Chapitre 9: Chapter 3: "Midnight" Part 4
The boy returned the gaze for a moment causing Jade to avert her eyes.
His voice was cold and detached as he spoke.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Jade hesitated for a moment, considering whether to reveal herself, admitting who she was in this situation made her feel nauseous, like her insides were being tied in knots.
The boy seemed different from the others, and she sensed an air of strength and resilience about him she sensed that he was stronger than her based on the Ki energy he was radiating.
The two guards that brought him there were just regular and could not utilize Ki, therefore it was only natural that they could not sense it.
After overcoming her nausea, she decided to speak.
"I am Jade, the daughter of the man who... owns this place. I come here to help them."
she gestured towards the cages, "to bring them food and water."
The boy's expression remained stoic, but a flicker of surprise crossed his face. He glanced at the sleeping children beside him in the cages and then back at Jade.
"Why would you help us? What do you gain from it?"
Jade sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly.
"I don't agree with what my father does. I can't change the situation, but I can at least try to make their lives a bit more bearable for a short while."
The boy studied her for a moment, his eyes narrowing as if trying to discern her sincerity.
After a tense silence, Jade glanced at him and spoke again.
"How did you even get caught? I doubt they could have overpowered you, are you… looking for someone?"
Jade had already drawn the conclusion that he got caught on purpose in order to save someone he knows, as strong as he is the guards that brought him into the basement were ridiculously weak in comparison.
His pupils dilated upon hearing Jade's question and he averted his gaze momentarily before looking back at Jade.
He slightly lowered his chin and answered her.
"I am looking for my little sister, she…. She was taken over a week ago, I was hoping to find her here."
Jade was once again visited by nausea.
Although she had nothing to do with the young man's sister being taken, she somehow felt responsible and guilty, she could not even look at him anymore.
She chewed her lips and regretted asking the question.
She could only look at the ground and kept her mouth shut not even being brave enough to offer words of comfort.
Apollo who had been quietly listening to their conversation sighed and furrowed his brow seeing the state Jade was in, he wished she would not blame herself so much for these things, but alas Jade could not help it.
He did however understand her feelings.
Apollo opened his mouth to speak, snapping Jade out the guilt trance she was in.
"No one has been delivered here in the past month until the three of you just now. She must have been taken elsewhere, my apologies."
Hearing this made his heart sting, this place was the only silver of hope he had of finding his sister.
He felt despair slowly and tightly embrace his heart, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist with his eyes a little watery.
He blinked multiple times to have his eyes swallow up the tears that were welling up.
He then took a deep breath and sat down.
Everyone was staring at him curiously and felt sorry for him, although what he did for his sister was touching, they knew that he just threw himself in that hell that they could not escape for a sister who was not even sent there, now his fate was sealed and he would be sold off along with the rest of them.
Sensing the gazes fixed on his person, he raised his head and spoke.
"My name is Henry. I have a question for you two"
He spoke, glancing at both Jade and Apollo.
"I can sense that you are both awakened, escaping should be fairly easy, no?"
before they could even answer he added.
"You are a low D-rank and you are a mid D-rank"
He said, pointing his finger at Jade and Apollo respectively.
They both smiled bitterly.
Apollo answered Henry after a momentary silence.
"I have already attempted to escape before, but I failed. There are two monsters up there."
He said, looking at the flight of stairs with a dark expression on his face.
He added on:
"Two low C-ranks, Morris and Seth. They outclassed me in everything, so fast that they disappeared from my vision, so strong it felt like a mountain had fallen on top of me with every strike. I got beaten helplessly I could not even graze them."
"I see. How long have you been here?"
Henry asked, curios about the bulky young man.
"It's been a year."
He said, with his palm on his forehead and his face riddled with agony.
He added on:
"The only reason I have not been sold or killed is because the baron wants me to become his knight. But I refuse to work for such a man, I would rather die."
His voice was full of unwavering conviction, this made Henry's lips slightly tilt up.
Henry respected people like him the most.
The reason Baron Loui wanted him to become his knight was because of his talent, for his age Apollo was extremely talented, it was hard enough for one to awaken and utilize Ki, but for an adolescent to be at the D-rank realm?
It spoke volumes about his latent potential, people like him were rare.
