So, it’s that sort of setting, huh?

Ellis silently mused to himself as he watched their touching reunion with rapt eyes.

Hal-Wrynn openly wept. Muffled sniffling reverberated throughout the cavern. He desperately clung to the girl with pale, clammy hands. Because of the height difference, Hal-Wrynn practically had his face pressed against her chest. Luckily, the boy was too young to notice. As for the girl, although she looked somewhat flustered, she was a bit too preoccupied to really care.

Like Hal, she too had tears running down her face.

Ellis pensively rubbed his chin. A scenario played out in his head. It was about a poor, misguided boy forced by circumstance to do the unthinkable. With his loved ones held hostage and with the threat of death and enslavement hovering over their heads, the boy went against his conscience and did what his captors wanted him to do. With a heavy heart, the poor boy led more unsuspecting people into the captors’ lair.

It was certainly the type of setting you’d see in some sort of psychological thriller, although he thought that the premise seemed a bit half-hearted.

That led him to wonder, how was Hal-Wrynn connected with these prisoners? Was he a former captive? If so, how did he escape? Why did he come back? Was he intentionally released by the Majins in order to draw more people in?

The more he thought about it, the more similar such scenarios popped into his head.

Well, it's fairly amusing. Ellis nodded to himself. He judged the situation with a similar sort of seriousness that a movie critic would have towards the latest blockbuster.

“Hmm?”

Just then, something else happened. His eyes naturally gravitated towards the center of the commotion.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” The young girl’s shout echoed throughout the tunnel.

After the overly intense hug, the two separated. Almost immediately, the girl suddenly started yelling at the boy. Ellis could hear the mixture of emotions within her voice. Anger, fear, gratitude, that sort of thing.

“I…” Hal-Wrynn looked up, but he could not meet the girl’s intense penetrating glare. He lowered his head and shuffled his feet. From this interaction alone, Ellis was able to just barely piece together their normal relationship.

Something like siblings, but not quite. If he had to describe it with a single word or phrase, then it would be childhood friends.

Suddenly, the crowd behind the girl descended into chaos. Their piercing stares all focused in on Hal-Wrynn.

“That child is…”

“It’s the son…”

“Why did he come here?”

Their reactions were a bit surprising, to say the least. A heavy sense of unease spread through the air. Still, it did somewhat remind him of how Nar-Wynn reacted previously. Although in this case, the villagers were several times more outspoken.

Underneath such intense scrutiny, Hal-Wrynn looked visibly uncomfortable. The young girl quickly noticed the growing commotion. Unfortunately, she did not, or rather, she could not do anything. A powerless sigh leaked out from her throat. The most that she could manage was to shield his body away from their probing eyes.

The girl looked up. For the first time, she saw Ellis and Grisella. After a short bought of hesitation, she quickly dragged Hal towards them.

The crowd did not follow. Instead, they chose to stay back, almost as if they were trying to hide away from the light. It was quite apparent that their time here had scarred them rather severely.

“Hello, I am Ama-Lear.” The young girl stopped in front of them and introduced herself. With wary yet curious eyes, she asked, “Who are you guys?”

Hal-Wrynn awkwardly stood beside her. The two of them held hands, although Ellis quickly noticed just how pale and tense Hal-Wrynn’s hand was. In fact, he incessantly tugged on her hand in an attempt to get her to leave. The boy did not even attempt to hide his efforts.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Grisella eventually responded. “I am Lorelei, the witch of the forest.”

“Ah, I know you,” Ama-Lear exclaimed, “You’re the one who gives the village medicine. The granny with a youthful face.”

Hearing her words, Grisella almost choked on her own saliva. She sputtered out a shaky cough.

The young girl did not even blink twice at Grisella’s reaction. She narrowed her eyes and pouted. Her cheeks inflated like that of a chipmunk’s. “Why did you drag Hal here? It is dangerous!”

Ama-Lear openly reprimanded the two.

“What?” Ellis furrowed his brow in confusion.

“You, don’t pretend you don’t know!” She furiously glared at him. “Hal is just a kid. If it wasn’t for you guys, there’s no way he could have gotten all the way here by himself!”

“Wait, wait, wait a minute, little girl.” Ellis was thoroughly surprised by her reaction. He felt compelled to defend himself. “We brought him here, but it was under a mutual agreeme—”

“He’s just a kid! What sort of agreement can he make? You tricked him into coming here!”

Ellis stopped for a moment.

What kind of situation was this?! To his understanding, they were the ones who got tricked here! Fortunately, Ellis was knowledgeable on the common tropes of fantasy. He gained prior insight towards the real situation and managed to barely avoid looking like a dumb fool.

“Little girl, I really think we got off on the wrong foot here. Why don’t we just…”

“You, stop calling me a little girl!” She exploded. “I’m already fourteen, no, fourteen and a half cycles old! Also, I don’t want to talk with a kidnapper like you!”

In the face of her intensity, Ellis subconsciously took a step back. Her current outburst was certainly a far cry from her initial friendly greeting.

For a moment, he did not know what to do.

