Escaping from Shremel

We were walking down a brightly lit corridor. Adam led the way while Eloise was just behind him, threatening him. I was last.

"Hey Adam, we looked around this building, but we didn't find any cell holding any prisoners."

"Ah! Em… this is the administrative and guard's offices … the prisoners are held in another place."

As he was explaining, we finally reached the end of the hallway. In front of us stood a couple of unusually armored men guarding a metal door.

"INTRUDERS! Help!"

As soon as he saw them, the fat man screamed and sprinted to escape our grasp, but he had made a fatal mistake. He didn't think his plan through.

I could count five guards. Three wore heavy armor and carried a large shield. The last two looked like standard swordsmen. They shot us an astonished gaze and got ready.

Without the need to say anything, Eloise launched an attack. She first threw a dagger that she had hidden in her dress. The projectile passed through Adam's chest almost without resistance since he wasn't wearing any defensive equipment. In the end, it came to a stop by hitting one of the shieldmen.

While the lifeless body of the incompetent head of the guards fell to the floor, Eloise and I sprinted toward our enemies before they had any chance to form a proper formation.

I coated with mana my sword and slashed at a shield. My blade passed directly through it like butter, and I cut the man holding it into two.

From my left, I saw my companion slip through the sloppy formation they set up in a panic. She raised her saber and beheaded one of the two swordsmen.

"Jean!!! On guard, they can use mana!"

A light coming from my right put me on edge. I turned around and saw a glowing shield coming toward me. I recognized that move; it was shield charge. It's a strong skill of an intermediate shieldman.

As I was cursing at my luck even though I knew that there was a probability that there would be a strong professional guarding the prison complex

I immediately strengthened my arms and blade while trying to block his charge. Unfortunately, his strength was a lot more than mine, and my sword cracked while sending me flying across the room.

He immediately chased after me to put an end to my life.

I was getting on my feet while readying my body for the follow-up blow to hit me, but it didn't come. In the heat of the moment, my opponent couldn't pay attention to Eloise.

The rest were only beginner professionals, so they couldn't hold her back. Her sword perforated the back armor of the charging guard and killed him.

His body's momentum continued toward me, so I evaded his corpse and said.

"Thanks, Eloise"

"mph!"

The only response I got was a snort, and she quickly returned to killing the remaining few enemies.

I followed her, and I didn't even need to imbue mana, the experience I gained while battling and the system rewards were enough to get rid of any beginner professionals.

We were standing on top of the last three dead men that tried to resist uselessly. We had blood stains everywhere on our bodies. Fighting in a closed environment was both dangerous and messy.

A sigh escaped my lips.

"So let's go on. Even if that fatso had tried to trick us, we should still be on the right road."

I took out the handkerchief that Eloise had lent me a while ago. I wiped my hands and blade from the scarlet liquid that still invoked in me some unpleasant feelings.

"Here, take this!"

I threw to my companion the bundle of keys Adam had with him.

"Try to open this door."

Eloise tested the keys one by one, and after three or four, we heard two clicks. She shot me a gaze and lifted her chin to indicate to follow her.

She pushed open the doors and what greeted us inside was a dark row of stairs that led underground.

I stepped inside first, but a hand pulled me back. I turned my head.

"I'm going first, young master. An assassin will be more alert to any dangers."

"Sure, ladies first."

Thanks to my act of courtesy, I got rewarded with a cold gaze.

She walked down the stairs. I followed behind her and couldn't help but notice that the floor was slippery. The air was very humid, and the light dimmed as we proceeded underground.

----- ----- -----

Finally, when we reached the bottom of the stairs, what greeted us was darkness. She took the last lamp near us and held it in her hand. She illuminated what was in front of us.

A large tunnel covered in at least a foot of water stood in front of us.

We walked forward until two rows of cells showed themselves on our right and left.

I looked inside the first prison rooms and what I saw was horrible. There were no beds, no latrines, nothing. What stood in them could barely resemble humans. The ones still alive rested on top of what I could only guess were cadavers.

The deeper you went, the stronger the smell of rotting corpses and sewage filled the air.

