The youngest of the guards with squinty eyes was standing closest to the door. With a kick of his boot, the wooden door shut with a thud. The three guards fanned out standing shoulder to shoulder. Seeing that the girls had not reacted, they reached for their swords and slowly started pulling them out of their sword sheaths. They all had sneers on their faces while they proceeded with the slow intimidation. They all looked like meatheads who deserved a good beating if they were looking for one. Ada did not want to fight them but if they gave her no choice they would be the ones crying on the ground. Kayu growled at them.

"Three guards and five of us," Ruciella smiled as if reading her thoughts. "Looks like pretty good odds to me."

"What these burly men see are just three little girls and two injured citizens," Leanne pointed out.

"That ugly mangy mutt is not a citizen," Ruciella retorted.

Ada was growing slightly irritated. "Can you two knock it off?"

"Maybe we should just surrender for now to avoid potential bloodshed and further trouble with the city?" Leanne suggested half-heartedly.

"Uh, no way! I'm not going to jail for serving divinely sanctioned punishment to a pickled fish gill ostrich brain rapist," Ruciella spitted out the words in rapid succession with utter distaste.

"Does our membership with the Galacia Club have any influence here?" Leanne asked hopefully.

"Influence? Yeah, we have some but the city guard here is notorious for not caring about that until explicitly being told by the city council. We'll be thrown in prison for probably at least a week until our release is secured," Ruciella explained.

"If we fight them, will we be banned from being in the city?" Ada asked.

"Probably but they have a short memory. With all the backstabbing and other threats, we're pretty much small shrimp. Besides, a few guards aren't worth the trouble for people in power here to truly punish us," Ruciella answered.

"Leanne, do you have any capabilities which can help us here?"

Leanne shook her head. "I was never trained in combat."

The guards were now brandishing their swords in front of them which once again did not prove terribly intimidating from Ada's perspective. To her divine eyes, their movements appeared clumsy and slow.

Ruciella smirked. "Yeah, I thought you might be useless here. Why else would you argue so hard to avoid a fight?"

"I am not useless. I just do not think it is right. As the Holy Book says, 'The faithful shall refrain from bloodshed against the ignorant for they are those that need to be led to the truth by kind words and not cruel blades.'"

"Uh huh, you just said they're ignorant and from my experience, the best way to enlighten the ignorant is to give them a good beating. Squash the ignorant as flat as a flounder are words in my holy book."

"Quiet, you two. Leanne, why don't you stand in the corner so you won't get hurt," Ada said.

Leanne walked over to a broken barrel in the closest corner. Her eyes flashed in anger. Whether that was directed towards Ruciella or the guards Ada couldn't tell. Probably both.

"Sçæaisøh, follow Leanne and tell your dog to follow you," Ada added.

Like a mindless drone, Sçæaisøh gave a sharp whistle. The dog perked up his ears and looked at his master. The man listlessly followed Leanne and the dog cocked his head in confusion. The man whistled again and the dog followed.

"Surprisingly obedient creature here," Ada thought aloud.

"Heh, well, every big ugly mutt has its little ugly man," Ruciella said.

Ada saw a flash of annoyance cross Leanne's face but the girl said nothing. Now was not the time to dive into another pointless argument. Ada turned her attention back to the three men. The guards by now have stopped their pointless sword swirls and now held the swords directly in front of them. The one standing in the middle who appeared to be the leader looked especially ugly with misshapen squarish eyes and an enormous nose with two prominent red warts. His nose was even uglier scrunched up in annoyance as he glared at the girls for their lack of reaction to his attempt at intimidation. He barked out a few words.

"Last warning. Surrender now or face the consequences," Leanne translated.

"You guys better buy me a glass of fishblood wine after this," Ruciella said.

