Book 1: Chapter 101: Murderous Missive and Eruptive Entrance
Gilbert stood violently, knocking his chair off its legs as he gripped the missive an employee had delivered to his desk not 5-minutes ago.
He controlled his emotions and made sure to double-check what he had just read in case he had made some sort of mistake in his reading.
'To all fair and noble citizens of the great kingdom of Milindo, on this fair solstice of the moon of the sacred Primal Life does His Royal Majesty Ralph Heidron, king and honourable lord of the lands, do declare that the demihuman foxkin known as Lone Immortus will be publicly executed on the 43rd Sun of the current moon, 2-days from now at dawn.
The treacherous fiend shall be beheaded at Arstol Square. Both the royal guard and the Church of the Primals will work in unison to guarantee Lone Immortus' departure from this realm.
He is charged with the crime of the murder of over 40 demihuman children who were brought to him during his incarceration pending an investigation into his murder of the royal hero, Daisuke Tamiko, in an attempt to ease his mind and let him know that we, as a people, did not blame him for what he did during his unfortunately timed awakening.
All we sought was his cooperation until the timely arrival of his trial. We now know that trying to speak with him through his own kind was a terrible mistake.
We know not why he brutally ended the lives of so many children but he will not be forgiven by us. Only the Primals may take mercy on his soul now.
The bodies of the deceased demihuman children have been placed on display in the Holy Mausoleum of Ranton for all those who can stomach seeing how the vicious prisoner killed the children in what was clearly a brutal and merciless attack.
This is an official missive from the Royal Palace of His Royal Majesty King Ralph Heidron, ruler and lord of the Kingdom of Milindo.'
Gilbert's fists shook with rage. He tore up the parchment and yelled, "That bastard! How dare he frame Lone like this! Is his brain not working?! Grand Guildmaster Sarah will never forgive Milindo if Lone's life is ended! I'll make fucking sure of that!"
He stormed out of his office and made for the Holy Mausoleum of Ranton. First, he would see the bodies of the children. He needed to know if that missive held even a speck of truth in it.
'I bet those bastards killed off a handful of slaves to use as martyrs,' Gilbert concluded.
Unsurprisingly to him, the structure that stood next to the central church of the Holy City of Ranton was full to bursting with outraged citizens.
Gilbert didn't mind them and pushed past the crowd. His stats were heavily magic and intellect focused but he was a dragonkin so he had been born with enough aptitude in Strength to push everyone aside with ease.
The sound of sobbing entered Gilbert's ears as he neared the area of the mausoleum that was being used to display the demihuman children bodies.
"I'm sorry, Koo'al... I'm so, so sorry..." a man with a striking set of wings on his back said as he held who seemed to be his crying wife in his arms.
The both of them were draped in rags and standing next to them acting like some sort of caring and just individual was a familiar face to Gilbert - Margrave Algor.
"It is such a shame," the nobleman said to his slaves. "To think the animal would so grotesquely murder your precious daughter... Thankfully, we can all rest easy knowing that little threat will no longer be present in our kingdom soon, yes?"
Gilbert watched as the male Silver Birdkin clenched his fists in rage but his anger didn't seem to be pointed at Lone, curiously enough. "... Yes, Master."
Similar scenes were playing out all around the guildmaster with many nobles expressing their 'heartfelt' sympathies for their slaves.
'It's clear to see that not one fellow demihuman here holds Lone accountable... But looking at the corpses...' Gilbert approached one said corpse and inspected it closely.
'Bloody foaming of the mouth, nostrils, eye sockets and ears... No external injuries and they all seem... healthy. However, assuming from the expression, the children didn't seem to be in pain before dying... This is the work of Lone's Mental Destruction, isn't it? He did describe the unique skill to me and it seems to fit the bill... Hmm...' Gilbert needed to think more on this.
Before he could be stopped by anyone of importance, he fled and returned to his office. Once there, he entered a deep state of contemplation.
'Lone...why did you kill those children? No, better yet, how were you given the chance to kill them?' Gilbert asked himself as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back over the top of his chair.
