章 16: Ch16: Almost out
"Our main objective is to save the women, leave the island together and stop the pirates from following us." Explained Caden after calming down.
Just a moment before his companions saw his disguise, marveling at how different he looked. Now, it was time for action.
"To accomplish this, Handro together with most of the slaves is going to escape the mansion and secure a ship in the port." At that, Handro nodded his head, before looking at the people who will go with him.
"Getting them to leave will require me to scout outside. With this suit I can easily do that." Said Caden, pointing his hand to his body.
"In the meantime, Bonzo together with Forland will go up the stairs. Take with you those who are ready to fight." Hearing that, both of the men nodded. Behind them went some men, evidently those who wanted to help.
"Also, when you go there, look for a girl named Leyla. She will help you navigate there." He said, before looking at them seriously. "Don't kill for no reason. First try to incapacitate and tie them up. If there is no other possibility, do what you must to survive."
"Why should we even spare them?" Asked Bonzo, not understanding Caden's point.
"Well, if we indeed spare them, the marines might pay us more. From what I remember, pirates get bounties on their heads, right?" Replied Caden, looking for confirmation in Forland's eyes, who seems to be the most knowledgeable around.
"Yes. Marines prefer pirates alive, to later as a show of power behead them publicly or make them into cheap labor. Of course, we can't simply forget about prisons, where they also sometimes go." Answered Forland, thinking about the possible money to be made, while scratching his beard.
"Hmm.. Ok, I get it. We won't just go on a killing spree." He said, rolling his eyes. With a low voice, he said mostly to himself. "It's not like I want to kill them, it just seemed inevitable."
"Good, now come on up. Until I secure the escape, go and help others."
After saying that, he explained to them where the stairs going up are, also mentioning that there shouldn't be any pirates walking around.
With that, he went up to the ground floor and looked for an exit. First he ignored the rooms that were fully inside.
What he was searching for was a kitchen. Knowing that some rich dude built this mansion, normally there should be a side door in or near the kitchen leading outside.
Walking around for a bit like he owned the place, Caden finally found the kitchen. Looking inside, it was mostly tidy, most likely kept so by the slaves.
Checking the doors one by one he finally found those leading outside. Walking out, he only saw a few things thanks to the moonlight that shined from above.
Spotting the moon, he saw it was almost a full one. For the past months on the ship, the weather was mostly cloudy and he didn't go up on the deck while it was nighttime, so he didn't really observe the moon.
'It is beautiful here, with no light pollution, you can clearly see it up above.' Moving around, he also thought about the stars.
'If they are the way normal stars are, I should be able to see amazing sights at night on the sea.'
Leaving that thinking for later, he went ahead and scouted around, keeping his back to the building.
After walking around, he found around 6 pirates sitting on some watchtowers.
'Why would they have watchtowers? To look for approaching ships?'
Ignoring that thought, he observed them for a while. He noticed that they didn't communicate and just stayed in silence looking at the distant sea.
'They really feel comfortable here, not even imagining that someone could attack them from the inside.'
Walking closer to one of the watchtowers, he silently went up the ladder. Reaching the top, he peeked at the one sitting there.
He was slowly dozing off, while looking ahead. He didn't even notice when Caden went and stood behind him, before being struck at the back of the head with a hardened slime fist.
'Good, so it works as intended. It feels like a boxing glove, but It doesn't make me feel the full impact when striking something.' He thought with glee.
'Looks like I can punch harder without fearing for my hands.'
This use of slime widened his possibilities for combat significantly. A normal person can't punch a steel plate without feeling pain or subconsciously using less force, because of the brain fearing for the impact.
Caden on the other hand has no such drawback thanks to his slime gloves. He could strike any surface with all his might.
Taking care of the other watchers wasn't too hard either. Only one of them managed to notice him, but before he could shout about an intruder and ring the bell beside him, he also got silenced pretty fast.
Making sure there aren't any other pirates to stop them, Caden looked at the main doors. He spotted them very fast, being right in front of the road going back to the gate and down to the port.
Remembering that location, he went back inside through the kitchen, before looking for the others, who should be on the floors above.
Going up, he found Bonzo walking beside Leyla. Spotting Caden, Bonzo did a double take before recognizing him.
"Password?"
"Horseshoe."
"Caden, good to see you. We just finished going around the upper floors and managed to save almost all the women. Leyla here said that only 7 others are left."
"Is that so? Any idea where they might be?"
"Some of them might be on the ground floor, but 5 of them definitely are at the banquet hall." Said Leyla, before continuing. "Kaeru took the five most beautiful ones and made them serve at the banquet. They are responsible for cooking and serving."
"Hmm.. Any ideas on how to get them out?"
"None. It seems impossible to do without attracting the attention of the ones inside." Said Bonzo, who was thinking about it before finding Caden.
