Chapter 13: Dungeon for Training P3
Evening. East gate.
Rio is standing alone.
His hands are in his pockets. He kicks a small stone. He looks down the road. Then up the road. No one.
He sighs loud.
"They are late," he mutters to himself. "Where are they? Three of them and still late. Ahhhh."
He hears footsteps from the side path.
Jack walks first. Luis is behind him, yawning, eyes half closed. Lily is skipping next to them, holding a small cloth bag.
Rio points at them. "You three! You are too much late!"
Jack raises an eyebrow. "See, Rio. I think you were early."
Rio waves his hand. "Leave it. We should go now. Come on."
They start walking. The road turns into a forest trail. Tall trees on both sides. Evening light cuts through the leaves.
Luis is dragging his feet. He yawns again. "I skipped today's school. That is the most good thing about this whole dungeon thing."
Lily looks at him and frowns. "What good, Luis? Your study is going to miss. You will fail the test."
Luis shrugs, still sleepy. "Yeah. Worth it."
Rio looks over at Luis. "There is any chance I can come to your school? Just for one day?"
Luis smiles sleepy. "Yeah, you can. You go to rich people school, Rio. But there is not good friends like you there, right?"
Jack walks beside them, hands behind his back. He nods slowly. "You know, I also felt the same, Rio. Going to a rich school in another town. I feel like I am going to another world sometimes."
Lily runs up and pokes Rio's side. "But you got good friends here, Rio. So don't cry about it."
Then she jumps. She lands on his back, arms around his neck.
"Rio! Take me piggyback!"
Rio stumbles forward. "Hey!"
Luis laughs. "Did your leg start hurting already?"
Jack laughs too. A real laugh. "Ha ha. Rio, you really got good friends, you know."
Rio sighs but adjusts her weight. "Okay, ma'am. What can I do now?"
Jack looks at Rio. He gives him a small, slight smile. Just for a second.
Rio sees it. Luis sees it too. They look at each other, confused. They don't understand why Jack is smiling.
They keep walking.
On the side of the forest road, Jack sees something. He stops.
Many dead blood wolves. Lying in the grass. Ten. Maybe twelve. All clean kills. Throats cut.
Rio sees them too. "Who killed those?"
Lily lifts her head from Rio's shoulder. She is half asleep. "Did it... was it Kite?"
Jack's eyes narrow. "Kite?"
Luis nods, waking up a little. "Yeah. Kite. He is my sister's friend. And also Artesik Academy student. And government special officer."
Lily suddenly sits up straight on Rio's back. Her cheeks turn pink. She touches her cheek with both hands.
"And also too much handsome," she whispers. "Awww."
Jack looks at Luis and smirks. "So he is kinda a strong guy. And my niece's friend, huh?"
Luis grins. "According to him, her first crush also."
Jack raises both eyebrows. "My niece's first crush? He will be really strong then."
They walk for another twenty minutes. The trees open up.
The dungeon gate is in front of them.
It's huge. Black stone. Covered in old vines.
And in front of it, there are a bunch of police. Not normal town guards. These ones wear black suits. Long coats. No normal uniform.
Rio slows down. "Who are they?"
Lily is now fully asleep on Rio's back, head on his shoulder. She mumbles in her sleep, very quiet. "Luis... I like... uhuhuhu..."
Only Rio hears it. His step falters for half a second. His face falls. He looks disappointed but says nothing.
Luis points at the officers' chests. "See. On their chest. There are golden stars."
Jack nods. "They are government officers. That star represents their rank."
Rio looks at Jack's chest. "What's yours, Jack? I don't see a star."
Jack taps his coat. A small silver emblem flashes. "Mine? I got Artesik star."
Luis frowns. "What's that?"
Jack just starts walking forward. "Leave it. We should go there."
They all walk to the group of officers.
Some of the younger officers turn and stare. One whispers loud enough to hear.
"So he is Jack White. Oh my god. He looks handsome."
Rio leans to Luis. "This guy. The one wearing the black coat and long hair till his neck. He looks handsome."
They stop in front of the group. Jack looks at them.
"Tell me," Jack says, calm. "Where is your leader?"
One officer steps back. Another man walks forward from the back.
He is tall. Broad shoulders. Three golden stars on his chest.
"I am the leader," he says.
Luis stares at the stars. "You have three stars. It means you are upper ranker than the others."
The man nods. "Yes, kid. My name is Jerry Pullman. These two are my special soldiers of my group."
The man on the left steps forward. "My name is Neik."
The woman on the right nods. "My name is Pina."
Then from the other side, a second group walks up. Their leader steps forward.
It's Kite.
He looks at Jack and nods.
"I'm Kite Nigro," he says. "I am leader of 2nd squad."
Jerry looks at Kite. His jaw tightens. Clear anger in his eyes.
Jack ignores the tension. "Town chief told me only to clear the whole dungeon."
Rio shakes his shoulder gently. "Lily. Wake up. Wake up."
Lily blinks. She lifts her head. She sees all the black suit officers. Then she sees Kite.
Her eyes go wide. She jumps off Rio's back and runs to Kite.
She grabs his coat. "Is my mother safe? Tell me. Tell me!"
Kite looks down at her. His face softens. "Yeah. She is safe. She is at the station. She gave her statement. She will be home tonight."
Lily lets out a huge breath. She gets happy instantly. She turns and hugs both Luis and Rio at the same time.
Kite turns back to Jack. His face is serious again.
"Yeah. In the first briefing, they just told you to complete this dungeon mission," Kite says. "But after some time, we knew what is the real source."
Rio looks between them. "What's it?"
Jack looks at Kite.
Kite answers. "It's a Titan. Which is hiding under this dungeon."
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To be continued...