Frankko did not waste any time and quickly unhooked the keys from the adventurer’s belt. He then quietly opened his cell door. Once outside, he grabbed the bombs hanging from the guy’s waist and searched his pockets for potions. “You really can’t keep your grubby fingers to yourself, can you?” Maya asked. “Now please be a good boy and open my door too.”Frankko stood up and walked up to Maya’s cell, but before unlocking the door, he asked, “I am not doing this to free that Lord. I just wanna escape from this hell hole. Are you with me?”Maya sighed and shook her head. “And here I was thinking you had taken an interest in that boy. I am afraid I won’t be going anywhere without my dainty darling. Lord Ezra is coming with us.”Frankko flashed a sly smile at her and turned the key in the lock. “Congratulations, you passed the test.”“I know how much you love coin,” Maya replied. “Besides, after we escape, we are going to need the money to disappear from the wanted lists and start afresh.

The three prisoners hid behind the walls and pulled Ezra out of the doorway. The adventurers planted silencing wards on the ground, and the mercenaries aimed their blunderbuss rifles at the door leading to the isolation room.“Come out with your hands above your head, and don’t try anything smart,” the oldest among the veteran adventurers called out, unfurling a scroll. “Field of protection!”The scroll released a protection spell that created a lingering healing zone around the adventurers and mercenaries. As long as they stayed within this zone, they were going to recover from minor injuries, and all their wounds would heal instantly.“That does not sound good,” Frankko whispered, eyeing Giles. “They even brought a mage with them. I don’t think we can fight them all off at the same time.”“You don’t need to worry about them,” Ezra replied. “My shackles are off now. It is time to teach them a lesson.”Although Ezra had surrendered all his firearms before being thrown into the dungeon

Ezra was concerned about his own situation, but he was more worried about Aurelia’s fate. The last he had heard, Lord Wilhelm had sent assassins after her, and there was no way for him to know if she was still alive.“I just want to know you are okay, sister,” Ezra mumbled in the darkness, his voice stifled with grief and his face dripping with sweat. As Ezra was thinking about Aurelia, he remembered the enchanted mirror she had given him. Since she had its twin with her, all Ezra needed to do to contact her was shatter the mirror or stain its surface with dirt or paint. That would let her know he was trying to reach her.Ezra was about to access his inventory and use the mirror when he realized it might not be the best idea to reach out to her in this situation. If she knew Ezra was being held inside a dungeon and Lord Sebastian had been murdered, nothing would stop her from returning to Aranor.“No…I won’t let you put your life on the line, sis.” Ezra shook his head, sweeping his th

The town of Aranor looked bleak and dreary as the sun’s dim rays beamed through the oppressive gray clouds. The merchants and adventurers stood there impatiently, waiting to watch the execution.Jasenki joined his hands behind his back and raised his head to look up straight at the crowd.“Valaria used to be a beacon of hope for the humans, and Aranor was its beating heart. This was our homeland…a land where we were free to practice our customs and preserve our traditions…a land where humans could live in peace with their heads held high. But all that changed after the Great Assimilation.”The Great Assimilation that Jasenki was referring to was the gradual mixing of the non-humans with the humans after the Great Elven War ended. It was a historic transformation that marked a transition from the Golden Age of human conquest to an era of peace and compromise.While most commoners gradually adjusted to this change and accepted most of their non-human neighbors, there were still those who

Glenn had used his blood magic to cast a ninth-tier teleportation spell that teleported them far away from Aranor and brought them to a new location. Although most teleportation spells only worked on the caster and his personal belongings, Glenn’s blood magic was powerful enough to teleport his companion as well. However, by casting Blood Mist and then using two teleportation spells in rapid succession he had pushed his body to its breaking point.When Ezra opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a dimly lit room illuminated by a candelabra stand holding thirteen candles and a small lantern on the oak wood table in front.“Where are we now? Is this your hiding—”Ezra’s words stuck in his throat as his eyes fell on Glenn. The blood mage looked old and withered now, his face covered in wrinkles and his arms thin and fragile. His hair had turned ashen gray, and the signs of aging were visible in his saggy cheeks and dull gray eyes.“What happened to you?” Ezra questioned. Ev