She hesitated for a few seconds, then began to follow me inside what appeared to be a hole in the mountain was that really the entrance of the the so-called Teleportation Hall and not another illusion .
I offered my hand for her to take, she stared at it warily for a second or two then held my hand cautiously as we entered the cave like entrance,the minute we entered .
The scene around us shifted but that wasn't the only thing that shifted, our location itself shifted as we were currently in a lit tunnel and the cave entrance that we just came through was nowhere to be found .
And i felt the strength which she held my hand with suddenly increased a lot , i guessed that she might have felt the sudden shift quite agitating to her senses or she just got nervous knowing that the cave entrance that we recently passed through disappeared .
I tried to appease her by gently tapping on her now tensed hand and luckily it worked and as we were about to go ahead and continue in our way to see what was exactly at the end of the tunnel, a voice came from behind us telling us to wait for him .
We both looked back and saw that the man who just asked us to wait for him was actually one of the 5 passengers that were with us and the only one that didn't took any action before with the other two passengers , he was a thin man with tanned skin tone and quite big lips and nose in complete contrast to his thin face , he had brown eyes and was red haired the only remarkable feature about him was the great battle-axe that was on his back .
He also suddenly appeared behind us which gave another shock to the already frightened kitten or fox , i suddenly felt that she let go of my hand and she rode on my back while clutching my neck aggressively almost to the point of choking me but i'm 100% resistant to pain but the feeling of some kind restraint on my neck, give me the illusion of being choked another thing that i should be fixing soon or it might give me some unnecessary troubles .
Calm down, don't worry no one is gonna hurt you anymore , i told her while tapping on her arms trying to calm her down and for her to let go of my neck ,a few seconds later she gave a few quiet whimpers while leaning towards my ears as if she was apologizing and finally let go .
I took a long breath of relief , and then sighed it was really nice to be free of any restraint, i looked at her and she was still having that damned collar on which agitated my mood all of a sudden, mostly because slavery is something i'm not cool with , and in addition the girl had almost the same face as my childhood friend, so even imagining Hana being in such a state fueled my anger even more .
I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to startle you like this .
I glared at the man , and his body involuntarily shook , oh i forgot the skill effect on, i turned it off and my mood eased a little trying to find a way to uncuff her should i just use my strength to pull it off her with brute force but i was afraid that it could trigger some defense mechanism or something like what Rickan used on his equipments to protect it from being stolen .
Um, i'm sorry for what happened earlier, and i can swear that i had no intention to interfere with your business with those guys from before i'm here to use the teleportation hall to reach Terra , that's all what i wanted to tell you so to prevent any misunderstanding from happening now or in the future .
I absentmindedly nodded as i was engrossed in my mind thinking about what to do with that collar of hers .
I guess he noticed what i was looking at as he began saying : if you allow me, i could be of some help in removing that collar off her .
His words awakened me from my trance and i looked at him intently and said with a kind smile that left him a bit baffled : are you really able to do it ?.
he then nodded and leaned to get a closer look on the collar she was wearing and almost got his face scratched while trying to do so .
I believe this is a sl..... , i cut him from talking and asked directly : yes it's , can you unlock it or not .
Please something like this is a piece of cake for me, i'm John by the way and i'm a thief .
He said and was quite pleased with himself as if he was the king of Troland, i found him to be a funny guy so i introduced myself as well , I'm Ryuu Sakurai an E Rank Adventurer .
You are an E Rank, it's really a good joke , he said and he was quite amused at me being an E Rank , he completely considered it as me joking with him , no reason to tell him or even show him my Adventurer's guild membership, just leave it at that .
Okay then, can you please tell her to allow me to touch the collar so that i can remove the collar on her neck off without her trying to kill me .
I will see what i can do , i told him and was finally able to get her off my back, i tried to tell her to focus on my lips by pointing toward here then towards my lips and she maybe misunderstood something as i see her coming towards me for a kiss i blocked her with my palm .
Ahem, i can give you guys sometime alone if you wanted , came the teasing voice of john the thief .
Read my lips slowly okay , i told her and she weakly nodded .
We will be removing the collar around your neck right now , could you allow that guy to touch it , i promise he won't do anything bad to you okay ? .
She didn't answer directly she just looked at me for a minute and then sat on the ground and raised her head a bit for him to be able to get a better view of the collar .
John then touched the collar , his hands was glowing with purple light and when it touched the collar it was unlocked instantly with him saying : luckily it was a cheap collar if it was a strong one with some real binding runes it could have been troublesome .
The girl hid the place where her collar was with her cloak and began to whimper silently, i remembered that my ring had some magical scrolls like the teleportation scroll the attacker from before used to evade my attack , there might be a healing spell inside , that could heal her and return her voice back .
