Freedom

The documents were immediately handed over to Count Aqua, who was much more able than the other two in removing and filtering useless information. Yet not even after finishing the second page did the Count freeze, prompting the others to look over his shoulder and attempt to read the content.

Most of it was technical terms that none of them properly recognized, all except for Holvat, who had a conflicted and rather grim expression on his face.

"Aren't these addresses?"

"Yes. Suburban houses to be exact."

On the second document, a series of addresses were listed, and unlike the guard who only recognized them to be addresses, the Count knew where these buildings were and their purpose. All of the locations listed were places for families to live, and the addresses listed all over Oshine.

Without speaking any more, Count Aqua was quick to sift through the rest of the documents, his face pale in disgust. None tried to slow him down, as even Letro understood just how serious the implication of the document was. It was obvious to even him that the human slaves located in the cells were the people who had previously lived at those buildings, and not only that, but somehow the mass kidnapping had gone unnoticed by the Count and his people until today.

Once more the Count stopped on a particular document, this one instead a map of Oshine, with a series of marks all over it. Whilst there were marks for the buildings that were infiltrated, the main points of interest were the areas marked near the walls, as even Fenrir's ignorance could tell what these points meant.

"I guess they are the smuggling routes."

"The sewage tunnels to be more exact."

It was a flaw within every town and city in the Ethernal Kingdom, and that was the need for sewage routes in order to stop any dangers of illnesses spreading. This led to many that ended up as poor routes and no longer managed to end up in the hands of smugglers and rats, who used the routes to bring illegal goods into towns.

Both Trowan and Oshine have serious problems in this regard, yet whilst the former was due to corrupt guards and powerful gangsters, the latter was simply because it was more cost efficient to let the smugglers be. Count Aqua did keep a loose eye on the smugglers, simply making sure that they didn't bring anything too damaging.

Or so he had believed, yet the slavers proved otherwise.

"Dammit!"

The Count couldn't help but be furious at his failure, his ignorance in believing that just because he let them be, they would play nice. Only now did he understand why people don't negotiate with criminals, and he was learning the lesson at the cost of his own people.

That was not the worst part of the document however, and it was actually the former. He didn't understand it initially, why they would be eyeing up so many random suburban buildings, and to be more accurate, he simply believed it was them using them as a base for their manpower. The Count was right, yet he failed to understand how they obtained those houses, as instead of buying them, in which such a large purchase was trackable and obvious, they simply scouted houses with isolated families, broke in, and then impersonated them.

A large portion of the slaves in the dungeon belonged to those people, people who had no-one to look after them. Blood seemed to be the only thing Count Aqua could see, and only now did he start to understand just how furious and mad Nia was, as whilst his pain was nothing but the loss of people who were under his care yet whose name he didn't know, Nia lost her family, something that cannot be replaced.

"I found the keys."

Count Aqua turned to Letro, who had separated from the group after realizing how useless his involvement in the discussion would be. In his hands were a series of keys, a notably smaller amount than everyone had expected due to the large number of cells, yet after they continued the search and found no others, they simply accepted the possibility they were the keys needed.

"Let's return, we can't make a judgment on what to do without the others."

Fenrir was the first to speak after everyone gave up searching, which everyone simply nodded in agreement, their minds having already reached the same conclusion.

####

When they returned, the first thing Fenrir took note of was Annabelle, who was close to Nia, yet by no means as close as she had gotten to Fenrir. The most surprising thing Fenrir noticed however was that the cell doors had successfully been breached, as although none of slaves were free to move out of them due to chains, it did mean they could receive mild treatment.

The only two people who weren't moving around were Nia and Niver, Niver's reason being obviously his wounds, whilst Nia's was largely unknown to everyone. Although the blow to her face did break her nose, Nia had shown indifference to the pain and even fixed her nose not even five seconds after taking the blow.

"We have the keys."

Immediately those that had remained in the dungeon turned their focus towards Letro, who held a set of keys high above his head.

"Pass them over here, we have heavily wounded in here that need greater treatment."

Aime shouted out, not caring for the little display of pride Letro made. Not even half a second later, Aime was trying every key within the set in an attempt to open the chains and binds of the slaves. It took her a few trials, with a 'tsk' escaping her mouth after each failure, yet after a short moment, the sound of a 'click' and the dropping of binds showed the freedom of one the many slaves.

Their mouth was still muffled, and unlocking it took another key which only infuriated Aime even more, yet it was clear from the frantic movement of the slaves arm, his gratitude was immense. All watched on with a warm smile, yet none stopped trying to lockpick the binds or break the other cells.

