NOVEL WEB Chapter 6: Kidnapped Part One
"Now that introductions are out of the way, we should get going." It was about time we stopped hanging around and capture the kidnappers.
"What Lady Lancaster said is correct we should hurry along!" Alissa seemed to understand what I meant.
"What about the little maid? We can't just leave her here." Able looked at Emily who was propped up still asleep on the side of the building.
"I will carry her. She is my responsibility after all since she is my maid." There was no way I was going to leave Emily in the hands of someone else or leave her where she was. I walked over to her, turned around, and squatted down. It took a minute but I was finally able to get Emily up onto my back. Luckily I had points in fitness and martial arts or carrying Emily on my back would be difficult with my current build.
"I can carry her if you would like." Able offered in which I politely declined.
"Thank you, although Emily may be young she is still a girl, so it is better if I carry her." And if she ever woke up and saw that handsome face up close she would end up having a heart attack. I did not say the last part out loud. I actually wondered if Able knew how handsome he was. If not for the female lead and the fact that I looked like a beggar off the street at this time I might have tried to talk to him more. But I figured it would be bad for me to do so.
"You are right. But if you need help let me know." Able gave me a blinding smile which almost made me stumble. I wonder if he knew that his smile was the best weapon we had right now. It was very deadly. To my heart that is.
We made our way through the back alleys towards the docks area. I was a little nervous since I had my hands full carrying Emily around. I wasn't sure if we would get attacked at all as we got closer to the hideout. Luckily Able and Alissa both took up positions to my right and left giving me a bit more reassurance.
I was not sure how powerful Alissa was at this time. In the game she did have some magic power when she was younger, how much though, I was not sure. I just hoped it was enough that she could protect herself. As for Able… Well, he can jump off a building and softly land on the ground, I was sure he would be fine.
The closer we got to the docks the worse the area got. We saw many homeless people wandering about picking through the trash. This actually surprised me because no such scenes were not seen in Magical Love the game. Then again I doubt the creators ever planned to show such a side in the first place. Whether it was implied due to the kidnappers I was not sure. But one thing for sure was that the underworld side of the Kingdom of Selinicia was no different from that of Earth's. There was the bad and the good. It seemed this was why the patrols of this area were sparse. In order to not see this side of the kingdom.
"Lady Lancaster, which warehouse do you think they are in?" Alissa asked as we continued walking.
"Mmm, my guess would be one that is right off the water. The water would make it easier to transport the kids they kidnapped." I answered. According to the game, the warehouse in the game was positioned right on the dock which allowed the kidnappers to put the kids on a boat and ship them off to a slave trader someplace. As long as everything was just like in the game then that should be where the hideout was.
"You really have some keen insights. It was right to make you the leader." Able's words confused me. When did I become the leader? Wasn't it right for the one with the sword on his hip and a thing between his legs to be the leader? He's not going to push me out in front of him to block an attack right?
I was actually starting to get worried. From what I understand Able in the game would never do such things but there was no telling if this Able had a different kind of personality. Hopefully, just hopefully, there will be no Rei Lancaster shields being used anytime soon. I at least hope they won't get Emily mixed up in it if they did…
"Lady Lancaster..." Alissa began, but I cut her off.
"Just Rei is fine. I don't like all those formalities." I really didn't like being called, lady, all the time. I do not know if it was because I grew up in Japan until just the other day or what but being called Lady Lancaster just felt strange. I knew I would need to get used to it in the future since it was the respectful way to call an unmarried young lady in this world. But to make the female lead who was going to shine and be deemed a hero of Selinicia in the future call me as such was not right. I would rather be on close terms and speak friendly towards each other. So that maybe, just maybe I will have a powerful backing later in life.
Some might say that I am being calculative by thinking in such a way but was it wrong to use whatever means you had to live a better life? It's not like I was going out using people as stepping stones. I was just making it so that no one would try to mess with me later on when I tried to leave the Lancaster family. Having someone praised as a hero as a backer was a great deterrence for such things.
My words seemed to have made Alissa happy because she instantly latched on to my arm making it even harder to walk with Emily on my back. But seeing her beaming a smile at me and thinking of my future, I allowed her to do so. "Then call me Alissa! From this day forward we are friends!"
She was definitely true to her personality from Magical Love. The female lead although beautiful, was very compassionate, had a high sense of justice, and was very friendly. Her long silver hair and emerald eyes made her stand out in the crowd. She was hard to miss.
"Hey, can I call you Rei too?" Able who was on the other side of me asked. This kind of stunned me since in the game he always called Alissa, Lady Alissa until they had gotten really close. I guess this goes to show the respect he had for her. But before I could answer him Alissa spoke up.
"Hey don't get overly friendly with my Rei!" She shouted out loudly.
Ummm… Excuse me, what do you mean by your Rei? I do not belong to anyone… Also, should you be yelling at one of the love interest like that? Are you not going to romance him later? Is this the, "We started off fighting with each other but slowly loved bloomed between us", path? Whatever it was could I be left out of it? I didn't want to be dragged into other people's love lives when mine was nonexistent.