I opened the storatge ring and was currently using appraisal on different types of scrolls, some conjured a Hellish fire on the enemies, others were summoning a plague wrath whatever that was , finally i was able to see a scroll with a green rune that adorned its surface and gave a refreshing feeling i used appraisal and , it was introduced as such :
Name : Healing scroll
Type : Consumable magic item .
Rank : A scroll with the intermediate spell Healing Touch impeded into it .
Effects :
Heal most of the small wounds and injuries it also able to simultaneously heal one or two of the severe wounds or injuries on whoever it was used on .
Finally a healing scroll but would this able to bring back her voice, just by looking at her i can tell that she had more severe wounds than normal wounds, wait a minute couldn't i just try using it myself and with that weird factor that i have, if it works as intended,it might be able to heal her completely .
I withdraw the healing scroll from the ring and went to the crying girl in the corner and directly use appraisal on the scroll at hand :
Name : Healing scroll
Type : Consumable magic item .
Rank : A scroll with the intermediate spell Healing Touch impeded into it .
Effects :
Heal all the severe wounds or injuries on whoever it was used on , can heal even old wounds, burning marks , bruises, as long as the person isn't already dying his wounds would heal almost instantly by using this scroll , it can also cure ailments but it's still powerless against plagues like aliments and incurable diseases .
I unknowingly cut the scroll in my hand in half and activated it a bright green light that was even able to suppress the other sources of light in the tunnel where we were still in .
The girl looked up to me and stared directly into my eyes and gave me a smile, a pure and kind smile that i was very familiar with as i was able to see one of those smiles the first time i encountered Hana crying by the river that was flowing by the park and close to my house , after i cheered her up she hit me with one of those smiles that forced me to stay with her and even delivered her back home .
I nodded at her and didn't say anything more as the green light hit the fox girl ,it surrounded her whole body in what looked like a healing bubble for a few seconds then the bubble burst and the girl complexion was still the same but she became more charming and her bruises and burning marks all disappeared but there was no sign for what i anticipated the most anywhere .
She now stood up in her original place stunned then looked downwards, and she was again crying but this time she is no longer whimpering like before but she was crying with an actual audible voice and when she realized that she was now able to cry normally, the intensity of her crying rose even more , i was glad that i could help here but was thinking about what to do with her now .
A few minutes later, she stopped crying and looked at me and began saying in a soothing and a sweet voice still a bit quivering : I'mreally really really thankful to you Ryuu , not only did you unlock my chains but you also used a special healing scroll on me, i'm in your dept for the rest of my life .
I was quite surprised at how mature her tone was and out of curiosity i asked her : no need for that miss , but if i you allow me asking how did you get stuck with that collar if it doesn't bother you, please do tell .
She nodded and took a deep breath before saying : My name is Lora Leighton , i'm from the great kingdom of Animagia , i was sent here secretively to find the lost kins of our people but we were betrayed by one of our own kind and were captured and tortured for days and when they confirmed that we meant no harm, we thought that they will leave us go back but no they sold us to a slave auction house and there not only we were treated more harshly but we were able to see some of our kins that went missing, sadly most of my companions were already suffering severe injuries to begin with and with how roughly we were being treated ,we began to collapse one after another , thanks to my healing Battle Aura, or else i would have also died a long time ago .
She stopped and was beginning to sob again, i was about to tell her to not force herself if she doesn't want to, but she continued before i can even say anything .
I was bought by a noble that i heard that his name was Duke Lacron Vorce , i was already in a malnourished state, weakened and injured but that didn't stop him from using me as he liked, after he put his family sigil on my collar, a Seahorse i was then forced to do his bidding or else the collar would give me a penalty of being electrified , he used me as assassin at first but then he began to use me as a training target for his magical spells since i will be able to heal anyway something he abused me even more for and then used me as training target for his own garrison of knights and those who are in his service , and kept me barely hanging in there, so to be able to continue healing him and in service of his family and the first time i went against his will,he had his knight punching me in the throat to the point that i lost my voice and was incapable of speaking anymore not to mention the electrifying punishment from the collar i was having .
So, that's what Regard was talking about when he said that those with this kind of special type of aura tends to keep it hidden from others , your suffering is no more don't worry , i told her and she gave me a sad smile and nodded , then came the voice of John the thief that we forget about saying : but how did you escape exactly ? .
I was about to tell him that we are thankful to his service and that he should be on his way now but maybe because she felt indebted to him, she replied saying : i don't have that much information about what happened but from what i heard from the murmurs of the guards that something big had happened in the kingdom that forced the king to call for a meeting with all the nobles who are stationed in the capital .
I used this as a chance to escape by knocking out the guards that was watching over me and was able to unlock my cell and escape but since i wasn't able to have the collar be removed i put on a cloak and went to that auction house to see if i'm capable of saving anyone from my kin but i was too late the younger ones were bought and the older ones died in their cells .
