Ch 8: The Plan

"Please...! Save my parents!!!" Said the young boy with tears and snot dripping down his face.

"W-What?" Lequiss taken aback, takes a step back but the kid insistently held on his shirt, the bandage wrapping his arm was loosening and falling.

"Please, mister! You're strong right?! I saw it earlier! When you saved us!" Cried out the young boy.

"Kid, calm down. Wailing out like that will only worsen your condition." Said Hans still attending to the old man.

*Sniff* *Sniff* "B-But if I don't do anything, my parents will be killed!!" The boy tightens his grip on Lequiss's shirt.

"My S-Shirt! It's getting stretched out!" Said Lequiss as he pushes the kid's face away but the kid was still tightly holding onto his shirt. Lequiss's shirt was getting more stretched out now than it was before but he insistently pushed the kid away.

"L-Let go already!" Desperately said Lequiss.

"No! If I let go, you might not help my parents!" Yell out the kid.

"Wow, he's got a lot of energy after just waking up." Remarked Mihikolo.

"Come on! Let go already! You'll destroy my shirt!"

Eilda walks up to them and is now behind the young boy.

Lequiss sees her "Ah!" and says "Help me get this kid off!"

The boy looks behind him to see who it is but Eilda suddenly takes a swift and clean strike at the boy's nape before he could turn around.

"A-Auhhh" The boy was rendered unconscious with one strike and falls back but Eilda catches him before he lands on the floor. Eilda lifts the boy up into both her arms and goes back to the bed but she was stopped, the boy's hands were still holding onto Lequiss's shirt as it's still stretching out.

"A-Ah! My Shirt! Stop! Stop! Don't pull anymore! Make him let go first!" Said Lequiss with a look of panic on his face.

Eilda was in awe. "He's still holding onto your shirt even when unconscious..? What resolve he must have to save his parents..!"

Eilda walks closer to Lequiss to loosen his shirt. "Try to remove his hands now." Lequiss grabs both the boy's hands and tries to pull it but it only stretched the shirt more as the boy's hand didn't budge, he quickly lets go of the boy's hands and the shirt reverts back to normal.

"How about pulling each one of his fingers, one by one?"

"Okay." Said Lequiss as he grabs one of the boy's finger and pulls it, it stayed up as he pulled it.

"Oh! it worked!" He continued to pull the rest, finally releasing the grip on his shirt. Now freed, He looks around his body to see if there's any damage to his shirt, and to his surprise, it's perfectly fine. "Ahahahaha! My shirt's fine!"

Eilda carries the boy back to the bed and lays him there. Eilda sits back down beside the boy and fixes the bandages.

"Sorry for hitting you but you'll need to rest your body with the condition you're in... Your condition will only worsen if you keep insisting though you can't hear this..."

"Boss, wasn't that the move the old dude from the Mixus Family used on Lequiss?!" Remarked Fylo.

"You're right! Though It wasn't as fast but it was too similar to not be the same! Eilda!" Said Mihikolo as he calls out to Eilda, she turns to him.

"Was that from the old man? Did you just copy what the old man did to Lequiss?" Asked Mihikolo.

"No, that was just a common move, a basic strike to the neck though I did try to copy the old man, he was precise and sharp but I couldn't."

"Anyhow, what will we do now, Lequiss?" Asked Eilda.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Asked Lequiss.

"I'm asking if we should escape now or... help the boy..." Said Eilda with a defeated look as if she's already anticipated their answer while she finishes applying the bandage to the boy.

"What? Why would you want to help him now? We already have enough with our hands because of these two!" Said Mihikolo pointing at Lequiss and Jildelmn.

Jildelmn sitting by the wall with both of his legs raised and his hands on his knees says "I agree, we have no obligation to help them and right now would be the perfect chance to escape this city but... Since I've chosen to follow him." He looks at Lequiss. "I will follow his decision."

Everybody looks at Lequiss in anticipation awaiting his response. Lequiss stood there, looking up, closed eyes and a hand on his chin as they await his decision.

"Mhmm..."

Lequiss opens his eyes and looks at Eilda.

