アプリをダウンロード
16.4% Unbound Familiar / Chapter 117: Aqua-duct-tin'

章 117: Aqua-duct-tin'

Michael and Tiffania follow the cobbled road towards the massive city of Londinium that stood proud not far off in the distance. Michael hadn't actually seen much of this place, despite the weeks he spent here getting tortured... He'd only gotten a glimpse when he and Wardes left via Airship, and even then he was forced to stay inside his cabin most of the time.

Tiffania on the other hand had apparently lived in or next to the palace when she was still with her mother and father. Still, her situation wasn't much different from Michael's though as she was forced to hide due to her elven heritage.

The city itself was impressive, to Michael it was like a far larger, cleaner, more beautiful Windsor Castle, the huge white marble walls surrounded the many Tudor-style buildings within. Even from miles away, he could make out the large airship port, as well as the multitude of aqueducts providing clean water to the city.

"It's impressive, despite the people who live here." Michael mutters, getting a nod from Tiffania.

"My mother used to tell me that most of the city was built by Brimir's sons and their powerful magic." she says before looking upwards in thought, "I think you need to watch out for any magical defences."

Michael crooks a brow, "Just me? What, did you lose your nerve already, Tiffania?" he questions.

She shakes her head, "Ah, no. I just mean that any magic won't work on me... I'm technically royalty, so I think I'll be safe from most things." she sheepishly admits, feeling incredibly tense ever since she'd laid eyes on the city again.

Michael nods, that's helpful to know... They might be able to use this... Could he sneak Tiffania into the palace and simply have her wipe Cromwell's mind? Or maybe kill him in his sleep? The man probably wouldn't expect there to be any more royalty left after Prince Wales is executed. "Do you remember much of the city? The layout or anything?"

Again she shakes her head, not remembering anything concrete from her childhood aside from her mother's death. "I'm sorry..."

Michael's face twitches at the apology, wondering if she'd ever break that irritating habit of hers. Instead, he focus on the gate to the city that was coming up, obviously, the news of Prince Wales capture had been broadcasted all over Albion, so there was a mile-long line just to get into the city... Not only that, but at the gate, they were checking each and every person that enters.

This would be fine, if the guards weren't checking for wands, weapons, magical artifacts, identities, and probably much more. Michael was sure he and Tiffanai were known by now, especially him since he'd been rather publically enslaved by Cromwell and Sheffield.

No, this wouldn't be possible at all. Even if their identities were unknown, they'd be arrested as soon as they pulled Tiffania's hood down.

He grabs her hand and walks her out of the line, "Shit, I think I left my baby in the car!" he exclaims, making a show of leaving to not draw too much suspicion... Even if his acting was rather poor.

The duo get a good distance from the city and Michael begins pacing while deep in thought, "I highly doubt we'll be able to just climb the walls like we did in Cendri... Especially without being spotted.

"Ah..." Tiffania ers as she speaks up while pointing off in the distance, "Can't we try sneaking in through one of those?"

Michael turns and raises a brow as he spots the aqueducts... He wasn't actually sure if it was possible to sneak through one of those, but... It wouldn't hurt to check, right? "We can certainly try..."

Ten minutes later, the duo begins following the aqueduct to try and find an entrance inside of it... Michael was sure there'd be an entrance somewhere, as something like this would require occasional maintenance.

Unfortunately, while they do find a heavy metal gate leading inside, it seems to be occupied by a relatively large group of thuggish-looking men...

They each wore cloaks and looked somewhat unclean as if none of them had bathed in days. Each had a weapon of some sort attached to their hips or backs, and their stances made it obvious that they did not want to be spotted.

The largest man out of the group growls as he walks up to the heavy metal gate and tries to pull it open, only for a sudden spark to sprout from it and strike the man in the chest, knocking him to the floor as he shakes and shudders from the electricity.

"B-boss!" a couple of the men shout, attending to the downed man who was still trembling.

Michael glances at Tiffania, "Er, any thoughts on how to approach this? I'm leaning towards just scaring them away, or if that fails, getting rid of them."

Tiffania sends a meaningful pout his way, both knowing that they'd talked about his propensity towards needless death not a few days ago.

...

Michael lets out a sigh, "Fine, we'll talk to them. Then we'll fight." he says, getting up from his hidden position and slowly walking over, a hand raised in greeting, "Yo, you guys trying to get into the capital as well?"

The group all shift in surprise to his sudden appearance, hands-on weapons, but relax when they notice his relaxed and somewhat friendly stance.

The 'boss' gets up from the floor and rubs his face, "Maybe, it depends on who you represent." he states glances between a few of his men before locking eyes with Michael.

The man himself was older than Michael had first thought, with thin, balding blonde hair and light but messy stubble, and a firm jaw. The many scars decorating his face made it clear that he wasn't a stranger to conflict either, and Michael could sense he wasn't just a common bandit leader either judging by his mannerisms.


クリエイターの想い
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :

ShinAmazake

Kingsprovince

Nazlican Erdem

JayJonnaJamison

Jack Allen

Faruk Ereng

Nathaniel Clayton

章 118: Last of them

"I represent no one but myself. Me and my friend were to get into the city, but we're kind of on the wrong side of the law, if you get what I mean?... Name's Mike by the way."

