Chapter 33 - 33

"Welcome back!" The same guard Sargeant is on duty again today, greeting them as soon as they return. "Starting a petting zoo are we?"

"We could only wish. These are the illegally imported snow leopards we recovered for the Town Hall Quest. There's proof of kill for all the bandits that were at their camp too, but we didn't find any captive women." Misha tells him, trying to stand up from the mass of large kittens clinging to her.

"I'm sure they'll have a quest for the missing women eventually, it's a shame the cats can't be kept, I would like one myself." The Sargeant replies.

"They're not actually miniature leopards." Mythryll shakes her head. "They're kittens, they'll grow up to be full sized leopards."

"You see, now I want one even more. Who wouldn't want a huge fluffy cat?"

Char laughs and vigorously nods her agreement. When it comes to fluffy things, those two are definitely on the same page.

The response is so positive in town that the guard actually has to send an escort to prevent the kittens from being stolen from the wagon. Not even the huge, clawed forms of the Greater Golems is enough to deter the crowd from trying to pet the kittens.

"Okay, we have received proof of kill for the bandits, plus the recovered documents from the camp and the illegally imported animals." The Hall attendant says from behind her counter, kitten in her arms.

"Your reward is ready, please check the board if you would like to take another mission."

"Unfortunately I think we may have to bite the bullet and go dungeon crawling if we're going to keep up our rate of progression." Misha sighs.

"Yeah, even if we do a mission like that every day, it would take ten to get as much experience as from the dungeon, with all the buffs the party receives." Cain agrees.

"We will just have to suffer, then soak in a bath full of bubbles afterwards." Mythryll agrees. "In fact, we should get some now, so we have more when we need it."

The group heads out to the night market, looking for bubble bath and whatever else might help remove the scent of zombies. Unequipping armor and putting it back on removes scents, but doesn't do anything for the person underneath.

"Well look who we have here." Cain hears before Misha screams in pain. "It's the Healer with the legendary recipes. If you don't want your little boyfriend to die, you're going to do exactly as we say."

Cain considers taking out his summons, but using skills in town is a serious crime here. If he gets arrested before rescuing Misha, who knows what might happen to her. But Mythryll and Char have heard the scream too, and recognized it.

There's ten men in their group, all warriors, going by their armor and they've surrounded Misha.

"Don't do anything stupid lover boy. We're taking her now and you can have her back when we're done. If she's still alive that is." The disgusting man jokes.

They start dragging her away, not realizing that the other two are also in the market tonight. Six men are dragging her away, while four move to surround Cain, who draws his sword.

"Feeling brave are you? We all know you're not a fighter, you just rely on those summons. You really think you can take on four of us at once?"

An alarm spell goes off and a red alarm light appears in the air. Someone has used a skill and triggered the towns warning alarms.

"Help! The kidnappers are using skills in town!" Cain shouts and attacks the man in front of him with a heavy sword blow. He's got to get through this group and to Misha so he can find out what happened.

The strength of his attack takes the warrior by surprise and he staggers back, giving Cain a chance to run through the encirclement. Misha is on the ground being kicked, the attacks must have auto activated her Arcane Armor. Knowing their party will soon be arrested if he does nothing, Cain decides to go all out and calls his summons, sending them to protect Misha.

Red alarm lights flash one after another as the warriors use skills to defend themselves, just as Cain hoped. If everyone is flagged for skill use, it will be up to the guard to determine what happened and who was justified.

Heavy footsteps are coming from every direction as more and more guards are called, and Misha realizes what Cain's plan is. She wears a [Tattered Noble Dress] from her inventory and pinches the bridge of her nose to make her eyes water as if she were crying.

"Help me, please help. I'm a cleric, I can't fight them off!" she yells and the guards move to surround her as Cain pulls his Golems back, dismissing the Greater Golems and the Wasps before the guards can see them.

"You, Summoner, dismiss your pets!" The guard calls. "Everyone else drop your weapons! Someone tell us what happened here." Both Cain and one of the thugs move forward to talk, but the guard grabs the nearest person without a combat flag or skill use warning. Mythryll.

"You, girl, you must have seen it. Tell me what happened." He demands in a stern voice.

"Those warriors, they knew she was a crafter and they were going to have her craft them what they wanted after they had their way with her. They tried to drag her away, but her boyfriend started fighting, and then they used skills on him, and there were summons and fighting everywhere." Misha is talking so fast and panicked that the guard can barely follow along with what she's saying, a truly masterful performance.

"Alright, I've heard what I need. The truth spell determines no lie in her testimony. You're all going in for the night, skill use in town. If you can pay the fine, you two will be free in the morning. You lot though, this isn't your first offense. That's 12 months in the can for kidnapping.." This determination doesn't sit well with the warriors, who immediately grab Misha and try to run for it while most of their group attacks the guards.