Looking around, I couldn’t see any guards. I had checked beforehand as best I could with magic, but it was still a relief to actually see I was right. ‘I guess from here I just clear out this rat nest until I find the exit. Sure, ok. I could sneak around offing them quietly. No one knows I escaped yet.’
I looked back at the wall and slowly sealed it back up with my magic. Then I pulled a leather hood from my storage and tugged it over my face. I bet no one would even think it’s me with how different I look right now.
Rather than sneaking, I started to casually stroll the halls of the dungeon until I ran into someone, a group of two guards on patrol. “Hey, you! What are you doing here?”
‘Just in case, I should make my voice a bit deeper with magic too.’ I lifted my hand to wave. “I actually got a little bit lost. See, I was put here on guard duty a while ago, but I keep getting turned around somehow, it’s been awful.”
They put their guard down and walked closer. At first, it was obvious they were suspicious, but in the end, their eyes never bothered trying to make out my face, being a bit preoccupied… “Oh yeah totally. I can lead you back to the entrance if you want. Follow me.”
“Oh, uh, thanks.” ‘It can’t be this easy can it?’
I followed him down another pathway through a dark tunnel, but in the end, he led me to an even larger pathway that seemed like it was in all likelihood the main hallway, after a few stair cases we finally got somewhere. ‘This place is way bigger than I thought…’
“And there we go, just like that were back at the main hall. Here I’ll walk you to the entrance since we are already here. Oh, what’s you’re name by the way?”
“Oh, sorry I’m Lola.” ‘Sorry Lola, it was the only name I could think of on the spot!’
“Lola is it? Right, well my name–”
“ROULF!” I heard a loud yell come from across the way, making me tense up.
“Maybe a wild guess… But I’m going to say it’s probably Roulf right?”
He chuckled nervously as the girl that yelled his name approached us with sharp scowl.
“You’re on duty right now, what are you doing? And you! What are you doing?” She turned to me. “I don’t remember seeing you before, are you new?”
I cleared my throat. “Uh… Yeah, that’s right. I got lost, so Roulf was showing me the way back to the entrance.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, are you still lost?”
“N-no mam…” ‘Kind of, but I should be fine. I’m pretty good at navigating terrain outside at least…’
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Then Roulf should get back to work, shouldn’t he? And you!” She started to growl and looking more closely at me.
‘Am I found out?’
“Stay away from him. And… Put a shirt on or something… You’re a distraction.”
“Yes ma’am,” I said sharply. ‘My shirt’s don’t fit anymore though…’ I nervously swallowed and took a few steps twords the door. ‘Hers wouldn’t fit either… Asking a guy for one seems like a bad idea. I’m kind of surprised they care about that sort of thing.’
A giant man stepped out in front of me and pulled my hood down, making my eyes go wide from shock “Now I would have definitely remembered someone like you coming in through the front gate here… Where’s your guild emblem?”
‘Sparks…’ “I-I. Would you believe me if I said I forgot it at home? No one checked me when I came in so I didn’t realize till a little while ago.” ‘I won’t be able to keep this up for much longer… But the door is right there. I can see it… Although, it’s more like a castle gate, won’t be easy to open.’
“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure it’s here somewhere.”
‘What? No… I mean, I don’t even know what guild this is.’ I suddenly felt my nerves light up like fireworks, shooting pins and needles down my back and through my shoulders. It took me a moment to even realize what was happening, and another for my eyes to trace his hands. Finally, when my eyes caught up to reality, and my brain processed what my eyes were seeing… I still didn’t do anything…
My mind went blank for a moment, but just one, maybe it was because subconsciously I knew it wasn’t the first time that had happened, or that I still didn’t feel like it was even really my body, but regardless, the paralysis didn’t last long, and with a single powerful strike from the flat of my great blade his face quickly connected to the dirt underfoot.
“What the! What are you doing?”
‘Maybe I should have thought that through more… Too late now.’ I kicked him as hard as I could in the stomach just for good mesure, even though he was already unconscious, and spat on him as I stepped over his body. “I’m leaving…” I growled. ‘And at this point… Probably fighting everyone here…’
The woman from before suddenly grabbed my arm from behind, laughing timidly. “Hold on there. Something big went down and we were all ordered to stay inside for the time being. No one’s allowed to leave.” She whispered.
‘I guess it’s not that easy…’ I sighed, turning back to the man I nearly killed, a little impressed he was still alive. ‘Does no one really care that just did that? If that’s the case maybe I don’t have to fight them all? At least until I understand more about there capabilities that’s a good thing.’ “I haven’t been here long… And I’ve really just been wandering around lost for most of that time… Is there somewhere I can get some food?”
She raised her eyebrows. “No one showed you around?”
‘It’s too risky to keep saying I’m new, I don’t know how long they’ve been on lockdown…’ I chuckled nervously, scratching my head before pulling my hood back up. “Well, the guy that was supposed to end up showing me the prison block first and took me right to an empty cell, so…”
She sighed, lowering her face into one of her hands. “I’m sorry… The boss has been getting less picky with members… And when they join an underworld guild they start thinking they can do whatever they want…” She looked behind me at the guy on the floor. “Case and point… Follow me I’ll show you around… Ah… But first…” She ripped the shirt of the unconscious man and handed it to me. “Things like this will happen less often if you’re at least covered…” She groaned.
As I paused she slowly turned to the side, it wasn’t till I looked down that I realized my clothes were all frazzled. The shirt was tight too, but because of the laced design it at least fit decently well… Although I didn’t particularly like the idea of wearing a man's clothes, especially not if it was dirty and smelled like alcohol… But I figured it was for the best, and it wasn’t like I was exactly clean either.
‘How about we start by touring the exit door…’ I sighed. As I followed after her I attempted to figure out how good my odds were if I just tried to break out by force. Most of them didn’t even know much magic, and few were strong fighters, at least in head-to-head combat. Of course, that was all just speculation, but I had seen enough battle-hardened souls to know when someone wasn’t one.
Before long we had made the rounds of the place. I was given a room, some food, and some water… In some ways, it was almost the same feeling I had when I got to White light… Once I realized that I couldn’t shake how poorly that thought sat with me. Especially because of how different it was in the worst ways.
“Who’s that?” I asked, pointing to a little girl who looked like she was about to collapse on the ground and die.
“Oh, That’s Mochi. She was raised here. You could say she’s like the mascot… Anyway, it’s best to just leave her alone.”
“You sure? She doesn’t look too hot.”
“Yeah, that’s just how it is with her though. She messes up a lot… And when you mess up here the punishments can get pretty intense…”
“I’ll keep that in mind…” ‘Still…’