Chapter 7.2 – First mess

From Kai's perspective. A little before the attack.

'Hmm... Though I tried setting myself up for the long days of constant travelling, it really is a bit mind-numbing. Well, it might be better to just sit mindlessly as the horse trots along, but I'm just not used to it, I need more variety...'

'Hm? I wonder what got Sophie so attentive?'

'A monster? I thought the roads were supposed to be relatively safe, maybe one wandered off or something...'

'OW! The hell is this!? ...A dart? ...Ugghh, I feel a bit dizzy. I should probably cast detoxification magic to neutralize the poison.'

'Okay now, that sure was a fast acting poison. ...Humm, I'll pretend to also be taken out and, if whoever is behind this intends to kill us, I can act then.'

- - -

Some time later.

'I'm tired of this already! How long do I have to keep acting unconcious? Where are they taking us anyway, to their encampment?' Kai thought.

One of the men was carrying Kai on his shoulder, it was quite an uncomfortable position to stay in for a prolonged period of time, especially if you had to conciously endure it.

Still, whatever the men were planning to do would come later. Kai was fairly confident, warranted or not, that he'd be able to take care of the three men if needed, so for now he just stayed silent and relaxed. A thing he was grateful for was that Kai's and Sophie's belongings together with the horses were also brought along.

After a short while Kai started hearing some noises. There was some chatting coming from people other than the three. He could hear some fire cracking and smell meat roasting over the fire. They had probably arrived at their destination – the presumed bandit's camp.

They came to a halt.

"Boss! We have returned with the targets!" one called out.

Some heavy footsteps could then be heard and after a moment a door opened with a creak.

"Ooh, very good!" someone with really low but clear voice said, "Take them to the cell. Also, take away their armor and weapons, and have someone keep watch until they wake up."

They were carried somewhere again. The cell, as it was called, seemed to be at the other end of the relatively large camp. Kai and Sophie were dropped into some room, then there was a bit of scuffling noise, then a clang and then the men probably left.

Kai listened closely. It seems that one person did indeed stay behind and was sitting nearby. Kai very slightly opened his eyelids and peeked through.

It really was like a jail cell with he and Sophie thrown behind bars. Daylight was shining through some cracks in the door and through a small round window above it, lighting the room up ever so slightly. Otherwise it was fairly dark.

Kai could then confirm that someone was sitting at a desk next to the door, but he was turned around so he couldn't exactly see Kai. He also glanced at Sophie and saw that she had been stripped of her armor and sword. Fortunately she still had her clothes.

'What now?...' he thought.

'I guess I'll just wait for Sophie to wake up, then I'll know the poison's effect had probably worn off.'

Thus he started waiting.

Fortunately he didn't have to wait long until Sophie made some pained noises. It had probably been just around an hour. When the watchman also noticed it, he went away, probably to call for the boss.

Before anyone returned, Sophie woke up, and together with her Kai did too.

"Ughh, my head! What happened?" she asked while groaning in pain.

"Well, it seems we were kidnapped," Kai was really calm about it.

As he said this the door opened, too.

"Now, now, it's not something that awful at all," said the man with a low but clear voice. Looking at him, he was different from others who were on the rough side, while he was relatively clean and well-dressed.

"My name is Bosuichi, the leader of this group," he introduced himself.

Sophie stayed quiet, but Kai wore a polite smile and responded,

"My name is Kai, nice to make your acquintance."

The leader, Bosuichi responded with a smile, too. He then looked at Sophie, observed her for a moment and then nodded approvingly.

"All right, everything's okay. You'll have to stay here for a bit, so make yourselves comfortable. Tomorrow you'll be... free to go," the man continued, still smiling, but his words felt a lot colder, "But please, don't try to escape, and you won't be able to undo the bindings either."

He turned around and started leaving. Before he had exited, Kai quietly commented,

"But that really makes me want to try."

The place was cleared, leaving only Kai and Sophie in their cell. For whatever reason they probably thought there wasn't need to keep watch.

"So, I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what'll happen next."

Kai was as calm and carefree as ever. But Sophie on the other hand, after struggling and failing to get her hands free, became a bit anxious.

"How can you stay clam in this situation!? Kidnapping basically means they'll either want ransom from somebody or in the other case slavery!" though she was anxious, she managed to stay relatively quiet.

"And, what of it?" Kai's attitude was astounding, "What is there so horrible that they can do?"

"No, slavery really means that you can't disobey orders. There's a spell, a mark, which when cast on someone binds that person so that they can't disobey a specific person's orders. You'd completely under the control of someone else's whims," Sophie said dreadfully.

Maybe it really was something horrible, or maybe it was worse specifically for Sophie, but she seemed to make a bigger deal out of it than necessary. At least, that's how Kai saw it.

"Ee, don't worry, I can break these cuffs if I want to," he tried to calm her.

"Then, why not do it immediately!?"

"Because it seems interesting," Kai said with a straight face.

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