared where he hammered, but they couldn’t show just how much regret the man had.
The father had a slight smile on his face as he was about to reach the outside. He looked at his daughter, she still held that one stuffed animal he gave her to calm down. After seeing that her daughter was still safe, albeit strained by how much force he was using to pull her along.
The daughter saw her father’s smile and realized that they were safe now. She’s seen it before and will probably see it again in the future. Her trust in her father was unconditional.
She saw his father reach out to outside this prison and kept moving forward. She also smiled and firmly gripped her father’s arm, she knew his father could get them away from this nightmare.
She gripped tightly and blinked, the next moment she didn’t see her father anymore. She stopped immediately in confusion. She still felt her father’s grip, but she couldn’t see him anymore. Looking around, there was nothing but the vastness of the forest before her.
She looked down at her hand and finally saw it, her father was indeed still gripping her, just that… she only saw his arm.
The young child panicked and threw away what was left of the father in front of her. She saw how the last remains of her father turned into dust before her eyes.
“Father! No!” She shouted out as she jumped out to try and preserve whatever was left of her father.
The young child felt her fingers sting, then her palm, next her forearm, then her entire arm, followed by her shoulder. She was turning to dust. If this wasn’t cruel enough, the trial activated, gripping her lower half, and her thin legs were mashed into a paste.
The father-daughter duo that just wanted nothing but to survive, met a cruel undeserving fate.
The guild managed to catch everyone else who was tempted to run away. Unfortunately for them, they were a step too late but fortunately for Reinhold, they were that step too late.
The red-eyed youth thought to himself, ”You turn to dust. Good thing Aya didn’t see this, otherwise another variable would’ve popped up.”
His eyes glanced at the small ripple, almost imperceptible if one wasn’t looking at it. His father’s words rang true once more.
Reinhold looked at Aya still wrapped by the vines with his hands covering her eyes. A few minutes passed by, and Reinhold felt Aya gather her strength, breaking through the vines.
“She already regained her strength, I’ll need a hundred doses next time, unfortunately, I don’t have that much. I can’t teach her anything if she can’t hear me nor read my words, if she could, the next step would’ve been much easier for me.” Reinhold thought to himself.
The vines were torn away, glittering into sparkling dust. As fanciful as magic looked, any person could learn it provided they used enough resources.
Seeing Aya break away such an expensive scroll he grumbled, 5000 noux was gone just like that.
He shook his head while forcing her head to face him. Aya felt guilty, unbelievably so, she essentially told them to die. She didn’t understand why Reinhold did this, there was already so much bloodshed, why was he still spilling more, what did he hope to gain from this.
If Aya knew what Reinhold was planning, she wouldn’t have even known what she was supposed to do.
Amassing so many supplies and magical artifacts, blowing up a gigantic hole in the city walls, and leading people to their demise. What was the connection between those actions. She only knew how clear Reinhold was to follow his beliefs, his flawed beliefs.
Reinhold pointed back, letting Aya know to bring him back but at this moment in time, she only saw Reinhold as another villain, no less than those that massacred the city. She ran away.
Reinhold sighed, he knew this was a possibility so he was prepared in advance. He purposely showed Aya what he was willing to do for what he needed. This was to let Aya understand in advance so that there would’ve been one less variable affecting her loyalty. If she still followed him after all that, he would’ve been able to use one strong chess piece. If she didn’t, there were other people fit for the job. The only problem he had was uncertainty.
In his eyes, the only people he cared about were Luke, Sir Heinster, and Miss Howards. He understood how meaningless it was to save everyone so he’s only saving those that matter. Every other casualty was just a number to him.
Luke was still considered distant to him, but he realized he was something he could call a friend.
Sir Heinster helped him out when he was young, his father even had Sir Heinster act as his guardian back then.
Miss Howards… he didn’t need to explain why.
Reinhold brought a flashlight and rapidly flickered the switch, alerting a few shadows in the darkness. Three cloaked men showed up, they all had an insignia showing that they were part of the guild. They escorted him down the watch tower and brought him back to the guild.
After arriving in the guild, the once lively bar turned solemn, and only the noises of scribbles echoed in the building.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Reinhold took out a pre-written letter and gave it to the receptionist. She tried to question the young man but seeing three of the most notorious members of the guild she kept quiet. She slowly read the letter and trembled a tiny bit, she bowed a little bit and hastily walked inside the room beside the reception desk.
Unexpectedly, an old lady came out, as frail as she looked the three men Reinhold hired took their battle stances. Reinhold also knew the rumor of her past achievements, the Fanged Lioness. He had to lay out one of his cards to even make this old lady come out of her shell.
She donned a soft silk dress, as frail as her age portrayed her to be. Her once brown hair was now lined grey, showing how cruel time was to her. As wrinkled as her face might’ve seemed, one could still see how ferocious and beautiful was once was.
This old lady brought out a patch of paper that said, “Come, leave your guards outside.”
Reinhold motioned them to back off, he went inside alone.
He took a seat, and in front of him were a few notes of paper. They both wrote out their thoughts.
“Reinhold, how did you get this piece of information? I can’t suddenly trust you even if you’re his son.”
“The last mission I went out on, Blair Mansion, there was this “Hall of Trials” where challengers went on to further explore the labyrinth that hides inside that mansion. If someone died inside, they turned into a colored coin respectively to the trial they died to. The symbol looked exactly the same as those engraved in the inquisitor’s armors.”
“Say, I believe this. What can you offer? You can’t even walk properly, not to be rude.”
“I gave Nuane the plan to blow up the city wall. I even know the exact contents and details of it. I guess you must’ve already gotten yourself the letter, or at least a copy of the letter. What say you?”
The old woman narrowed her eyes and contemptuously threw out her answer, “Show me.”
Reinhold speedily wrote the set of plans on the piece of paper, as he was doing so, the old lady’s contempt slowly turned into a serious gaze. She recalled the letter that was inside Nuane’s safe after he was executed, she also realized how odd it was that a noble would be killed this easily. She vividly remembered how cruel and efficient the plan that the letter contained was. If they had Reinhold plan out their strategies, they might have had a chance to live through this.
Reinhold took the piece of paper and gave it to the old woman. He even took out another letter in his shirt and gave it to her.
The old woman opened the somewhat aged letter and read the contents within it. It was even madder than the first. It gave no regard to human life and solely focused on generating income. If this plan went through, Nuane would’ve been so rich that he might’ve even been able to buy Green City three times over. As psychopathic as it seemed, if this plan did go through, their current predicament would’ve been easier to solve.
During normal times, she would’ve detained Reinhold and forced him to write out layers of strategies and contingencies to expand her forces beyond just Green City. Although it would’ve ruined her somewhat recently stable reputation, the gains were too much to ignore.
Reinhold wrote on another piece of paper, “I already have five plans ready to go. I have it already written for you. It’s just how much are you willing to lose? An arm? A leg? Your life?”
He then brought out four scrolls, from the edges of these scrolls, she could see how detailed it was. He then threw five pieces of paper in front of her. She was about to reach out when Reinhold brought out another scroll, the old woman knew what this scroll was, it was a simple scroll to conjure fire.
“Choose one.” The old woman knew what Reinhold was implying.
She read the introductions to the plans.
“Plan One - 80% casualty rate. Success rate 100%.”
“Plan Two – 40% casualty rate. Success rate 72%.”
“Plan Three – 10% casualty rate. Success rate 90%. Fanged Lioness 30% survival rate.”
“Plan Four – 0% casualty rate. Success rate 40%. Fanged Lioness 0% survival rate.”
“Plan Five – 0% casualty rate. Success rate 100%. Fanged Lioness 80% survival rate.”
After reading the barebones introductions, the Fanged Lioness could only grit her teeth and hastily write.
“You and I both know I want the fifth plan. I can also see that there were only four scrolls in your hands. What are you planning?”
Reinhold took his time writing this one. The Fanged Lioness was growing impatient at how calm Reinhold looked. He knew what he was doing, the illusion of free choice.
“I take over the entire guild. My words will be treated as law. Do that and everyone lives, everyone that’s still alive anyways.”
The Fanged Lioness gritted her teeth, she realized that she was already at Reinhold’s palms the moment they met. He first showed off just how valuable he was, showing that right now he seemed to be the only person capable of keeping everyone alive.
Reinhold knew his tactics paid off, to him the fifth plan was also the one he wanted to execute. But in his heart of hearts, he wanted the Fanged Lioness to choose the first plan, it was his most realistic plan to get out of here safely.
