As the body dropped unceremoniously to the ground, Rael stood him with an eerie grin on his face.
He paused and tilted his head slightly.
Wait...grin?
He looked down at the body of the guard beneath him, being surrounded by a small but growing puddle of blood that reflected a creepy smile on his malnourished face.
He sighed before kneeling to grab the ring of keys hung on the man's belt.
'Haaa...what a bother. Never thought I'd be killing again so soon. Though...'
He suppressed a chuckle at the gruesome yet somewhat comical sight.
'catching someone with their pants down is always funny. Man, I wish I had my phone with me..'
Unlocking his chains, the shackles slid off his hands and fell to the ground with an audible crack.
He hurriedly picked the guard's dagger from the side of the belt and looked towards the door where he could see the dim light of a lantern casting an pale glow on the man's flushed face as he slumped down on a chair.
Hearing the thud of the body dropping, the hulking brute stirred a bit, his eyes gliding towards the door.
'Crap.'
Rael tensed and gripped the blade, ready to rush the man at the slightest movement but the man simply fell back into a drunken slumber.
'Phew.'
He exhaled deeply, and lowered the dagger.
He looked towards the others, squinting to see them but suddenly felt a chill behind him. Turning around, he spotted the girl that had given him her portion of bread earlier still kneeling behind him alongside her sister.
"Oh, it's just you."
He chuckled awkwardly as she stared at him blankly. He heard a slight rattling and realised she had her hands stretched out towards him. Well, not towards him but towards the ring of keys in his hand.
"Um...oh, my bad, here." He bent down helped her unlock the chains, causing them to fall down softly with a soft click. As soon as he unlocked the chain, the girl immediately started muttering something rapidly under her breath.
A frigid breeze blew through the cell, making Rael shiver despite himself. Then suddenly, the icy wind seemed to gather in her palm, forming a single, sharp, jagged spike of ice.
Which she pointed straight at his head.
"Oh...eh?"
"Move." She said quietly.
Rael didn't hesitate and dove out of the way as he heard the unique cracking sound of something impacting...
"Guar..." A choked, whimpering sound echoed from behind him.
Balls.
Rael looked behind to see the burly guard behind him frozen mid-swing and foaming at the mouth. Not literally, of course... except for a small, small, ...small part which was completely encased in pale blue ice.
Rael stared dumbfounded at the scrawny looking girl who still had her arms stretched out at the unmoving guard as he collapsed on the floor still faintly twitching.
Rael shook himself out of shock and walked over to the guard, piercing the back of his skull with his own friend's blade.
He noticed the girl had already unchained her sister and was staring at the other prisoners with a cold look in her eyes.
Figures, they just stood there—well, sat really —while she was almost raped, which she would have been if not for Rael offing the guy.
Just then, he noticed the inside of the metal cuffs inscribed with some red and green scribbles. He raised a brow and picked up the cuff, squinting to try and make out the scribbles.
Runes...?
With how the seemingly powerless girl suddenly one-shot the guard, the runes must have something to do with Mana or magic negation, nullification...or something like that.
His eyes glided over to the still-bound prisoners and he twirled the short dagger in his hand.
'Ah, what a bother.'
Walking over to the girl, he took the ring of keys from her hand and, under her cold but curious gaze, squatted before the bound prisoners with a bright smile on his face, making them flinch.
Though the smile looked eerily similar to the one he wore as he ripped out someone's throat less than five minutes ago. Plus, the fact he was playing with a bloody dagger like a toy was enough to scare them more than a little bit.
"Okay, there should be at least an hour before the next patrol comes by! Let's have a little chat real quick. But first..." He turned to the green-eyed girl and pointed towards the two corpses "can you please get the clothes off those two? We need kinda those."
She narrowed her eyes and walked towards the corpses, stopping before the first one with a disgusted expression.
He turned back to the bound prisoners and asked with a serious face.
"Question one..."
"Which one of you has a water affinity?"
The five grown-ups blinked simultaneously, confused by the request. Rael sighed as they just stood there staring at him, rubbing the back of his neck.
'Figures. This world hates me so much that it won't even let me have a simple bath.'
Just as he was about to give up, a small, shaky hand Rose up a bit.
"Umm, I-i have a-a ...little bit." The little girl timidly raised her hand. Rael tilted his head a bit at the twelve-ish girl. This was the first time he had interacted with the girl as she often just sulked in the corner trying to comfort her little brother. Now that he got a better look at her, she seemed pretty cute despite the signs of malnourishment.
She had short deep-blue hair and deep swirling amber eyes that had been dimmed by days in dark and dread.
Her frame is small even for her age, shoulders narrow and collarbones faintly pronounced beneath skin that seems almost too delicate for the world around her.
Her deep blue hair was slightly uneven, as though it's been trimmed without a mirror. The color was striking — rich and ocean-dark — but it lacked the glossy vitality of someone well cared for. It's soft, though, when the wind catches it.
Her eyes were a good tone of red, not bright or blazing, but deep, wine-toned, like embers buried beneath ash. There's an alertness in them. Not fear exactly. But the kind of caution that came from knowing the consequences of mistakes.
Her clothes hung a little loose, fabric resting against angles rather than curves. Nothing dramatic. Just… a quiet absence where warmth and fullness should be.
Rael narrowed his eyes. He wasn't a fan of the 'prince charming saves the maiden's plot but even he had limits.
Children were where he drew the line.
"You, what's your name?"
The girl flinched and looked down as if afraid to speak.
"R-remis, uh...s-sir."
"Sir?" Rael titled his head. "Ah, well whatever."
He stretched out the key and waved her over. Just as he was about to insert the key, his voice suddenly dropped to a chilling tone, making her flinch.
"But if you're lying..."
***
CLICK-
As he unlocked the girl's cuffs—as well as her little brother's— under the tense gaze of the the other bound prisoners, the green eyes girl and her sister had finally stripped down the bodies of their clothes. They were in surprisingly good condition.
There was just one problem.
They were both dyed in fresh blood, the smell of death clinging to them heavily.
Luckily, Rael had already thought of that.
"Well, Remis-chan, you're up. Give those dirty things a good rinse, okay." Rael pointed at the two bloodied cloaks with a warm smile.
The girl visibly paled and took a step back away from the horrid scene."Uh, b-but the b-bloo... i-it's..."
"Well, you're up, Remis-chan."
"I..."
"You're up, Remis-chan"
The girl fridgeted and hesitantly stepped towards the bloody clothes in the hands of the green-eyed girl.
She held up her shaking hands and muttered something quickly, causing the air in the cell to grow slightly more humid than usual. This time, Rael tried to understand the whispering but couldn't make out most of it aside from just a few words such as bubble, water, sky, light, and ...pen?
'Do they even have pens in this world.' Rael thought inwardly.
Soon he noticed a small bubble of blue water start to gather in front of the girl's hand, slowly expanding until it was about a foot and a half in diameter. The water seemed to churn internally but managed to maintain it's shape.
Rael walked over to the girl and began to observe the bubble, he noticed that once it reached a foot in diameter, the expansion slowed considerably, any larger and it started to squirm a bit.
"Can you move it?" He asked curiously.
"Um, I-i'll try."
Rael nodded as she moved closer to the green-eyed girl who dipped the bloodied cloaks in the sphere.
Soon, the water started to turn a slight red hue and the blood stains began to float off, dissipating into the water.
Drops of water began to spill unto the cold floor, but the gi-...Remis, exerted herself a a bit more and managed to hold it for a few more seconds before it collapsed entirely.
Curiously, not a drop of blood had spilled to the ground until the bubble collapsed.
'Interesting.'