The cave behind was still filling up with Blood Worms when they reached a chasm leading to another part of the cave. They had no idea where exactly they were or where that would take them but they had nothing to lose.

The gap was about three meters high but its width was an entirely different matter, it oscillated between around thirty centimeters and nearly tho meters. They got stuck a few times and had to try different approaches before finally reaching an opening big enough to fit more than a hundred adult blestols.

"This place looks good, let's find ourselves a nice dry corner and get some sleep. I'm exhausted" Arath said pointing to the highest part of this cavern hoping it would be inhabited.

He really didn't want fight again, so he stealthily approached the site. Having looked under every stone and not finding any lurking danger he sighed with relief. For once he was lucky. He opened two bags he stole from the bandits in the very last moment, curious of their insides only to find a sleeping bag, a small portion of dried rat meat, set of bad-quality clothes and five meters of rope. 'Nice, a little dungeoneer's pack'

"So, we didn't really have the opportunity to talk so tell me, what is your name?" He said while adding in his mind 'And a simple thank you for the rescuing would also be appreciated.'

"My name is Anga and this is Clara." Said shyly the younger girl that had tried to save her sister from the cage. "I'm really sorry for before, I didn't mean to cause problems it's just that my sister..." After mentioning her younger sister she couldn't hold the tears anymore and started convulsing uncontrollably.

Clara quickly got closer and hugged the girl.

Arath looked around awkwardly not sure what to do. He got used to death at the age of thirteen when a terrible plague broke out in his neighbourhood and The Council issued an order to quarantine the whole district. The Plague of Antonio, as it was lated called, took away away from him all of his friends and left only with grief to chew on, after all the supplies had been stolen by a group of oppotunists, Arath ultimately run out of tears to cry.

Having realized he was useless here he stood up and prepared some traps around just to make sure no one would surprise them in their sleep. With nothing left for him to do he wrapped himself in the sleeping bag and fell asleep as soon as hid head touched the floor. He didn't order anyone to keep the lookout because he knew he wouldn't last for much longer and didn't expect the girls in their current state to think about anything besides themselves.

As soon as he woke up his sense of smell was overwhelmed by a casce of pleasant scents. For a few seconds he thought he was in a luxury restaurant but after remembering the events of the previous days he sighed in dissapointment and turned around. He was still lost in caves with two girls and no plan. He started to ponder on the situation.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

First he found himself in a part of a cave completely unknown to him in a middle of a giant pit with many moster corpses scattered around. That could without any doubt be considered strange and suspicious. Later for a reason unknown to his current himself he thought it would be a great idea to put his life on a line to save some strangers. Sure his hatred towards slavers was immesurable but what he did was simply stupid and reckless. What devil got inside his mind and made him do all this dangerous things? And the strangest part of it all was that it actually worked. He killed several trained bandits all by himself. Either he had a breakthrough while being unconcious or he was blessed by some god that took pity on him and his bad luck.

'Well, it's no use wondering about it now, whatever happened won't matter if I starve to death' He focused on finding something to eat and threw the thoughts to back of his head.

Fortunately, when he finally sat he noticed the source of the smells. Clara was cooking some kind of lizard on a campfire.

'How the hell did she manage to light it here? There is water everywhere, there is no way she found dry wood in this kind of place.' He came closer to the source of light to ask her all the questions that were troubling his mind. Only then could he understand what was happening. All of their spare clothes were now burning together with the bags one sleeping bag and ropes. All his precious loot was wasted like that! He was about to give her a piece of his mind when she reached out and gave him a stick with a delicious, roasted lizard masterfully impaled on it.

'Ah, that girl, she thinks she can bribe me, eh?. Little does she know I'm not that easy. But fine, that lizard looks tasty I'll forgive her. Just this once.'

He sat down and started to chew on the meat staring at it resembling a pawnbroker evaluating a masterpiece. That little portion of food was like a tear in an ocean compared to his hunger, but Arath was used to eating even less so he felt blessed and thanked for the meal.

"So, how long have you been up? How is Anga?"

"I didn't sleep, someone had to stand the guard. I have no idea about her state of mind, but her body seems fine."

"Wait, wait!" He almost exclaimed from surprise. 'How the hell did she stay awake for that long? What is wrong with her? And why does she sound so absent like she is talking about someone else?'

"I'm very sorry, I didn't realise. Now I feel bad I made you be stand the whole night, you could wake me up for heaven's sake"

"No need"

Now Arath felt even more awkward than yesterday. This girl seemed to be made of stone, nothing could move her. If I remember well she hadn't shown any sign of emotion for the whole time.

"And it wasn't the whole night by the way. It's about 1 PM."

"How do you know that?" He asked suspiciously.

"I heard a bell ringing for the noon some time ago"

"What?! Where?"

"In that direction." Clara pointed to the opposite direction they had come from.

'If she could hear the bell it must mean we are close to the city! We are safe, I won't die here!' He abruptly stood up, woke Anga, packed everything he could in his pockets and started the marching to the First City's direction humming happily.