-Callia-

  Waking up came slowly. The first thing I noticed was the feeling of stiffness and restraint. The first thing I did was press against whatever was restricting me, but memories of what happened flooded back. My dazed mind snapped awake. Fully awake, I got an understanding of my situation.

  I was bound around a pole in the ground, my eyes covered, a gag in my mouth, and my legs were tied to stakes in the ground fully extended from my body. I was tightly bound in place with no slack whatsoever. I tried straining against the bindings, but it had little effect. The sound of voices made me freeze in my efforts as I focused on what they were saying. The soft tone of a subordinate speaking to an easily angered boss echoes to me.

  “Boss, the recruiters just got back. Word is the Port town people have caught on to our actions. I think it might be best if we focus on developing the base.” The footsteps of two people entering the room echo off the walls. One is heavy, impacting the ground without any hint of stealth, and the other is much lighter.

  “Right, but does that mean I won’t get to have fun?” The second voice is a deep rumble coming from the heavier feet. The voice sounds similar to the angry war cries Ralf made in our fight. The question makes the subordinate freeze in place briefly before he snaps back in a panic.

  “Of course not! It’ll take time to organize everything, but we have plenty of captives! We could organize fights; there's plenty of fun we can have exploiting the soldiers we captured.” I hear both enter my room.

  “What about the girl? Did you stop me from crushing her skull for fun?” A shiver runs down my spine as I realize just how close I came to getting killed.

  “NO! No. Boss, we captured the girl because she’s valuable! With how young and strong she is, having her as a hostage makes our operation so much easier! If the towns ever send a team of knights to clear us out, we threaten the girl to buy time to escape through the secret tunnel!” So that’s why I’m alive. To be used against everyone else. I quietly seethe in helpless rage. I hear the thump of Ralf lazily kicking back onto some kind of chair at the far side from the entry.

  “Fine, go get the fun ready. I don’t want to wait long.” With that, the smaller man quickly scrambled out of the room. I wait in silence as the sound of someone biting heavily on some kind of meat travels the room. Without hesitation my stomach betrays me with a loud gurgling noise. Announcing to the room I am in fact very hungry.

  The sound makes the big man stop eating. His steps slowly march over to me until he stops right next to me. I can feel my heart racing as a thick hand fumbles at the cloth holding my gag and blindfold. It comes loose, and the sudden increase of light makes me flinch.

  “Heh, I knew you would be a tricksie one. Here nobody likes being hungry.” He holds up a thick chunk of steaming and juicy meat. My first instinct is to try turning away, but my hunger and the smell of roasted meat is incredible.

  “Come on, eat up! Not getting food is bad.” I give the strangely happy man a glare to express my feelings, but I still take a bite. The smell was just too much, and I have no idea how long I had been out of it. Seeing me eat makes him break into a huge smile. It’s almost unnerving seeing the man who swung me around like a club so happy to see me eat. Without being at imminent risk, I focus on understanding the circumstances. If I sent a half-baked message or was interrupted, I didn’t want to risk Callen diving in unprepared. Eventually I had my fill, and Ralf backed off and got back to eating it himself. I see him grabbing the gag and blindfold and try to stop him.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Hey! Wait! How about we talk for a bit? Do you really need to tie me up with those?” My comment brings the big man to a halt as he looks between me and the restraints in thought. I’m about to speak again, but he shoves the gag in my mouth.

  “Sorry, Jim will already be upset about this much, but don’t worry, Ralf is great at talking at people!” I could only slump in resignation as the gag was tied around the pole holding my head in place again. I made sure to glare at him as intensely as I could. He seemed a bit simple of a person. Maybe I could work that to get an opportunity to escape.

  “There! All bundled up like the small man wanted! I’ll leave the blindfold for when I’m done talking.” He grabs a makeshift throne made of animal hides and drags it over next to me. Meanwhile, I get my first proper look around the room. It’s definitely a cave, but someone has gone through cleaning it up into a makeshift throne room. I’m not the only one here. Three others are tied onto similar poles on either side of the central hall. Lined up as we are, we function as a kind of furniture, filling what would’ve been an empty room with mounted torches and a chair.

  “Alright! Now what to talk about! I think this might be the first time I ever forced someone to listen to me talk! Usually my other bosses would tell me to shut up, or they would take my meat. Now that I’m the boss, nobody can stop me from doing whatever I like!” The man begins reciting his life story to me in a very disjointed manner. From the slums of ‘The Big City’ to a combat slave in an underground arena. Eventually being brought into his previous boss's group. Finally setting out and asserting himself as the new boss to make all his dreams come true.

  I quietly reach out to Callen, who anxiously responds. Apparently it had been almost an entire day since I went unconscious. He had been preparing to try tracking me down for another rescue mission when I reached him. With so many known dangers in the forest and my sudden silence, he had no idea what kind of trouble I was in. Hearing about the bandit situation was something both more and less concerning. More because people could think and anticipate, and less because I wasn’t in imminent danger as a hostage.

  He wanted to organize a team to attack as soon as possible, but I insisted he wait until I had a better understanding of the situation. The only thing Callen knows is my current location, but with enough time I might be able to find a weakness for him to exploit. Now it was just a game of tricking this dangerous but strangely friendly monster into giving me the details of their encampment.

  Town Hero

  Lexia’s journey continued without issue, and arriving at the towns north of the lake, she discovered they also weren’t Port town. Not that it was an issue. This time she had a new plan! Instead of personally threatening the town, she spent some time in the fields outside town building up a wave of monsters and scaring them into a stampede headed for town. The horde assaulted the town's walls while thinking she was pursuing them when she was in fact walking down the road pretending to have nothing to do with them.

  From there she sprang into action, rushing the horde from behind, and seeing their tormentor catch up, the monsters dispersed before her. Soon she was brought into the town and paraded before everyone as a hero of the town. Just as planned, the mayor asked how they could repay her aid, and she expressed her desire to find companions her age talented enough to join her.

  Young people throughout town lined up determined to prove themselves, and the showing was far better than either of the two previous locations. That didn’t mean there were any results. The best of the best of this town had already been taken in by other nobles. It was so frustrating that Lexia vaguely entertained the idea of abducting the chosen from the nearby city of Eldraine. She was intrigued by news of the city's apparent collapse. From a bustling hub of commerce despite the dangers festering across the land, now it was a den of thieves and murderers who ran unchecked with the lord's authority.

  Lexia set off towards the city and was accompanied by cheers and waves of the townspeople she had conned into gratitude. Reflecting on that plan, Lexia felt both satisfied but vaguely uncomfortable. She eventually decided that something about that plan made her feel upset, so she would have to work up a new one. More importantly, she finally knew which town on her map was Port Town. Apparently it had been a big event in the region when an outbreak of hive worms nearly destroyed the town.