Right after sunset, Scarlett and her crew departed towards Lanport.

We were to wait for a while before heading to the docks. Hopefully by that time, most of the guards would be sent to the shore where we had gotten the boat from previously.

This was a risky plan. Not only did it require us to get to Crowell with no problem, but Scarlett’s crew also had to be able to hold off on their own for however long it would take us to get the earring.

“Now’s about time,” Lewis mentioned as he got the boat ready.

Lewis and Chris were heading in one boat while Tal, Mun, and I were in another boat.

The thick mist made me feel uneasy as we paddled towards the city.

“If there are any guards near the dock, leave it to me and Mun to take them out first. At the first sight of land, paddle slowly so we can use the mist as a cover,” Tal instructed.

Lewis’ boat was close enough that they could also hear the plan.

As we were getting ready to expect the land to come into our view, we were instead met with something unexpected.

The smell of smoke.

Was it the result of Scarlett’s crew fighting the guards? But they shouldn’t have been close enough to the docks for this kind of casualty.

“Fire…” Tal whispered.

“I’ll go check!” Lorelei notified as she flew on ahead.

Before we even reached the land, Lorelei came back, “Din, it’s horrible! The buildings are all on fire!”

“We have to get to the city faster! Lorelei says that the buildings are on fire!” I said as I began to paddle us faster towards the city.

She was right.

As we reached the docks, we could clearly see the fire. It wasn’t just the buildings, the wooden bridges, and the stalls in the city central were all on fire.

People were running left and right in a hurry. Some were trying to save their houses or stores while others were starting the fire.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a person charging straight at me with a knife. I couldn’t react fast enough, the person was already next to me, but I didn’t feel any pain the next second.

“Lewis!” I gasped.

Lewis had grabbed the attacker’s arm before he could strike me. With a strong punch, the attacker was knocked out on the floor.

“It’s dangerous here. We should have our weapons out,” Lewis suggested.

Everyone pulled out their respective weapons.

Even with the chaos undergoing, we decided to stick to the plan to head towards the governor’s mansion.

This was definitely something unrelated to Scarlett’s plans. The townspeople were attacking one another along with us.

Near the gate to the Higher Central, we saw Percy. He was being chased by a couple of big men with swords.

“Percy! Over here!” I called out.

He rushed to my side.

“What d’you think you’re doing?!” One of the larger men screamed out.

His face appeared red. Was he drunk?

“What’s going on, Percy?” I asked.

“Crowell… he was attacked by a group of pirates.”

“How did that happen? Couldn’t he have ordered them to back off?”

Percy shook his head, “I don’t know what happened, but I saw him being dragged off into the prison. He looked really hurt.”

How did Crowell manage to get beaten?

“Do you think the group of pirates were immune? Like you, Din?” Lorelei asked.

That could be the case.

“I don’t know what makes me immune to the earring’s power, but that could be the case with the pirates as well. We’ll have to be careful, the pirates might have the earrings,” I warned them.

“What are you yapping about over there? Just die!”

“Simpleton like them are the reason why Lanport was such a horrible place before,” Chris mentioned before shooting off darts in their direction.

All of the darts landed on the four men in front of us. These darts were different from the ones Ralphie fired, rather than falling asleep, the men were immobilized.

Lewis took this chance to rush towards them and then knock them all out.

It wasn’t hard for a man of Lewis’ size to knock them out with one hit.

Those darts were a dangerous weapon. With just a small dart, it could either knock out or paralyze a grown man almost instantly. I was just glad she didn’t use that against me when she was under Crowell’s control.

“So what do we do now?” Lewis asked.

Tal thought for a moment before deciding, “We don’t know what we’re facing against. It might be better to visit Crowell first and find out more about the Spirit item. If Din really is immune to it, then in the end, we might have to rely on him to go after the pirates.”

“I can handle them,” I said confidently.

