17 Turn of Events

Vincent and Claire were shocked to find Panda lying on the floor. A red liquid continued pouring out of his waist and stained the ground blood red. His back moved up and down, indicating that he was still alive for the time being but if this situation didn't change, their friend's future might turn very bleak.

"As you've seen your friends life is hanging on a thin thread, hehehehehe!', the guard told them seemingly amused,

"But if you're going to listen to me and do as I say, he might still have a sliver of a chance left to survive his ... small ordeal, hehehehe!"

Thousands of thoughts ran through the children's minds at that moment. They were frightened and didn't know what to do. Panda's life was literally in danger and the enemy had exposed them, it was only a question of time until others came by as well and imprisoned them together with Kyle and Lora. Their whole mission would have ended in complete failure and even worse Vincent's group wouldn't be able to warn Sieg and the others outside!

It might not be long before the whole bandit camp was aware of their existence and formed their own scouting and fighting parties to hunt down their friends and catch them as well! Their chances of escaping the enemy's clutches would then turn zero!

Sweat droplets trickled down their backs and foreheads when thinking about how all the prisoners here were treated and abused. Professor Schneider was already dead, so wasn't it just a matter of time until the next person died?

"Judging from your expressions, you've realized the situation that you are currently in. I should congratulate you that you've come so far, sneaking past the entrance guards and managing to find your little piece of shitty friends inside the boss' house.

But do you think that is praisworthy enough in front of the Boss' presence? Your lives are worthless, they mean shi! to him, if he finds out about how you stole parts of his belongings, hehehe, I don't want to imagine how gruesome your deaths will be. You have to know that our boss doesn't differentiate between ages, races or genders. Young old, male, female, goblin or human, they are all lively walking corpses for him. He will definitly cut off your heads, if not more I promise!

But don't you worry, if you just hand me over that key that you have in your hands I could put in a good word for you to the boss. After all you are just little pitiful children who were seperated from the friends! Who could fault you for trying to save them? My Boss, he is also a very merciful and just person! He was once part of the nobility, like you all are! He will definitly feel pity and understanding for your situation, just hand me the key and we can cooperate peacefully!"

The guard stood there still and seemed calm on the surface but in truth he was just as disturbed inside as them. How was it possible that some random children had been able to enter the Boss' mansion and even stay alive? If it wasn't for the boy who carelessly loitered around the entrance, he would never have had the courage to take a single step inside. He had known that something was going before but he didn't expect this kind of situation. And now? It seemed like these kids were part of the same group which had been imprisoned earlier the same day.

But what caught his eyes was that special golden key lying in their hands! They must haven stolen it somehow and would get punished either way for their actions. There was definitly no chance they would escape this camp alive once the Boss got wind of that but ... if he stepped out later as the sharp minded individual who had found out and stopped these brats' schemes and plans he might even get promoted! Except for women and gold, only ranks and promotions truly mattered and held value in here!

He could have just stepped forward and beat the children down to get the key, but he was afraid that even one of them could escape his grasp! So what if he stopped them steal the Boss' stuff, that guy would still tear him into pieces and feed him to his dreadful monster if he didn't even manage to overwhelm two small kids. Better safe than sorry!

Vincent and Claire stood there and looked into each other's eyes. They didn't know what action they should take, however one thing was for sure, they definitly couldn't trust this lying bastard under any possible circumstances! Merciful? Just? Up yours! Gorst had been shivering in complete fear when talking about his Boss. Even going as far as switching sides and becoming a traitor! Did this guard take them for first graders?

"It's not like you have the time and leisure to wait and think about it anyway. Seconds continue to pass every moment now while your friend lies here on the ground and loses more and more blood. If you hand me the key without causing any ruckus, I might be able to salvage the situation and patch him up for you!"

The children's faces turned as pale as sheets of paper when this thought struck their minds. They really didn't have a choice in this matter! Panda's life was at stake here so they had the responsibility to save him as fast as possible! Vincent and Claire each blamed themselves for their careless and inconsiderate actions. In the end they had achieved almost nothing, risked their lives unnecessarily and caused their friend's misfortune! Vincent clenched his fists tightly and Claire bit hard on her lips, Kyle and Lora were just as shocked and desperate.

Finally, Vincent reluctantly moved towards the guard and wanted to hand over the key, even if he didn't want to admit it, they were at his mercy for now. The guard was delighted and told them with a fake sympathetic smile on his face:,

"Hehehe, I see that you're smart kids, don't worry, I will personally make sure that nothing happens to all of you hehehe, how could I let any harm come towards such innocent children ...", yet,

before he could finish his empty talks, a heavy blunt force suddenly hit the back of his head and caught him off-guard. His eyes started rolling upwards and he fell on his knees first and then hit the hard ground with his face,

"Uhhhhhrgh...", was the only thing one could understand under his mumbling but before the guard could regain his consciousness though, a fast quick kick at his head knocked him straight into dreamland!

Everyone present was completely flabbergasted! First their attempt at rescuing their friends failed, then Panda was wounded heavily and their only path to escape got blocked! However, through a sudden turn of events, a saviour had appeared and got rid of their enemy, their obstacle! But things seemed to good to be true though, just who was this person and where did he come from?

"Hah ... hah ... man, I didn't think that hammers were this heavy! OMG! I told you Claire that this was too dangerous, but no, nobody listened to me, now see what you got!"