by J. J. Pavlov
In the end, they decide that the best course of actions is to wait it out until the slavers make a move. Ingrid says that she will make the person called Vigi keep on shadowing Sveinn's every move, to find out where he's keeping the slaves - if he is transporting any.
It's a pretty good strategy. If by chance he finds out that it's in a place different from where the second group that visited Lady Nightwane's store is going to, we may be able to find more than one of their bases.
But this means that we might have a few more days before the beginning of the operations. In other words, I can learn some more magic in that time.
Gram and the bard return to the guild shortly after we leave Ingrid's office and sit down in the hall downstairs. The big man brings some news from the city watch. The few among them he has been friends with for a long time and whom he trusts are willing to lead a full search on Sveinn's carriages when he passes through the gates.
I didn't consider it before, but what we're doing is vigilantism. Without a warrant, you can't search a house or cargo, or arrest a person whom you aren't catching in the process of committing a crime. At least that's how it was in modern day Japan, but I don't know how the legal system works here.
According to the bard, he found out that there were rumors about illegal constructions going on in the slums at night a few years ago. It was investigated back then, but nobody found signs of anything having been changed, so it wasn't further pursued. The likelihood that the slave traders settled there and built a base is pretty high, then.
It's possible we're dealing with a hidden fortress where a lot of people could be gathered, which has been in operation for years without being detected. Either they must have gotten sloppy for us to catch them, or they were able to deal with such situations before easily.
We'll see then, but for now, we don't have anything to do and are basically on standby for the next few days, until Ingrid gives the command to move out. We all have lunch together, and then the party separates again to gather more information.
However, since Lady Nightwane is still under the threat of being kidnapped, we're told to stay either at the guild or the Dancing Dragon. The same goes for Luna, who's going to stay with Rolan for the time being.
In other words, I have some free time with the dark elf and Senka.
"Let's go back to the inn." As the others move to leave the guild hall, I take Lady Nightwane's hand and pull her up.
"Yes..." She blushes at the physical contact, but a bashful smile graces her lips. Apparently, she just can't get enough of someone touching her so casually, even if it's only through her gloves.
I hear Senka clicking her tongue but ignore it.
"Someone, help!" Suddenly, a loud voice cries out from the entrance of the guild. All eyes are on the two men who just came in; they're both wounded, although one is in much better shape than the other. He's propping up his delirious companion who looks close to death.
"What happened?" Rolan is among the first to react and runs over to support them. Luna immediately follows him and begins to administer first aid. I guess I'll go along and heal them using my new light magic spell.
"Master Norling... had us track the footprints... leading away from Lady Nightwane's store..." Breathing heavily and holding his bleeding shoulder, the less injured of the two begins to explain the circumstances leading to their current states.
Apparently, they found the kidnappers' hideout in the slums, but were spotted and ambushed while deciding who would go and bring the news. They were three, but one stayed behind to let these two escape and return to the guild. They barely made it to the main street, after which the attackers had to give up their pursuit.
That means the slavers know we're coming.
"Everyone, get ready. We need to move right now!" Rolan announces into the guild hall, before jumping up to his feet and running upstairs to inform Ingrid about the change in the situation. We have to go there as quickly as possible, or the slave traders will make themselves disappear.
I cast a healing spell on the more heavily wounded man, whose half-conscious state stabilizes when he feels the comfortable light seeping into him before he slips into slumber. The cuts slowly but visibly close up under my magic, and all the gathered adventurers watch in awe. Then I move on to the one who explained the situation to us. He'll have to lead the way so that we can find their hideout.
"Laila!" From the back of the guild hall, Ingrid calls out a name, as she walks towards us. A young woman with red hair in a big braid and sharp green eyes leaves the circle of onlookers to respond to the call. "Tell Inga to find Vigi and bring him the news. He should continue his surveillance on Sveinn, and apprehend him if he shows signs of trying to escape."
"Understood." With a nod, the woman known as Laila moves to fulfill her task without any questions asked and leaves the guild in a quick sprint.
"Hear me, Halfdan!" Another person is summoned. This time, a rugged man with a brown, lion-like mane of a hairdo and a thick beard, who was watching the situation from his nearby seat, stands up to heed the call. "Gather your group now and get ready for battle."
"Right on." With a deep and rumbling voice like rolling boulders, the man named Halfdan turns to the others in the guild. "Get everyone back here and tell them to gear up."
He seems like the kind of person who's all about muscles, and I assume the same is true for the members of his party. But when it comes down to a raid on a potentially fortified position, those kinds of people are usually the best.
"Arni, gather your men. We need you on perimeter." The man Ingrid addresses is the typical image of a ranger, with dark brown hair, sporting a two-day-old beard, and covered in a green cloak. Completing it is the bow and quiver on his back. I assume by 'on perimeter', she means to keep watch over the surroundings of the slavers' base, which is the perfect job for someone like him.
