Chapter 6: Rescue. Part 1
First minutes of dusk, the executive meeting room at Folkvangr.
"...What are the results of the investigation so far?" a stern and smoky voice spoke.
In response to this, Malika, vice-captain and Freya Familia's chief strategist, only briefly looked over everyone present in the conference room before taking a breath and starting to speak.
"We have collected all the quest notices having anything to do with missing children - a total of more than 20 in the last two weeks," she said, putting out a few of the search quest notices in the middle of the table. "We have also already sent people to interrogate the quest contact people for precise kidnapping details. According to my estimate, the real number of the kidnapped people should be at least thrice more missing cases than this since not everyone can afford the search quest fee or they try to find missing children themselves," Malika continued while taking out an Orario map with more than a dozen of red dots marked on it. "If we put every kidnapping incident we know the details about so far on the map, we can see that all of them happened close to the South West Main, with two of them happening very close to our South Main."
Her voice echoed throughout the room, making all the executives think of the missing newbies' route back to Folkvangr.
"Here," she said before drawing a triangle that enclosed an absolute majority of previously marked kidnapping incidents. "This triangle between Babel, Folkvangr, and the Free Market is practically where everything happens."
Immediately, all eyes shifted to the map, which now started showing a much clearer picture of the whole situation.
"Fifth and Sixth Districts…" an imposing dwarf woman, the strongest adventurer in the whole familia, mused. "Although it could be Evilus because of the sheer number of kidnappings, I think whoever is doing this must have some regular familia backing them to run around so ruthlessly. In two weeks, at least Apollo would have noticed something and would start clearing things on his own, but none of the cases have been solved. Besides, Zeus and Hera are currently both somewhere inside the Dungeon."
"Correct," Freya pointed out. "Apollo would never shy away from such a seemingly easy way to make himself look like a hero - he must have noticed something by this point."
"Yes," Malika promptly agreed, her voice usual matter-of-fact tone. "Either he sent out his familia members to investigate the kidnappings, or he already got some clues. Anyway, we must make a visit to Hearth Mansion."
"The other familia in the Fifth or Sixth Districts that can have a connection to this would be Soma since those people wouldn't mind selling their own mother for wine, let alone taking some random kids off the street," Bodvar lazily replied after watching the silence for a brief moment. "I can see them finding a black market contract for some hefty sum of Valis."
"Yesss… lonely children... left to fend for themselves…." Sophia "Valkyrie" Flores said, melancholy pouring from her voice. "And no one really cares about them… just like everyone else… ha-ha…."
"Regardless," Amazoness said, not even paying attention to the battle-crazy girl. "First thing we must do is to capture Soma Familia members. If anyone would resort to kidnapping children, it is most likely the dealing of Soma Familia. We can interrogate all of them on the spot with their own wine in our stock. In the meantime, we must find and talk to Lord Apollo to see if he has any information on this."
"Um-hum," Love, the only cat-girl executive, said, taking everyone's attention. "Let's summarize, nya. We need to—"
"It's decided then," Freya suddenly interrupted everyone after hearing her executives' opinions. "Mia, Love, and Malika, along with some Level 3s and Level 4s, capture and interrogate Apollo members - start right from their captain. Bodvar will be with me helping to take care of Folkvangr and other incoming clues from the few returning familia members. Sophia, take several Level 2s and a few Level 3s and interrogate some of Soma's children. Everyone else stays at Folkvangr."
"Why don't we go and ask Apollo first? Why do we suspect 'im?" Mia Grand, the only person with enough authority to question the plans of the goddess, asked with her eyebrows slightly raised.
"Divine intuition," the goddess replied with a playful tone, her argument immediately turning down any opposing voices.
However, a few moments after people started standing up from their seats, a male voice broke the silence.
"Wait. Should we ask for the help of the Guild?" Bodvar asked at the end of their conversation as people all raised their eyes to look at the response of their goddess.
"No," Freya decisively replied with an enigmatic smile. "Since they didn't solve it themselves... Now, I am taking action myself."
(Pic, Freya's Executives)
***
A half an hour after the Freya Familia's executives ended their emergency meeting, in a place deep underground, around a dozen people in white hoods have been carrying the crosses with unconscious children tied to them.
Blood was slowly spilling on the floor from the dead bodies of the children that had already been "harvested" during one of today's ceremonies.
The final day before the great summoning began.
It was today that the last batch of the kids needed for the ceremony arrived - even requiring a few extra due to the untimely deaths among those that left this world before the special ceremonies started.
In fact, it was not an entirely unexpected scenario in the last two weeks that some kids would indeed wake up. Unfortunately, however, they would soon be forcefully fed with a special sedative solution.
And it was at this time that Gin finally awoke….
'God, where am I?!' were his first thoughts upon trying to move his limbs even a little and failing miserably.
