I turned my gaze up to glance at Lescia, and she slowly tried going down. She nearly fell from failing to hold on the ceiling, and I captured her with my shadow platform.
She landed on the ground and she ran to me, and then she started smacking me on the right shoulder.
"Idiot! Stupid! Dumbass! You stupid idiot!!"
"Hey, are those really the words befitting of a princess?"
"Stop trying to use that against me!! What kind of hero would sacrifice the life of a princess to take down his enemies!?"
She does have a point.
I laughed while holding my stomach, while the princess continued with throwing a kick at my leg.
FTANGG!!
She forgot I'm wearing boots made out of the strongest metal underneath the robes. I bet that hurt.
"T-This isn't over!"
She said while being flushed red from shame and holding her pained foot. I healed her legs in an instant and we are ready to move again.
I took out some ropes from my ring and tied the knights, then I placed their unconscious bodies on the end of the alleyway. The two of us came out from the alley and we went inside the barracks.
There are not that many watch towers in the area, but they are watching quite a wide spot each.
Lescia followed as we hid behind a group of barrels behind the entrance. I peeked above the barrels to see the situation a little better.
In the middle office, I can see a large guy wearing shiny armor that has a long red cape behind it. The guy was holding a giant cup filled with beer, and he is currently entering the office.
"My best bet, that guy is the target."
She is keen. Looks like I won't have to explain anything.
"Then let's go."
The two of us began heading in and we sneaked into the middle office while trying to dodge the lights pointed by the watchtowers. We opened the door slightly to see inside, and it seemed clear.
The inside is the lobby of the office, and we can see that no one is inside.
We entered and stuck our backs to the wall on the left, only to see that the door on the right got opened and a group of knights came out.
Me and Lescia moved incredibly fast, and we hid just in time.
"At least the general knows what to do. There are so many of the hostages, and even the kingdom has no idea what they are going to do with them!"
"Yeah, at least with this, we have a slight upper hand."
The four knights then casually left the office building. Meanwhile, we took a peek from behind the desk on the left side.
"That was close."
Lescia mumbled while glaring at the room the knights just left. From that room, I can see that there is only one person left there. I sensed no other presence from all the other rooms.
"The target must be in that room."
"… Obviously..."
Lescia pointed at the sign above the door.
It says, 'General Valdrock'.
I let out a sigh and facepalmed. Why didn't I find that sign earlier?
Inside the room, the general is busy writing a document while humming some tones of a song he heard a long time ago during an event. It was one of those songs that just doesn't leave our heads.
And while he was busy writing, he suddenly felt a heavy pressure behind him as the entire room turned dark.
The walls, the ground, even the furniture inside the room became black, as if it was being covered by shadow itself. But, the room would have been really dark if it wasn't for the single fireball that was placed in the middle of the room.
The fireball is made from dark purple flames, and the general can slowly see that there is a person holding it within their left palms.
He could feel a presence from his right, but he was too late to react.
BAKK!!!
He got kicked away to the left, and he slowly stood up from the ground.
"Who are you people!?"
A flick of a finger can be heard, and multiple blue fireballs are conjured on the ceilings of the dark room. Blue flames are the brightest amongst all the flames that I have, and it is capable of lighting the entire dark shadow room up.
I am simply standing in the middle of the room, but Lescia is now standing above the table. I have no idea why she did that, but I can tell it's to scare the general.
"We have a few questions, but you don't have to answer them honestly."
I asked him the question, and he looked like he had some guesses of who we are.
"Y-You wrenches are from Mazino!"
"Now, if you don't answer them…"
I lifted my other hand, and a shadow spike suddenly lifted on the ground under his leg. The spike grew all the way through and stopped after reaching two centimeters above his skin.
"Aaahhhh!!!!!"
"Go ahead... Scream all you want. This shadow room is soundproof."
Hearing that, the general wasted no more energy in screaming. He lifted his hand to create a magic attack, but then the shadow from the ground lifted once more, stabbing his palms exactly in the middle with a really long and thin needle.
He screamed again, but then he bit his tongue to endure the pain.
I walked slowly towards him. He can feel the flames on my palms closer, and a part of his clothes slowly burning away. It is the Emperor tier fire magic, even just by standing a meter away from it can already melt a whole tree down.
"Where are the villagers that you assholes took…?"
The captain then turned to the left, and he spat some blood from his mouth.
"Why the hell should I answer you?"
"Because we want to hear how good you can lie."
"Hah! They are hiding inside my ass! How about that!!"
Hearing that, the princess quickly read his words, and found the truth immediately.
"They are under the north-western barracks, in the basement prison."
Hearing how the princess got the answer that easily, made the general shocked. His eyes opened wide, as they turned to glare at our faces.
But we are wearing half face masks. He can't tell who we are.
"Y-You wrenches…!! I'll kill you!!!"
"Lescia. Close your eyes."
"W-What, Ri-Melv-Wait-"
I lifted my hand, but then Lescia leaped in. Her hand grabbed my hand and pushed it away.
"We don't have to kill him…"
Seeing the sadness in her eyes snapped me back from my rage. I took a deep breath and nodded at her.
She turned to the general, and the general laughed.
"Heh! Showing mercy in front of your enemy! How foolish-"
BAKK!!
Another kick from my foot can be felt on the general's left cheek. He fell unconscious immediately.
The two of us then silently left the main barracks and headed towards the north-west barracks. As usual, we went through alleyways while dodging the knights on the main roads.
"You were serious about killing him, weren't you?!"
Lescia said to me as we walked past the dark alley. I simply stayed silent while she scolded me.
"We don't have to kill him, you know!? We can still let him live!"
"… I know."
"Then, why did you try to kill him?"
I stopped my walk, and I turned my face to her. She can see the sadness in my face, and she immediately regretted shouting at me.
Her pain may be healed, but mine hasn't. I can tell that it is slightly lifted thanks to her, but it isn't fully lifted. My heart still aches like crazy nearly all the time, knowing that I failed to save Lury and the other villagers.
Even though I know it was wrong. Even though I know it will only bring terrible results…
Just for a little bit, all I wanted was a simple vengeance.
Lescia knows this, and she began pondering about it while muttering.
"Just what is it… that I can do to heal you…?"
She asked so carefully, which made me feel sorry for showing all that to her. I let out a sigh, and then simply grinned at her.
"Try not to be so loud when you moan."
Hearing the joke, Lescia quickly turned red. She felt stupid for worrying, and immediately started punching my metal shoulder pad again.
"Idiot! Stupid! Dumbass! You--stupidest… idiot!!"
"Hey, come on. We talked about this."
The two of us continued our walk to the location, and we arrived at the front gate.
I checked the entire area using my extreme senses, and I can tell there are a whole ton of people in there.
This is it. The villagers are under the ground.
I took out an item from my pocket. It's my coms crystal.
"Hello, hello? Can anyone hear me? Or is everybody asleep?"
In the war tent that is at the side of the village, a certain communication crystal suddenly spoke, and a single man quickly grabbed it to reply.
"This is Valon speaking. How are you doing over there?"
"I found the location of the villagers. They are in the basement of a knights barracks."
"Okay. What do you want us to do?"
I pondered for a while, thinking what kind of backup I might need. But at the end of the day, I can fight anyone just fine by myself. So the issue is with the villagers, and how I'm going to deal with them after we freed them.
"Hmm… how about transportation?"