"Miss, uhh..." Lequiss tries to call out to Eilda but he doesn't know her name.

"It's Eilda." Answered Eilda with a confused face.

"Ah right, Eilda! ...What do 'you' wanna do?" Asked Lequiss as he looks at her with a grin on his face.

"You're asking what I wanna do...?" Eilda asks in a surprised tone.

"Yeah!" Answered Lequiss.

"I... Want to help the boy! I don't want to repeat the last time when I didn't do anything!" Answered Eilda as she looked at Lequiss with a determined look.

Lequiss laughs loudly "Ahahahaha! Alright then, that's my decision! Let's go save everyone!"

"W-What?!" Surprisedly said Mihikolo.

"C-Come on! Are you serious?! You want to help people in the situation we're in?! We're basically wanted people right now because of you!" Rant Mihikolo.

"Ahahahaha! It's fine, It's fine! I'm strong aren't I?" Said Lequiss as he laughs at Mihikolo.

Mihikolo palms his face in disappointment. "This is... What Eilda chose to follow...?"

Eilda looks at Lequiss with a smile on her face. "Hahaha, thank you!"

Jildelmn stood up and thought to himself while fiercely looking at Lequiss. "So that's the decision you've made, I guess following you wouldn't be that bad..." he speaks up. "I'll be keeping my word then, I'll follow the decision he made but... How will we do it...?"

"We can come up with a plan, in the meantime we need to take care of your injuries." Said Eilda.

"Ah, right." Jildelmn looks at his arms covered in wounds. "I wouldn't be able to use my full strength to help you with these injuries."

"Take a sit, I'll tend to your wounds."

"Right." Jildelmn takes one of the chairs and pulls it towards Eilda and stops beside her and takes a sit. As soon as he sat down, Eilda began to start applying medicine to his injuries

"So, how will we save the people in the basement?" Asked Jildelmn.

"The basement?" Asked Lequiss.

"Yeah, the basement. That's where I was kept till the execution and along with me were the rest of the people captured."

"I see, so they keep all these people in this 'basement' till they're executed, I thought they just captured people right before the day of the annual execution." Remarked Eilda.

"That's right, I've talked with people there that were captured as long as 9 months ago. It wasn't the worst though, they don't torture you but they just give you enough food and water to be alive though they don't care if you die before your execution."

"That still seems like torture to me." Comment Mihikolo.

"Then where is this basement located?" Asked Eilda.

"I don't know. I was unconscious when I was brought there and I was blindfolded when I was brought out." Answered Jildelmn.

"You weren't blindfolded when you were up there earlier." Said Mihikolo.

"They took it off when I was about to go up." Said Jildelmn.

"So we need to locate where this basement is before we can make a move." Said Eilda.

"I know where it is." Hans suddenly speaks out as he tears the bandage and finishes applying medicine to the old man.

"What? You do?" Asked Mihikolo.

"Yes, it's located at the underground floor of the City Hall, hence the name, basement."

"The city hall? You mean the big building at the end of the city?" Asked Eilda.

"Yes, it also serves as the residence of the Vaskard family."

"So we just need to go to their home and wreck up their place?" Said Lequiss, he puts his fist in his palm, clenching his fist looking ready for a fight.

"Do you want to save people or just wreck their place?!" Asked Mihikolo in a funny and annoyed tone.

"Ahahahaha! Both!" Lequiss answers with a laugh.

Eilda was getting lost in deep thought. "A plan to rescue everyone in the basement..." She was too deep into her thoughts that she makes a mistake when applying the rest of the medicine to Jildelmn.

"Kgh!!" Jildelmn's arms shakes in pain.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I was lost in deep thought" Eilda immediately apologizes.

"It's fine, medicine is medicine. Even if it hurts, it'll make it better anyway." Remarked Jildelmn.

"Wait, didn't you say there was no torture in that basement? So how did you get those injuries in the first place?" Curiously asked Mihikolo.

Jildelmn fiercely looks at Mihikolo. "It was when I was jumped by the guards. You didn't think I would fight back, would you? They injured and captured me but I was still able to fend off the majority of them." Explained Jildelmn.