"Well, for now come with me. I will show you where the main entrance is."
"Oh, did you already take care of that?"
"Yes, there shouldn't be any problem with getting out."
"That's good. Finally freedom is within reach." He said, with a look of excitement.
Next, Caden showed him where to go. Bonzo memorized the way and went back to inform everybody.
At the front of them was walking Handro, with a gun in hand. When he first passed him by, Caden waved to him to come closer.
"I don't know what is the situation in the port, but if you find pirates, fire at will. It's too far from here to be heard properly. Also, talk with Thomas. If the merchant's ship is still there and the sailors are inside, drive them out using force. Tie them up and leave at the base of the port." He said, patting the larger man on the shoulder. In return he got a solemn nod, before Handro walked away.
He knew what he had to do. Find the biggest ship, check if it's enough for all the freed slaves they are helping. If not, get another and burn the rest. They don't want pirates going after them.
Before he got too far, Caden added. "Leave one boat for me. I don't know If I can safely get the last ones out, so go without me."
"Are you sure? We can wait for you." Raising his eyebrow, Handro asked him.
"Yes, I am. Go and find some marines to help. In the worst case, I will hide somewhere and wait for them to come and save me."
Handro looked at him worriedly.
"Ah, don't worry. I can hide myself pretty easily. Also, I can just act like the pirate I'm impersonating right now."
Hearing that, Handro accepted his words, going to the front of the group. They moved along while he talked with Caden, so he had to run.
With all of them slowly going down, Caden stood to the side. Looking at them, he saw many different people.
Most men looked slightly malnourished, having tired faces but walking nonetheless. Some stronger ones were supporting weaker women. Most of those were covering themselves with blankets or similar clothes.
He saw how they looked. Their scars, wounds. How some of them walked in a funny way, but with a painful expression. Some of them were limping or having other problems.
Only a few women seemed to look ok, but they were mostly old. They were taking care of the younger ones. Both the children from the basement and the girls found above.
He even saw Maya, but she didn't recognize him. Next to her was Leyla, still covered almost fully from head to toes.
Seeing him, she gave him a peculiar look, but walked ahead without stopping.
Noticing her, he felt like saying something, so he blurted out. "If you want to find me in the future, then for the next year I will be in the Shimotsuki Village."
Hearing that, she stopped for a second, before resuming her walk.
'Why did I even say that? Whatever, that's not important right now.' He decided to ignore it.
After a few moments, the end of the line finally appeared. There was Bonzo, who decided to stay at the back to make sure everyone left safely.
Seeing Caden, he approached. "Good luck."
Repeating most of what he said to Handro, Caden heard some words of encouragement from him, before he also went out.
'Looks like I'm the only one left.' He thought, looking as a silence overcame the place. The only sounds came from the corridor leading to the banquet doors.
Standing there for a moment, Caden got an idea.
Walking up, he checked in what state were the upper floors left, after they liberated the women.
Seeing that most doors were open and there were signs of things being moved around, Caden got more sure that his idea could work.
Going out and climbing the watchtower, he saw as the ships were starting to burn. Being here before he didn't see them, but now with all the fire he noticed them. He also noted that there weren't any forests or hills around. There was only the mansion in the middle of mostly flat ground.
Waiting for a moment, he saw as one ship started sailing away.
'Good, they managed to leave.' Through the flames, he noticed a small ship with a single mast. Too small for a group of more than 10 people.
'Great, now to start the plan. I hope it works well enough.' Thinking so, he looked at the banquet hall from the outside. He saw that one of the watchposts was near it, so he climbed it.
Looking down, he was just in the right spot to barely see the inside of the hall. He indeed saw in the corner a smiling woman, although he noticed the pain and fear in her eyes.
Caden also noticed the people sitting there, drinking and shouting at each other.
'Looks like they are also drunk, maybe it will really work out.'
Throwing one last look at the leaving ship, he saw them already getting far away.
Getting down, he went to look for the tools needed to start his great acting career. Walking around the upper floors, he picked a bottle of rum and some other alcohol.
He poured it onto his shirt, to make it look like it spilled from his face. To make it more realistic, he also poured some into his mouth. He wanted to make it flow down his chin, but getting the taste of it, he quickly spit it out.
'Oh my god, that was terrible. Oda, why would you make it so disgusting?!' He complained to the fictional being, coughing some more before calming down.
'Now, for the hard part.' Walking to the guy barely standing straight in front of the doors, he quickly ran up to him and knocked him out. He easily fell down, but at the last moment Caden caught him by the sleeve and put him down more gently.
Showing him to the side and striking his face some more to make a bruise appear, he got ready to act.
He corrected his posture and walk to look drunk and weak, also changing his voice a little to be more slurred and alternating between low and high. He took a surprised look and pushed the doors open.
~2119 words
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