'He would never kill them out of malice. I haven't known him for long but he is above such baseless cruelty. Daisuke angered him so much for being such an individual... No, there must be a reason...' Only two ideas came to the old dragonkin's mind.
'He was either coerced into doing it via a skill of one of the guards or the royal mages... or he killed them to spare them from a fate worse than death. Knowing about Lone's ability to learn and adapt as quickly as he does, I would wager that Sir Ardus fellow noticed his torturing losing effectiveness so he thought outside of the box,' Gilbert concluded.
The guildmaster shook his head as he tried his best to hold back his emotions. "Lone... Son... Just how much are you suffering as you wait for me to save you? And now look what's happened... That baboon with a crown has decided to commit suicide but not before throwing you under the carriage with all of his strength..."
A deep sigh escaped Gilbert's lips. He slowly pulled out a key from his front pocket and then got up and approached the far side of his office.
Pushing away some books he revealed a dusty old chest. "Uncle, to think your arrogance and inability to believe in me would one day help me out... I never thought I'd ever even think about needing to use these, but here I am, aren't I?"
He unlocked the chest, revealing a pair of clear orbs, both of which had a strange grey fog rolling around in them. "The remnants of Grandfather's deal with Djinn Harsios... Primal's damn it..."
Lone had been left to himself after another round of regular torture. It almost felt comfortable being mutilated as opposed to being forced to end the life of an innocent child.
The hope Lone held onto was slowly slipping as each day passed and his body-count grew. He stared into nothingness as he pulled up his status for the first time in a long time.
Status Name:Lone ImmortusSex:Male Age:24Level:199 [+60] Species:FoxkinRank:E Race:Golden Foxkin HP:40,350/40,350 [+8,000]SP:238/44,020 [+6,400] MP:40,490/40,490 [+2,030] Basic Stats Strength:2,836 [+423]Vigour:4,035 [+800] Dexterity:2,082 [+230]Agility:2,969 [+570] Vitality:4,402 [+640]Luck:160 [+39] Secret Stats Charm:80Charisma:49 Magic Power:4,049 [+203]
"Why so many points?... Right..." he mumbled. "Void killed Daisuke in my body... I completely forgot about that... It was all so meaningless..."
Upon entering this prison he thought knowing that the paedophilic hero had met a well-deserved end would bring him joy in his bleak situation but honestly it just didn't matter to him anymore.
All of Lone's thoughts had been replaced with ones of hope to be freed and with the desire to see Soph and Sophie and hold them once more... He couldn't help but laugh a little as he thought that it was his obsession with Daisuke that had been partially responsible for him landing in this dungeon in the first place, and now here he was only just remembering the man had even existed.
'Daisuke didn't have any magic, did he? So of those kids, some had magic power...' Lone held back the desire to berate himself and cry his heart out. 'It was the only sane choice. I had to kill them before he could break them and do it himself...'
Lone took a deep breath. Tonight would be another sleepless one, that was for sure. All he could hope for at this point was to lose consciousness when his SP eventually bottomed-out.
"Huh?" Lone frowned as he suddenly heard something approaching but it didn't seem to be coming from the hallway.
He looked around slowly in confusion though to not much avail since he was in pure darkness. "Where's that sound coming from?" he whispered.
A few seconds passed and the noise of a low rhythmic humming grew louder. "That almost sounds like... something being struck repeatedly?"
The very next second Lone was blinded by an eruption of stone and dirt from beneath his feet.
"Fookin' teld ya! Ah knew this was the right cell! Stealin' ah copy ah the dungeon's blueprint's really paid oof, eh, Shana?" a voice whose owner Lone felt he had no right to be hearing right now asked triumphantly.
"'G-Grimsley?" Lone asked in utter bewilderment as he glanced down as best as his metal collar would allow him to. "... How?"
Pulling himself up out of the hole he'd clearly dug himself, Grimsley grinned without answering. He leaned down into the opening and pulled up Shana who was holding a pickaxe that was easily the same size as her. On her back was a torch that helped illuminate the small and now-crowded cell.
