Well, well. Three dumbasses passed out on a dungeon floor. How fun! Maybe, just maybe, they’ll take even longer to wake up than a brainwashed ship crew!

“Ughh…”

THANK FUCK! I didn’t even have to wait that long! And it’s our wizard! My new favorite!

“Uhmm…shit…hey, Aidren? Wake up.”

Hm? Oof, yeah, Aidren looks like shit. That ground level lighting bolt strike ended up causing a fucked up and bloated hand. Odd how that works. Wizard boy better spill the beans on that.

“fuck… where are we? hisss… damn, fuck, my hand.”

Yeah, no shit your hand hurts.

“I think the royal guards got us, and the merc.”

“The merc? Shit, you think she’ll try to kill us when she wakes up?”

I’ll prevent that. You’re both incapacitated it seems.

“I doubt it, but that move you pulled didn’t even put a dent on her.”

Yeah, the rocks did more to her. Either her armors enchanted, or her daggers were. She might of blocked, but I could barely see through that amount of light. And my meat suit got fried.

“Hey, um, wizard guy. You wouldn’t happen to know how my hand got like this right? I thought I would’ve seared it off, not. This.”

Ew, yeah, your hand is absolutely fugly my guy. Stop gesturing with it please.

“You definitely don’t know how to use magic so it's just the consequence of using electric type growth while uninformed of how it is used.”

Growth? His hand definitely looks fucked up enough to be called a tumor.

“Lemme see it closer. Hm, at least it stopped being malignant, if it went on for longer it might have deformed your bone. I can heal it. I just need to get the magic anklet cuff off of both of us before the magic ends up leaving it.”

Not much time left for that, I might have to possess a guard and conveniently have him fall asleep in reach with the keys.

“You can see the magic?”

“Obviously? That's the first step to learning magic, to prevent consequential actions from reflecting back onto you.”

Oh? That’s interesting, I actually like learning about magic systems! C’mon, tell me more!

“And?”

“And what?”

That’s it? No more?

“You're terrible at explaining things.”

“You’re both terrible at noticing things.”

Oh! Girlie’s awake!

Well, are you all gonna stop staring? This silence is deafening.

“So, did you two cook up a plan to get out?”

Nope! Just talking about magic!

“And why would we tell you?”

“‘Cause I can get that negation cuff off. Unless you want to rot here?”

Bargaining, now how many times have I seen this happen to any unlucky soul that contacted Az? Not to mention how typical this is to happ-

“Won’t you try to cut my head off?”

“I could’ve killed you earlier. Besides, my cover’s blown now that I’ve been captured by royal guards so I might as well take you with me. To escape. Can’t turn you in for money now.”

That's suspect. Do you have to turn him in anonymously, or did getting captured scare off the rest of the merc’s?

“How charitable of you to not kill me.”

“We’re a bit out of options, so fine. But you have to get us out of the whole of Cattewalt, not just dungeon-ditch us.”

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“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Here.”

Did she just pull that out from the bottom of her shoe? Innovative.

“...thanks. Is this Inanite? How did you get this? It hasn’t been seen outside of Oprebar since the war started.”

Oho? A war? And mythical bluish-pink metal that cuts through magic cuffs, too? We’re definitely going there! Is Oprebar a country though? Sounds more like a kingdom.

“What, you think there isn’t a backlog of the stuff floating around?”

“Makes sense, for a mercenary.”

“For the love of Sui-Tsugu, heal my damn hand, wizard.”

Oh? Those names are starting to sound familiar, is the Creator reusing words from the main story? Eh, makes sense for their level of creativity.

“Alright, alright. And your question earlier, my name is Jianyu.”

Finally! A name to a face! Now all we need is one for the merc!

“Thanks, and you Miss? Mercenary woman is a bit of a mouthful.”

That’s what you’ve been calling her in your head? Not all that original, Mr.Hero.

“And now why would I tell you? I just lost a job because of you and your wall stunt.”

Excuse you, that was my work! All he did was fry my rat!

“My wall stunt?”

“Yeah? You brought down the entire south outerwall of castle Durlilse, caused us all to get caught.”

Again, ME! Not him! As if he has that kind of power. All he did was fry a possessed rat!

“He couldn’t possibly have done that. The worst he did was fry the magic rat that was arguing with that black, or blue, haired man. I saw it hit.”

“Well, too late to argue about it. We’re here now, so let's get out.”