The man takes a moment to appraise Michael, and nods once satisfied, "Julien of Aeirton, one of his Majesty Prince Wales' Dragon Knights... Well, just knights now that we're without our mounts." he says, watching Michael's reaction to his words very closely.

Michael just pauses when he hears this, he wasn't sure if this was a lucky coincidence, or a preview of the disasters yet to come. "O-kay, nice to meet you Julien, I guess... I'm guessing you guys are here to save Prince Wales then?" he asks despite the obvious answer, not really having anything else to say to these men.

Julien nods, "Indeed, but we've run into a problem with the city's defences. I remember much during my time serving within Londinium, but I had not realised that even the aqueducts were protected." he admits, tossing a pebble at the gate which is reflected and knocked away by another spark of electricity.

"Ahm, I think I can help with that." Tiffania says as she comes out from hiding, again causing the men to stiffen slightly... In more ways than one due to her 'large personality'.

Tiffania walks over to the gate and goes to open it as Michael and the others watch with rapt attention. The former to make sure she doesn't get killed in case her royal status doesn't work.

Annnd!...

The gate swings open without much effort at all, making Julien flush slightly at the ease with which she'd opened it. "H-how did you do this, miss-?"

Tiffania lowers her head slightly, making sure that her ears were still concealed, "I'm Tiffania, and you just had to be gentle with it." she says,

Julien coughs into his fist at her words but doesn't try to retort, not knowing enough about the defences to argue against her. "Is that so... You've done us a great service by helping us here, but as much as I wish to reward you, we are low on time. It is only a few days until Prince Wales' execution, so we must get ourselves situation and prepared for it."

Michael shakes his head as he steps into the aqueduct, the water inside it reaching up to his thighs, "You guys must know that the execution is a trap right?" he asks.

Julien shrugs, "In all likelihood, it is. But our oaths forbid us from not intervening if at all possible. Even without the oaths I made, my loyalty is still to the true Royalty of Albion. I refuse to let some upstarts usurp everything my ancestors fought for and built." he states, getting affirmative cheers from his men behind him.

"That makes sense." Michael mutters, not really understanding how people could give their lives for such inane things as 'King and Country'. Not even the country of his birth, England, held his loyalty to the extent of these men, so Michael couldn't really comprehend dying for something like that... It all just seemed a bit useless to him.

From what he understood, most countries were incredibly corrupt, with even the clean ones slowly becoming self-serving cesspits. While he knew that Prince Wales was a good person, his father had been the one to have Tiffania's mother killed. Who's to say that Prince Wales children wouldn't be the same?

In the end, dying for another person that he wasn't incredibly intimate with didn't even cross his mind. The only people he'd even consider for it was his sister and Tiffania, the latter more because he required her Void Magic...

The duo and the loyalists slowly walk through the aqueduct, the latter of which trying to make small talk and occasionally asking Michael and Tiffania to help them in their attempt to free Prince Wales. They were soundly rejected of course as whatever plan they had was doomed to fail.

After half an hour of walking, the group finally reach a gate leading into the city... Tiffania opens it and they all stream out of it, Michael realising that they'd ended up next to the city's wall in some sort of slum area.

Michael turns and shakes Julien's hand, "Good luck out there, you'll definitely need it." he says, knowing that this entire group'll likely be dead before the end of the week.

Julien nods, "And you, young Mike, Tiffania. I feel the need to warn you though, stay away from Cromwell, he is in possession of some sort of mind control magic. It is incredibly powerful, enough so to control armies." he warns, not that Michael needed to be told, he was more than familiar enough with Cromwell's method of mind control.

"Thanks for the warning, but it ain't a spell he uses. It's his ring, the Ring of Andvari I think it's called. Cut off his hand and you'll have no problems dealing with it."

"Is that so? I thank you for this information, Mike." he turns to look at his men, "We'll be on our way, spread out and use our signals to locate anyone else who is still loyal to the prince-"

"Er, I'll warn you guys now, Cromwell will probably know any signals you have to contact other loyalists, his ring is more effective at gathering information than any torture. Anyway, take care guys." he says, giving a small wave as he and Tiffania leave, heading for the main street to get their bearings on the city's layout. Primarily though, finding an out of the place-inn and locating his tormentors was his main goal.


クリエイターの想い
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to : https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.

Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :

ShinAmazake

Kingsprovince

Nazlican Erdem

JayJonnaJamison

Jack Allen

Faruk Ereng

Nathaniel Clayton

Load failed, please RETRY

バッチアンロック

目次

表示オプション

バックグラウンド

フォント

大きさ

章のコメント

レビューを書く 読み取りステータス: C117
投稿に失敗します。もう一度やり直してください
  • テキストの品質
  • アップデートの安定性
  • ストーリー展開
  • キャラクターデザイン
  • 世界の背景

合計スコア 0.0

レビューが正常に投稿されました! レビューをもっと読む
パワーストーンで投票する
Rank 200+ パワーランキング
Stone 0 推薦チケット
不適切なコンテンツを報告する
error ヒント

不正使用を報告

段落のコメント

ログイン

tip 段落コメント

段落コメント機能がWebに登場!任意の段落の上にマウスを移動し、アイコンをクリックしてコメントを追加します。

また、[設定]でいつでもオフ/オンにすることができます。

手に入れました