Though ironically there were three such people down in the basement.
Henry folded his arms and furrowed his brow in contemplation, looking at the little girls who were sleeping on the muddy floor, was his sister also in a similar situation like this wherever she was?
Henry felt a shiver down his spine and depression looming over his psyche, Henry was not just experiencing occasional bouts of sadness but was enduring a continuous and potentially overwhelming struggle with depression.
But he knew he had to endure, he had to stay strong, he did not have the luxury for such things.
Time is ticking, he has to save his sister as soon as possible. Before it is too late.
He needed more information about locations such as this one, where her sister could have possibly been taken to.
From whom could he possibly obtain such information?
Baron Loui is the name that came to mind as he pondered. But how could he reach a man as well guarded as that.
Though his main target was the Baron a large part of him also wanted to free the children.
Henry thought about how fortunate he was that Cain and his gang would be arriving the following day for the raid, if not for them he would have lost all hope.
He glanced at Jade and Apollo and smiled inwardly.
[How fortunate.] he thought to himself.
These two are definitely strong and it just so happens that they hate Baron Loui, in addition to Cain's gang having these two vastly increases the odds of success.
Slightly tilting his chin Henry spoke looking at them both with a stern expression.
"Tomorrow a group of rankers will attack this mansion, use that opportunity to free these children."
Apollo raised his ginger brows in confusion, Jade wore a puzzled expression.
Jade asked:
"A group of rankers? Did you acquire the services of a guild? That is great news!"
Everyone looked at Henry with eyes beaming with hope, even the one's in the opposite cage some even saying things like "We're saved!" and such.
The jubilant atmosphere was abruptly cut off by Henry shaking his head before he spoke.
"No, it is not a guild I suppose it would be more appropriate to call them a gang and---"
Before he could finish speaking the rowdy adolescents in the opposite cage started shouting.
"Huh!? Are you crazy you bastard? A gang? This is a Baron's territory! You think you can take him down with a mere gang?"
Another one added:
"This bastard! You raised our hopes for nothing!"
Realistically they were not wrong, it was unthinkable that a mere gang would attempt to take down a baron with all his knights and soldiers, Henry knew this but he could not help getting upset hearing the remarks.
After all this was his last hope.
He turned his head and looked at the adolescents who had been making a ruckus, his eyes full of rage and killing intent.
They all flinched, they felt as though something was pressing against their chests making it hard to breathe.
"Ignore them."
Said Apollo with a hint of nervousness in his voice, gesturing to Henry that he should continue speaking.
Henry felt ashamed that he could not control his emotions just then and let out a sigh.
The adolescents all collapsed on the floor feeling as though they could finally breathe, some even quivering.
Henry turned his head away from them and continued speaking.
"There will be nineteen of them excluding me and they are all rankers. If you two join us it will increase our probability of success, twenty-two rankers are nothing to scoff at."
Henry said with his usual stoic expression regained.
Apollo and Jade smiled bitterly and looked at each other. The Jade asked a question.
"How strong are they?"
This was an important question; numbers did not matter when facing Morris and Seth even if they were rankers if they were weak, it was pointless.
"One of them is relative to me in strength..." He paused and continued.
"The other to you" he said, pointing at Jade.
He saw that they were not satisfied or put at ease by his answer but he continued despite this.
"We will handle Morris and Seth."
He said, referring to himself and Cain.
"You two back up the others and handle the Baron's knights. You will not get another chance like this. It is now or never."
Apollo and Jade looked at each other and nervously nodded.
The three of them continued with their conversation for several more minutes, Jade explained how most of his father's knights were F, E and D-ranks, with the vast majority being F. all in all he had around 50 knights.
They were terribly outnumbered.
But even so a small-scale war was going to break out tomorrow.
A cold sweat ran on Jade's face as they continued talking.
Jade stood up to leave after finishing the conversation, she looked back with a bitter expression before stepping into the darkness.
The air in the basement was heavy with tension and anticipation. Henry, Apollo, and Jade were now connected by a common goal – to free the imprisoned children and take down Baron Loui's operation.
As Jade disappeared into the darkness, the weight of responsibility settled on her shoulders.
She knew that the upcoming confrontation was not only about freeing the children but also about challenging the oppressive system created by her own father.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone