Chapter 199 - Piña

Making our way to the castle without resistance, Bozes took the lead and guided us toward the prison. When we arrived, the knights retrieved their gear from the jailer's office first as they were too embarrassed to continue hiding their bodies with just a blanket. Asking me to give them a moment to change, I stepped outside the room and began walking the halls looking for Piña or any of the other knights.

Initially finding just criminals in the cells, as I got four aisles in I began hearing someone crying out for help. Swiftly heading in their direction, as I drew closer, I realized that it was Piña though just barely. She must have been screaming for hours on end because her voice was becoming raspy and almost male-like in tone.

"Someone, anyone, please let me out!!", she pleaded, pounding on the door of her cell, "Please let me out!!"

Finding her cell, I ripped the wooden door off its hinges and threw it to the side. Taken aback for a moment, she looked at me with confusion as she did not know who I was. Looking at her carefully, it appeared she had been in there for a while with minimal food and water. Noticing her sunken cheeks, frail complexion, and shaky stance, Zorzal had taken full advantage of her situation to make her suffer for going against him. Fortunately for her though, he had not handed her over to the guards or his goons to be their plaything. Knowing how he treated other prisoners, like Tyuule, it would not have been much of a stretch for him to let them do the same with her.

"Did you find Piña?", Bozes asked, as she and everyone else caught up to me, "Please tell me she is alright!"

Shakily stepping out of her cell, her friends looked at her with horrified expressions. Suddenly feeling like they got off easy, they immediately ran to her side and began bombarding her with questions. Relieved to see them alive, all Piña could do was hug Bozes before fainting.

"Piña!!!", Bozes shrieked, catching her before she hit the ground, "You cannot die like this!! Please do not leave us again!!"

Shaking her like a ragdoll, the knights began to break down believing she had died. Driving my fist into the top of her head, Bozes let out a squeak and demanded to know what that was for.

"You numbskull, since when do the dead have a pulse and sound like they are sleeping?", I sighed, "Piña is fine, she just passed out from exhaustion and overexertion. When I found her she was banging on her door calling out for someone to let her out. With the state her body is in, it is amazing she could talk let alone make all that noise. We should find the rest of your comrades and take her to her bedroom. She needs some proper rest and food to recover."

"Beefeater, help me make a stretcher to carry Piña.", Bozes said, rigging up a stretcher with some halberds and a few blankets.

Helping her assemble the stretcher, the two of them tested it out before placing Piña on it. Hoisting the princess up off the ground, Bozes turned to Shandy and left her in charge while Beefeater and her took Piña to her room.

"I am entrusting the safe return of our comrades to you.", Bozes ordered her.

"Yes ma'am, we will find them and rejoin you at Piña's Room.", Shandy said, before looking at the other two knights, "Right?"

"Yes ma'am!", they quickly replied, saluting Bozes and Beefeater in unison.

Nodding their heads in approval, the two women carried Piña out of the dungeon in a hurry. Turning to me for guidance, Shandy did not want to waste time searching every cell down here for them. Hoping I could help them narrow their search, she gave me a pleading look and begged me for help.

"If we search cell by cell we will be here for days, the prison is three levels deep.", Shandy said, grabbing my coat, "You just gotta help us, you are a chivalrous man right? Surely you would not leave three maidens in need of aid all alone, right?"

"I thought you three were knights, why are you acting like innocent, fair maidens?", I asked, giving her a smirk.

"You do not just ask a God for help!", Shandy stated.

"So trying to manipulate one is how you do it?", I refuted.

"Ugh…when you say it like that you make it sound like I am the bad guy here.", Shandy replied.

"You are.", the women around said, almost in perfect sync.

Being called out by everyone here, she immediately looked away in embarrassment. Fidgeting around for a few moments, Shandy collected herself and asked me for help normally. Agreeing to her request, I told her to give me a moment so I could start checking. Using my Radar Pulse to locate occupied cells, we began systematically checking them one by one. Finding Senators and their families among the prisoners, every one of them bowed their heads in gratitude for saving them. Informing us that they had not eaten in days, two of the knights escorted them to the kitchens so they could fill their starving stomachs.

"Before you go, do you know where the rest of the Rose Knights are?", I asked one of the Senators, "There were only five of them with Zorzal at the negotiation table."

"Yes, they were dragged away several days ago.", the man replied, "Speaking of that devil, where is Zorzal!! That bastard attempted to sink his teeth into my daughter Sherry!!"

"That would make you Senator Tyueli, correct?", I inquired, looking at his daughter who was hiding behind his wife, 'Huh, she looks different than in the anime.'

"That is correct…how did you know that?", he asked.

"Let us say I have my ways.", I chuckled, patting him on the shoulder, "As for Zorzal and Molt, I handed them over to the King of Mudwan with some food supplies in exchange for them breaking the siege. Before you ask, the food stores were from my stockpile, not the capital."

Blinking a few times, he cocked his head sideways with an even more confused look. Assuring him that it did not matter, I motioned for him to follow the others who were headed to the kitchen. Waiting for the Senators and their families to leave, Shandy asked me what the plan was now.

"Where do we go from here, this is the only prison in the capital.", Shandy said, with a defeated expression.

"I have an idea…but I hope I am wrong.", I stated, "Can you lead us to Zorzal's room?"

Giving me a confused look, Shandy took a moment to process what I said. Instead of picking up what I was hinting at, she instead took it a different way.

"There is no way any of us would betray Princess Piña!!", Shandy huffed, irritated that I would suggest such a thing, "We have all been together since childhood, we share an unbreakable bond!"

"Shandy…do you know what Zorzal does to his prisoners in his room?", I inquired.

"Piña said he takes out all his anger and frustration on them. Zorzal enjoys abusing the former Warrior Bunny Queen the most, he beats her several times a day!", Shandy proclaimed, "I almost feel bad for her, she stumbles around for almost an hour afterward."

Glancing over at my group, all three women just stared at her in disbelief. Unable to understand how such a blissfully ignorant woman could exist, Ciri was the one who snapped her out of it.

"What would other men his age do if they had almost limitless immunity for their actions?", she asked her, with a blank expression.

"Well given what other men say to us almost daily, they would probably use prisoners like a…sex…slave…", Shandy said, as the light bulb went off, "OH MY GOODNESS!! THAT IS WHAT HE DID!?"

Understanding what I was suggesting happened to her colleagues now, the color drained from her face as she reflected on the looks he and his friends gave them on an almost daily basis. Taking off in a mad dash, she blew past Yao and Ghislane running straight toward Zorzal's room. Following her, she started making a lot of noises trying to Bozes and Beefeater's attention.

As we chased after her, I noticed a distinct lack of guards and maids present in the castle. Given how luxurious Molt and Zorzal lived, it concerned me that the space was almost completely devoid of people. Using Radar Pulse to check ahead of us, I found Bozes, Beefeater, and Piña three rooms ahead of us. Just a few rooms past them there was a group of over a dozen people with two of them frantically moving around for some reason.

"What are you doing, Shandy!?", Bozes snapped, stepping out of Piña's room as we approached, "The Princess needs time to recover from this ordeal, and you are making that impossible."

"LISTEN TO ME!!", she snapped, "Our comrades were taken from the prison a few days ago. If they were not used as collateral like we were, his perverts may have taken them!!"

Without another word, both women continued toward Zorzal's room. Hearing our footsteps, the goons from earlier came barreling out of a room barely clothed. Attempting to flee the scene, I teleported in front of them and knocked them to the ground. Using Arc Restraints to hold them in place, Bozes and Shandy ran inside the room to search for their friends.