"Auel"
Footsteps rushed through the ruins, closer
It was Erin and Rikka
Erin quickly knelt beside Auel, pulling out a bottle of potion while green light gathered around her hands
A soft healing aura wrapped around Auel's body
"What the hell happened to you?" Rikka asked
"I don't know, I stepped on a magical circle and got teleported here" Auel pointed at the unconscious bandit "The moment I got here that man attacked me"
"Well…" Rikka glanced at Auel's battered body "looking at you, he sure beat you up"
"You guys also fought bandits too, right?"
"Yeah, but how did you know?"
"That guy said that there is another bandit going after you two"
"Hmm… I mean we fought a strong one" Rikka crossed his arms "he could turn invisible and control floating knives"
"Floating knife?"
"Yeah, but in the end, we could beat these bandits, right?" Rikka looked around the dark ruins "Do you think there are more of them in here?"
"I don't know" Auel pushed himself up slowly "let's tie that man first and then we can search this ruin"
"Are you sure you can continue in that condition?"
"I don't know" He looked at Erin "Erin, do you think you can heal my broken rib?"
"I-I don't think I can"
"Hmm… if there are more bandits left, I'll support you two from the back"
Rikka tied the bandit arms and legs tightly
"Hey where do we put this guy?"
"Just put him here" Auel steadied himself against the wall before walking forward "Let's search this ruin first"
The three carefully searched through the ruin, searching for any bandits left
Room after room, corridor after corridor, but nothing
Not a single sound was heard
"Where are the body that they brought here, there is nothing at all" Rikka asked
Auel narrowed his eyes "There must be a hidden room in this ruin, try to find something strange"
"Something strange, what do you mean?"
"Lever, loose walls, anything that feels out of place"
They searched the ruin one more time, trying to find a hidden room
Searching carefully in every room, this time more carefully
Every crack, every corner
They even split up to find any clues
"H-hey I think I found something" Erin called Auel and Rikka, pointing at a stone embedded on the wall, unlike the others, the surface was smoother
Auel and Rikka came, inspecting the stone
They exchanged glances and instinctively took their stance
Erin stayed steadily behind them
Rikka held the stone and slowly pushed it a little bit, the wall around it moved a little bit, it was a door
Behind it stretched a narrow tunnel swallowed in darkness
Slowly they entered the room, careful with every step for traps
The deeper they went, the colder the air became
The tunnel was quiet, but then they heard something
A faint sound, movement
They became steady and slowly advancing forward
"What the…" Rikka stared ahead in shock
Cells, rows of them, people imprisoned inside
Villagers, adventurers
They were separated, men, women, elderly, young
Their hands and feet were bound, mouths gagged shut
The moment they saw Auel's party, the prisoners desperately struggled against their restraints
Rikka immediately broke the lock and trying to open the cell
But people inside the cell reacted strangely, their body twisted violently
But Auel just stood there, looking at every single cell
Them moment Rikka open the first cell one of the prisoners lunged forward
A hidden knife thrust toward Rikka's throat
Luckyly, Auel shoved Rikka aside, the blade narrowly missed
"Tch… dammit"
The bandit didn't stop, he launched another attack to Auel
Auel stepped in and drove a punch into his stomach, the man staggered
Rikka stood up, grabbed the bandit's head and slammed it against the iron bars
BAM!
The bandit collapsed unconscious
Silence filled the tunnel
"Everyone listen to me" Auel spoke sharply, his gaze swept across every cell "Are there any other bandit hiding among you?"
All of them shook their head
"Good, let's untie them and Erin heal the wounded"
The three moved quickly, Auel opened the remaining cells while Erin used healing magic on the injured hostages
Then, one woman suddenly grabbed Rikka's hand tightly
"Please… please save my daughter… please"
Tears streamed down her face
"W-what? You daughter?"
"Please save my daughter"
The woman kept on crying while Rikka's expression stiffened
"Ok, hang on, I'll save your daughter"
He went outside the cells and asked Auel
"Did we meet any cells with a little girl?" he asked
"No…" He slowly walked around the tunnel, his eyes narrowed "Then there must be another hidden room here"
While Erin healed the wounds of the hostage, Auel and Rikka carefully searching for another hidden door
Walls, floors, corners
But, they found nothing
"Are you sure, that woman wasn't lying?" Auel asked quietly
"Of course, not" Rikka snapped back "I mean why does she wanted to lied to us?"