What Reinhold didn’t tell the Fanged Lioness was that these success rates were completely made up by him. The more accurate success rates were: 100%, 22%, 40%, 0%, and 80%. If for some unknown reason that the Fanged Lioness decided to choose anything other than the first and fifth plan, Reinhold already took care of that small possibility. The plans inside the scrolls weren’t a lie at all, there truly were four meticulously planned out ideas that could be feasibly used. The only problem was that he knew that she lacked information. She could only strike at the dark on how to deal with the gold-armored inquisitor, but he could aim for his heart and stab.
The Fanged Lioness struck her fist down on the table, splitting it in half. The force kept continuing downwards, cracking the floor beneath Reinhold’s feet.
Reinhold merely leaned in forward and stared at her, his red eyes seemed to see through her, and that made her extremely vulnerable. Finally, the Fanged Lioness felt her skin chill, it didn’t make sense, an already limping kid in front of her actually made her feel threatened. Her instincts which led her to survive even the most depressing of situations actually were telling her that the young man in front of her was dangerous.
“Fine! You win. What do we do?”
“Follow the trials, for now, I have to set something up. I can’t trust a bunch of amateurs to follow. Things start ramping up by the second trial.”
Reinhold activated the scroll, burning away the rest of his plans. He could’ve just used a lighter to burn away the paper but to show how serious he was, he didn’t hesitate to use a magical scroll that costed 1000 noux.
A vein popped up in the Fanged Lioness’ head, she wanted nothing more than to beat this man into a pulp. Yet she knew that their lives were now intertwined with his.
Reinhold thought for a brief moment then wrote, “Bring two of your fastest mercenaries.”
The Fanged Lioness then threw him a wary look and wrote back, “Why?”
“Two of my men died when the Trial of Silence started, someone has to pick up the slack. I’ll pay them what I paid the others 3000 noux.”
The woman widened her eyes at this amount, even she would be tempted by this gigantic amount. She didn’t know where Reinhold managed to get this sum but since those three mercenaries were following him, they believed him.
Reinhold went outside the room and went outside, three cloaked men following him. Although the people that the Fanged Lioness would send his way would be more reliable, he held the firm belief that what could a man be more loyal to other than the sound of coins clanking.
He waited for two people to show up, he had to start his plans off as early as possible. The hole didn’t garner enough attention from the inquisitors since they were so sure that no one could escape. Eventually, two other people came too, one of them was the second fastest person in the guild, only behind the Fanged Lioness, the other person was a male teenager like Reinhold but seemed to be more carefree than everyone else.
Reinhold gave his orders out.
The two newly arrived personnel were to gather the people near the hole and bring everyone closer to the plaza over the next few days. They were to quietly bring people out during the duration of the first trial.
The male teenager wrote out his complaints, “If we want to evacuate them, won’t it be easier to just publicly announce to everyone to move out?”
Reinhold widened his mouth in surprise, he literally just told her to bring someone that wouldn't question him. He snapped his fingers and one of the people behind him smacked the male teenager in the head. Reinhold wrote out, “Bring another one, someone who doesn’t question me.”
The male teenager felt shamed but there was nothing he could do, those three people behind Reinhold were notorious for a reason. He went inside and was quickly replaced by a girl. She was slightly less gifted than the male teenager last time but completely average in looks.
She timidly nodded at what Reinhold wanted to do and left.
Meanwhile, Reinhold started up his next step of the plan. The three men separated in three different directions and moved out after receiving what Reinhold gave them.
Reinhold decided to go home, it was about time he felt the crash. He slowly made his way back, he clenched his hand holding his crutch, it was time to bring out one of his trump cards.
After a night’s rest, Reinhold woke up to Luke staring at him dead in the eye. Luke had a pile of paper beside him. He brought out multiple pieces of paper and shoved them up to his face.
“What did you and Aya do last night?”
“Why was she crying?”
“Are we in danger?”
Reinhold finally had an actual night’s rest after so long. He ignored Luke and went down to brew some black coffee made with special beans native to Green City. He lazily drank his coffee while Luke was frantically pulling out more questions.
“Why did you tell us to not escape, what’s wrong?”
“Sir Heinster told us to trust you, can we?”
“Are we still friends?”