Chapter 12 - Hell in a Cell

In the City of Prosper, even the police station seemed elegant and beautiful. From the outside, it looked more like a museum.

Just like every other building, it was mostly white, with golden abstract details decorating it. Except, this one also had blue details, in similar patterns, messing and tangling with the golden patterns in a beautiful splash of color.

Inside, there was a room almost completely deprived of furniture. There were benches installed right next to the walls, on which the guards would sit, waiting in silence until they were needed to aid a fellow guard chasing a criminal or until it was time for their patrol shift.

In the far left of the room, there were some old, wooden, creaky stairs that led to the basement. In that basement, temporary cells were installed to detain criminals and people that got in less serious trouble, like the two elves in the first cell who got in a drunk fight earlier on that day.

I silently followed the officer as he led me to my cell. He opened the door and I stepped in, realizing that the less I did, the more likely it was for things to turn out okay. Of course, he did not let me keep my branch in the cell, but I could not say anything - it would make things much worse.

He closed the door and I looked at the ground, mad and defeated. I let out a sad sigh and sat on the floor.

"Hey, look! A new cellmate," said a voice behind me.

I turned my head back to look at the person who said that. It was a Dwarf. And, surprisingly, he was taller than me. He had hair in the color of oak and an even longer beard that grew all the way to his chest, masterfully braided. His axe and armour were probably taken from him for safety, just like my branch, because what he was wearing could only be described as underclothes that one would wear under their armour to keep warm.

"We should probably give him a warm welcome," said another guy that was standing on the other side of the cell, his arms crossed and his back resting against the stone wall. He was a bald human, equally weirdly dressed. He was about my size, only I was pretty sure I was stronger.

I stood up and turned around to face them. I was only born a few days ago, but I knew the man was being sarcastic and the welcome would be as warm as spending the night in a frozen lake.

I tried to remain calm and appear friendly, hoping they would change their mind and relax, just like me - I did not want any trouble, so I decided to try and strike up a conversation.

"Hey guys," I said. Hands on my sides, making me seem as innocuous as possible. "So, uhhh... do you like [Odd Meat]?"

Wow, what the fuck? Why did I say that? What was I thinking? I guess that's what I got for spending the last few days interacting with only dumb, bloodthirsty beasts.

The two men chuckled. But that did not necessarily mean it worked. The Dwarven man started slowly walking towards me.

"I am Kulnir, he said," lightly hitting his chest with his fist. With his other hand, he pointed at his bald friend. "And this is Silman."

Silman nodded at me in a greeting manner.

"Nice to mee—"

"And you," Kulnir interrupted, "probably have a nice pouch we could use."

"I don't think you would like my pouch, brother, not many interesting in there - unless you like violet balls."

Seriously, what was wrong with me?

"We will see about that. And I'm not your brother, Anthir," he said as he started getting closer than I would like him to.

Suddenly, I felt something weird inside my head. Like something was crawling inside it. A tiny invader inside my thoughts.

I opened the semi-transparent blue screen to look at the menu and saw that my suspicions were correct. A black spider-looking thing was walking on the screen and slowly moving towards the 'inventory' tab.

"Oh, I don't think you will see at all," I said. Without giving him time to react, I punched him with my right hand on the chin. The spider left and Kulnir's head turned to the right. He lost his balance and took a step to the side to regain it. He looked back at me and spit a few drops of blood from his mouth.

A big, red notification forced itself in my field of vision. Big red letters popped up to let me know that I had just fucked up.

Status updated: Rogue

Heroes can earn [Coins] and [Exp] by eliminating you

Wait, what? I was now officially a criminal? I did not know this would happen if I hit someone. But what about Kulnir and Silman? Did they not mind becoming rogues at all?

I did not have time to think about all these things so I quickly dismissed the notification, making a mental note to check it again later, because Kulnir was trying to retaliate with a right punch of his own, but I ducked and moved to his left side, easily evading it. The Dwarf's punch hit one of the cell's bars and bent it with his power.

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This hit was never going to land, it was too predictable.

That's what Silman probably thought too, because when I dodged, he was already there, expecting me to do that and got me in a headlock.

With my given strength stats, and since he was a Human, I would not be able to escape the headlock by force, so instead of stopping, I kept running, pushing him to the wall, forcing my shoulder and pushing it hard against his liver, causing him enough pain to make him loosen his hold.

This happened just in time, as Kulnir was firing another one of his punches, this time downwards, making it harder for me to evade.

I pushed Silman and the wall with my hands to go backwards and for the most part, I dodged the punch. It barely scratched the edge of my head, but the force was strong enough to push me down, make me lose my balance, and fall on my back.

I got back up and took a few steps backwards, until my back was almost against the wall. The Dwarf was slow, and I had no trouble dodging his attacks, but his friend was a problem. If he managed to get me again, I would probably not have the time to get free and run from the Dwarf once more.

I needed to get rid of Silman first.

The Dwarf was quite a simpleton, so I waited for him to charge once again while keeping an eye on the human.

Once he inevitably did, Silman followed after him to catch me again as I tried to run away.

I grinned confidently.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... no, that's not gonna happen"

Taking a few quick steps to build momentum, I jumped diagonally, front and right, dodging the Dwarf and stepping with my right foot on the cell's wall.

From there, using the momentum I had already built and adding extra force with my legs, I exploded like a spring towards Silman.