"We have been searching this tunnel for a while and found nothing, and right now that Erin was there alone with the prisoners, it just suspicious"
"Hey, stop with you negative thinking and let's search carefully once more"
They searched for the tunnel one more time, carefully
Until Rikka noticed something
"Hey did you hear that"
"What"
"Shuush"
He pressed his ear againts the wall
A faint noise
"There is a noise… kids… crying. It's behind this wall"
"…? Then, let's find the door-"
"No, it's going to take time"
Rikka pulled his sword and thrusted the wall
He pulled his sword which created a hole on the wall and looked at it
"It's dark, yes, there is a room behind this wall"
He sheathed his sword and dig the hole open
"You are hurting yourself" Auel muttered "why don't we find the hidden door first?"
"No, we didn't know where is that hidden door" Rikka kept digging through the wall "and those kids must be terrified right now"
Rikka finally widened a hole on the wall and immediately stepped inside, followed by Auel
He ignited his sword, lighted up the hidden chamber
"Ok, let's find those kids"
They carefully searched the tunnel
Finally, they found a cell, bigger that the last one, packed with children, some of them got tied up
Some of them were terrified and crying, while the others lay motionless on the ground, barely conscious.
The moment Rikka showed himself, those kids become more terrified
"H-hey it's fine" Rikka said quickly "we're here to help you, ok"
He broke the cells lock and opened the cell
Those kids were still terrified and moved back from them
"Look at me, it's fine, we already took care of those bad guys"
Slowly those kids calmed down, Rikka and Auel untie them one by one
Then Rikka glanced at the children lying on the floor
"Hey, are they still… you know"
Auel crouched beside one child and checked his pulse
"Yeah, I think they just exhausted, and I think those bandits didn't want them to die because they want to sell these kids"
"But, how are we going to save them? Can Erin heal all of them?"
"I don't think so" Auel stood up "but just stay here and bring these kids to their parents, I'll find some helps"
Auel left the ruins and stepped back into the forest, the rain had already stopped
He took out an item from his pocket and hold it tightly
The items began to glow and then Auel released it
The flare slowly floated into the sky, shining brighter and brighter until it pierced through the clouds
"It's should be enough, right?"
He went back to the ruins
Both 3 of them slowly got the hostages out of the cave and let them rest
"So, what are we going to do, we don't just leave them here right" Rikka asked
"I already created a flare" Auel sat against a rock "there must be a group of adventures who came right after a while, or at least the city guards"
Rikka looked around at the exhausted hostages while Erin continued healing people one by one
"Why don't you put another flare, maybe the other party didn't see it"
Auel shook his head
"Nope, we can't do that, there are several rules in using a flare" He pointed at the remainder of the flare "If we put another flare, it's means that there are a high-ranking noble or someone important in danger, and we could get in trouble for lying"
"But these people have been trapped here for who knows how long"
"I know." Auel closed his eyes briefly. "But there's nothing else we can do right now except wait"
They waited for a while, until several city guards came
"Did you cast a flare, what happened?" one of them shouted
Another guard noticed Auel face "Another bandit?" he was the captain of the guards
Auel walked closer "Yes, there are a lot of hostages than before, and those knocked bandits still inside, could you take care of them?"
"Yes" He pointed toward one of the guards "Hey you get back to the city and all for reinforcements. The rest of you, help the hostages and secure the ruins!"
"Yes sir!"
The guards immediately moved into action. Some carried the injured while others entered the tunnels
The guard's captain looked at Erin and Rikka "Hey, I've never saw you worked with party before, what's happened?"
"Something wrong with that?" Auel asked
He just laughed lightly "Of course no, it just really rare for an adventurer to take a bandit's quest, we are grateful that you are willingly take this quest alone"
Then he looked how much hostage was there, and looked at Auel beaten body
"What did you just fight kid?"
"I don't know" Auel answered quietly "But suddenly there are strong bandits near the city."
"Hmmm… I think your action just made them mad and put their stronger guys near the city"
"And what about the king, did he still not command the city guards to take care of the bandits?" Auel asked coldly
The captain sighed
"Unfortunately, no, there is nothing I can do" He clenched his jaw "I already suggest during the last meeting but the answer is still no. I already tried my best kid, but the city guards cannot do anything without the kings command"
Auel frowned
"What a jerk"
The captain only gave a bitter smile
Then everyone continued helping the rescued hostages back toward the city