Don't lose your belongings, please! part 1

"What do you think happened to mister Ryu?"

"shush! not so loud or he may hear you. I'm not sure, when they came back they all looked as if they had seen a ghost"

"I heard from someone running on the streets that there was a fight outside the brothel, do you think it has something to do with that?"

"I'm not sure sis, they saw people die near the mine but they didn't even flinch"

Sera and Claire were discussing the pitiful mood everyone came back with while cooking for everyone. Since everyone came back alright they must have succeeded, but their eyes looked dead and everyone walked as if they were carrying a huge weight on their shoulders.

It was just mashed potatoes but everyone ate it as if it was the most delicious meal in the world.

Anne, Dylan, Helena, Rina and Ryu went straight to sleep, not just because they were tired for the long day they've had, but because of what they saw after Mochi ran to the brothel's kitchen.

Once the search party followed the cat to the kitchen it started scratching a shelf that seemed to be nailed to the wall and, when they pushed it, a secret door leading to a storage full to the brim with food opened up. Not only it was enough to feed everyone in town for a while, but it also was proof of madame Bianca's guilt.

It meant that she, in fact, conspired to create a winter famine so harsh that people sold themselves as slaves. They were about to go outside and inform everyone of their findings, when Ryu noticed a hatch door on the floor and when he opened it a foul stench came outside, it was so putrid that they thought for a second it was just a garbage disposal system. Ryu headed downstairs to investigate nonetheless.

The path opened to a dungeon filled with people in a condition so awful that made death look like a sweet relief instead of something to be feared. There were women and children, elder people, everyone showed signs of torture on their bodies. It was madame Bianca's secret dungeon.

They were all famished, with festering wounds all over their bodies and the place was so filthy it looked straight out from hell. The only difference that in all stories only bad people went to hell, yet in here everyone was innocent.

People from the search party started vomiting, not only for the stench but also from shock.

Ryu kept calm and went to look for Anne, Helena and Dylan, leaving Rina out of it. It was already dawn when they finished tending to every one of the captives, but they were so tired that they went to sleep at the tavern, leading to Claire and Sera's discussion but they couldn't find out what happened.

Ryu woke up at noon, he tried to keep a smile on his face to not scare the children, but what he saw was more than even his calm mind could take. He headed straight to Hiraku's trading outpost where Ayumi was already waiting for him.

"Ryu, Is it true what they say?"

"I don't know what you heard but it's even worse"

"How could it be worse?"

"They had been tortured, everyone! even if she intended to sell them as slaves, there was no need for that. At first I wanted to heal only madame Bianca in front of everyone to show them how effective is the medicine I can make, but I ended up using it to heal many people that ended up dying anyway"

Ryu gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, what he saw that night would haunt his nightmares forever.

"What's going to happen to her?"

Ayumi asked in an attempt to distract Ryu from his harmful thoughts.

"I don't know about this town's laws, but even if they torture her and kill her i'd say its not enough punishment, she deserves a long life filled with more pain that she inflicted. The whole town is going to be present at her trial, it's going to take place in a week or so and I expect you to be there"

"I don't know if we can come we are currently busy with..."

Ayumi said trying to avoid going at all costs, she didn't want to take any part on a trial that may end in a public execution, but Ryu cut her short without caring for her distaste for blood.

"I don't care, you all need to come or else she may get away with it, we need to make sure she pays dearly for what she has done. I wish Luke was here so he finally understands this is not a magical place but a cruel harsh world. By the way, I'm heading to the brothel to take care of the survivors, in case Rina or someone from the tavern comes tell them to send someone to help me please"

Ayumi nodded and Ryu walked towards the brothel hurrying his steps. He walked inside the brothel as if he owned the place, went to the kitchen and started cooking in quantities that would've been enough to feed a whole platoon. But that wasn't all, because most of the people that had been kept underground were so weak they couldn't even eat by themselves.

When Sera came to Help Ryu she was greeted with a list of chores, instead of complaining she started working diligently on everything Ryu asked of her.

She helped him cook, clean, she spoonfed those who couldn't eat by themselves, and she did everything with a kind smile that reassured every one of their patients. Time passed quickly and it was already late when they finished, so they decided to spend the night at the brothel.

They were walking through the halls looking for unoccupied rooms when Ryu felt a cold hand on his neck, along with a knife pressed on his throat.

"Don't make a move dear or I'll end you and your little girlfriend here"

Sera was so scared she didn't even blush after being called Ryu's girlfriend.

"How did you escape?"

"What do you mean? you left me this gift, didn't you?"

Bianca put the obsidian knife in front of Ryu's eyes, then slid it back to his throat making a small cut on his cheek. Ryu couldn't believe how stupid he was for leaving the knife on the ground after losing it.

"Now, be a dear and walk to the dungeon, you too darling"

Her fake smile was already terrifying before, but now that her body was mostly charred meat she looked as much as a monster as she was on the inside.

"I'll come along, just leave her out of this"

Ryu blurted out

"No way, we're taking her with us or she stays as a corpse, your choice"

Sera and Ryu headed down to the dungeon, Kaya was already waiting in there.

"You took me by surprise. Now I regret laughing at you for saying that you would raid my place, because somehow you managed to pull it through. Too bad all you got in return was to make me even more interested in you, but don't worry, I still have the document that proves you're my slave so, as soon as we make it to Celarent we'll be able to live a happy life"

The white of her teeth contrasted with her blackened skin and her bloodshot eyes gave her a fierce appearance.

Kaya took a lantern and walked through the hallway, until she found the secret passage that lead to an underground tunnel that Bianca had prepared years ago. It was long and Ryu walked every step taking care of not cutting himself on accident since the obsidian knife on Bianca's hand was indeed so sharp that it only took a small stroke to cut his throat.

Sera kept calm the whole walk and followed Bianca's instructions, she actually didn't care for anything as long as Ryu made it alive. She tried to think of different ways to help Ryu, but she wasn't so naive to think that she could beat Bianca nor Kaya. She also Knew that, despite Ryu being so smart, he was the weakest on the Silver goddess tavern and she didn't want to put him at risk.

'If all it took to save mister Ryu was to give my life, i'd gladly do it' She thought, but reality wasn't so simple.

At the end of the passage there was a dark room that lead to the outside where a carriage had already been prepared for Bianca. It contained a small amount of money, some luggage, but most importantly, it was a mean to head out of town safely.

The snow was deep, but not enough to impede their movement only to slow them down. Bianca kept the knife on Ryu's throat the whole time without giving him even the chance to sit properly. And they disappeared onto the cold night of the mountain.