I ignored Alissa's sudden outburst and said: "It is fine. You can call me Rei as well." I do not know why Alissa was pouting all of a sudden but whatever. To be called by my first name by Able was like a dream come true. I was one of those people who always used my own name when doing the character creation if they allowed you to do so. Magical Love was one of those games. It allowed you to set what was called a pet name. This pet name was used throughout the game once you earned enough friendship points with your targets. Hearing the melodic male leads voices all calling out my name really caused my inner fangirl to scream out in excitement.
"Then Rei, please call me Able!" Able's smile as he spoke almost made my heart jump out of my chest once again. But I did not have time to fall into a mesmerized daze due to this smile since the arm Alissa was holding was slowly being crushed under the girl's grip causing a sharp pain to shoot up through my arm. It was then that I realized that Alissa was indeed strong enough to protect herself.
Like this, we continued to chat amongst ourselves as we made our way to the docks.
---
*Bam!*
"Where are the Berks brothers!? Didn't they go out this morning saying they would snatch up another kid to reach the quota?" A bald middle-aged man with a scar on his cheek said as he slammed his fist on the table in front of him.
"Boss, relax, maybe they ran into an issue. They should be back soon. " Another man around twenty to thirty years of age did his best to calm the bald middle-aged man down.
"Humph! The buyer will be here soon and if we do not reach the quota, we will lose a hefty sum of money! The kids we have now will only go for ten gold each. We made a deal with these people to give them twenty kids a week for one thousand gold if we reach our quota. We are short one kid!" The bald middle-aged man picked up the mug filled with ale and downed it all in one go. He wiped his lips before smacking them together and said: "They got one hour. If they do not turn up, go out and take any kid under the age of fifteen."
---
To be honest I have no idea where I currently am. Alissa was kind enough to take Emily off my hands for a little while and before I knew it I started to feel very sleepy and when I woke up I found myself surrounded by little kids, in a brick-walled room. My only assumption was that I too had been kidnapped. But I didn't understand why I was kidnapped. Alissa was much more beautiful than me. Why did they not take her instead?
[Ding!]
[Sub Bonus Event (Optional)]
[Take down the kidnapping ring by yourself and rescue all the children before they are sold off!]
[Reward: 5000 System Points, 2x Save Tokens]
[Accept?] [Deciline?]
Looking at the sudden notification popup I was quite surprised at the rewards. This was an optional event so I did not have to do it. But the rewards were a little enticing. "System one question if I die..."
"You will die for good, Rei. Unless you had used a save token." The system responded without hesitation.
I let out a sigh and contemplated for a minute. Before asking the system one more question. "System, if I use a save token now will I be able to retry the mission if I do not accept or decline it before saving?"
"If you save now, the dialogue box will still be there when you are revived. But Rei, something I should remind you is that if you die a horrible death or have bad things happen to you that you wished you could forget, you will remember it all upon revival. So be mentally prepared." The system had given me some food for thought. I had not even thought about such a thing but I guess this was part of the save system. I mean it wouldn't be a save system if you forgot everything you did during your last playthrough.
"I understand, thank you, System. Let's use the save token." I said.
"As you wish." The system replied. Not even a second later I was wrapped in a glow of blue light before it quickly disappeared. "Save complete!"
Once I saved, I hit the accept button to begin the subevent. Now it was just a matter of getting out of this room… But the room itself was all closed off with no windows and only a single door. "Did I bite off more than I can chew..."
"Big sister are you okay?" A childish voice came from my side. I looked over and a girl looking no more than six years old was standing there. Unlike the other kids who were crying. She seemed more calm and composed.
"I'm fine thanks. What's your name?" I asked.
"I'm Corn. At least that is what they called me when I lived on the streets." Corn replied with a smile.
Hearing that she lived on the streets allowed me to understand why she was so calm. She was used to the rough life. Maybe being sold as a slave might have been a good option for her. But that does not mean I would allow such a thing to happen. There were better options out there for her like an orphanage or the maids guild.
The maids guild was where Emily came from. They were a place for young girls to go to if they had no other place to go. They could learn how to become a maid for free and would then be sold to a family who would not mistreat them. Investigations were done for every household before they were sold off. Part of the contract was that if you had no use for the maid any more then you had to send her back to the maids guild. Everything was signed by a magical contract. The maids guild made it so that people could not go and sell a maid off since periodic visits were held every few months to ensure the maids were not being treated poorly.
"Well, Corn I want you to stay here for now. Big Sister promises that she will get you out of here and take you to a place that will allow you to have a better life okay?"
"Big Sister really means that? Will I be able to eat lots of yummy foods?" Corn's eyes grew big in anticipation.
"Yep! I will see to it. For now, I want you to gather all the kids and move them to a corner. Big Sister is going to cause a bit of a scene."