Chapter 19. I Solemnly Swear Not to Charge Screaming Into a Building Full of Armed

Chapter 19: 19. I Solemnly Swear Not to Charge Screaming Into a Building Full of Armed

I didn’t answer that quest... I fucking knew that she was right, and we both knew it.

We were already wanted for murder... and Millie was barely holding together. Every sensible instinct I had was shouting at me to get out of town and keep my head down.

Which all means... I had to ignore all those slaves, but... but... it’s hard...!

Especially my vision keeps showing the image of that woman on her knees in the dirt... that wouldn’t leave me alone.

"Look... I can’t change what happened this afternoon," I said at last. "But if I know they’re still out there and I walk away anyway... I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at myself in a mirror again."

"And I used to be really good at looking at myself in mirrors because I was such a handsome man."

"But in all honesty... I couldn’t forgive myself if I let them be slaves for another minute..."

For a long moment... Elsbeth just studied me with those red eyes. She wasn’t saying yes, and she wasn’t saying no either.

I could practically hear her weighing the risks... one at a time, like the way she probably weighed everything.

"Courage without planning only increases the number of victims," she said eventually. "Don’t think that this will work for the second time."

"They’re more on a high alert right now."

"I know..."

"Oh... Do you? Because this afternoon... you literally ran at a knife."

"That was... different. And that should count as rescue!" I exhaled. "This will be a... uh... a thoughtful rescue!"

"A thoughtful rescue..." she repeated, in a tone that suggested she was tasting each word and finding them all wanting.

"Look, Elsbeth... I’ll listen to you this time, I promise! I’ll even take notes!"

She let out a long, slow breath through her nose. "Haahhhhhhhh..."

"If there is a sensible opportunity... we will free as many as we can and leave before reinforcements arrive." She then looked around. "If there is not... then we walk away."

"Agreed?" When I was about to answer, she pointed at me with those sharp, pointy fingers. "We’ll save them another day."

"Agreed... loud and clear."

"Say it properly!"

"I solemnly swear on my life and everything that I am... I will not charge screaming into a building full of armed idiots!"

"Better..." She nodded.

Behind us, I heard Millie shifting on the floor. I turned and found her watching us with wide eyes, and for a second I thought she was going to say something.

But she only pulled the shawl a little tighter and kept quiet.

I thought she was going to say something, but eh... either is fine by me.

And so... Elsbeth did the planning, which was fortunate, because my version of a plan was ’barged in, waste people, and hope for the fucking best.’

She had noticed the markings on the wagons that day, and she’d picked up bits of conversation from the guards’ shouting outside the granary.

From those scraps... she’d worked out that the prisoners were probably being held at an old quarry warehouse on the east side of town, a transit point where traders kept stock before shipping them to other regions.

She said it with the flat confidence of a woman who had read a hundred battle reports in her life and had never once been wrong about the stupid parts.

No wonder she’s a really experienced wolf fighter, and I admire that about her.

"I will watch the guard rotation and find the weakest entrance," she said, kneeling in the dirt and drawing lines with a stick. "Leon handles locks, doors, and whoever stands in our way, without starting a brawl that we cannot win."

"Millie helps the captives and guides them out."

"Wait, no..." I said. "Millie’s staying here!"

"N-no...!" Millie looked up. "I want to... come and help."

"But Millie... it’s dangerous out there, and I don’t want to see you hurt again."

"I know..."

She said it so quietly and so plainly that I almost missed how much it cost her. Her hands were gripping the edges of the shawl, and her ears were twitching in small, nervous flicks.

She was terrified, I can see it. She wasn’t trying to hide it, and she wasn’t pretending to be brave.

"I know what it feels like... inside a cage," she said. "I know what it’s like to be so afraid that you can’t even ask for help..."

"If there’s something I can do for them... then I want to do it."

I opened my mouth to argue. Then I thought about how many times in her life someone had decided what was best for her without asking, so I closed my mouth again.

I take a deep breath and hope for the best that she’s going to be fine with this decision. And if not, then I’m literally going to hurt myself.

"Okay, fine..." I said. "But if things go wrong, you run as fast as possible without looking back, okay?"

"Your safety comes first! Deal?"

"I’ll try."

"That didn’t sound like a deal from your mouth."

"It’s the best that I can do."

I looked at Elsbeth for backup, and she gave me a look so dry that it could have started a fire.

"Wonderful," she said. "Now I am responsible for a reckless human and one rabbit who has only just learned to stand up."

"I’m not just any rabbit..." Millie muttered, not quite loud enough for anyone to take offense.

I turned to her with a grin. "No, you’re not, of course~! You’re an exceptional rabbit."

Millie flushed so hard that the tips of her ears went pink. Elsbeth closed her eyes like a woman asking the heavens to explain her life choices.

...

The warehouse sat at the foot of a rocky cliff on the east side of town, behind a crooked wooden fence and a watchtower with a single lantern swinging from the corner.

A cluster of covered wagons stood near the entrance, and the whole yard was lit by torches stuck in iron brackets along the walls.

We lay on our stomachs on a ridge above the compound for about twenty minutes, watching the guards walk their patterns. Elsbeth counted the changes of shift under her breath.

Millie lay between us with her ears flat against her head, as still as a stone. I kept my mouth shut... which I’d like noted as a personal achievement because I didn’t make any smartass comment or joke.

Through the barred windows of a long stone building at the back, I could see the prisoners... There were many different beastwomen there... I can identify their cat ears, fox ears, a woman with a pair of small curved horns, and others in the shadows I couldn’t make out.

I can see that a few of them were on their feet... watching the guards with the sharp and exhausted wariness of people who had learned to track every threat in a room.

These fucking shitholes don’t deserve to live or even breathe the same air as mine to be doing some fucked-up things like this. And maybe this is the reason why beastwomen didn’t exist in my previous life.

If there’s still some human with the mindset like this... kind of fucked-up things, then there’s that.

We, humans, don’t really deserve good things sometimes.

And then I caught the others lying on the floor in a heap. One coughed really hard, and I could see blood coming out from it... then slid sideways against the wall and didn’t move.

Something hot rose in my throat... I swallowed it down and made myself think clearly so I didn’t do something stupid at this moment.

’Stay calm, you idiot...!’

’Plan first, rage later!’

Elsbeth tapped my shoulder and pointed to the back fence, where a pile of lumber had been stacked against the boards.

The planks were stacked carelessly enough to leave a gap, and the nearest tower couldn’t see it from that angle. We slid down the ridge slowly... crossed the strip of open ground in a crouch, and squeezed through behind the lumber one by one.

Inside the compound... another disgusting smell hit me first. I can tell it was a mix of mold and old straw and sour sweat. Like my old fucking apartment.

Two guards stood chatting by the back door of the prison building... passing a flask between them. I looked at Elsbeth.

She held up two fingers, then pointed at me, and then at herself.

’You take one, I take one.’

I nodded... I was ninety percent sure I could do it without screwing up.

I came out of the shadows fast, a lot faster than I’d ever moved in my old life. Apex Physique carried me across the dirt almost before I’d finished deciding to go.

The guard barely had time to turn his head before my forearm caught him across the throat and my other hand clamped over his mouth.

CRACK!

He went limp in about three seconds, and I lowered him to the ground as quietly as I could.

On the other side of the door, the second guard dropped without a sound. Elsbeth was already pulling her sword back, looking at me over her shoulder with an expression I could only describe as adequate.

"Not bad," she whispered.

"Not bad...? That was incredible."

"It was adequate."

Fucking knew it...