11 Underground Suffering

Somewhere in the Port - Coastline of near-Reversia Territory

Blazing bullets were showering from the cliffs above to the shores below. The explosion had overheard around the radius of the port. Kyle and Myles camouflaged with their ability that could coat themselves with invisibility. Of course, nobody could see them strange and hostile as if the red-coated bandits were seeing nothing in their perspective, which the actual scenario unknowingly existed, but shooting towards the white-coated gunners above was their only way to solve their own problem in regards to their defensive hand.

"We're getting close," said Kyle. "That building with cages nearby is our speculative target."

"Yeah, I know…. It's bothering me with some raining bombs that somehow irritated me. Just give me a fucking break!" complained Myles, hardly covering his ears.

"We have no time to waste… These enemies are disadvantageous thanks to Markus and his company."

"Got it. Let's just proceed then."

They wisely determined the situation without being panicked hurriedly because it could bother their focus to make them majorly vulnerable. The reason for this was the limiting duration of their invisible coat buff that would take three-to-five minutes, which was considerably the highest competency they got from their training.

"It's convenient to use this ability. Thanks to this, we are being grateful to learn this beforehand."

Myles commented while checking the knob, which it locked heavily. Breaching the door would expose them because of a loud sound that could overhear the enemies nearby. Although they ran scattered like the entire civilization of ants was escaping for anteaters obliterating their anthills, they had to buy their time to proceed without a single erroneous step.

"Lock picks like these will take a first step. Good thing I have brought more templates to unseal the lock normally. I wish there could've been a spell that would be convenient for us to unlock easily," said Kyle with an exasperated sigh, grabbing a chain of several lock picks with every different kind.

"Sealing spell? I heard that it can only be learned outside the Reversian Kingdom."

"Unfortunately yes, I wish Juliette could get us some waves to catch on."

"Well, no time to waste as time approaches by."

Getting one piece of lock pick, Kyle possessed the locksmithing talent to unlock the door conveniently without a single need of a key while Myles watched over their back as he vigilantly observed the nearby surroundings.

Judging by the appearance, he classified it as the padlock which could use for the security purposes although the padlocks applied for low security. As it depicted, Kyle assumed that the slaves were their minor aim to begin with, or perhaps, it could be anything beneficial for them to provide. The bandits were trading these "objects" as their currency to their rumoured buyer — predictably, the Kross Empire.

"Skeleton keys similarly… if I find must," murmured Kyle, rolling every lock picks on a single chain.

"Our current due time is one minute. Hurry before we will be vulnerably exposed!"

"I'm focusing. Stay calm."

Myles called out the warning because their duration was fastly approaching while Kyle was busy searching for skeleton keys. He could identify without being nervously hurried.

"There…. And if I remember correctly, the cylindrical posts within this lock are the structural point to rotate and align it to activate the lever to open the lock."

Kyle instructed himself by handing his lock pick piece — the tip shaped with three rectangular figures but had a different area-measurement. Thus, he followed his words that had said about seconds before.

"Hurry! The enemies seem to be heading towards our location… at my side. Nine o'clock," Myles cried over Kyle, somehow irritating him upon inserting with his lock pick.

"No need to rush… I got the right pattern now."

Just in time, Kyle successfully unlocked the warded seal, calling Myles to head inside before the bandits would directly come to them. When he gave the call, Myles rushed towards the door and immediately closed it upon reaching inside the building.

"Phew~ That was close…. Hey, I can't see anything though," complained Myles, fanning with his hand.

Inside the building was a gloomy background on which they couldn't see anything else and it was silently frightening for Myles to piss on his trousers. They could still hear the exploding sound as it was slightly frequent to resonate from outside — probably the walls were not too thick though. Fear awaited them, but Kyle despised it as he grabbed the torch and lit with his tiny-bit of fire spell towards the tip of the stick — the flammable part.

"You're pretty handy with your stuff," said Myles.

"Why would I? Have your pockets filled with some useless tricks of yours that aren't considered convenient for your predictions?"

"It's not your problem. Everything else is necessary enough to solve a problem in front of our eyes… everytime, every day," Myles shrugged, knowing his preparations were always random at all times.

"Well anyway, I don't see a single cell or any storage space… other than boxes and barrels around here. Keeping secrets is always the thing," sighed Kyle.

"Not this again…. Pushing the boxes away is kinda tiresome."