Ingrid calls upon several more people, but I get busy listening to the last-minute strategizing Rolan and his party does on the side. After all, I'm one of his members now. They're thinking of ways to minimize the chance for the slavers to escape into the slums, which are practically impossible to search with the numbers we have here.
I feel like they might have already run away and emptied the building complex we're supposed to be raiding. At least if I were their leader, I would have ordered everyone to run for it and scatter into the winds. Of course, if they think they can stand fast against the assault from the entire adventurer guild, they might not move at all.
For now, I have nothing to add to the strategy meeting, so I start thinking about my role in what's about to go down. If I assume that the other adventurer parties are all around the level of Rolan's, I feel that this should be easy. The thugs only looked physically strong, but I'm sure they don't have the amount of teamwork these guys have.
And if push comes to shove, I can always just get out of there on my own. Ah, of course, I'd be taking Senka and Lady Nightwane with me.
"Hear me." Ingrid gathers everyone around her for a briefing on the inter-party strategy. The other groups cease their talks and turn to listen to her. "Halfdan and his group should be able to find and deal with any underground passageways using their earth magic. But we might be too few to surround the place completely as well as to raid it."
Although there are around thirty people here, it's entirely possible that the slavers have many more. If they were to focus solely on escaping, there's no way that Arni's party of six could hold fast against an onslaught of twenty on their own. After all, their job is supposed to be picking up individuals who try to escape alone.
"Umm..." I make, and everyone instantly turns around to me. My words get stuck in my throat, and I have to swallow physically to get talking again; being the center of attention is still a little daunting. "Miss Luna can cast ice magic, right?"
"Yes, but what of it?" She lifts an eyebrow and asks in an almost snapping tone. Well, Luna-chan, if you would let me finish, I would tell you. This was a rhet
orical question because I know you can.
"Could you use it to create a layer of ice around the building?" Judging by everyone's stares, I just dumbfounded them with this suggestion. What, is this idea so out there? "This way you could seal all the exits. Then we could use an underground passage to get in."
This might be easier said than done, since I don't know the laws behind the magic in this world, and where it comes from. If it requires something like mana, then I'm sure she'll run out of it before she could encase an entire building. At least that's what I know from game logic, so I might be wrong.
So far, I didn't feel anything like that though, when I used the healing spell. And if there's no mana, then there are no limitations to magic than the caster's imagination. That would make for a very broken system.
"I can do it, but if they have someone proficient in fire magic, they could just melt it away." Luna replies with a thoughtful expression. The typical rock paper scissors of elemental attacks, huh? But I feel like you forgot the fact that the building here are mostly made of wood, as far as I can tell. If you use fire magic from inside a building to melt ice encasing the exterior, it's the easiest way to burn the entire house down first.
"Yes, but then Arni and his group could pick those off that emerge from the breach. It would create a bottleneck, which is far better than them running away in every direction." Ingrid picks up my suggestion and carries it further. It seems I'm not needed here anymore, so I disappear into the background again.
In the end, it's decided that the group will split up into two teams, with the parties under Rolan and three others performing the raid, while Halfdan and Arni's parties would make sure nobody could escape, and provide medical aid in case it's needed.
Incidentally, Luna, Lady Nightwane and I were meant to be put under Halfdan's command, but the former refused very adamantly. I joined in on it because I didn't want to miss out on the fun of raiding a criminal bastion, as well as potentially nabbing a few bodies along the way.
"Alright alright, but can you guarantee that your ice magic will hold out for that long?" Rolan obviously wants Luna to stay out of danger's way. In a sense, he's making a legitimate point with that concern. But questioning your girlfriend's capabilities like that is not a smart thing to do.
"I will just make it a glacial prison if you think an ice prison is not enough." Are those actual spell names or are you just making comparisons? I can't tell. But it seems to convince Rolan, so it must hold some meaning.
"I-I'll stay here, s-since I can't fight..." Lady Nightwane mutters sheepishly, but nobody pays attention to her, so only I hear what she says. I'm a little surprised since I expected that she would want to be with us so that she can maybe find whomever she has been looking for all this time just a little bit earlier.
In either case, I finally have an official reason to join the adventurers on a potentially very dangerous mission, since I can use healing magic like a white mage. Even though I'm carrying Senka like a certain black mage in a fantasy game, who channels magic through dolls.
I move to the back of the group and make sure the bard is surrounded by people talking before I lift Senka up close to my face.
"I forgot to ask... but can you fight?" I whisper to her. I know she can use something like a life-draining curse when she ingests someone's blood, but that's a very conditional ability with a steep prerequisite. Her body looks quite frail, and the stitches don't help in the least to change that impression, so I'm not sure she could draw someone's blood by herself. It feels like she could be broken into pieces by just a strong impact.
"Well, for starters, I have a fear factor going for me. Similar to your real appearance, when people see me move, they get scared." She replies without moving her mouth.
Well, that's a psychological effect, but that alone doesn't kill people. Oh wait, it does. Someone actually died upon seeing my true appearance. Still, that can't be completely reliable in a battle.
