Chapter 87
Loosened Locks
Zeldana had led Erin and the others to the basement, where her room was. Like she had explained earlier, her residence within the mansion was in a secret room that you needed a specific method in order to access. This was due to the bounty on her head and her reputation as a member of the resistance.
The basement didn’t look all that special. Much like the rest of the building, it was covered in dust and filth due to neglect, but had a lack of signs from the attack. This was a welcome surprise for Erin and Ryle, as they had enough of being spooked out by such terrible sights.
However, there was one special thing that Erin and her friends quickly noticed. There was a very large amount of wine bottles. Most of them were still sitting on their shelves, but they did notice that a large number of bottles were littering the floor after being emptied of their contents.
“I see that you’ve taken the liberty of helping yourself to the drinks that were left behind,” Lexton remarked as he eyed the empty bottles. “I take it that you didn’t hesitate much in that regard?”
“Are you kidding me? I’ve wanted to drink this stuff for decades! How was I supposed to hold back once I got the chance?” Zeldana replied. “Besides, it’s not like there’s much else to do, so I might as well have a good time!”
“Both of you are just the worst,” Ryle muttered unhappily.
“Guys, can we please focus here?” Erin asked as she let out a sigh. “We should really be looking for this vault right now and not be staring at a bunch of bottles! You guys can have your argument after that, okay?”
“Fine, but you shouldn’t be looking at this quality merchandise with such disregard!” Zeldana said. “Do you have any idea how expensive this stuff is? Most people never even get a chance to see one of these bottles in real life, much less taste the contents! This isn’t exactly your average fun time water here!”
Lexton took one of the bottles in order to inspect it a bit closer. With his knowledge of high quality merchandise, he was able to recognize the label and tell how expensive it truly was.
“Holy crap… She’s not joking! This stuff is Red Moonlake wine! It’s made exclusively in the Central Continent alone and nowhere else!” the kobold said in amazement. “A single bottle of this can cost up to 2500 credits and I’ve only seen a bottle of this on the black market once! How the hell did they get so many of them!?”
“You’re kidding me, right? That much for one lousy bottle?” Ryle asked. “Who the hell is going to pay that much for a drink?”
“Hey, once you taste it, you know why,” Zeldana said. “As for how they got these, the man of the house had some very good friends with connections. He was hoping to one day open these up in celebration, once the resistance had won.”
“And instead they get emptied by a lone crazy healer who just wants to get wasted,” the blonde said in a sarcastic tone. “I’m sure he’s spinning in his grave from joy…”
“Uhh… Guys?” Erin called out, getting everyone to turn their attention to her. “This is certainly interesting and all, but what did I just say about FOCUS!?”
“Sheesh! Alright! No need to get upset!” Zeldana said as she hurried over to a wall. “Seriously, you just try to be friendly and have a nice conversation yet some people can’t help but be dicks…”
Once she was at the wall, the elf pushed on one of the bricks. There was a mechanical sound that echoed through the room, before a secret door opened up, revealing a secret room. The room itself seemed simple. It had a bed with a nightstand next to it. There was also a small table that had a computer on it.
However, the most noticeable thing was the large metal door at the end of the room. One glance was enough to tell you that the door was made from strong metals and wouldn’t open easily. The only way to open it was the keyhole on its right side.
“There it is. The vault that I was talking about,” Zeldana said. “Are you now happy or do I have to fear you guys screaming again and bringing me one step closer to losing my hearing?”
“No need to give us attitude! You’re the one who didn’t mention this thing right away,” Lexton said as he went to inspect the metal door before them. “However, I doubt we can do much with this. I can tell that this isn’t something we can open.”
“Are you sure?” Erin asked. “Can’t you use your acid to melt the lock or something?”
“No. This thing is coated with an acid resistant resin. I could dump gallons of acid on it and it would just slid on the floor,” the kobold explained. “This is also a blast resistant door, so if we used explosives, we would only end up destroying the house before this thing would even get a scratch on itself.”