We continued marching. I expected some of the prisoners to talk to us to beg for freedom or help, but only an eerie silence dominated the place.

Faint signs of breathing and our boots splashing water around made the place even more unsettling.

We reached the end of the tunnel, and we saw our goal. A massive prison cell stood in front of us. I looked inside and saw a large figure lying on its side in the center.

He felt our presence and looked toward us. A deep voice reached our ears

"Ummm …. Did you finally remember to bring a meal?"

He got up and walked up to us.

I curiously looked at him. He was tall, about 7 feet, and had a huge torso.

He lowered his head and stared at us.

"AH! Eloise! Great you made it!"

what surprised me were his round ears on top of his head that twitched excitedly. He would have looked cute if he didn't have a beard and long brown hair.

"Shhh, be quiet. There's no need to make a ruckus."

She looked annoyed at his loud voice.

"And you must be Adrien. I heard of you from my wife's letters."

He had a big grin that brought a natural sense of happiness even in this dreadful place.

I grinned and said

"It's a pleasure meeting you, Erhan, or should I say, my second officer."

"HAHAHA good lad, I will call you captain if we make it out alive."

"Don't worry; we will. Where are your…."

While I was asking where his crewmates were, a couple of figures emerged from the dark corners of the cell. They looked way worse than our Bearman. They were malnourished, and some of them had terrible skin lesions.

"Well, let us free you. Eloise please"

She started trying the keys until one clicked. As the door swung open, a cheer rose from my new subordinates, but a glare from my female companion quickly shut them up.

She looked at me.

"Should we also open the other cells?"

I started thinking about what our best choice would be. Even if we freed them, only a few still had some strength to fight, while the others could barely stand on their feet. So even if we wanted to create another disturbance, they would only be useless.

"No, we don't. Our current objective is to escape. Throw the keys into one of the cells and leave it to them."

"Sure"

She tossed the bundles of keys inside one of the prison rooms and started walking back.

I started following her and spoke

"Let's go. It's time to leave."

"HAHA, finally, thanks, lad."

----- ----- -----

We reached the entrance to the prison dungeon, where we left the guards' bodies.

"Hey Erhan, pick up some clothes in good conditions from the corpses and the weapons. We may need them."

He picked only one of the big shields since everything else didn't fit him. The other guys wore some armor and took the remaining swords. But their look didn't improve much. They still had on wet and filthy clothes.

"Follow me. I am going to go a little faster, so keep up."

I started running outside.

"I know a place where we could find something to help us leave quicker."

"Hey! Wait, lad!"

----- ------ ------

We were standing in the stables. While we were making our way here, we didn't encounter any resistance. Probably the last few guards alive had already gone to ask for reinforcements.

I was holding the reins of some unkind fellow. He was snorting and neighing to clearly show his displeasure.

"Eloise, did you set up the carriage?"

"Everything is ready for departure!"

She jumped off the driver's seat and left the controls to Erhan. The rest of our new companions were stuffed inside the carriage.

"Then let's leave."

I got on the horse I was holding, despite his reluctance. Eloise got on behind me and held onto my clothes.

I started galloping, and Erhan followed us.

When we reached the gates to escape, a few men in armor stood in front of it. I increased the speed and charged at them.

"Prisoners, STOP!"

They tried yelling at us, but it was no use, so they took out their blades. One of them shot us an arrow, but it got deflected by my female companion.

When I reached them, one tried getting out of the way, but he couldn't do it in time and got trampled by the horse. The rest of the guards slashed at the horse, hoping to make us fall, but he continued galloping forward despite a few bleeding wounds.

The injuries just encouraged him to increase his speed.

They saw the carriage behind us, but after Eloise and I passed, they didn't even try to stop it. They tried rescuing their unlucky friend.

After we passed the gate, what greeted us was a sparsely populated part of the town. A breeze touched our faces, and I finally had the chance to notice something.

"Eloise, are you injured?"

"no…"

I could feel her hands trembling while holding onto me to not fall off. I couldn't turn around to see her, but an idea formed in my head.