Of course the merc doesn’t say their name! Ugh! Now, the cell doesn’t seem to be made of the cuff’s metal so they shouldn’t have that hard of a time getting out. Looks more like a dark rusty iron. And- Aidren just kicks the door open. Wow, they both just gave him really dirty looks for that.

All they have to do is avoid guards now! Or massacre the entire palace!

“So, how do you two wanna do this? Big guy sucks at magic, and you don’t look like you could even lift a dagger. What’s the plan?”

Planning phase! Whatever will they choose to do?

“I was thinking we could rush them. We got a wizard and a merc, I’ve got brute strength, wouldn’t be that hard to overwhelm them.”

Sounds good on paper, not as good in practice. You don’t even know each other's skill sets, much less fighting style. Except maybe the merc. Wow, I need a better nickname for her, how about, ‘Bunny’? Her hair matches. And I missed her fight with them, I only got the chase sequence, so I haven’t the slightest clue how they will all work together.

“You expect me to leave behind my weaponry? Try again, we need a better plan than that.”

See. Told you so.

“What ideas do you have then? Please do share!”

Sarcasm!

“Will you both shut it! I can just use the stone to immobilize the guards. Wouldn’t even be that hard. We could find your weaponry a lot easier this way.”

You can do that? What kind of magic system are we working with? Sounds way too overpowered.

“Why didn’t you say that earlier! Let's go get my blades!”

She’s eager.

Off down the right hall we go, it seems we’re going back the way we came. I didn’t exactly bother looking to see where they took her weaponry so I have no idea where it is, likely in the guards room.

“The halls seem strangely quiet, we haven’t even seen a single guard. Is there a royal party happening or something?”

Good question Red.

“You mean a banquet? It's likely, but I would assume that there would be at least a couple of guards around here.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’m a runaway prince? Why wouldn’t I know about banquets?”

A PRINCE! Oh sweep me off my feet, dear sir!

“You're a what now?”

“You say that like it’s your first time dealing with a mercenary after his head. How long have you even known him?”

Probably because it is his first time.

“He stole my boat, like, three days ago.”

Oh yeah, that happened. So the rundown; commandeered boat, mutiny, tavern, attempted hotel, water fight against a rat, chase sequence, dungeon! Easy peasy strolling! Seems we’re coming up to one of the guard stations!

“Your weapons might be in there.”

“I’ll be right back then.”

Is she gonna run? Seems like she might, I’ll check on her.

Oh and would you look at that! Bunny is trying to escape through the window! Too bad it’s too small. And she’s backing up from it and is readying her daggers to pierce the window before she does! Too bad! I’ll increase the weathering and speed of gravity of the stone around the glass to make it impossible to get through.

“...uhh, what the fuck?”

Careful there! Your voice might be quiet, but they might hear you through the door! Don’t want to get caught trying to dungeon ditch, do you?

“Oh, did you find them?”

“Yep.”

Sounding a little tense there, Bunny.

“We gonna head to the main floor or find a back entrance?”

Good question Red! How about it? Wait- If there is a party happening, I can just direct them there! Main floor shenanigans it is! I can’t let them out of my sight for too long or I’ll lose them, so I’ll have to gamble. I don’t want to pause everything to go and check, it might tip Azrael off. Plus, no fun if everything came easy!

Alrighty! Let’s see, I’ll go down the hallways in front of them and try to find any sleeping guards I can wake up and have patrol. Oh! I also need to find the staircase leading up!

Okay, back to the team. They’re at a four way stop, and let's go down the hall in front of them.

“Let’s head left.”

Doors and doors and doors, all empty cells, and a dead end. Where the hell are all the guards?

“Do you gotta compass on you that tells you the way out?”

“No, but I’m experienced enough in getting myself out of dungeons to know the likely way out.”

Sure you do, Ms. Merc. And your tone sounds pretty tense. Oh, do you think Jingyu was the one to mess with the stone? How cute, she thinks they care about her enough to stop her from leaving. Let's head down the way she wants and scout it out. Gesture of good faith and trust.

“Fine.”

Don’t be so salty, wizard boy. All she did was try to kill you, nothing to get so upset by. Anyways, again all empty rooms! At least it's wooden doors for guard quarters, but still! Where the hell are the stair- AHA! On the right, out of view! And you thought you were so smart, Bunny! You're leading them straight to the stairs! I should likely seal off the way they came, but how do I want to do that?

“Well would you look at that, stairs leading up. Hopefully the guards stay gone.”

Oh? I don’t have to seal the way back if you want to take the lead then, Mr. Hero! Saves me the trouble.