“No problem! We can just get Arnie to open it!” Ryle exclaimed proudly. “Not only was he a pro thief, but he’s also a technomancer, remember? I’m sure he’ll get that thing opened up in no time at all!”
“That would be a solid plan, except it isn’t,” Lexton said. “Technomaners essentially use electricity as a medium to control machinery. Without it, they can’t so much as move whatever it is they’re trying to take over. For him to try and manipulate this vault would be the same as him trying to make a wooden cart move on its own. It’s just not gonna work.”
“In that case, I’ll just bust it open with my fists!” the blonde said. “You know how powerful my ki can be, so breaking through this thing should be a piece of cake!”
“Didn’t you hear what I said about explosives!? I doubt your fists are on the same level!” the kobold shouted angrily. “All you’d end up doing is break your damn hands!”
“Oh really!? Is that so!?” Ryle said now equally angry, before she walked up to the vault. “I’ll just have to show you all just how far my training has taken me!”
“Ryle, don’t-!” Erin tried to warn her friend, but was too slow to stop her.
Charging up her ki into her fist, the blonde unleashed a mighty blow on the vault door. Everyone stood still as the sound on the impact echoed in the air, followed by a moment of silence.
“OOOOOUUUCH!” Ryle screamed in pain as she held her hand and jumped around the room. “OW! OW! OOOOOOWWW! MY HAND! MY FREAKING HAND!”
“What did I tell you, idiot?” Lexton said in a frustrated. “I told you that you’d only end up breaking your damn hand! But did you listen to me? Of course you didn’t.”
“Oh shut the hell up, Lex! I don’t need your damn sassy attitude right now!” the blonde said angrily. “What I need right now is some damn medicine to fix this! And you sure as hell aren’t helping with that!”
Ryle felt a sudden chill run down her spine, as a hand grasped her shoulder. She looked behind her to see Zeldana stare at her with a twisted smile on her face.
image [https://i.ibb.co/HDCSXWb/Ch-87-Pic-1.jpg]
“Oh, so your hand is broken, huh? You poor thing. Good thing you’ve got me here!” the elf said happily. “I’ll make sure to fix that hand of yours in a second!”
“N-NO! No need for you to bother with that!” Ryle said in a panic. “In fact, I might have just overreacted a bit! I’m sure my hand is completely fine!”
“Don’t be shy! I’d be more than happy to help you!” Zeldana said as she dragged the blonde behind her. “After all, I am a healer. It’s only my duty to help those in need.”
“LET ME GO! NO! I DON’T WANT YOU TO TOUCH ME!” Ryle screamed in terror as she tried to break free, but failed to do so. “HELP! HELP ME! DON’T LET HER TAKE ME! NOOOOO!”
Erin and Lexton simply stared as the elf dragged away her new patient. The redhead was left in stunned silence, as she wondered why Ryle was panicking so much. The kobold, on the other hand, simply saw this as the blonde getting what she deserved for not listening to him earlier.
“...Should we be worried?” Erin asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ryle that scared before.”
“Don’t bother. It’s not like Zeldana is going to eat her,” Lexton said with a sigh. “She’s only going to fix Ryle’s hand, so it’s going to be all well and good in the end.”
“But that’s what I don’t understand. If what Zeldana is going to do is simply help her, why is she so afraid of it?” the redhead asked. “Is there something I need to know?”
“...It’s still probably for the best that you don’t,” the kobold replied.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Just as Erin was about to ask Lexton for an explanation, a horrifying scream came from where Zeldana and Ryle had just gone to.
“...You know what? I think ignorance is bliss in this case,” Erin said quickly before turning her attention back to the vault before them. “Anyways, are you sure we can’t open this thing? I’m sure whatever is inside would help us greatly in our travels.”
“I completely agree with that sentiment, but I’m afraid that we are just going to have to give up on this,” Lexton said. “In order for me to mix something that could get us through that door, I need far more tools and materials than what I’ve got right now. And for either Ryle or Durge to open this would require them to train at least a few years without stopping in order to even have the slightest of hopes to break through it. And I doubt we have the time for that.”