"Don't worry. A single thing could be enough for them to say a password."

"Great idea… and our Temporary Invisibility has now been discharged."

The scattering of enormous boxes bothered around the floor like a typical warehouse setting.  Based on their observation, they might fill it with gunpowder, weapons, and distinct types of supplies essential for the bandits to build the army themselves — which was the reason the Black Resorts and White Shots Division held the investigation. Their aim was to search the underground entrance or some anything that could lead to their ideal secret path.

It would be easy for them if they brought their Kranz along with them because of his great muscular strength — the capability to lift heavy objects normally.

But for Kyle, he could analyze the surroundings while Myles was pushing every single box aside from its original position.

"A little hand?" asked Myles.

"My logical thinking is your helping hand for now and don't waste your energy for these nonsensical boxes. They have a purpose to put it to the nearest as they can."

"Yeah… sounds like a clever plan to them."

Before Kyle responded, he looked at the farthest displaced box which rested on the wall.

"Myles, push that box aside," Kyle directly pointed at the ideal box he looked at.

"Sure," Myles nodded, approaching the targeted box. "I guess putting at the farthest position is wise for them."

Once Myles reached the particular box, he pushed it aside although the weight was lighter than the rest of the boxes, predicting that this was the right place.

And...

"Oh~ Here it is!"

Kyle's prediction was right as Myles gasped, looking at the bottom of his feet — a rectangular-shaped hatch that led to the underground cellar. Once Kyle approached Myles' finding, he knelt down and grabbed the lever which could pull over to its entrance. The size was awfully odd for them because it needed the guests and slaves alike to dock down upon entering the cellar.

"I hope there's nothing scary around this place," said Myles, carefully putting his feet and climbing his body down while holding the base of the door.

"One panic move or you'll die. So don't take a wrong step presuming no jump scares that could kill you in a second."

"I know you're teasing me, but your jokes are not too funny to scare me like that."

"I'm sorry," chuckled Kyle. "Ghosts may or may not exist, but they don't attract us since I got a torch on my hand."

"You could entertain just to tell the joker that his life is a whole funny thing to be exact."

".... Ok…. Just try not to hurt anyone's feelings."

Both of them climbed down through the loft. As they drew closer to the underground surface, the voices overheard them, sounding like there were multiple men, women, and children alike.

Giving themselves a closer look, Kyle raised his torch closer to the sound until he saw some people squatting miserably on the floor.

"The captives are not purely sex slaves," Kyle said while listening the weeping sound of the people being imprisoned illegitimately.

"Wait… who are these people?" Myles asked.

Although Myles could not barely see other than a shadow figure, Kyle prowled closer to the cage, providing the clear background for Myles.

Upon illuminating around the cages, the prisoners or slaves alike felt terrified of their presence, and both of the black-coated men failed to classify themselves as friendly.

"This doesn't feel right…. Are they being maltreated by these red coat bastards?" Myles clenched his fist.

Kyle did not know the answer, so he ignored his indignant question and walk nearer in front of the cell doors. Most prisoners were clinging to each other once they saw his cold-hearted face.

"Don't worry, we mean no harm to you," Kyle gently greeted. "We are the members of the Black Resort Division from the Reversian Army—"

"We don't trust the officials from the Reversian Government!! You mock us with your fraudulent offering! Do you think we deserve to return to the land filled with legal Black Market?! Like hell I would agree to that!"

One prisoner who had the face of a middle-aged man allegedly yelled at the two young men with Black Perspire uniforms. They seemed to doubt the individuals who belonged to Reversian authority.

"(Don't tell me that this is some kind of work from some aristocrats in Reversia… his inculpating statement sounds personally genuine. So I guess Juliette's hypothesis was right all along.)" Kyle thought while tightly gripping the bars.

"Why do lords and politicians alike agree to this kind of bargain? Sending people in forsaken class to the hands of another nation? We are utterly foolish for us to be persuaded with this kind of order. There's nothing we can give back ourselves to the hands of these vile buggers," the complaint exaggerated the most.

Kyle was still thinking — or perhaps he agitated that one or several of their sides was secretly bearing this responsibility to trade humans without knowing the public notice. Myles felt the same, but he somehow had nostalgic understanding regarding this situation. That was the reason he was grieving about this "human trading". What he said about "maltreated" was the example of his opinionated expression.