Tal smiled and then nodded, “But first, let’s go to the prison. Hopefully the pirate with the Spirit item isn’t down there as well.”

“We’ll get them before they have a chance of using it,” Lewis cracked his knuckles menacingly.

He appeared demotivated in the ship, but now, he even seemed angry.

On our way to the governor’s garden, where the entrance to the prison was at, we ran across multiple pirates.

With Tal, Mun, Lewis, Chris, and I working together, we got through them in no time. Tal, Mun, and Chris would handle them while they were still far while Lewis and I would charge at them head on.

After having thrown most of their daggers though, Tal and Mun would also charge in with us to collect their daggers and use them in close range. Their attacks didn’t have much power behind them, but they would be able to dodge attacks swiftly and catch the enemy off guard. It didn’t matter how weak you were if you were using a dagger against the enemies’ skin.

In the prison, almost all of the cells were empty. All of the old prisoners had been set free. That would explain the destruction that was happening outside.

Even Callum had been set free. His stacks of barrels of beer were still at the corner of the cell he had been in.

The only one left in the cells was Crowell. He was holding onto the right side of his face and even looked happy to see us entering the room.

“So you came back,” he grunted.

“What happened to you?” Lewis stepped forward. He tried opening the door to the cell, but it was locked.

“Let me do it,” Percy suggested and then began picking the lock.

“I underestimated them…” Crowell began, “The only order I had given them was to bring you back peacefully. They used that against me…”

Right after Percy was able to unlock the door, Lewis entered the cell and knelt down beside Crowell.

“What are you talking about? Who did this to you?”

“Frankie… it was him and his crew. I never gave them an order to not turn against me. They used that against me. I was in my office when they snuck up on me and cut my ear off.”

Crowell slowly removed his hand from his face, and we could clearly see that he was missing his ear.

Noticing our concern, Crowell chuckled, “It doesn’t hurt that much right now, but I’m worried about the bleeding. Can I ask if you can wrap something to stop that?”

His words were slow and quiet. Even his skin was going pale.

Lewis ripped off part of his sleeve, but Chris stepped forward, “Let me handle this.”

She took the ripped off sleeve and then wrapped it around Crowell’s head.

“Thank… you.”

“Don’t speak. You need to rest.”

“Why are you guys helping an enemy?” Tal suddenly asked.

There was a short pause before Lewis finally answered, “No matter what he did, Crowell is still a friend. I don’t think badly of him for what he did.”

“He took control of the people of Lanport! He took control of us!”

“He did that to protect the city! Pirates would attack the city. The drunk men would attack the city. There was nothing, but chaos in this city! Crowell was just trying to protect us from that.”

We didn’t know what to say. He was taking away the will of the people in order to create a better place for everyone.

“Crowell, where is Frankie right now?” Lewis asked.

Crowell tried his hardest to stand back up, but he didn’t have the strength. He fell back down on the bed. Having realized that he couldn’t move, he answered, “He’s bound to be in my office. That son of a bitch really liked the feeling of power and that’s the place he’s bound to feel the most pleasure.”

“Got it,” Lewis nodded.

“Don’t go. That earring makes you almost invincible. The wish it grants can be almost anything. If you go, you’re sure to die.”

“Will he have the same power as you?” Tal asked.

Crowell glanced at the wall. “I believe so, he could be controlling the people of Lanport to go mad and violent. Once he sees you, he can even order for you to kill yourselves and you’ll have no choice but to listen to him! Don’t go near him! Just leave the city while you can!”

“This city is my home,” Lewis said with a smile. “I ran away from this city once already; I won’t make the same mistake again. I’ll make sure to do it right this time and fix this damn city!”

“Lewis!”

“Let’s go.”

Lewis left the prison room. We all followed shortly after him.

Even as we were leaving, we could still hear Crowell calling out to Lewis for him to stop, but Lewis’ mind was made up.

He was ready to stop Frankie no matter what kind of a wish he had.