“No we don’t. We gotta go after the Overlords at some point. Not to mention, seeing as how one of their top assassins came here, they’re probably going to start wondering why he’s suddenly gone silent. There will be more here soon,” the redhead said with a sigh, disappointed that they would have to give up on the riches before them. It was then that she remembered something very important. “So the only way to open this is with a key, right?”
“I’d say so, yes,” the kobold replied. “However, where would that be? Searching through this whole place is gonna take a long time, if it even is here. Besides, we don’t even know what it looks like.”
“Not sure if this is the right one, but I’d say it’s a very likely possibility,” Erin said as she pulled the key she had found in the attic out of her pocket. “What do you say?”
“That… certainly seems possible,” Lexton said as he stared at the key with wide eyes. “But where did you find it?”
“I found it in the attic while I was exploring this place,” the redhead answered as she walked up to the vault. “Now it’s time to see whether or not this is what I think it is.”
Erin inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it. The sound of the vault door unlocking could be heard and soon it was open, revealing what was inside. On the inside were some brown bags. The redhead smiled as she could imagine what was inside.
“Lex… Do you think this is what I think it is?” Erin asked as she turned to look at her friend for confirmation.
“If you think it’s our way out of poverty, I’d imagine you’re right,” Lexton replied as he walked up to the vault with a big smile on his face as well. “This is such a beautiful sight that I could almost cry.”
“I hope you’re crying for a nicer reason than I am,” Ryle suddenly said as she came back to the room. Erin and Lexton turned to look at her and saw a pale and haunted look on her face. “I am crying because I’ve just been traumatized for life. I’ll never forget this.”
“Don’t be such a baby!” Zeldana said as she came back to the room as well. “It wasn’t that big of a deal and your hand got fixed just fine, didn’t it?”
“...Stay the hell away from me, you psychopath,” the blonde said as she stepped away from the elf.
“Seriously, what the hell happened?” Erin asked. “Why would getting your hand fixed be such a big deal?”
“...Let’s just take a look at what we got from the vault, okay?” Lexton quickly said, hoping to change the subject. He grabbed one of the bags from the vault and pulled it out. “We’ve come this far, we might as well see what we’ve got.”
The kobold opened the bag to reveal stacks of bills inside. Erin, Lexton and Ryle all couldn’t help but grin at the sight before them.
“Holy crap… How much do you think there is?” Erin asked with excitement in her voice.
“At least thousands from what I can tell!” Lexton said as he grabbed one of the stacks and kissed it. “This has got to be one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life!”
“For once, I actually agree with you, Lex!” Ryle said happily. “What should we get with all this money?”
“Whatever it is you want to get might be the only thing you can get your hands on,” Zeldana said nonchalantly. “I don’t think there’s any more cash besides what you’ve got there.”
Erin, Ryle and Lexton all slowly turned to look at the elf after hearing her comment in regards to the money in the vault.
“...What?” all three asked in unison.
“Now, THAT was way better. Use that level of volume from now on, please,” Zeldana said. “But you guys heard what I said. There isn’t anymore cash in those bags than what you just found. The rest of it has already been spent.”
“B-But that can’t be! There are all of these bags and-!” Lexton said as he grabbed one of the other bags and opened it, only to be greatly disappointed by what he saw inside. “What the hell? There’s nothing but paper in here! This is just trash!”
“It’s not just paper!” the elf said. “If you look at it a bit closer, you’ll see that there’s more to it than just blank pieces of paper!”
“Oh yeah… There are some weird doodles on these,” Ryle said in an irritated tone as she inspected some of the papers they had just found. “What the hell are these even supposed to be!? Did some kid try to draw these to look like actual notes or something!?”
“Well, excuse me for not being a perfect artist!” Zeldana said. “For the record, it was my first time trying to do something like that and I’d say I did a pretty good job altogether!”