'Last thing I remember was when I was about to walk to that Altena dessert stall…' he immediately started recounting his last memories…
Now when Gin thought about it again, everything was indeed somewhat suspicious. The stall seemed to be much further away from the others - especially considering that there were many places out there on the South Main to choose from other than one seamlessly turning into a dark alley.
"Calm… you need to be calm, Gin…" he quietly muttered before taking a few deep breaths with his eyes closed.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Now when he calmed down and acknowledged the fact that he got kidnapped, he had to make a plan and start acting fast.
Not only did he have to save himself, but he also had to save Alfia - the girl clearly didn't need any more tragedies happening in her life.
He also was an indirect cause of this whole kidnapping in the first place. But most importantly - he promised Mother Maria that he would take care of her...
The room itself was incredibly gloomy, almost devoid of any light at all. It was only with the help of his vision which had already adapted to the darkness could he see at least some details of his surroundings.
And none of them were uplifting.
He himself was left with nothing except his underwear.
The walls were made of old brown or orange bricks, similar to those you would see on houses built back in the 19th century. From the broken wall on one side, Gin clearly knew that wherever he was, it was deep underground just based on how cold he felt and the dirt that fell through the missing parts of the wall.
A single iron door stood like an unsurpassable obstacle on his way to freedom.
And nothing else was in the room beside a single cross with him tied to it.
However, he didn't believe that he would be left alone in this dark room of this cultist organization.
At some point, someone would come to pick him up…
Considering all the available information, Gin made a snap judgment that he would be used in some crazy sacrificial ritual. Of course, a very faint smell of blood coming from behind the door helped that too.
"—GAAAAAAAHHHH!" a muffled scream was heard both through the door and somewhere above him.
'I have to get out of here and save Alfia…' were his last thoughts before his brain started working in overdrive mode.
Immediately summoning a Minazuki with his right hand, he spent the next 10 minutes cutting off the rope that held his whole right arm at the wrist. Taking much longer than needed, if only he would be able to move his hand even a little more freely than a single-inch range of movement.
Now with his right arm completely free of restraints, it didn't take more than a minute for him to completely get himself free of all the tight ropes tying him to the wooden cross - first cutting off the rope at the neck, his feet, and then his left wrist. Due to the child's size being smaller than the wooden cross, he made an audible 'thud' sound upon landing on the ground.
"...Now I am free. What should I do?"
The most important thing for Gin was, of course, to find Alfia. Saving her from being a source of the inhumane screaming happening somewhere in the facility was the most critical thing.
In addition to that, he also acknowledged that because of his cutting work, he didn't notice that the sounds of screams never stopped in the last 10 minutes, only becoming less audible with time. Worst case, the person being tortured was now simply on the verge of death…
With a strong determination in his eyes, knowing that he had two lives to save today, Gin tried to slowly open the iron door, only to be happily surprised that no one bothered to use locks in this place. Considering that their targets were tied-up children, it made some sense.
'If we were kidnapped at the same time, it's most likely that we would be placed on the same floor,' he thought before starting to quietly walk in the very dimly illuminated corridors in search of the clues - avoiding encounters with the local residents.
It wasn't long before he found another door - no more than 20 feet away from the one he emerged from.
However, when he confirmed that it was quiet inside, he slowly opened the door, only to immediately hold his nose because of the powerful smell of blood inside.
After closing his right eye and opening the left one that he left closed beforehand to operate in the darkness, he was profoundly horrified like he never was in his previous life.
What stood in front of him was a similar cross to the one he was tied to, the only difference being a dead girl with missing eyes on it.
Both of her wrists were covered in blood.
'Likely had her blood collected during whatever torture she experienced,' he immediately thought.
Broad bloody stripes coming from where her eyes were supposed to be clearly visible on her face also made it likely that the blood could have been collected there too.
The long hair was either dark brown or black; he couldn't see clearly.
However, the most important thing that he was able to see was that the practically naked girl on the cross who was tortured to death was not Alfia, and that's why he had to stop himself from looking at her corpse.
'I have to find her,' Gin immediately collected himself. He can remember the scene in front of him later when everyone would be safe and sound.
There was no need for further inspection - a dead child tortured to death by the cultists at this underground base. He had to take care of the living first and foremost…
After closing a door and taking a single breath, Gin started walking to the next door, only to have a similar scene repeated.
By the fourth time, it had already stopped surprising him at all. If anything, he got some helpful information that the cultists seemed to torture people in the same rooms they had been held at.
After checking all the rooms, he knew that since everyone on his floor had died, he had to take the stairs.
The only issue when he came to the stairs was whether he went up or down…
'What if Alfia is somewhere deeper underground? But If I would go down, I may not save her if she is upstairs... but if she is somewhere down…' he started to think, almost falling into pointless hesitation.