“Stop! Ama, stop it already!” Hal-Wrynn suddenly interrupted. All eyes turned on him. He opened his mouth to speak, but after a few seconds of silence, he lowered his head in defeat.

In a voice so quiet that it barely registered as a whisper, he said, “… it wasn’t their fault. I tricked them. I was… it was all me.”

“You, what do you mean?” Ama-Lear furrowed her brow as she stared down at the crown of his head.

“I came here of my own free will.” The young boy stated. He looked up at her. “I came here to rescue you.”

“How exactly do you plan on doing that?” She fiercely questioned. “By getting yourself captured like this? Are you daft?! That’s the worst plan I’ve ever heard of in my entire life!”

Hal-Wrynn nodded in agreement. “I know. I won’t be able to do it, but… someone else can.”

“Someone else?” She turned towards Ellis and Grisella. “And you think these two can save us?”

He shook his head. “No, they are…” he hesitated, but only for a split second. “Victims. They are my victims. Someone else will come save us… well, hopefully.”

“Someone else?” Ama-Lear furrowed her brow before a look of realization flashed through her eyes. “Are you talking about your aunt?”

“Farma-Wrynn?” Grisella suddenly chimed in. She slightly dipped her head. “She is indeed a person of immense strength. If it’s her then maybe she can save you from this situation”

Despite her words, she inwardly shook her head. If it was just a normal Majin base, then she might be able to do it. Unfortunately, she is not strong enough to face a calamity-class monster.

It was then that the young boy slowly explained his carefully weaved, and near suicidal plan. After a few minutes, the entire cavern descended into a momentary silence.

“I see. I get it now.” Ellis instinctively nodded his head afterward.

Hal-Wrynn further explained, “At the start, Aunt Farma was adamant on not coming here. Even after I begged her, she still said no. In fact, nobody in the village wanted to go, even after a few of the survivors returned and explained the situation. This place is simply too far away, and the forest is simply too dangerous for her to risk so much, but… if it’s for me, then she’ll surely…”

He did not dare finish his words. Even now, he felt guilty. In essence, he was emotionally manipulating his own aunt. That fact alone did not sit right with him, but it was the only way. In order to save his friend, in order to save Ama-Lear, he was determined to do anything. Whether that was manipulating his own blood relative or risking the lives of a group of strangers, he would definitely save her without fail.

Ama-Lear’s shoulders trembled. Ellis noticed that the young girl’s bottom lip was also quivering. In a whisper like voice, she scolded the foolish boy.

“… Are you an idiot? If your aunt leaves the village, then the villagers will be in danger.”

With a resolute, and almost cold expression he rigidly stated, “I don’t care.” He suddenly grabbed onto her trembling hand. “I only want you.”

“…”

“…”

A strange silence filled the air. Ellis raised his brow. He discreetly glanced over towards the darkness. Judging by their expressions, the rest of the prisoners had heard his words. They squirmed in discomfort.

After a while, he turned back to stare at the boy. With a slightly amused smile, he inwardly shook his head. This god damn little Casanova… What a good line! What a fantastic line!

Ellis secretly vowed to himself. He would definitely use that line in the future!

Still, learning how-to pick-up chicks from a ten-year-old boy… just what has my life come to? He paused for a moment. No, come to think of it… I’m only six. There’s absolutely no harm in learning from your elders.

As such thoughts filled his head, Hal-Wrynn suddenly turned to them. “You got involved in this because of me,” he dully stated. “I used you to get here.”

Ellis and Grisella looked at him for a brief moment before they exchanged glances. Normally, getting strung along like that would have definitely bothered him, but this case was slightly different. He had discovered his scheme beforehand. The impact of the ‘betrayal’ was significantly lessened.

Instead of being led around like a blind mouse through a maze, he felt more akin to a slightly bored moviegoer who was watching a mildly interesting flick. Hal’s little scheme served as entertainment for him. As for the repercussions, well, to be honest, he really didn’t care.

Plus, he was also just a kid. Could he really stay mad at a kid?

Staying mad? Should I even keep this grudge? I’m not exactly the type to hold grudges…

He silently thought about it for a moment, before a loud thud abruptly echoed throughout the cavern.

Ellis looked up, just in time to see Hal-Wrynn clutching the back of his head with an anguished expression on his face.

“You idiot! Properly apologize to them!” Ama-Lear angrily shouted. She waved her fist towards him as a warning.

“Why did you hit me?” He asked out loud.

For his boldness, he received another hit.

BAM!

Ama-Lear struck him in the head again.

“What? Are you talking back to me now?” She questioned with narrowed eyes.

“…No.” Hal begrudgingly responded with a clearly dissatisfied frown. After a moment’s pause, he continued, “… just that, I don’t think an apology will do much good in this situation.”

Ama-Lear shook her head. “You, idiot! Even if it’s a useless gesture, you still have to apologize! It is only basic decency! Are you a decent person?!”

“But, still…”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” She harshly interrupted. “Just go out there an apologize! What’s so hard about that?”

In the end, Hal-Wrynn sincerely apologized.

Ellis and Grisella eventually accepted the apology, albeit with mixed feelings.

