Spare Him

“You’re right, guys. He’s no longer a threat. Let’s get rid of the enchanted gear and bring him back to the capital for judgement,” I said, sheathing my blade. Alice and Flora looked relieved. Sofia and Lucille, while slightly disappointed, were understanding. After removing the enchanted jewelry from the paralyzed bandit boss, we smashed them to bits, so they wouldn’t cause any more trouble. Besides, they had mostly run out of energy to fuel the enchantments.

While we bound and loaded the boss into the wagon, Minerva decided to interrogate Excellus for a bit. Eventually, she met us at the wagon with Excellus restrained.

“I’ll head to Hearthvale. He’s got a few people in his ‘lab’ still, so I’m going to release them. Give this letter to the people at the University that take Excellus off your hands. I may no longer have an affiliation with them, but it should get the job done,” said Minerva, climbing onto the now conscious manticore.

“Thanks for the help Minerva. I really owe you one. We all do,” I said, bowing respectfully.

“Make sure you keep an eye on him on your way back. That pendant will prevent him from casting spells, so make sure he doesn’t get it off somehow,” Minerva said.

“See ya Minerva!” said Sofia cheerfully, happy to finally be back in a spare set of her clothes. The witch waved goodbye as she exited the cavern, a teary eyed Gor plodding along after her.

“Farewell Gor! Stay safe!” said Alice, waving to the cyclops.

“Gor be good! Pretty friend visit Gor?” he asked.

“Of course. Next time we head this way,” said Alice. Gor nodded before rushing ahead to catch back up with Minerva.

“Let’s head out. Sofia, Alice, get in the back with me and help me keep watch over the prisoners,” Lucille said, pushing the bound and gagged Excellus into the wagon. The three girls piled into the back of the wagon, while Flora and I sat up front.

“Alright Hershel, lets get moving,” said Flora. She looked like all the tension she’d been holding had disappeared. I sighed in relief as well, leaning back in the seat as we passed by various defeated bandits outside the front gate.

After a few hours of traveling, night had fallen, and we stopped in a nearby clearing to sleep for the night. Lucille and the others had no issue with the prisoners on the way. We moved them to be bound to two different nearby trees, and set up a watch rotation. We were all so tired from the events of the day, we had neglected to even have dinner, collapsing into our tents as Flora began her watch shift. A few hours later, Alice woke me up for the last watch shift. I followed her outside of the tent, stretching my sore arms.

“Um, thank you, Flynn. For rescuing us,” Alice said. “I had given up hope when the bandits captured us. Sofia tried to cheer me up, but I didn’t fully believe in you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, Alice. We’ve just met, after all. Trust takes time to form. I hope I can continue to earn it from you,” I said.

“Thank you. I promise to do my all to help everyone out. It is my holy duty, after all,” she said, smiling.

“Then I promise to do my all to keep you all safe. You’re all precious to me, after all,” I said. She blushed.

“That is truly reassuring,” she said. She walked past me, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“Good night. See you in the morning,” I said, playing it cool. She nodded and entered the tent, going to bed next to Sofia.

All alone, I sat down in the center of camp, facing the two prisoners. The boss’s paralysis had worn off, but he was currently asleep while tied up. Excellus on the other hand was very much awake, glaring at me, unable to speak due to the gag.

“What’s wrong? Is it uncomfortable?” I taunted. “Or are you mad that your precious ‘specimen’ are going to be freed, and there’s nothing you can do about it? Or how about the fact your ‘business deal’ has fallen apart?”

Excellus grunted behind his gag.

“Sorry, couldn’t hear you. Speak up,” I taunted. The glare now had a noticeable tinge of annoyance. “You know what I think? You’re scum. Abusing your power and connections to further your own means, regardless of the actual lives you end along the way. I hope those university guys lock you up for good, let you rot for the rest of your miserable life.”

He merely glared back, aware he wouldn’t be able to do anything even if he could break free. He had lost to two of us before, and now we had five on our side. Resistance would be futile.

“Bah, what does it matter anyway. I’ll probably never see you again after we turn you in. At least bitching helps me vent my frustrations,” I said, scratching my head. I gave up on berating the helpless sorcerer, waiting and watching in silence until the sun came up.

“Morning, Flynn,” yawned Sofia, the first to wake up.

“Good morning. Sleep well?” I asked.

“Yeah. But now I’m starving!” she said, blushing as her stomach growled.

“How about you go ahead and make everyone breakfast? I’ll still keep watch over these guys,” I said, standing and stretching my legs.

