“I know you’re in here, Sisa! Open this door before something terrible happens. And we don’t want that, do we?” The guard spoke with confidence as he continued pounding his fist against the door. “We saw your ship near the coast! It’s impossible to think that you’re out and went for the woods! There’s no escaping us, Sisa! We have you surrounded.”However, no words entered the guard’s ears as they barged themselves inside the house and took auntie by her hand. I wanted to break auntie free from the guard’s shackles; however, I couldn’t. Not when she specifically told me I should stay away from trouble and I had to be persistent with the soldiers that I was just a bystander unrelated to auntie. One of the guards tried dragging me together with Sisa. This man held me as if I was a tool and an item without feelings or nerves. His nails punctured my skin. When my hand was grappled like a rope, I couldn’t help but let out an instinctive scream as I reacted to the pain. I wanted to retort,

“Please, I need to see Sisa! I also want to talk to Mayor Gustavo! He’s the only one who could help me free Sisa and the rest of the accused locals!Sisa was accused of evading her tax! But she hasn’t! She just needs some money to pay for her tax, and yet the guards unlawfully took her in! Please, you don’t understand! This is all just a misunderstanding! Please, just let her go. She has done nothing wrong!” “So you’re saying that Gustavo and us are in the wrong?” the guards muttered, and that was the point where things had gone astray. The moment I said those words, the soldiers who kept their calm finally drew their swords and aimed it at my throat. A few seconds earlier, straps, which seemed to be infused with arcane, was stamped around my wrists and blocked all my muscles where I could freely move my arms and limbs. “No! Y-You don’t understand! I am not here to quarrel with you or anything! I’m here to make peace and agreement! Let me go! I just want to talk to the mayor of thi

“I too want to make a spark just like you. That’s why I wish to talk to the mayor. And I will never leave you behind! I left Sisa, and look what happened to her! She died in the hands of those bastards!-”As soon as I said those words, the door somewhere deeper inside the prison reverberated. And the sound reached here. But I didn’t have any time to react or escape this place just like Thomas had instructed. So with the little time we had, Thomas and I exchanged words and information and laid out what plans we could provide on the table. “There’s also another way for us to work together. Buy me some time, and I will try to protect this village and call for help. I am a warrior, but not powerful enough to fend off those pirates. We need other soldiers from the outside, so after breaking free from this prison, I will come again and bring reinforcements… but.”“I am fine with that,” I nodded, knowing what awaited me. If Thomas could escape this place, he could call for help to defend th

“You speak of me as if I did nothing to the town?! And who are you to mock me with your insults, peasant? If it weren’t for me, traders from all over the Kingdom would never visit this foul place! Those statues are what attracts those merchants and Kingdom officials! Those cash you mentioned helps the market reach over the Kingdom, so this puny town can compete with the rest of the village governed by the Kingdom. Those who wish to interfere with my work are free to do so. But if my guards have caught you peasants wreaking havoc against the rules I have imposed, then you will live behind bars and suffer the consequences of your actions! It is better to let a few people jump off the cliff rather than killing everyone, is it not?” Mayor Gustavo met my eyes, grabbed a few strands of my hair, and hauled me against the floor. He then continued where he had left from the conversation… From the one-sided conversation. “Now, I’ll ask you, Margarette, what do you know about handling a village,

The pirate averted her stoney yet chilling gaze and studied the surroundings. It was quiet. No sound escaped from this place besides our breaths creating a disarray tune. By the time the pirate was done with his personal quest, she then returned her glare back at me. She then followed her look with footsteps trundling towards me. Each uneven step pounded the floor as if the pirate before was a wolf behind sheep’s clothing. She was a human, and yet felt more monstrous than Mayor Gustavo or the Great Kraken combined! When the pirate arrived near me, she knelt down and touched my face. The woman lifted my cheeks and returned my broken leer.As soon as the pirate was within centimetres away from, she revealed her gun and rested the barrel on my face… With her gun within point-blank range, the bullet from the pistol will surely hit me. And if that happened, I would be free from my suffering.I wasn’t afraid. My hands never quivered, and my heart refused to beat a craggy song pumping throu