Eilda's eyes widen upon hearing this. "The majority of them? Wait, how would you estimate how strong the guards are?" Asked Eilda.

"How strong they are?" Jildelmn begins to recall what he experienced. "...They were weak. They were slow, sluggish, and moved like amateurs, It seemed like they were only dressed like knights. I'd say they're incomparably weak when compared to someone like him." Jildelmn points to Lequiss with his thumb.

"They're weak, huh?" Eilda ponders as she starts bandaging his arms.

"But the man with the spear... He was strong, I couldn't gauge his full strength since they attacked me simultaneously but compared to those dress-up knights I'm sure he's definitely powerful. He's also the one that gave me these wounds all over my body since he was the only one that could land any hits.

"I see." Said Eilda.

"Ah." Eilda turns her head to Hans. "Mister Hans, do you know anything about this powerful spear user?" Asked Eilda.

"No. Sorry but I don't meddle with the affairs of the Vaskards, so I don't know what they've been doing, much less who they've been getting on their side."

"So there's one we need to be wary about." Eilda finishes applying the bandage to his arms. "Are there any more injuries needed to be taken care of?" Asked Eilda to Jildelmn. "No." Answered Jildelmn, Eilda nods and then starts to think to herself as he answered.

"Like I said, if there's only one guy we need to be careful about, why don't we just storm in there and wreck their place up?" Asked Lequiss.

"We could probably do that but we don't exactly know their numbers or if there's more we need to be careful about, so we can't recklessly go in. We need a plan." Remarked Jildelmn.

"I've thought of one... It's rather simple and straightforward but I think it'll be enough to work."

Now afternoon...

In a spacious room, It looked like a bedroom with one big bed and a lot of decorations and furniture like out of a rich person's house. There lying in bed was the Son of the Mayor, Agaleh Vaskard, unconscious, and beside him sitting on a chair while caressing his hand carefully was the Mayor himself, Fattah Vaskard.

"Oh, Son! My lovely, adorable, and handsome son! Look what they've done to you!" Screams Fattah in an greifing manner

Agaleh lay there unconscious, his body looked totally fine with nothing wrong with it at all, even looking better than a normal person

"Son! Please don't leave me! I promise you I'll get revenge on those that made you like this!" Said Fattah in an anguished tone.

Agaleh's hand clenches softly on his father's hand.

"Ah! Son!" Fattah pulls his hands towards himself.

Agaleh's eyes slowly begin to open themselves but it was too blurry to see anything clearly.

"U-Ugh..." Softly groaned Agaleh.

"Son! Son! Are you okay?!" Concernedly asked Fattah

Agaleh's vision begins to return and he turns to see who's talking.

"AHH!" Agaleh suddenly gets up and pulls his hand away from his father.

"Son! What's wrong?!" Concernedly asked Fattah.

Agaleh pants in worry. "Oh, Father, It was just you... I thought you were that scary Jildelmn."

"You don't have to be scared anymore, son! I've already sent out the whole force of the city to find those wretched fools! They won't be able to escape!" Angrily said Fattah.

Agaleh breathes a sigh of relief, releasing all his stress. "Good, thank you, Father! I hope I can execute them myself!" Happily said Agaleh.

"Oh don't worry son, I'll let you execute all of the remaining ones in the basement!" Said Fattah.

"Really?! Thank you, father!' Agaleh hugs him in joy.

'Hahahaha, anything for my handsome son!" Said Fattah while smiling

"But son..." Fattah pushes him by the shoulder and looks at him seriously.

"Why did you even capture Jildelmn in the first place?" Seriously asked Fattah.

"I-I-I saw it in your desk and I-I only wanted to see you happy a-a-and you were happy when you saw him captured weren't you?!" Worriedly answered Agaleh.

*Sigh* "Yes I was happy but right now, he's the cause of all this chaos. I wasn't planning on capturing him in the first place since he's far too dange-"

*Thud* The door behind Fattah slams open and a knight walks in.

The knight kneels down on one knee with his head down. "Mayor!" Said the Knight while panting.

