A few days had passed after Crowell had told me about the past Lanport.

Aside from the guard occasionally coming in to give us our meals, the only other person I had interacted with was Callum.

I had sent Lorelei to check on the others yesterday, but she hadn’t returned just yet.

I tried talking to Callum, but he would either be too drunk to have a normal conversation or be knocked out. After Crowell had left, he started drinking even more than he was before.

Lorelei and I discussed how I wasn’t affected by the power of the earring. We came up with three possible theories behind it.

The first theory we came up with was that since I already knew about the power before he gave me an order, I was able to prevent myself from being controlled by it.

It wasn’t likely, but we didn’t really know the specification of the earring power.

The second theory was that my will power was strong enough to resist the mind control.

This one was also a stretch, but I have been called hardheaded by multiple people so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was actually it.

The last theory was something we felt like was the actual answer, although it was vague, we thought the reason why I can resist the power of the earring might be the same reason why I can see Lorelei.

We didn’t really know why I could do that, but I had to have something special about me in order for me to be the only one who could see and interact with her.

Even so, we had no way of proving or disproving any of these theories. For all we knew, the fact that I covered my ears during his first command could’ve made it impossible for him to control me after that.

It was getting pretty late now. Callum was beginning to snore quite loudly, but I had gotten used to it by now and could just sleep through it.

Then the door to our prison cells suddenly opened.

It was opening quite slowly to be one of the guards, so I decided to wake up and check.

It was the kid thief! And he had my sword with him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He quickly moved towards my cell while keeping an eye out for Callum. He placed a finger on his mouth and whispered, “Quiet! I’m here to get you out.”

“Huh? Why would you do that?”

As he inspected the lock, he answered, “You and your friends need to get out of the city. I’m the reason you got caught. I won’t be able to live with myself if you ended up jailed for life.”

I had no idea what he was doing, but he moved some picks around the keyhole of the lock and then with a click, it suddenly opened.

He gently opened the prison cell, gave me my sword, and then we both quietly rushed out.

“How did you even get past all the guards?” I asked, after we had escaped from the room.

I soon received my answer as we snuck past a hallway with many guards laying on the floor. Had this kid taken out all of the guards?

From his build, I would answer no, but the fact lies that all the guards were unconscious on the floor.

After the long hallway, we walked up some stairs and then finally reached the door to the outside. Before we even reached the door, I could hear the wave of the sea hitting the land, it was quite the beautiful sound.

As soon as we escaped from the prison, I spread my arms out and then took in a long breath of fresh air. Even though the mist still made it hard to see outside, it was still good to be free.

“We’re not done yet. We only have about an hour before they start waking up again.”

I turned to him and asked, “What do you mean by that? What happened to the guards?”

He rubbed his hands together and then held them out. A spark appeared on his hand and then immediately disappeared.

“If I touch someone with this light, they fall asleep.”

“How are you doing that?” I asked.

He rubbed his hands together again and the same spark appeared.

“I just need to rub my hands like that and then I get it. I was cold one night, so I rubbed my hands together and then that’s when it first happened. Even though it didn’t last long, the light that came off my hands gave off heat and it kept me warm enough.”

That must be his Spirit power, I thought.

Suddenly having realized the need to rush, the kid grabbed my hands and then pulled me away.

“Your friends will be in danger once they find out you escaped. You have to get them out of here now!”

Once we reached Lewis’ house, the kid suddenly stopped.

“I won’t be helping you any further. It’s up to you now to leave this city.”

“You’ve helped me a lot. Thanks. Oh, what’s your name? I’m Din!”

The kid smiled, “Percy.”

He then left immediately.

I walked inside the house to find that everyone was eating in the kitchen area. They all turned at the sound of the door opening.

“Guys, listen. We have to get out of here, quick!”

“Din! What’re you talking about?” Tal asked.

“Are you okay?” Chris asked.

Lewis got up from his seat and then rushed to my front, “What are you doing here, Din?”

While chewing on what looked like a chicken leg, Mun asked, “Is no one going to ask him where he’s been for the past few days?”

They all appeared dumbfounded.

“Right. W-Where have you been, Din?” Lewis asked.

He seemed nervous. What was going on right now?

From behind Lewis, Tal and Chris were also making their way towards us. This was all a trap. Crowell must’ve ordered them to turn me in if I ever escaped.

Lewis quickly grabbed both my hands when he noticed my suspicions. He was strong, there was no way I could free myself from his grip with just strength alone.

I extended my right foot to go between Lewis’ feet and then pulled my feet against his right foot. At the same time, I used my body weight to push myself onto Lewis, causing him to lose his balance and fall on his back.

The moment his grip loosened up, I noticed that Tal was already heading towards the entrance to cover my exit. With his daggers already out, I had no way of brute forcing my way through. Instead, I made my way through towards the stairs.

“Wait, what’s going on here?” Mun called out.

She was the only one that seemed confused about this whole situation. Lewis, Tal, and Chris all wore a determined expression, ready to capture me at any point. Mun, on the other hand, seemed out of place. Was she the only one Crowell hadn’t taken control of?

“Mun! Follow me!” I called out as I ran up the stairs.

She caught up to me in no time. With how she normally acted, I totally forgot that she was actually an assassin that worked alongside Tal.

“What’s going on? Why are we running? Why did they suddenly attack you like that?” Mun cried out.

“I’ll explain later!”

There was no other escape aside from the front door. Once we reached the second floor, I knew our only way of exiting the building was jumping from one of the windows.

I ran straight down the second-floor hallway towards the one window at the end of the hall and then braced myself as I jumped through it. The window broke into pieces and although the impact wasn’t bad, my landing was horrible. I landed right onto the broken shards. I received a few cuts on my hands and had tears on my cape and pants.

Mun’s landing was much more graceful as she landed perfectly on her feet. As expected of a trained assassin, I thought.

Lewis looked out of the broken window while Tal and Chris exited the building through the entrance door. Lewis turned around and seemed to be heading towards the door as well.

I led Mun towards the city center. The only way of escaping would be through the gateway we entered the city from. I had no idea how we would get rid of the mind control, but right now, our only choice was to run and get as far away from anyone in this city as possible.

The days of just sitting around in the cell was now starting to take a toll on me. We made it out of the city center and were making our way towards the forest. My legs were aching, and my lungs felt like they would explode. When I turned around, I saw that even though Lewis and Chris were still quite a ways far, Tal was gaining on us.

“We have to hurry, Din! Tal is catching up. You have to run faster than that or else we’re doomed!”

Mun gave out her useful inputs as always, but it was over, I had no more energy to spare. I knelt down on the grass and tried catching up my breath.

“Din, we can’t stop now! Hurry, get up!”

I turned around to see Tal already within arm’s length, but then suddenly, he got tackled to the ground. A man had jumped out of a bush nearby and pushed Tal on the ground.

As Lewis and Chris got closer, two small projectiles hit both of them near the neck. They immediately fell to the ground, knocked unconscious.

Another man came out of a bush. He was holding onto a pipe like the ones Chris uses.

“Oh thank goodness,” I said right before laying down on the grass once more.

I was finally able to catch up breath.