Cassy and Drayden:

At the same time that Alice and Bronsen were meeting Aragon, Cassy and Drayden were jumping down an endless number of stair flights. They stopped to get some water at the second last recess and grabbed a bird from the first recess for lunch.

"Do you notice that the birds are much more aggressive here than the ones at our home staircase?" said Drayden.

"Maybe there's a lot more traffic here, so presumably they know that us humans - I mean Felixians - are bad news?" said Cassy.

"Probably."

They came to the last flight and faced the final ten-metre passage way out.

"Drayden, let's hold hands?"

"OK."

Jane:

She carefully positioned herself ten metres before the entrance and glanced over her shoulders.

"Hey, you two, move closer to the wall... Yeah, that's good. Now, everybody, assume a neutral stance; we don’t know what this group is about."

She looked further to where the two sword expert guards were hidden. Even further back was a teenage girl with high [Endurance]. If things went pear-shaped, her orders were to run like hell to Manfestoria, carrying the bad news.

It will probably be no good by that stage, but we can only do our best.

They had seen two people going down the last recess. Jane noted they were moving quickly, so they had some excellent abilities.

Now we wait.

Half an hour later, before dusk, her moderately enhanced perceptions picked up the sound of two thumps and footfalls.

They must have jumped down the final stairs and are now walking out.

She lifted her hand to warn the others, breathed, and prepared herself for the worst.

Two older teenagers, a boy and a girl, stepped out, hand in hand and tails pointing down their legs. They blinked in the sunlight and looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Every single pair of eyes within sight focused on their necks.

Thank The Voice, they don't have slave collars.

She relaxed her shoulders and put on a smile.

"Hello, welcome to Manifestoria. I'm Captain Jane, in charge of this border post."

"Ah, Hi! I'm Drayden."

"And I'm Cassy."

They're unusual. They're both monotone. They are both monotone with the same white colour! And what's with their clothes?

Jane casually moved closer, doing her best to look calm and friendly.

Do you mean they hacked together those clothes from the hide of animals they hunted in the wild?

And where did they come from?

She stopped just in front of them. She noticed they were looking at the other guards with a slight amount of apprehension.

"Sorry about them, but you have to agree; in the current times, we must be careful about who comes into our little territory."

"Sure, Ah, I think? Who do you have to be careful of?" said Drayden.

What? They were out roaming the Rimwall top but don’t know what to be careful of?

"Well now, from which direction did you come?" said Jane.

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Jane had a moderately rare ability: She could tell if someone was lying, but only when she was asking direct questions.

"Oh, from the anticlockwise direction," said Cassy.

Jane stiffened and stepped back a metre, her ability indicating the truth of this. The loose circle of guards straightened out from their relaxed positions.

Seeing this, Cassy and Drayden tried to get even closer together.

"Ah, what's wrong?" said Cassy.

Just act very carefully here.

"So, you came from the Cinnati territory?"

"Ah, no? We don't know anything about Cinnati," said Drayden.

The truth. But...

"Excuse me for asking, but where are you from?"

"We don't know most of the names or anything, but we're from the third stairwell counting from this one, in the anticlockwise direction. We were originally living on the border of the Jaserra Ocean, but we got bored and decided to try moving somewhere else," said Drayden.

The truth. Also, it sounds like complete nonsense. This is giving me a headache; why did it have to be my turn this time?

"You mean, you were living in the middle of the Jaserra monster territory?"

"I suppose so? For a while, there were certainly a lot of monsters running around," said Cassy.

Still the truth. Sigh. What do I do about this?

I need to get their story, but to preserve their privacy, I need to take them to my office.

She briefly considered not worrying all that much about their privacy, but -

They must have some good abilities. And, if they decide to be on our side, I should do my best to keep their skills a secret. You never know when a slaver might get their hands on such information.

I could have been home, visiting my granddaughter. Nevermind.

Just stick to the essentials.

"Perhaps we can talk about that later? Right now, do you know anything about any slavers?"

"Sure!" said Cassy.

The two teenagers spent ten minutes describing what they had seen to an attentive audience.

"So, you destroyed twenty-two slave collars?"

"That's right! We got two hundred and twenty points for them!" said Cassy.

"Yeah, we decided to allocate them to..." said Drayden.

At this point, Jane raised her hand.

"Ah, careful, there's no need to blurt out such things to the public. You know you're supposed to keep your statuses secret as much as possible?"

The teenagers looked taken aback by this.

Just how innocent are these kids, anyway?

And, wait a minute, did they briefly refer to cutting out a room inside the Rimwall? Hopefully, nobody else heard that.

Jane shook her head slightly as if to try to clear it. It didn't work.

"OK. For a start..."

She pointed at two guards.

"You've got enough strength and endurance; I want you kitted out and going up the staircase within an hour. OK? Rest when needed, and aim to be at the top by tomorrow night. And, whenever possible, send updates."

The two indicated that it was OK. They left at a brisk trot for one of the buildings behind them.

Then Jane indicated four more guards, ones with lesser strengths and endurances.

"You lot, rest now and start going up first thing tomorrow morning. You should aim to arrive within two or three days."

"The rest of you, back on guard!"

She turned to the teenagers and lowered her voice to a more polite, gentle mode.

"If you care to come to my office? I need to produce a proper report on this and perhaps get more details."

Two or so hours later, she left them stuffing their faces in the mess room. Once she had seen their appetites, she had to give the cooks some special orders.

With all of this information about those slavers, it's worth the cost.

By now, she had also sent the messenger running to Manfestoria with a summary of the current situation.

She returned to her office, sat on her chair, leaned far enough back to balance on the back two legs, and did some serious thinking.

So, they are Outworlders, eh?

Bloody hell. What is The Voice of the World doing?

No wonder they have some weird abilities. And that shared status thing is the weirdest thing I have ever heard of.

She had asked the barest minimum about their previous lives before deciding not to bother. It was all too strange, too far from her experience. She had much more urgent things to worry about.

Do they have any idea of what is probably going to happen to them?

I hope they take my words to heart and don't tell anybody about their statuses unless they really, really trust them.

These two kids are just the sort of thing the slavers would love to get their hands on.

She got out her writing implements to write up a more extensive report.

I'll only include the details of the slaves they found and the slave collars they destroyed. Everything else can be left out.

Fortunately, the stupid king probably wouldn't notice, anyway.

I don't want him getting his senile hands on their abilities.

Using her weak [Fireball] ability, she lit up her office, and she did her duty for her country with much grumbling under her breath.

Cassy and Drayden:

They had been allocated a small room in one of the dormitory buildings. Jane had apologised for lacking a double bed, but the teenagers said they were okay with lying on a blanket. The walls weren't all that thick, and they could hear the sounds of other people moving around in their own rooms. So, right now, they were whispering to each other.

"Isn't it a real advantage to have our high strengths? We can lie on a blanket on a hardwood floor and feel comfortable!" said Cassy.

"Yeah. And we don't have to worry about getting too hot or cold. But, more importantly, what have we ended up in?"

"I don't know. It's all a lot different from what I was expecting. Not that I had given much thought to it, mind you."

"So, we should aim to keep our powers secret?” said Drayden.

"Apparently. Those slavers are certainly bad news. I think that Jane was holding back on the bad news side."

"And where are Alice and Bronsen?"

They became silent; there were too many unanswered questions. So, instead, Drayden patted Cassy with his tail.

"Oh, I see, so, right now, is this the most important thing you can think about?"

"For the time being. And, don't forget, we must be very quiet for once."

"Hmm, actually, that could be something new to try!"