Fattah looks behind him, looking angry. "Didn't I tell you not to disturb us!" Angrily said Fattah.

"B-But Mayor, we've found them!" Said the Knight.

"What?! You've found them?!" Surprisedly asked Fattah.

"Yes! We've located Jildelmn along with a kid and a large man!" Said the Knight.

"A kid and a large man? The kid might be that Lequiss but who is that large man?" Fattah thought to himself. "Have you captured them yet?" Asked Fattah.

'N-No, we haven't." Ashamedly answered the knight.

"Hmph, pathetic knights." Remarked Fattah.

The knight's face was filled with anger and embarrassment, he thinks to himself. "It's because you only forced this upon us!"

"Then where are they?" Asked Fattah.

"They're at the North-east part of the city but the thing is..." Hesitantly said the Knight.

"What? Spill it out already."

"T-They seem to heading straight over here."

"What?!" Fattah looked shocked while Agaleh looked scared.

"I-It seemed like they're walking straight towards the city hall!" Answered the Knight.

*Thump* A knight falls on his back, in front of the knight was Lequiss with his hand stretched out after punching the knight in the face, he retracts his fist, and along with him were Jildelmn and Fylo walking straight.

Jildelmn looked more decent now as he removed his raggedy clothes from earlier and put on a simple blue pants but he had no shirt as his whole upper body from neck to his waist was covered in bandage. "Did you really have to cover me up like this with bandage?" Asked Jildelmn.

"Yeah, I couldn't pass out on a chance to turn somebody into a half mummy and there wasn't any shirt in the room anyway! Ahahahaha!" Remarked Lequiss.

Jildelmn sighs in frustration. "But are you sure, this will work?" Asked Jildelmn.

"What will?" Asked Lequiss.

"The plan."

"Hahahaha! I don't know!" Laughingly Answered Lequiss.

"I don't know either but since the boss trusts Eilda, I'll trust her too." Answered Fylo.

"It'll probably work! I think?" Unsurely said Lequiss.

"Well, I guess there's no problem right now with how weak these so-called knights are." Remarked Jildelmn.

"Hahaha! I know right! They're very weak! We'll probably get there before they do!" Said Lequiss.

"No, we don't need to be quick. It's better for us to be slower since It'll bait them more."

"Mhmm? I don't know... What was her whole plan again?"

"Wha?! You already forgot?!" Surprisedly asked Jildelmn.

"Yea-" A knight suddenly rushes in front of the three about to swing downward and interrupts their conversation. Lequiss punches him in the face similar to earlier, the knight falls down on his back.

"Yeah, I already forgot it!"

*Sigh* "The plan she said goes like this..."

Earlier in the room...

"I think it should be enough for it to work." Said Eilda.

"Huh? You already thought of a plan?" Asked Mihikolo.

"Yes, we'll move in the afternoon, The City Hall is in the South of the City and currently we're in the northeast of the City, close to the gates. Our plan is to take advantage of the current situation that's going on among them, which is currently them being scattered throughout the whole city which means the city hall will have less security with them being scattered and that's where Lequiss and Mister here." Eilda looks at Jildemn. "Are going to come in, they're going to be our bait." Explained Eilda.

"Bait? Why would we be bait...?" Confusingly asked Jildelmn.

"Since you two are the ones they've seen, you two are most likely going to be the ones they're searching for and so with them being scattered, the majority of them will most likely take some time getting to your location and so while they're focused on both of you, Me, Mihikolo and Fylo will go to the City Hall in another route, maybe in the West, we'll quickly do our objective. Our only goal is to save the people in the basement not to fight... Any questions?" Explained Eilda.

"It's simple... But why in the afternoon? Wouldn't it be more advantageous for us if we strike at night? Plus this guy's still injured." Asked Mihikolo.

"No, I'll be fine." Said Jildelmn.

"Our best chance is in the afternoon because right now they're split up plus they're currently at their highest alert. They'll immediately respond to an emergency, which is going to be these two, unlike in the night, they might retreat the majority of their forces and guard the city hall." Explained Eilda.

"Okay, I get it but in the case of us being finished saving those in the basement, how would Lequiss and this guy know that we're done?"