"You have never ridden a horse, right? That's why you jumped on with me?"

Silence proved that my guess was probably correct. A laugh escaped my lips

It seems that our cold killer is afraid of something. Her hand slid under my armor and pinched my sides. The pain was worth it.

A contorted smug smile formed on my face. The heavy feelings from the killing and the dungeon's gloom disappeared a bit. My chest felt less heavy.

Big warehouses started appearing on our sides, and the smell of smoke entered our noses. The scenery was dominated by the big blaze that was tearing through a large portion of the harbor.

We encountered many people running toward the fire to put it out before it could engulf even a more extensive area.

I turned my horse toward a less chaotic street, and Erhan with the carriage followed us. When we reached an isolated part of the port, I dismounted.

I lent a hand to Eloise since I knew that she was a bit scared, and I didn't want to get stabbed in the back if I annoyed her too much.

The coach came to a stop a couple of steps in front of us. I walked up to Erhan and pulled out a piece of paper from a hidden pocket. It was a map.

"Here, look at this"

I unfolded it and showed him where we had to go.

"Look, we are here. We must pass a couple of buildings and enter the dockyard where our ship is currently held. "

"There shouldn't be a lot of men guarding it since they should be dealing with the fire. So listen to me, since we stole those clothes, how about …."

----- ----- -----

A guard was guarding one of the entrances to the shipyard. While he was dozing off, he heard a shout.

"Hey you, we need help!"

He immediately opened his eyes and looked at the approaching figure. He put his hand on the handle of his weapon. A malnourished man dressed in the town guard's armor came up to him.

He relaxed his vigilance and said

"Who are you, and what do you need."

"We need help with the fire now! It's getting out of hand!"

"We already sent almost all of our men. If I leave right now, no one will defend this gate."

"It doesn't matter if you don't help us now. There will be no more gate to protect. It will burn down."

The guard, while still a bit unconvinced, followed his supped companion. As he walked, he noticed that something was a bit off. The armor the man wore had bloodstains and no burning marks.

While they turned a corner, his suspicions increased as he got ready to unsheathe his sword, and a big shining shield appeared in front of his face. Everything became black.

"HAHA, Good job Jean! "

Erhan was holding a big shield dripping with blood and flesh while patting the back of our crewmate disguised as a guard.

"You had a nice idea, lad!"

"Sure, sure, but now let's go."

I stepped over the dead body without looking at it, fearing I would puke, and quickly walked inside. Eloise snorted and followed me while all the others came just behind her.

After passing through the gate and a scrap yard, we saw our boat. Three ships were standing side by side.

On top of the largest one, which resembled a galleon, we could see a couple of sailors, probably soldiers keeping the ship safe.

Between the two of them stood our objective a frigate. We could see no one on the deck, but we couldn't view well.

I put the finger on my mouth and turned to my companions. I pointed at the enemies standing on guard duty, and they quieted down immediately.

We crouched down to make our figure less noticeable. In a low voice, I said to them.

"Listen, we can't walk in the open to reach our boat. They will try to stop us, and if they can't, they will shoot a couple of rounds with their cannons and put an end to our escape by sinking the ship."

"So I imagine that everyone can swim, right?"

Everyone nodded, so I continued.

"So let's take a longer route, get in the water, and swim to our ship. Then, we will use Eloise's hidden daggers as steppingstones to get on deck. How many do you have?"

She fumbled a bit with her clothes and spoke

"Just six"

"We can't make with just those"

I turned to look at the ships and noticed that the frigates cannon's ports were still open. Bingo!

"See those. We will climb through them, alright?"

A couple of quiet affirmations reached my ears

"Okay, let's go."

We slowly walked while crouching down, hiding behind every single cover we could find while reaching the water.

I was the first to touch the sea. It was ice-cold. I looked behind me and started to hesitate. I wasn't sure that every single one of them could make it. Everyone was exhausted from our escape.

I gritted my teeth and decided that we couldn't go back. I immersed my lower body into the water while fighting back the instinct to immediately get out.

One by one, we went in and started swimming, hoping the darkness could hide our figures ….