Chapter 33

As the next room was within sight, Nathan turned to the children, "Stay here for a moment." He looked at Sophie and they both disappeared, and a few moments later, the guards fell to the ground pathetically.

"Wow…" The kids looked in awe, as the people who looked like they were the same age as them suddenly turned invisible, and then the big scary people who abducted them, taunting and tormenting them everyday, were defeated so easily!

Nathan and Sophie turned off their stealth, and called the children over. Opening the door, they were greeted with a room filled with gold and silver! Intricately carved vases made of pure gold and chests filled to the brim with pieces of silver. Various jewels shone brightly under the dim light of the room, leaving everyone shocked!

'I do not understand… why hide so much wealth here under the slums… while also using this place to abduct and hide children… something feels off…' Nathan felt that a company with so much wealth wouldn't require the measly sum of gold earned by selling children, nor would they risk doing so… then why…?

He shook his head. There was no use thinking about it. He didn't have nearly enough information to reach a conclusion. He closed the door, "Let's hide the bodies and get going. If we touch anything inside this room, it would only bring unnecessary trouble for us."

After hiding the unconscious men, they continued going around the cavern with haste, freeing the prisoners while ignoring everything else. Someone was bound to notice something going on here sooner or later, and their ever growing group didn't help in that regard either. Some kids were so weakened that they couldn't even stand properly, needing the help of others to carry them, which slowed them down even further, but Nathan and Sophie were determined to leave no one behind!

In the end, out of the 20 guarded rooms, only 6 of them held prisoners, while quite a few rooms were filled with treasure, and the rest seemed to be important facilities that were off limits for anyone without permission.

Nathan and Sophie managed to find 24 people, all of them being children under 13 years old. They were close to theexit, and Nathan decided to check outside for people.

Activating stealth, he quickly scanned the surrounding, and after making sure no one was there, with the help of Sophie, they pulled the children out of the cave one by one. They led them to the hut where they hid previously, as Nathan turned to Sophie, "Nitis should arrive soon. I'll go and erase our tracks. Stay here and watch over them."

With his orders in place, Nathan moved quickly to remove the evidence of them passing through here. A group of more than 20 people passing through a place filled with mud left a lot of clues, such as footprints, so he had to make things look more natural again.

As he was busy cleaning up, his senses picked up on multiple people running in his general direction. Hurrying up, Nathan finished his job as fast as he could, and immediately activated [Stealth]!

And just in time, as six men covered in armor arrived in his location, barely missing him by a few seconds!

Nathan stood absolutely still as to not arouse any suspicion. Although [Stealth] turned him invisible, he could still be traced by things like the sound of his breath or his footprints!

'Six people, most of them are mortals with only one Cultivator among them… with Sophie's help, I can take care of them, but it's best to not draw any attention to ourselves now… but if they force our hand…' Nathan's eyes gleamed with a dangerous light. Although he and Sophie were considered children, The Path of Darkness was different in its values. Killing was not seen as an evil act. Those they kill are either those who pose a threat to them, or those who deserve to die. A soft heart cannot bear the burden of the many lives a Dark Prince has to carry…

The armored men began searching around the cave entrance, searching for anything unusual franticly, conveniently destroying any remaining small detail that Nathan didn't have the time to hide!

"Vice-Captain! There is nothing here! The thieves couldn't have left with so many people from here." One of the armored men reported to the angry looking man.

"You pieces of trash! All of you are useless! You better find those 'merchandise' or the master will have all our heads! Dammit! If those damn guards did their job properly, we wouldn't be in this mess! You two! Stay here, the rest of you, come with me." The Vice-Captain was super pissed, but also extremely afraid. With the invisible hand behind the scenes, no mistakes were allowed!

After the armored men left, not even discovering a hint of Nathan's presence, he looked at the two armored men, who were still searching around the area, 'Moving such a big group of people with these two snooping around is going to be difficult. If I knock them out, they will come back to hunt us later… then they can only blame themselves for their fate…'

Nathan was already starting to feel tired after using [Stealth] all night. Although his stamina continuously regenerated, his body was slowly reaching its limit.

Drawing one of his daggers, Nathan sneaked up behind one of them, whom was a distance away from his friend. When the man crouched down to search for clues, Nathan covered the man's mouth with his hand, surprising him greatly, before plunging his dagger deep into his throat. Twisting his dagger while inside, Nathan cut his vocal cords, flooding his lungs with his own blood and silencing him for eternity!

PUUUUUUUUFFFFFFFFFF!

Blood flowed like a fountain, as the first man fell, but the sound of his body hitting the ground alerted his friend.

"Who!?" The second armored man ran toward Nathan's position.

Seeing that stealth was no longer viable, Nathan drew his sword, and turned towards the second man. With a sword and a dagger in hand, Nathan rushed to finish this as soon as possible.

The man also drew his sword, getting ready to call for help, but Nathan didn't allow him, rushing toward him with incredible speed. The man was surprised by Nathan's speed, and hastily slashed at him in panic!

CLANGGG

Nathan easily parried the blow without stopping for a moment, and jumped onto him.

"Wai-" The man tried to stop him, but Nathan knocked him down with his powerful strength. Dragonborn are not to be treated lightly, even their newborn!

He thrust the dagger into the man's neck from the sides, where it was not protected by his armor, before pulling it out from the front, sealing his fate!

PUUUUUUUUFFFFFFFFFF!

Drops of blood fell on Nathan's clothes, but they didn't stick to it, falling to the floor instead, thanks to it's inscriptions. He turned to look at the people he just killed, and he felt… nothing… contrary to his expectations, there was no feeling of pity, regret or guilt…

He quickly hid the bodies in an abandoned hut and covered them with whatever he could find before returning to Sophie and the rest of the group. Nitis had also returned, awaiting his return.

Nathan was feeling pretty tired but he endured, "Nitis, have you secured a location where these people can hide for a week or two?" Nathan pointed at the children they rescued.

"Yes. I did as you asked. The place is within a tightly packed group of houses in the slums, which have created a kind of maze, easy to hide and get lost in." Nitis said.

"Good, well done. Let's go! We don't have much time left till daybreak. We best use the darkness of the night to our advantage as much as possible. As long as we reach there, we can rest and get you food and water!" Nathan stood up, as Nitis started to show them the way to their hideout.

The children also stood up with much difficulty, while helping those who were too exhausted to follow, as they forged onward with determination. Their situation now was much more preferable to being held in a cage…

The rather large group followed Nitis through the alleys, while dodging the occasional armored patrols that passed the area, as they reached the hideout. It was rather clean, and spacious enough for everyone to sit comfortably. It looked like a storage more than a house.

Everyone sat down in a corner as Nathan turned to Sophie and Nitis, while handing a leather pouch to them, "Take this money and sneak out of the slums at day break. Buy some food that are nutritious and easy to carry, along with some water while I stand guard. Use different routes to exit and enter the slums, and don't buy everything from one place."

"We're on it! Don't worry about us, but be careful, it might get dangerous here…" Sophie said with worry. The slums were a lawless place after all.

"Don't worry about me. Just make sure no one notices you. Here," Nathan took off his robe and gave it to Nitis, who was wearing tattered clothes,

"Go, the children are starving."

Nitis wore the robe, feeling strangely honored!

"Yes!" Sophie and Nitis answered in unison.

As they left, Nathan sat down and pulled out the report log they stole. His vision was strengthened by his Skills and his Dragonborn body, so he could read in darkness without any problem,

"Now, let's see what do we have here…" Nathan opened the report book and started reading…