Chapter 196 - In the Cellar
Inside Kelberg city, Ray was currently standing by a fountain located in the centre of a square. The square was surrounded by shops and little restaurants and full of kids in the middle of the street playing around.
However, Ray didn't look like his usual self for he was disguised as Nes.
Ray decided that it was best if he stayed in his transformed state as Nes. The main reason for this was whenever he would walk around the city as Ray, he would consistently get stares and whispers. It had been a while since this had happened as Ray had spent a long time at Avrion.
Although everyone had become accepting of Ray in Avrion city. The rest of the world still saw Ray's red hair as a sign of bad luck or danger. Right now, Ray was planning to sneak into the cellars below so it was best for him to avoid attention as much as possible.
Finally, Gary and Jack had arrived after receiving the message from Ray. Gary had his new White falcon sword held around his waist proudly hoping Ray would say something but Ray completely ignored Gary and cut to the chase.
"You want us to break in, what if someone spots us, won't we be arrested?" Gary asked
"I have already received information from the guards and it seems our skills should be enough," Ray replied.
While waiting for Gary and Jack, Ray took the opportunity to use his Dragons truth on many of the guards. The guards of the city actually weren't too strong. Most of them had come from the city of Avrion after completing their three years of training.
There was a reason why Guilds decided to make their base at Kelberg. Due to the number of merchants traveling from Kelberg, there was a huge number of requests for Quest to do with escorting. The city guards were just not powerful enough to handle these.
It was a good city for Guilds to make coin in and at the same time, the city also gained from it as well. This was why the mayor made sure to keep a good relationship with the two big guilds making sure no one upset them.
The guards inside the city were really only there to deal with thievery, disputes, collecting taxes, and all sorts.
"Well maybe us two can sneak in but what about him?" Gary said as he pointed to Jack.
Ray and Gary had been trained as black sashes. The set of skills they had learned during their time at the academy was designed for this very thing. Climbing walls, picking locks, and hiding using their shadow skill.
But Jack was a white sash, not only had he not learned any of these skills but he stood out like a sore thumb.
"Jack will stay above ground watching the entrance telling us if he spots anything weird from above."
With the details of the plan discussed, the three of them waited until night time to take action. Gary and Ray's shadow skills worked better at night making it harder for them to be seen.
From the information that Ray had gathered, there were two entrances to the underground cellars. One was placed just outside the city while the other was inside the castle located in the centre of the city. This one was more heavily guarded as more Guards were protecting the Mayor.
The three of them left the city and went to where the cellar entrance was located. Just outside the city was a guard tower with a smaller wall with several knights on watch duty. This was an outpost that was used to take criminals that had been captured outside of the city, straight to the cellars without having the need for them to go through the city.
Ray used his dragon eyes skill to measure the guard's strength and it was weaker than he had thought. With this level of skill, Ray and Gary would be able to sneak in even without having to use their shadow skill.
After bypassing the first set of guards and entering the small outpost, they could finally see the entrance to the underground cellar. The entrance was just a regular double steel door unlike the ones at Avrion that required a special combination and were made of the hardest material known to man.
These steel doors could easily be broken by Ray but they didn't want to cause a commotion. The two of them quietly waited until the right opportunity and then finally someone had opened the door to switch duties with someone above.
Ray used that period to sneak by the guards using their shadow skills almost making them invisible.
"Hey did you feel that wind blow by just now." A guard said as Gary walked past him.
"What are you talking about, there's no wind at all today."
"Must have been my imagination."
Finally, Gary and Ray were in the underground cellar. The cellar was a large single room that was too big for Ray to see the end of. Every ten meters or so at the side of the wall would be a set of Iron bars, behind the bars each contained a small room harbouring a criminal.
"It will take us forever to find him?" Gary said looking at all the rooms.
Ray started to use his Dragon eyes to scan the room, he wasn't looking for the man himself but was looking for the weapon specifically. That's when Ray noticed something strange. At the very back of the cellar, a strong life force was burning Red as if a beast was being kept down here.
As Ray looked closer though he realized it had a shape of a human, not only that but the human was still holding something in his hand that resembled the hammer.
"The man is this way," Ray said, "Let's hurry."
Back outside of the outpost Jack continued to keep an eye out to see if there was anything strange but that's when he started to sniff out a familiar scent. Then he heard sounds coming through the forest he was hiding in.
Jack quickly hid behind a huge boulder waiting to see who it was. Then two figures wearing hooded cloaks had appeared. One was large while the other was small.
They walked up to the outpost and Jack continued to keep an eye on them. When they finally arrived, they took off their cloaks to reveal their faces. One of them was a woman while the other was a man Jack recognized.
It was Berg form the tavern.
"We are here to see the criminal you caught today." The female voice said.
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Special thanks to Sarah_Tosin, reader555, DarkShadow_DS, Ekwuruke_Samuel, Fenrir2040, and Alexander_Bingham for the gifts, these really help me continue writing the story and maybe one day I can write full time bringing you even more chapters and more works.