"Also, I can attack people's souls directly. Any damage done to the soul is reflected onto the body it occupies." That sounds really scary, oi! It's like a certain demon that can wound people in their dreams and cause real damage to their bodies. "But do you want me to join in the fighting?"
"No, I don't. We shouldn't reveal ourselves to anyone whom we can't just dispose of without causing trouble."
"Thought so."
"It's just for future reference."
Finally, Ingrid concludes the briefing and tells us to get ready to move right away. Apparently, we'll start as one group, but split up shortly before reaching our destination, to cover as many escape routes as possible, as well as mask our final approach.
I'm getting fired up.
Chapter 14 - The Raid And Redemption
The tracker who returned with his wounded companion earlier has been mostly healed up, but there are still a few wounds that Sano was ineffective on. Still, he's a real man to be running at the front of this raiding party and leading the way to make it easier for everyone to find where we have to go.
Our surroundings soon change from the properly built and maintained houses to increasingly shabby dwellings, and I can see that this must be the slums. Incidentally, it seems that Lady Nightwane's store is on the other side from here, at the edge of the slums; it does look quite similar here.
As we make our final approach, the group splits up to cover the various streets around the building complex, where the slavers' base is located, according to the tracker's description. He's not coming along all the way since he's still unable to fight.
"Once any underground passages are located Runa can seal the exterior of the building, then we will seal all but one tunnel and use that as our entry point." Ingrid is at the front of the raiding group, which also includes Rolan's party. Coming to a stop in the shadow of a building across the street from the complex, we wait and observe, to see if there are any movements around it.
"We found four underground passageways that run in the direction of the complex." Halfdan soon joins us and points at the ground. "We'll seal all except for the one that's right underneath us. I'll make an opening now so that you can move into position."
Luna hears this and begins chanting immediately. It's like gibberish to me, but I'm sure I'll learn the words she's using in due time. Once again, it takes a pretty long time, during which two more parties join up with us and make their final preparations before the raid commences.
"There's movement!" Ingrid hisses and points at the windows on the first floor. Several men with bows or crossbows appear, but before they can take aim, they are struck down by arrows coming from the rooftops around us. Arni's and his snipers are doing their job masterfully.
"Glacial Prison!" Luna finishes her incantation and announces the spell name. So, it was really called that? She points her staff at the building, and the air around us begins to grow colder, as a white mist swirls around the complex. Its front door is opened, but before the first person can come out, a thick wall of ice shoots up from the ground and quickly grows skyward. Within moments, the entire house is surrounded by ice, and some pillars even pierce into its walls as if to anchor itself into place.
When Halfdan sees this, he gives the signal to his party members on the other ends of the complex. Then he begins to chant and places his hands on the ground before him. I can hear a rumbling underground, suggesting that the passageway below us is being sealed. A hole opens up before us, and a crude set of stairs leading into the darkness seems to grow out of the earth.
"Move out!" Ingrid raises her voice and bellows her order so that everyone can hear her, including Arni's party on the rooftops. The four parties consisting of twenty-one people climb down into the opening created by Halfdan's earth magic one after the other.
Luna and I are among the last to enter. She creates a flame above her staff and leads the way for me, as we descend into the tunnels below. The other adventurers are also carrying torches, so our way is lit.
The walls around us are bare dir
t, so I assume this isn't an old sewage tunnel. Still, it's unexpectedly wide, and two people can stand next to each other without a problem. The ceiling is high enough for even Gram to remain upright in.
The other parties already ahead of us begin to move in the direction of the complex. Apparently, there aren't any slavers trying to take this escape route, as we don't encounter any obstacles. Our progress is quick, as we run through the passageway.
Not far in, we come upon a closed wooden door built into a brick wall, which is most definitely leading into the cellar of the building complex. It's locked, but one adventurer at the front uses a heavy hammer to break it down with a loud crash.
They know we're coming from down here now.
We find ourselves in a dark cellar, with a set of stairs leading up to the first floor, and a door to the right. The raiding party decides to split up, with Rolan opting to remain on this floor to search the basement, while the other three parties go upstairs.
Shortly after we open the door to the right and the other adventurers climb the stairs, the sounds of a battle breaks out above us already. According to Gram's reassurance, they are adventurers, that can handle themselves, so we don't turn around to aid them.
When I think about it, I didn't hear anyone shout something like 'Police! Freeze!', so if it turns out these are just civilians defending their homes from intruders, it will make everyone involved a huge laughing stock.
That's just some idle musing, though. The trackers found this location by following the trail left behind by those who destroyed Lady Nightwane's store, and snipers were trying to shoot at us from the second floor of the building, so there's no doubt as to the nature of those who live in here.
Luna and I are all the way in the back since we don't have any fighting capabilities to speak of. In her case, because she takes too long to chant during battle, and our enemies are humans that will understand that she's using magic, so they can avoid it better than wild beasts. In my case, because I'm officially still only a healer. I guess that still makes me someone who has to be protected by everyone, no matter how powerful my magic becomes.