I grabbed his head in a headlock of my own and shoved him violently to the cell's bars. Pushing as far as I could and with the help of all that built-up force, I stuck his head between two of the bars, leaving him there, fighting with the cage, unable to break free.

From that point on, things got much easier. Much louder too since Silman would not shut the fuck up about how his neck hurt when he was trying to get unstuck.

Now it was a good old fist fight between me and Kulnir. I had no trouble punching him, as he was big and slow like an overfed cow, but I could not get much damage through his thick skin.

Still, it was more damage than he could deal to me. His every move was slow and telegraphed.

This battle was going to be a test between who could last longer. Would he give to my punches, or would I exhaust myself trying?

It was hard to tell who would come victorious. Until I noticed something on his undershirt. There was a small red stain on his left side at the height of his stomach. This must have been a wound and he either did not have a potion to heal it or he got it just before the guards arrested him.

I decided to focus on it, gave it a corkscrew punch after dodging a right hook, and his loud growl revealed to me that I had just hit the jackpot.

Of course I kept going for it with every chance I had and before long, Kulnir was down and out. Not dead, but the pain made him lose consciousness.

Defeated [Kulnir - Dwarf - Lvl. 6]!

Experience is awarded for defeating an enemy!

Congratulations! You leveled up!

[Anthir - Lvl. 8] -> [Anthir - Lvl. 9]

Gained 6 Stat Points!

Available Stat Points: 6

The door that led upstairs opened and the guard came back down to see what was all this fuss about.

He walked all the way to our cell; he looked at Silman who was still trying to free himself, at Kulnir who was one with the floor at that point, and me who was trying to catch my breath.

"What is all this fuss about?" he said.

"LET. ME. OUT!" Silman was freaking out at the idea of not being able to get his head free ever again.

I explained what happened and thankfully he believed me. He unlocked the cell and let me out.

"I should have expected that," the guard said. "I mean, they came here for theft anyway. Come on, let's find you another cell. And don't put another guy between the cell bars ever again. Do you know how much work it is for us to get him out? Not even mentioning the coins it's going to cost..."

"I can try."

We walked all the way to the end of the floor, at the very last cell. He unlocked the door and nodded at me to go in.

"This should at least be a better one," he said, locked the door and walked back upstairs.

I stayed there, looking at the gray wall in front of me, when I heard a voice behind me.

"Hey, friend-o."

Uhhh... Not again...

I quickly turned around, pressed my back against the cell and lifted my fists to my face, ready to fight whoever was there.

What I saw when I turned was another Human. blonde, with his hair almost reaching his shoulders, sitting on an old wooden bench just as neglected as the beard the man was growing. His clothing was definitely in sync with the city he was in. Everything was white and gold. From the boots to the pants to his long white robe.

The man looked at me and stood up. He started slowly walking towards me and with his every step, I was getting more and more tense. He seemed bigger and stronger than the Dwarf, but at the same time, he somehow looked fast. I could tell this fight would not be as easy as the last one, even if I was well-rested - I was in danger.

He stopped a few steps away from me and he lifted his hand with... his palms towards me?

"Hey, friend-o. I don't-o want-o to hurt-o you," he said.

"You don't?" I was confused. His appearance and his demeanor said otherwise.

"I don't-o," he repeated.

He kept walking towards me, which made me tense up even more. But then he went next to me and held the bars of the cell. He punched them with his right hand, which broke the complete silence that had fallen into the room.

"Hey, Alfred-o!" He yelled, looking towards the door that led upstairs. "How are things-o going-o? Let-o me out-o already!"

A few seconds later, the guard that arrested me opened the door to the basement and peeked his head out. He looked more miserable by the minute.

"Jack, I told you, you have to wait until I sort this thing out, just like last week. Can someone please cooperate for once?" He said and closed the door again, not letting the man, whose name was apparently "Jack," say anything else.

He turned around and walked back to the bench where he sat down, just like he was when I came in.

"Seems-o that-o we will-o be here for-o a while," he said.

Jack patted the bench, telling me to sit down.

I did so, but I tried to sit as far from the man as I could. I still did not know him. Although he seemed friendly, after all, he still could be dangerous and it was better to keep my distance - not take any unnecessary risks. After all, I was still a [Rogue], he could hit me and benefit from it without any consequences other than the punches he would receive from my end.

After a few uncomfortably silent minutes, I decided to speak to Jack, see what kind of guy he was.

"So, why are you here?" I asked.

"I punched-o a couple of-o guys-o, broke a couple of-o jaws-o - the usual-o, you know how these things-o are," he replied.

This answer was far from what I wanted to hear and definitely far from what I would expect to be the usual. He was indeed a brute, after all.

"But-o they deserved-o it-o, you know? They were harassing-o a young-o Elven-o girl-o - they had-o it-o coming-o"

This last part made everything much more reasonable. Still, quite violent, but after what I did inside the woods, I could not really say anything about it.

"What-o about-o you?" he asked.

"I'm not sure myself. I think it's because I threw an apple the guy who stole my pouch"

"Wow! That's-o messed-o up-o"

"It is, isn't it?"

"Why would-o you throw an-o apple?"

"Oh..." I did not expect that kind of response. "I guess I am the weird one."

The basement door opened once again and the guard came in. He walked towards our cell with a big key chain in his hand.

"Come on you two," he said. "Your time has come."