"Do you think sending yourself to the hands of these perilous organizations will welcome you to your ideal paradise? Do you want to stay in this miserable fate that you want to look forward to? Are you sure that your life has been forsaken for the entire time? Do you ever think one or both of us are official jerks with no human respect?.... That's why we are here, rescuing all of you as safely as possible. Whatever you are is none of our business here. We are here to protect the citizens of the Reversian Kingdom. If you want to stay here, then dare yourself to decide. We don't want to waste time here, listening to your hate speech in front of us — the dutiful ones," Myles berated in front of the middle-aged complaint.

The prisoners including Kyle gave themselves a bit of silence while Myles panted for his exaggeration. He empathized the enraged man who spent himself in the middle of this desperate place. The suggestion based on Myles' statement made Kyle somewhat motivated as he opened up his idea.

"Okay~!" Kyle inhaled gradually, trying to relieve his stress. "Listen up, ladies and gentlemen! I know and understand this miserable situation… If all or most of you can survive the escape, we will provide you with some details after which you will attain yourself to live without being dominantly controlled by some corrupted aristocrats. We are devoted agents who will voluntarily investigate this matter with no noble, or official orders. We are like you, the commoners. We don't tolerate nor interest such magnificent feasts inappropriately…. Those who will accept are for your life, and those who will decline are for your death."

Hence, all the prisoners agreed except a certain middle-aged complaint could provoke to their advice although the dilemma would come along if nothing could help himself at all — so his wise decision was to go along with them despite trouble might come to him.

Kyle used his locksmithing skill to unlock the cell, and he thanked himself that he brought it conveniently. When his nose stepped in further, the excreted bodily odor created its reek to waft over his face, presuming that they took several days to live here without taking a bathroom break.

"(The smell kills me… guessing on what they pooped on here was kinda care for the redcoats to give them food, but still, their caretaker is mediocre to 'babysit' these prisoners. Living here could be hell to them just from the stench.)" Kyle mindfully complained, resisting his temptation to cover his nose.

"How many days or weeks have you stayed here the whole time?" asked Myles while waiting for Kyle's lock-picking process.

"About 4 days… the shipping schedule is somehow delayed for us to depart, but they said that there's quite a problem in regards to the shipping route," the female prisoner answered.

"The ocean storm, eh?.... Do they tell you about the designated location of arrival?"

"No… they said that it will be a surprise for us, and they scared us because if we insist, one of us would be tormented to death as a punishment."

"Did it happen?"

"A particular day… yes." she nodded.

With her response, Myles thought the redcoats were definitely cruel; sending death punishments for small inappropriate actions considered distressing for the prisoners to hear the scream of pain. Turning his head, he realized that there was another door between the aisle of the cells. He assumed that there might torture devices and dead people who forced themselves to serve as their death sentence.

Later, a clicking sound echoed from the cell lock.

"There! That should do it."

Kyle felt satisfied as he opened the door with his covered nose. The prisoners immediately stood up and ran ahead towards the exit. Myles gave them a bit of escort services while Kyle overtook his spot because he had a torch on his grip to begin with. Once again, everyone headed towards the loft, then through the primary room, Kyle firstly checked the sound before he opened the door — There was no sound of explosion other than the men from the outside were talking about the validation of their operation. Eventually, it sounded like a particular ally, so he opened the door instead.

"Huh?"

Upon exiting from the building, the men in a white coat at first and immediately aimed towards Kyle with their rifles — a slipping reaction — although they realized that it was black-coated allies that they made a deal with from the beginning, so they brought the rifle down instead while Kyle did the same, gently putting his torch on a ground.

"Oh, there you are!"

A sudden voice belonging to the commander of white-coated man laughed while seeing his friends were harmlessly fine.

"Operation: One-Treaty Favor has been completed!"

It was Markus, who declared that they completely wiped the enemies were completely out. The victory rested in the hands of the two divisions belonging to the Reversian Army: The Black Resort, and the White Shots, a collaboration between the assassins and the musketeers with unique spell crafted skills and combat.

Both of the black-coated men also realized that there were multiple prisoners being rescued to their friendly hands. They did the glorious job of searching further clues after doing the first step of eradication.

"Thanks for the help, Markus. Now we will enjoy the feast later once we head back to the city."

Kyle saluted in front as a sign of thanks, followed by Myles with his sigh of relief.