"I was planning on just running towards them while you and Fylo head straight to the ga- Oh!" Eilda came to a realization "I forgot! Do you still have your gun, Mihikolo?" Asked Eilda.

"Oh right! My gun!" Mihikolo searches around his body and finds it in his pocket. "Here it is!"

"Why would you keep a gun in your pocket?" Asked Jildelmn.

"I didn't have anywhere to put it."

"Do you have any bullets left?" Asked Eilda.

"Let me check." Mihikolo reaches for his other pocket and surprisingly finds 3 bullets. "I do."

"Right, now that we have this. This'll be our signal for retreating or getting the hell out of this city." Said Eilda.

"I see, It's a good plan ...But aren't you underestimating their military prowess? Yes, they might have a hard time going from another region to us but what if we get outnumbered or worse, what if people as strong or even more powerful as that man with the spear appear?" Asked Jildelmn.

"You're right, I didn't think of that..." Said Eilda as she starts to ponder again.

"Mhmm??" Lequiss thinking hard with his hand on his chin and his eyes close.

"Uhh, Lequiss what got you thinking hard like that?" Asked Fylo.

"I'm thinking about what will happen to those we save since we're immediately leaving after releasing them." Said Lequiss still thinking.

Eilda's concentration breaks upon hearing this. "You're right... I didn't think about the aftermath..."

"Leave that to me." Suddenly Hans speaks up.

"Huh?" Lequiss stops thinking and looks at Hans along with everybody.

"What did you say?" Ask Mihikolo.

"Leave it to me. I'll handle the aftermath of the people being released... I decided to help you along with your plan so I'll have to go with you miss." Said Hans looking at Eilda.

"Ah, alright then that's perfect! Now that we have Mister Hans coming with us we can fix two problems. First, Fylo can go along with you two now so we can lessen the risk you both are taking. Second, is with Mister Hans along with us, he might know the way around the city hall so we won't take longer trying to find our way around."

"Yes, I don't know what they've changed around the estate but I definitely know where the basement is located and I'm sure they haven't changed that..." Said Hans.

"Good then does anyone have any more questions?" Asked Eilda.

"I don't know, we're taking a pretty high risk at being bait..." Remarked Jildelmn.

"Hahahaha! It's fine! If you can't handle it, I will! I'm strong as hell!" Joyfully said Lequiss.

Jildelmn seemed surprised, he couldn't do anything but chuckle. "Aha, I see. You're right... With entrusting my life to you, I guess counting on you is a small thing ...Then I'll have to count on you to take care of the knights."

"Hehe! Count on me all you wa-"

"But...!" Jildelmn interrupts Lequiss with an angered look on him.

"I ask that you let me handle the man with the spear! Me and Him have some unfinished business!" Asked Jildelmn.

Lequiss looks at him with one eyebrow raised and a look of doubt.

"Are you sure you'll be okay with those injuries?" Asked Lequiss.

"Oh don't worry. Even with injuries like this, I'm sure I would win." Remarked Jildelmn.

"Hahaha, sure then! If you're that confident then I won't stop you!" Said Lequiss.

"Then I think nobody else has any questions?" Asked Eilda looking at them.

"Alright, it's currently 8:37, we'll move at exactly 1:00. you three can rest while Me, Mihikolo, and Mister Hans will go find a different route to the city hall in the meantime, we might not come back here so if it turns 1:00, move." Explained Eilda.

"Understood." Said Jildelmn.

"Okay." Said Fylo.

"Haha sure!" Said Lequiss wiggling around in the chair.

"It's settled then, let's go save everyone!" Declared Eilda.

Jildelmn takes notice of Lequiss's crown as Lequiss is wiggling

"Huh... Lequiss, I've been meaning to ask you. What is that crown...? Are you like a prince in another country?"

Eilda chuckles upon hearing him.

Lequiss smiles at him. "Nope!"

"No, he's not. This might sound unbelievable but ...Lequiss is a chosen one... The crown on his head is a Quiss."

?!?!

Hans and Jildelmn were in absolute shock upon hearing her.

"WHAT?!?!"