However, after remembering his single goal, he forced himself to think logically about where she most likely was held at.
'I woke up, and all the children on my floor were murdered. If I were to bring new prisoners, would I put them closer or farther from the exit…? Likely closer… The missing children notices in the Guild would mean that I was very likely not in the first batch of the kidnapped….'
'However, I must have been the next one on the torture list… Since I heard screams upstairs, it means that there are likely survivors there, and they haven't finished that floor. Combined with putting prisoners closer to the exit, I must go upstairs…' Gin finally deduced, before starting to feel the slightly wet, wooden stairs under his feet.
His state of mind was now full of extraordinary determination.
"Alfia, I'll save you..."
***
Sixth District, Hearth Mansion, Captain's Office.
The Apollo Familia has never had such a bad day in its 800-year-old history.
It was your typical rainy day in Orario. Perhaps, a little more severe than usual with some stronger wind, but nothing out of the ordinary.
The captain and other executives had been missing for the last 2 weeks, and the vice-captain Orpheus, a famous musician in Orario who learned the art from the Lord Apollo himself, tried his best to stabilize the situation. However, the only thing he knew was that he was supposed to come to the special location tomorrow morning from the secret letter that was delivered to him a week ago by the Lord Apollo's most trusted courier.
Nonetheless, everything that happened today was nothing short of extraordinary...
First, Freya Elites, headed by the invincible Level 6 "Demi Ymir," jumped right over the wall of the estate and destroyed the front door without any notice, bringing at least a dozen adventurers - all first and second-class. Then, without any explanation, started capturing and interrogating people left and right, looking for Lord Apollo. The funny part was that the Apollo Familia members themselves wanted to know the whereabouts of their beloved deity.
The worst part was that it was less than 20 seconds after the commotion started when the golden door of the captain's office on the 3rd floor exploded. A cat-girl executive of Freya Familia and two of her loyal Level 4 cat-men followers rushed in - subduing an honest and righteous Level 4 vice-captain in less than 6.5 seconds.
That's what happened around 5 minutes ago; however, what was happening now in the office, was something that Orpheus never expected to happen to him in his life...
"..."
"...!"
"I'll ask one last time, Mr. vice-captain. Where. The. Fuck. Is. Apollo?" a cat-girl with an explosive personality asked in both seductive and threatening voice to a human musician with his face forcibly pushed against the table, while his long red hair was held tight in the girl's palm - perfect for both constant psychological pressure and periodical head smashing against the table.
'This wooden table is of such high quality. It doesn't even have that many dents after so many hits, huh….'
"I said it already! I don't know where Lord Apollo—"
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
"Urggghhh!"
Several broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, and beaten to the pulp face - the vice-captain of the Apollo Familia was not an easy nut to crack.
"Look, I will say it one last time. This time I am not kidding," Love spoke while forcibly breaking the bones in his left arm.
Snap!
"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
"If you don't tell me where the hell is your stupid God currently at or your other missing familia members, including your captain, I will start killing people," she stated, her grip on his hair at least 3 times as tight as before. "I don't care about the consequences since your shady God is most likely connected to the kidnapping of Lady Freya's children. Whatever the results of murdering the other familia members, we would be able to bear it."
"!"
"Huh...? Do you keep resisting? Fine," she said before calling her subordinates, who followed her in this operation. "Bring a few Apollo members and this guy's lover... Was it Elena or Melena...? Yeah, I think it was Melena. I want their heads right against this table."
Thump!
"W-Wa—!"
Thump!
Thump!
"I will behead them myself unless you speak of what you know," she calmly stated while caressing his cheek. However, the next moment her face shone with a realization: "Actually… I'm sorry, but I'm lying... since... I would not be beheading them… but exploding their heads - but it doesn't change the main point, right?"
Thump!
Thump!
"W-Wait! I will tell you, don't kill Melena…!"
***
A few minutes later, in a brightly lit underground room.
"Let's start the ceremony…" a gruff voice of someone wearing a hood said.
"Noooo!!"
"Today, we dedicate this sacrifice to the future of this world. Let the world be free of sins and let everyone find their true happiness," a man started, taking out a small ceremonial dagger - twitching with some purple liquid floating around it in circles.
"Please! Don't do this…."
"Let the healthy young blood of this child be filled with love and care that we all lack in this world… Let the tears flow freely, for those who would drink the tears of an innocent child would be absolved of all their sins… We know that no one is perfect, but we all must strive for a happy world - free of everything evil and full of love and care, where our loved ones protect and cherish us… Amen."
"Nooooo…" she pleaded, her body tied to the cross. Tears were now running down her rosy cheeks, completely blurring her left green eye. "Please, sto—AAAAAAAAGGHHHHH!" an innocent young girl screamed in agony, blood starting to run from her wrists…
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