"Ah was ah min'r afore ah even considered joinin' the smithin' caste. Now, less talk, mer escapin', aye?" Grimsley asked rhetorically before he began to closely inspect Lone's shackles with those steamforged glasses of his.
"B-But I'm going to be released soon... Gilbert promised me..." Lone stuttered out, still trying his best to wrap his head around what was going on. "If I escape now and get caught I'll be killed."
This was all just so much of a break in his normal routine that he was struggling to process it all in just a few simple seconds.
"Shana, ye explain. Ah've gotta figure oot what kinda metal this is an' see if it's enchant'd or naw. Need tae ken if ah can break the chains or if ah need tae pop 'em clean off the walls an' bring the whole fookin' thing wae us," Grimsley said dismissively.
"Uh, right..." Shana was honestly extremely taken aback by Lone's current condition.
As a former slave, she had been through a lot of horrific stuff that would give most children nightmares but Lone looked like... 'He looks like he's died a million times over...'
She reached into her trouser's front-left pocket and pulled out the missive that was being spread across all of Ranton only early this morning. "Here. It's, uh, dark so it might be hard to read but basically the king, uh, the crown? They accused you of killing over 40 demi kids and they're going to execute you tomorrow. It's technically already tomorrow since we just passed the 24th bell of yesterday."
Grimsley tapped the side of his glasses as he frowned. "Nae steel, 'at's fae sure, tae sturdy... Nae the right colour fae alterion... What the fook is this metal?... Shana, keep an eye on the hallway would ya, aye? I get 'at Lone's in ah right state but e's got 'at creepy 'ealin' skill of 'is. 'E'll be fine. Ye need tae holl'r like a newborn bein' slapp'd across the arse if ya seeing fookin' anything."
"Yes, Uncle Grim," Shana answered before she smiled awkwardly at Lone then turned around and plastered her face to the cell's bars so as to best look out of them.
Lone felt a strong sense of rage overcome him. "Those... Those bastards..."
"Ah ken, aye? Arselick'rs 'ave ye lock'd up tight'r than a nun in Saint Felice's Sanctuary - nice place that sanctuary - an' they 'ave the gall tae pretend ye went an' murder'd dozens an' dozens of weauns? Fookin' cheek," Grimsley grumbled as he stroked his beard, still trying to figure out what kind of metal Lone was being imprisoned with.
"... I did kill them," Lone admitted.
"What?!" Shana turned in surprise. "Y-You did?!"
"Eyes on the fookin' hallway, Shana! And if ye'r gonna yell, yell with ye'r inside voice like ah am," Grimsley ordered.
Grimacing at the harsh words Shana did as she was told. "Yes, Uncle Grim."
"... Why'd ye dae it, Laddie?" Grimsley asked as he changed the lens of his steamforged glasses. "Ah cannae see ya killin' weauns withoot ah reason. Ya said ye were ah teach'r once if ah recall. Nae teach'r ah ken would ever kill ah child. Mind ye, all the teach'rs ah've ever known we're dwarves, nae foxkin."
"... Sir Ardus... He's in charge of torturing me. Or maybe just checking my condition but he has a... torturing hobby? Fetish? Anyway, he decided to torture demihuman kids in front of me, all slaves, in an attempt to break me. I ended their lives before he could have his way... It was the best thing I could have done all things considered," Lone said as he tried his best to put on a smile. "I'd rather not see children get cut up, beaten, slaughtered and maybe even raped in front of me if I can avoid it."
"Fakest grin ah've ever seen in ma life, laddie. Fookin' 'uman countries are rott'n tae the core, ah tell ya. It'll take mer than an arm an' a leg tae get me tae trust one ever again. After Shana and what's happenin' tae ye... Fookin' cunts are lucky ah dinnae just employ a kill on sight ethos," Grimsley grumbled.
He leaned back and grabbed his pickaxe before he cracked his back. "Looks like ardartian tae me, nae two ways aboot it. Stuff seals MP like somethin' fierce but ah few Strength applied swings should snap these chains an' shackles right oof. Clench yer teeth, Laddie. It's dark so gae us ah pass if ah end up smashing yer wrists in, aye?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l