“...Zeldana, why in the hell are these bags full of poorly made fake money!?” Erin asked angrily. “Where is all the actual money that’s actually worth something!?”
“That’s a bit of a fun story. Do you guys know this place called Hangman’s Post?” the elf began to explain. “You see, staying here can get quite boring, so I do venture out from time to time. At one point, I decided to try my luck at gambling, since it seemed pretty fun. Not to mention, I could even more money, so why not? I was doing pretty good at first, but then I started to lose and grew sick of it. By that time, all that was left of the money is the amount you have there. Still, it felt kind of sad to only have that one bag to be full, so I decided to make some fake money to fill the other bags, thinking it would be a fun prank! I mean, imagine some schmuck robbing the vault, thinking they’ve gotten rich, only to discover that- And I see you guys are now glaring at me, so I’ll stop my story here.”
Like Zeldana had said, Erin, Ryle and Lexton were all glaring at her in sheer fury. They felt like she had essentially misled them with her talks about the vault.
However, before any of them acted out of anger, Erin managed to calm herself and defuse the situation before it got out of hand.
“Alright. Let’s just calm down. I’ll admit that our findings are a bit… disappointing,” the redhead said as she took a couple of deep breaths. “However, we still got our hands on a good amount of money, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. This should still be enough to assist us on our journeys, right?”
“Yeah. While not the big score I was hoping for, we did get enough to support us,” Lexton said as he looked at the actual money they had gotten. “Even if we aren’t extremely rich, we are at least better off than before.”
“See? Aren’t I just the best?” Zeldana asked with a big smile. “Not only did I heal two of you, but I also got you this! Don’t you think I’ve earned a thanks?”
“Don’t push your luck,” the kobold said with a glare directed at the elf. “You’ve also traumatized and irritated us greatly in the short time we’ve known you. So how about we leave it at that?”
“Fair enough,” Zeldana replied.
“One thing I have to ask, though. How did you ever get any of the money out of the vault without the key?” Erin asked. “I found it hidden in the attic, so it wasn’t with you.”
“It wasn’t exactly hidden there. More like it was lost there,” the elf answered. “I had it with me for a long time, as the owner of the house gave it to me. It’s just that one night I got a bit too drunk, lost it and couldn’t be bothered to look for it.”
“You couldn’t bother to-!?” the redhead began to ask, only to stop herself. “Never mind. I already should know not to expect the best from you.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault that I can’t get motivated all the time,” Zeldana mumbled.
Ignoring the elf’s complaints, the group took the bag of money they found and went back to the lounge. There they counted just how much money they had.
“So, how much do we have, Lex?” Erin asked as she watched the kobold finish counting the stacks of bills they had. “Is it a good amount?”
“I’d say that this is a pretty good amount. We have exactly 500 000 credits here,” Lexton said as he put the money back in the bag. “While not exactly an amount that you can retire on, you should be able to get some pretty good equipment from a decent black market.”
Erin and Ryle turned to look at each other with big smiles on their faces. Lack of money was one of their biggest issues at the moment, but it seemed like that had been solved for now.
However, the redhead realized something about what the kobold had just said.
“Hang on… Why did you say “you” instead of “we?” Erin asked. “Why are you talking like you are not going to be part of the group any longer?”
Realizing his mistake, Lexton cursed his carelessness in his head. He then took a deep breath and turned to face the redhead.
“It’s just as you heard. I won’t be part of your group any longer,” the kobold answered. “I’m going to part ways with you guys from here on.”
“What!? But… Why?” Erin asked in shock. “We’ve gone through so much together already! Why do you suddenly want to leave!?”
“This isn’t about how we don’t like you to scam people, is it?” Ryle asked bluntly. “Look, we’re just not used to such things, but if we absolutely need to, we can-”
“Would you mind and not think of me in such a degrading manner?” Lexton asked with a hint of anger in his voice. “The reason why I’m leaving is simple. You guys are better off without me.”
“That’s not true! We do need you!” Erin argued. “We wouldn’t have made it this far, if it wasn’t for you!”