Grisella felt somewhat conflicted by the whole thing, but Ellis simply shrugged his shoulders. His facial expression could not be any more indifferent. “It’s not like his little tricks affect me all that much.” To him, the Majins here were as threatening as a group of ants.

“Don’t worry, when my aunt gets here, we can all escape from this place,” Hal-Wrynn reassured them. Even in the face of an entire camp of Majins, he still held such great confidence in this unknown aunt of his.

Ellis felt somewhat expectant.

“I’m afraid that won’t work.” Just then, a raspy voice echoed through the room. Turning around, he saw that the voice had originated from an elderly female prisoner with tattered silk clothes and a pale and emaciated face. Judging by her attire, she was probably the wife of a squirrel warrior, although that sort of life was far too disconnected from her current self.

“That man and Miss Lorelei, they will die before your aunt gets here!”

“What do you mean?” Hal-Wrynn frowned. A feeling of unease welled up in his heart.

Before she could respond, Grisella suddenly spoke. “I recognize you. You are little Mela, old Ar-Lock’s daughter.”

Even though the squirrel tribe could be considered small, it still constituted of more than ten thousand people. The only reason why she was able to recognize the old woman was because she was the daughter of a previous Head Warrior.

Grisella frowned. “I heard a long time ago that you had gotten married. What are you doing here?”

The elderly woman, Mela-Lock, breathed out a weary sigh. “We were originally kidnapped during a failed attempt at harvesting a spider nest. The Majins attacked us. They killed off all the warriors and took the rest of us hostage. At first, we resisted but after the first few were killed as examples, we… we learned how to be meek.”

Her frail body trembled. She slightly turned back, her eyes briefly glancing over to the rest of the prisoners. “You must have noticed by now, but there are a lot of us left. Ever since we got here, only a few of us died. That feat is not from our own virtue, but rather, theirs.”

She turned again. This time, the elderly woman’s weathered eyes glared hatefully at the cavern entrance. “The Majins have many warriors,” she sighed. “They do not intend to use us as hostages for this war, but rather, they want to enslave us.”

“What!?” Grisella gasped out in surprise, but none of the other prisoners seemed all that shocked by Mela’s words.

Enslavement was not a completely new concept within the world of Lull, but it had fallen out of fashion during the last one hundred years or so. These days, slavery only existed within the barbaric and tumultuous west. For the rest of the ‘civilized’ world, slavery was replaced by a new commodity; homunculi.

“This place, we are in the inner circle of the forest.” Mela-Lock continued. “The only ones capable of crossing the mist border and entering the inner circle are us, the squirrels. The Majins favor solitude. They want to live within the inner circle, but at the same time, they do not want complete isolation. That’s why they captured us. To them, we are simply a means of passage.”

Grisella frowned. “If what you said is true, then the Majins have quite the ambition. How did they even learn of the mist in the first place?”

She shook her head. “I do not know. Maybe a prisoner told them, maybe they learned of it from elsewhere, there are a lot of possibilities, but at this point, none of it matters.” Mela-Lock looked out into the distance. Her somber eyes stared fixedly at the dim light that leaked in from the cavern’s entrance. “They want the forest for themselves. They can’t live peacefully with us here, but neither can they completely exterminate us. So, their best next solution is enslavement. Our warriors don’t realize it yet, but… this is not a war of conflict or territory, but rather, a war for our freedom.”

“That sort of thing…” It was a horrific concept. Grisella did not quite know how to react.

“On that note, I… I have to ask, why did no one come for us?” Mela-Lock’s eyes turned towards the young boy. “A few of the prisoners somehow managed to escape. They should have been able to make it back to the village and inform the tribe of our predicament. Did none of them survive?”

Hal-Wrynn hesitated for a moment. “No, they knew. Everyone knew, but… they were unwilling to take the risk.”

“…” The old woman remained silent for a long time, before a hollow chuckle leaked out from her lips. “I see… in the end, we were just disposable.”

She shook her head and breathed out a sigh. Mela-Lock turned back to Grisella. The solitary witch noticed that the darkness within her eyes had significantly increased. “Since you are not a squirrel, they will have no need for you,” she stated. “I have seen it happen before. When we first arrived here, we were not the only ones that they had captured. Women with ears like yours, but not as beautiful.”

“Humans?” Grisella widened her eyes.

“Hmm… I am unfamiliar with the term, but I think so.” She nodded. “They brought them from the outside world. Unfortunately, after a few days, they were all killed off. Um, they died from excessive use.”

Her words were left ambiguous on purpose, but the intention was definitely there.

Mela paused. “Since Miss Lorelei is beautiful, they might let you live, but your partner…” she shook her head. “They will kill him soon. Probably after the Troop leader informs their boss.”

Grisella’s frown deepened. She was not worried about her safety, but rather, the mental image of the scenario played out in her head. She felt disgusted.

Meanwhile, Hal-Wrynn’s expression paled. His eyes shook. An unbearable guilt welled up in his heart.

“…”

Ellis did not say anything.

In the end, he wasn’t all that worried. Whether Hal’s aunt arrives, the calamity-class monster makes an appearance, or his ‘execution’ happens first, Ellis was prepared to take everything in stride.