"So, what did you find?"

Only Nia wasn't watching with a warm smile, her indifferent expression washing over Count Aqua, who had moved closer to her. Nia however did have the decency to refrain from speaking out loud, as only Count Aqua, Niver and Annabelle were within a close enough vicinity to hear her. Fenrir was mainly tasked with treating wounds, whilst everyone other than Savere was busy aiding the slaves.

Severe was tasked with getting more sabertooth folk downstairs and some medical equipment, as many of the wounds were beyond the simple skills of Fenrir to properly treat. Of everyone present, his skills were not as extreme as Nia's, but as his abusive life demanded, Fenrir found himself forcefully learning how to treat a lot of the simple wounds, such as bruises and scrapes.

"Where to hit next."

Aqua Altor kept his words short, not willing to speak so much in the rather joyful situation. As for Annabelle, she had already moved towards Fenrir, completely ignorant and uncaring for the immense amounts of blood and dirt Fenrir was forced to handle to treat the wounded. This left the 'adults' free to talk amongst themselves without much need to mince their words.

"The sabertooth folk will help out."

Niver immediately gave his confirmation for aid, his anger not entirely controlled and quenched after the events that had happened prior. Yet instead of a bloodied warrior, right now he looked like a burn victim as his body was almost entirely covered in bandages. Only his face and certain areas of his body were clean from the wrapping, yet it made it obvious to everyone that the wounds he had suffered were not light.

"Nia?"

Count Aqua naturally wanted Nia's aid, as with Niver incapacitated, she was the strongest person here. The noble didn't think the attacks on the smuggler bases nor the infiltration unit would be difficult, especially since they would be doing it in a more public aspect and were allowed to mobilize more forces, yet after his failure to counter the slave trade, the Count wanted to play it safe.

Nia didn't respond to the Count's question immediately however, her face slightly scrunched as she went into deep thought. Initially the fallen noble intended to refuse and just send Fenrir, since already after leaving Silvo for a half day and a night, it was extremely dangerous to leave him alone any longer.

Yet if she went instead of Fenrir, Nia would be able to better spread the name of 'Blindness', as the assault on the Owen Company warehouse was a covert mission. As for her lack of weapons, Nia would just borrow one from the Count for the day, maybe even take with her until she reached a place which could provide her a weapon worthy of the Roguepalace name.

The only problem was her wounds, which whilst not severe, would impede her abilities and likely would not have fully healed by the time of attacks.

"When do you plan to act?"

"Tomorrow afternoon as it gives us time to rest in the morning."

This information didn't help much with Nia's decision, as whilst she was happy with the swift response, it greatly limited the amount of time she had to heal.

"Take Fenrir should he be up to it, otherwise I'm out."

The risk of Silvo getting assassinated greatly outweighed the value of spreading the 'Blindness' name. Already the Count intended to reveal the existence of the covert mission and 'Blindness' involvement in it, as there was the need to frame the Altor knight's death. They weren't going to reveal that the sabertooth folk were involved nor that it was a slave trade, as that would create too much noise too fast throughout the Kingdom, and as a consequence greatly limit how easily Nia could act.

Count Altor could only nod sadly in agreement, his mind now focused on another problem which he didn't know how to address.

"What do we do about the slaves? It won't be hard for me to smuggle the sabertooth folk out, yet we can't just trust that my people will keep quiet about the events that happened to them."

Nia had already thought of a way to solve this problem, as her focus was now instead directed towards the wounded Sabertooth Tribe head. Niver in response could only frown, as now he was starting to feel the same way Nia had felt when they interrogated the person earlier in the night.

"They will join the Sabertooth Tribe."

None spoke a word for a while, the sound of cheering of those who were reunited with their families and the shouts for medical supplies echoing loudly throughout the corridor. Yet whilst they were loud, the trio were eerily silent, with Count Aqua having a particularly sour look on his face, and Niver having one of incredulous and shock.

As for Nia, she was indifferent, as always.

Many times Count Aqua tried to open his mouth and speak against the fallen nobles' words, yet he had nothing to say, because just like Nia, he had started to learn more about the true nature of beast folk and was seeing more and more reasons as to why Nia's idea was a good one. The obvious one was that it got rid of any potential rumors, as it was already reported, the people kidnapped and enslaved had no-one they were particularly close to.

Another reason was the bonds formed by their shared pain, as whilst returning to society would prove difficult since they'd need to hide their pain and suffering, joining the Sabertooth Tribe would allow them to find and get much better treatment in a more public manner than compared to Oshine.