“But you wouldn’t have nearly died because of me!” the kobold yelled. “The reason why we had to even come here in the first place was because of me. I gave you the elixir that nearly killed you and forced us to seek the help from a drunken psychopath of a healer!”
“Hey, I’m still here!” Zeldana called out, upset over how she was being talked about. “I’d really appreciate it, if you didn’t talk about me like I wasn’t even in the same room!”
“Not now, Zeldana,” Erin said to the elf before turning her attention back to Lexton. “Are you still blaming yourself over that? I already told you that it wasn’t your fault! I’m the one who decided to drink that potion you had after you told me what it would do! Besides, it helped save us all, so it was more than worth it! Can’t you just let that go already?”
“IT’S NOT JUST THAT!” Lexton yelled as loudly as he could. “After you had taken the potion and were pretty much dying, I-! I… I couldn’t do anything to help… I was completely useless and unable to help you in any meaningful way, and I still can’t help you. I have nothing that I can offer to help anyone in this group, so all I can do is get in the way. All of you would be better off without me…”
The redhead could hear the pain in the kobold’s voice as it was cracking up slightly. This was coming from the heart and he wasn’t trying to exaggerate at all. Just how long had he been feeling like this?
Erin was about to argue back and tell Lexton that he was wrong about what he was saying. That he was still an important part of their group. However, a certain someone beat her to it.
“You’re seriously gonna ditch the group right now? When we need all the help we can get?” Ryle asked bluntly. “Man, this a real bitch move from you. Even I thought you were better than that!”
“Ryle!” Erin yelled at the blonde, only to see Ryle give her a quick wink.
“That’s odd… I thought you would be happy to see me disappear,” Lexton said with a snort. “What happened? Don’t tell me you suddenly like me or something.”
“Oh God, not at all!” the blonde quickly said. “I still think you’re a nasty piece of crap, who likes to scam people, has close to no morals and has a really big attitude problem!”
“...I probably don’t need to tell you that I hold a somewhat similar view of you, asshole,” the kobold grumbled angrily. “So why did you suddenly stop me? If you hate me so much, why not just let me leave and feel good about it?”
“Because even with all the things about you that I don’t like, I still consider you an important part of our team,” Ryle stated without any hesitation. “While I find your personality rotten and nasty, you still bring great value to us. You have far more knowledge about the whole world than all of us combined. Not only that, but the things you can make are honestly quite amazing. Without you being the brains of our group, I doubt we would have made it this far. So what if things got pretty bad not too long ago? We all should have been prepared for far worse long before we began this journey!”
“...You’re not high on drugs are you?” Lexton asked with wide eyes.
“Goddammit! I’m being sincere here!” the blonde yelled angrily. “Look, what I’m saying is that we do need your help. There’s a reason why Erin wanted you in our group. We might not see eye to eye all that much, but even I can see that you’re… you’re…”
“I’m what?” the kobold asked.
“Amazing! In your own way!” Ryle said in a way that looked like she was forcing the words out of her mouth. “Never make me say that again… I doubt my stomach could handle it.”
“Ryle’s not the only one who feels that way. I do as well. Although, I wouldn’t need to force myself so painfully,” Erin said with a smile. “I still want you to stay in our group and offer your wisdom and skills to us. We could really use them. Besides, who is gonna make me a new hand? That drunk elf over there?”
“Hey! I haven’t even gotten halfway through this bottle yet!” Zeldana yelled while showing the bottle of wine she had been drinking from. “Don’t go putting labels on me that aren’t true yet!”
“...Well, if you all feel like that, then I suppose I wouldn’t mind staying around,” Lexton said with a smile. “If even Ryle feels so strongly about me, how could I ever refuse?”
“Watch it!” the blonde warned.
Erin let out a small laugh, as her two friends got into another argument. In a way, what she had gone through had made their group even stronger than before. She only hoped that it would continue to grow stronger in a similar manner.
image [https://i.ibb.co/Bs7Fy06/Ch-87-Pic-2.jpg]