She again began to sob for a few seconds then said : i then decided to return to Animagia and report to my superiors about what i saw and witnessed, but i didn't have any currency on me so i decided to take a carriage and steal enough money to return home, that's when i met you, again i'm deeply sorry for doing such a disgraceful thing but my hand was forced, and i needed to get out of Troland as fast as i could , but my plan didn't work since the pouch i stole had nothing in it and that led us to where we currently are .
I told her not to worry about it and that i was sorry for pulling such a prank on her but there was something about her escape plan that made no sense to me .
I'm sorry for everything you have been through and hope the people who did this to you to be killed a thousand times .
Thank you , shethanked him and then what are you thinking about Ryuu ? .
Tell me Lora how exactly were you going to travel back to Animagia ?.
Using the teleportation circle of course .
That won't do as all the teleportation circles to the kingdom of Animagia had been cut off for sometimes now .
What are you talking about , i know that a lot could happen in 3 years but why would the teleportation circles between the two kingdoms being cut off, they weren't at war with each other, right ? , a quite flabbergasted Lora asked hurriedly while she was already panicking .
Let me make sure of something Lora when you came to Troland, the relation between the two Kingdoms weren't deteriorating ? .
At most there were a few skirmishes between them that's all, i was sent her to investigate and other teams were sent for the same purpose to other kingdoms .
Well, someone had confirmed and reported that the kingdom of Troland had some hand in the kidnapping on your people and since then the relation between the two parties have turned hostile and Animagia cut off all the teleportation circles that connected both kingdoms , unintentionally doming the stucked people from both sides who now can't be able to travel back to their home kingdom .
The girl who was already panicking now completely collapsed on the floor with despair written all over her face murmuring : This can't be, this can't be happening , what should i do, i still have Elena waiting for me , there must be another way , breath, breeath .
Actually if you allowed me i have a suggestion that could help you in solving your current predicament .
Do tell please ,she said and unintentionally used her claws to held his arms with .
You can go to Terra then from there to Diblosia and from there i believe reaching Animagia is a lot easier .
That damn dark kingdom still exist , she said gritting her teeth then said , i believe it's quite feasible idea, how much would such journey cost me .
With food and drinks at most that will normally take from 1 to 3 gold coins but with tight and carful management of spending you could lower those expanses barley to 40 silver coins .
I saw her stunned by the amount he said as she began to pull a few scraps and 2 silver coins that she was hiding somewhere and looked at them in her hand sadly, i patted her on the back and gave her the same pouch from before but it was now crackling with sounds of coins rubbing against each other .
She looked at me curiously but didn't stretch her hand to take the pouch, so without missing a beat i put the pouch on her legs, and told her that she is free to do what she wants with these 40 coins .
You already did so much for me, i can't possibly accept this .
Just take it, consider it as a friendly loan, be sure to repay me when we meet again, otherwise i might force you to work for me , i warn you i'm quite pain in the bottom when i'm bossy , i joked with her and she smiled and took the pouch with tears in her eyes .
We are finally out of the weird tunnel and what i saw in front of me was nothing short of being descriped as magical, we entered some spacious cave inside the mountain as i can tell by looking at the background in front of us the whole area was illumined by a lot of different kinds of glowing rocks of different colors , there were rows upon rows of people waiting for their turn most were wearing an adventures gear all standing in front of one reception desk which had three flashing frequently caves behind it , i guessed that was probably where the teleportation circle to the wicked forest was .
I looked at the other desk and found that they were less crowded with some desks being empty with the weird sealed on it , the teleportation circle leading to Terra is there , do you have your ID , asked John suddenly while pointing towards a reception desk .
I don't have it, it was confiscated when i was in the auction house , would this create a problem .
Normally , it would have but don't worry i will create a fake ID for you in no time .
Thank you for your help John, and if possible can i trouble you by asking you to look after her until she leave Terra .
No problem , i will do my best .
Ryuu, i... .
You don't need to say anything just be well and try to act as cautiously as possible until you reach Animagia, and who knows maybe we will...… mmmm .
I was about to continue to say something but my mouth was being cupped by someone or something she held my mouth in her hands and stared intently at my face for few seconds , later she let me go and i looked at her bewildered on why she did something like that but she only smiled and said be sure to visit Animagia if you want to know why i did so, and almost dislocated John shoulder as she pulled it with much force that he winced and moved towards the Terra kingdom reception desk, leaving me with only a see you soon and she left with a red face .
A few minutes later it was my turn, i paid the fee required to use the teleportation circle and confirmed my ID and was led to one of the caves and waited for the others who will be teleported with me, everything was all set for teleportation to start we were 10 people standing in a blue magic circle that was beginning to flash before its light engulfed all of us and i only blinked then the whole scene around us shifted instantly .
The Wicked Forest, here i come .