The Devil’s Cage

Kieran shuttled through Herl City swiftly at night behind Pierre.

He wasn’t a stranger by all means but compared to Pierre, a local, his knowledge was indeed lacking.

Kieran followed Pierre through the streets and alleyways, left and right, he then realized they had arrived at the wealthy district.

“My father bought this place anonymously just in case.”

Harold said when they reached a two-story building with an independent garden.

He then knocked on the door with three short and one long knock.

After the knocks, the sealed wooden door opened up a small seam.

Behind the seam was Jonna with her scarred face and when the young lady glanced over the crowd and noticed Kieran, her eyes were filled with joy.

“Sir 2567, you’ve returned?!”

Amidst her call of surprise, the tough look she put on since their last meeting had gone away, all that was left was pure joy.

However, when she saw the unconscious Cohen, Joanna knew what she had to do.

She quickly opened the door and let everyone in. After closing the door once more, she quickly ran inside the house.

“I’ve prepared the necessary medicine, bring Cohen over here quickly!”

“Mr. Pierre, you are hurt as well, please come over here! Sir 2567, can you please help Cohen a bit?” Joanna said as she was running around.

Her arrangements were neatly organized and there wasn’t a slight bit of panic.

Kieran took a glance at Joanna, his eyes were filled with admiration.

It seemed like the young lady who stood back up after her face was destroyed was rapidly growing.

Kieran helped Harold move Cohen to the bed in the room’s living hall while Joanna was attending Cohen and Pierre’s wounds. Kieran then turned to Harold for questions, “What happened? Weren’t you guys suppose to leave Langdon?”

“The entire border of Langdon was sealed off! All off us including my parents, Joanna’s parents were placed on the wanted list! We had no choices but to return to Herl City, hiding again while waiting for our chance, but… We seem to have underestimated some bastard’s influences and determination. A day after we came back, the whole city was taken under control by the military and there began the relentless search for us. In order to make it harder for the soldiers, we had to break up in groups but Cohen had injuries on his leg so he was caught in one of the search operations. That is why we had to risk it to save him, thank God for your timely arrival, otherwise…” Up to that point, the young man gratefully let out a long sigh of relief.

“The border was sealed off long ago? Which means the high ranks of Langdon Government had prepared for this but they allowed me to fight with the Night and the Mutants?” Kieran frowned.

His sharp sensed picked up the peculiarity among the words.

Even if it was for the entire country’s stability, a country itself wouldn’t have committed such act, unless…

The ruler didn’t even care about any of this!

Kieran’s eyes glanced over the background description of the dungeon world again and had a deeper understanding of the word “surveillance”.

The surveillance didn’t just start recently but a long time ago. The one who was in charged of the surveillance planned silently and watched as Herbert fulfilled his mission: to open the Emperor’s legacy.

Then, the people behind would come forth and rob it from him.

Of course, it didn’t rule out the other possibility as well: the ruler of Langdon was not human to begin with.

They might be the Nights or Mutants but whatever they were, it wasn’t good news to Kieran because regardless of which, it meant that he had to face the forces of an entire country and even though Langdon wasn’t a big country, only a small inland one, the quality of a country wouldn’t change.

A country was a gigantic existence to any single individual.

Right after the talk, Joanna who was attending Cohen and Pierre’s injuries spoke in a rush, “Sir 2567, please take a look at Cohen’s injuries! I feel like something isn’t right!”

Kieran turned around quickly. Cohen was still unconscious but the wounds on his body were covered with balm and were wrapped with clean bandages. However, his face was turning green.

Kieran raised a brow and quickly approached Cohen for a careful sniff.

A faint scent of almond entered Kieran’s nose and after Kieran opened up Cohen’s mouth, the smell had gotten stronger. Everyone around could smell it as well.

“Poison!” All of them spoke in a common voice.

“Of course it’s poison! Since we know Sir 2567 here might be a Noble or even Royalty, how could I not be prepared?” The middle-aged man whose eyes was blinded by the Fire Raven spoke.

“Where’s the antidote? Give it up!”

Harold grabbed the man’s collar and lifted him into a loud scolding, at the same time searching his body.

“How could I bring something so important along with me? Let me go! I want the best treatment for my eyes unless you want your friend to die!”

The middle-aged man refuted with a question and shouted at Harold back.

Harold unconsciously let go of his collar.

Right away, the man’s face had a sense of delight, while it was mixed with the dirt and blood, it looked extremely odd but it didn’t stop him from uttering his request.

“I still want…”

Pak!

Before the man could finish, his voice was halted.

Kieran gave a loud slap on the man’s face right away.

The others looked at Kieran in a confused manner but none of them asked why.

After all, they knew who was their ally and who was their enemy. Besides, they believed Kieran had with his own reasons.

However, when Kieran’s hand was shining in white brilliance, everyone else was still shocked beyond words.

Under the white brilliant shower of light, Cohen’s poisoned countenance was rapidly recovering and Pierre who felt an itch on his shoulder quickly tore the bandage down.

Pierre knew what the itch meant since he had quite the experience in wound recovery but when he saw his wound was healing up at a speed that was visible to his own naked eyes, despite how many years of experience he had, he couldn’t hold back his cry of shock.

Joanna and Harold turned their attention to Pierre’s wounds after they heard the cry, then both of them were astonished and awestruck beyond words.

“Th…This…This…”

Harold tried to say something but couldn’t find the words in his vocabulary.

The middle-aged man who Kieran slapped to the floor was blinded but his hearing was fine. When he heard Harold’s stuttering words, it struck a bad feeling in his heart.

Right away, the middle-aged man started to make a commotion, “Don’t think that I only have this up my sleeves, I still…”

Pak!

Kieran used the most direct way to shut him up again and of course, he knew what the man wanted to say.

Mere reinforcements.