“Cool. I’ll do that,” she said, grabbing what little food ingredients we had left out of Flora’s bag. After about another hour, everyone was awake, gathered around the fire eating a simple, yet delicious breakfast.

“Wow, this is amazing, Sofia! You’re a really good cook!” Alice said between bites. Sofia blushed and thanked her.

“Flynn,” said Lucille, “help me feed the prisoners.”

“Alright. Guess everybody’s gotta eat. Even if they are a piece of shit,” I grumbled. We went over to the prisoners with a plate of eggs. Starting with the bandit, Lucille undid the gag and held him down as I shoveled a few bits of egg into his mouth.

“Slow down, bastard!” coughed the bandit, **** down the food.

“Be grateful you get any,” I said as Lucille reapplied the gag. Then we moved onto Excellus. The second Lucille undid the gag, he spat in my face, causing me to drop the food plate into the dirt.

“Look what you did,” I said, wiping the spit from my face. I picked up the now dirt covered food before shoving a handful into his mouth. “Nobody wastes food. You’re insulting our lovely chef.”

Excellus coughed, both from the amount of food and the dirt in his mouth. Once he managed to stomach the first handful, I proceeded to **** feed him the rest of the dirt covered eggs. By the time he was gagged again, he was on the brink of tears.

“Everyone finished?” I asked, returning to the center of camp with Lucille. The girls nodded, while Flora was over feeding Hershel some carrots.

“Let’s break camp, then. We should make it back to the capital today if we make good time,” said Lucille. We all agreed, and quickly broke camp. This time around, Lucille sat up front while I stayed in the back with Alice, Sofia, and the prisoners.

After a few hours of mind numbing travel, I began looking for something to do. Curious, I took out my guild card to see if I had leveled up, and sure enough, I had made it to level 4. Once again, I had two skill points to allocate.

“Hey, check and see if you leveled up, Sofia,” I said, looking over the skills available to me. She pulled out her card as well, her face lighting up when she saw she had leveled up from the bandit fight.

“Level Six! Yes!” she said excitedly. “Ooh, which should I pick, Flynn? Channeling Efficiency, or Flame Fence?”

“What’s channeling efficiency?” I asked.

“It’ll let me cast spells faster and for less mana,” she said.

“That. Definitely that,” I said. She nodded happily, putting her point into a useful skill that would enhance her all around battle prowess.

“How about you? What are you thinking of doing,” she asked, leaning over to peek at my card.

“There are two new skills I’m looking at, but I’m also thinking of enhancing Steal,” I said.

“Why’s that?” She asked.

“As of now, steal just takes a random item. It’s kinda random whether it’s helpful or not. With another skill point invested into it, I’ll be able to pick a target for the steal spell to activate on,” I said.

“Then do that. If we run into anyone else with enchanted items, that steal skill will really comes in handy. What are the new skills?” she asked.

“One skill is called Fear. It’s a spell that lets me intimidate enemies that are lower leveled than me, often causing them to flee from battle,” I said.

“And the other one?” asked Alice, suddenly intrigued.

“Countershield. Apparently, it makes a shield that absorbs and repels any attack that hits it. Not entirely sure how that works,” I said.

“That sounds really helpful,” said Sofia. “You aren’t particularly sturdy...so, I think it’d be more use to you than intimidating already weak enemies.”

“That’s...fair,” I said, sighing. I allocated my skill points, the faint glow of the guild card fading. I shoved the card back into my pocket and poked my head out the front of the wagon. “Hey, Flora. How much longer until we’re back at the capital?”

“Look for yourself,” she smiled. I looked at the road ahead, and sure enough, the capital was in view past a few more hills.

“Nice. Never thought I’d miss that city, but I’m sure as hell tired of the road,” I said.

“I know how you feel Flynn. It’ll be nice to go around without my armor on for a while,” said Lucille. I went back into the inside of the wagon.

“We’re almost there. You excited to see the capital Alice?” I asked.

“Indeed. This is my first time leaving Hearthvale, after all, so I am looking forward to seeing how different other cities are,” she said.

“Regnus is a pretty nice place overall,” said Sofia. “Just be careful where you go, some places aren’t as kind as others.”

“Thank you for the advice, Sofia. I shall follow your lead,” said Alice, shaking Sofia’s hand. The pair seemed to get along fairly well. After a while longer, we finally made it back to the capital. Upon arrival, Flora went to get Hershel and the wagon set up in a stable near the Guild HQ. The rest of us took our pair of prisoners.