She released a glowing white translucent ball with silent sparks contained inside. It flew in a perfect parabola over their heads toward the guards. Ada speculated that the ball flew faster than before since there was no opposing wind drag inside the room. Perhaps the wind was why Ruciella missed her target when she threw the ball lightning outside. Based on the laws of kinematics, the drag force can be modeled as proportional to the velocity squared. She would have to calculate the quadratic drag parameter later which might help with improving Ruciella's aim. The guards were clearly not thinking of physics equations. In fact, they had no time to react and the ball struck the guard leader in the center. There was a loud zapping sound as the electricity surged through his body. Both of his arms jerked back and the sword still held tightly struck the chest of the guard to the right of him. Instantly, the electricity jumped to that guard as well and he started flailing. In less than three seconds, both of them fell to the ground unconscious. The only remaining guard was the young one with squinty eyes though his eyes were no longer entirely thin lines. They have grown round as grapes in complete astonishment.

Taking no chances for him to react, Ada quickly activated systemhelper.

...

...

She stared at the trembling man and wondered if she should be a little bit more aggressive. Throwing acid might work but she didn't want to leave permanent damage. His armor appeared to be made of leather and a lodestone might not be magnetic enough.

"Let's go with a more assured method," Ada muttered to herself.

...

Ada felt her purse lighten as some of the coins transformed. The ground below the men liquefied into a colloid of sand and water. The two unconscious guards started to sink slowly. The only conscious guard yelped and waved his arms in fear. With his armor, the extra weight was literally an extra burden on him. He dropped his sword to have a free hand to paddle. It was of no avail and with his struggles, he sank even faster. Ruciella stared with fascination while Leanne turned her face away.

Leanne furrowed her brows in concern. "Will they drown?"

"Don't worry. He won't sink below halfway. A human body has an approximate density of 1 kilogram per liter whereas the quicksand is denser at approximately 2 kilograms per liter. With his extra armor, maybe it'll be 1.5 kilograms per liter but it still won't be denser than quicksand."

"Hmm, I can probably him sink all the way if you want me to," Ruciella offered. "In the meantime, 'Silence!'"

Ruciella pointed to the man and yelled out the single word. Instantly, no sound came from the man's mouth though he was still clearly yelling.

"No need. Hey, the two others aren't dead are they?" Ada asked.

"Nah, they're just knocked out for a few minutes. Maybe an hour. That was a seriously anticlimactic fight by the way."

"How long does your Silence spell last?"

"Maybe half an hour? I never counted."

"Let us tie them up and get on our way. We still need to heal the dog and our friend here," Leanne said.

Ruciella looked around. She shrugged her shoulders. "There's no ropes here. Why not just leave them like this? They're stuck."

"Ruciella is right. They're not going to die, Leanne. Besides, some other guards would find them eventually when they don't report back."

Leanne sighed. "Should we not at least leave them some water?"

"They just threatened us with swords and you want to be friendly?" Ruciella snorted.

A fiery redhead was a stereotype but it clearly applies here for this girl. I feel like I'm a mother hen with two squawking chickens, Ada thought. Aloud, she said, "Leanne, they won't be able to reach the water any way. I think they'll be fine."

Leanne bit her lip and nodded. Ada smiled. "Don't worry. No one has died yet and let's keep it that way. Sçæaisøh, follow me and tell your dog to follow as well."

During the exchange, the man had been standing in the corner staring blankly at a dusty wall. The dog has been whimpering and looking at his master in concern. Hearing the new command, the man gave a whistle and without a glance at his dog walked to Ada.

"Compulsion is so amazing! You'll have to teach me that spell some time," Ruciella exclaimed.

"A goddess's skills is not something for mortals to learn," Leanne said.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Aurian, but I think Leanne is right here," Ada said. "Let's go. We do have bigger fish to fry right now."

"Don't worry about it. I just thought I might try my luck in asking," Ruciella said.

The three girls with the man and dog in tow walked around the quicksand. Ada and Leanne glanced with pity at the silently screaming struggling man. Ada hoped that he would calm down once he realized that he was not getting out of there until they came back. Ada opened the heavy wooden door and stepped out into the afternoon sunlight. The others followed. Ada looked around and saw no guards or curious onlookers and sighed with relief. No one paid them any attention. She hoped that they wouldn't encounter any more trouble before they reached the temple.

"Sçæaisøh, lead us to the closest temple of Ayula," Ada commanded.