204 Never back down...Never what?

"What the heck!" I felt oddly irritated, as if these bizarre occurrences were becoming a tiresome routine.

'H-hey,' Blaze leaped off the cage, concerned by my outburst.

"Why does this weird stuff have to happen over and over again? It's just... infuriating," I grumbled, trailing off at the end as I tried to make sense of what had transpired.

I glanced around, taking in the familiar yet strange surroundings. It looked no different than before, but I couldn't help but notice a sensation on my chest, as if I were bare-chested. It was a strange feeling, like I had lost some weight.

Had my physique changed? I didn't look radically different, but it felt like I had become slightly leaner. I instinctively checked myself, slipping my hand into my pants.

"Phew, it's the same," I sighed in relief, relieved that nothing alarming had occurred.

Blaze, however, was less concerned about my physique. 'You're a weird motherfucker,' he cursed.

I shrugged. It was hard not to be weirded out by the constant strangeness of this world, especially after a fight. The unpredictable nature of these events left me perpetually on edge.

"Let's just head back... maybe we can find a spot to take a shower outside somewhere before returning to the dorms," Blaze suggested.

"And leave all this treasure behind?" I pointed at the cages, where the captured mana beasts were still in a frenzy. Somehow, the cages had held up against their onslaught, likely crafted from something as resilient as Adamantium.

Adamantium, a strong metal... though that was about the extent of my knowledge on the subject. It didn't seem all that important right now, considering the other minerals this world had to offer.

'Treasure?... You're getting weird ideas again?' Blaze gave me a defeated look.

"If I remember correctly, there were twenty C-Ranks, five B-Ranks, and two A-Ranks," I recalled, "along with a few D-Ranks as well. That's what he said before dying. I still feel like I should've tortured him more." My tone grew darker as I thought of the unfortunate soul.

Corpse!

Realization struck me like a lightning bolt. I quickly retrieved a robe from storage and looked around. There! Buried beneath several more corpses was the lifeless body of the small girl. It seemed that the corpses had been pushed around during my level-up process.

I gingerly moved the other bodies aside, treating them like broken dolls, until I unearthed the fragile form of the girl. Gently, I draped the robe over her. I remembered that the outskirts had a cemetery near the church. That's where she deserved to rest.

'Ha... Princess, it's hard to hate you sometimes,' Blaze sighed as he leaped onto a nearby cage. 'I'll look into what kind of beasts these guys had,' he offered, showing a willingness to help despite his grumbling.

"That works," I replied, carefully picking up the girl and carrying her with me. The stench of the corpses was getting unbearable, and I needed to figure out a way to dispose of them.

Thinking quickly, I considered that burning the bodies might be a solution. However, I worried that it would create a lot of smoke and attract attention. So, I decided to deal with that problem later.

I turned my attention to the bear-like beast, still roaring and agitated in its cage. With a gruesome thought, I grabbed one of the corpses and hurled it toward the creature. The beast eagerly latched onto the body and pulled it inside the cage, making an eerie tearing sound as it did so.

"Try not to leave anything," I muttered to myself, ensuring that every last bit of the corpses was devoured by the captive creatures. It was an odd and somewhat grotesque task, but it seemed to be effective.

As I continued tossing "treats" to the monstrous creatures, Blaze called out to me. His voice echoed in my mind, urging me to come over.

"What happened?" I asked, tossing the last corpse to a group of Fenrir before I turned to see Blaze standing in front of a smaller cage.

'Look inside,' he said, and my curiosity got the better of me.

I activated my elemental vision and scanned the cage but saw nothing initially. However, as I squatted down to get a better look, I spotted a small figure curled up at the back of the cage, shivering. It was a child.

I stared at the child in the cage, both surprised and concerned by the unexpected discovery. The young girl couldn't have been more than five or six years old, and she appeared terrified and traumatized. Her clothes were ragged and dirtied, and her eyes were filled with fear as she glanced up at me.

"What in the world...?" I muttered to myself as I gently approached the cage. The girl seemed too frightened to speak or even move. It was evident that she had been subjected to horrific circumstances, and I couldn't ignore her plight.

Blaze, who had been observing the situation, chimed in, "What should we do, Princess?"

I considered our options. Leaving her here to potentially starve or face the wrath of the beasts was out of the question. I needed to get her out of that cage and find out who she was and how she ended up here.

"Let's get her out," I said decisively, extending a hand toward the cage. "We'll figure out the rest later."

Blaze nodded in agreement, and together, we carefully opened the cage door.

"Don't kill me, please! I'll do everything please!!! Please don't kill me!!" Her voice trembled with fear. It was a voice I had heard before.

"Lily?" I muttered, disbelief washing over me.

'Lily who?' Blaze asked, not recognizing the girl, which was understandable. We had only seen her face briefly once.

"M-my n-name? Y-you know... Lily?" She stammered, still quivering. I pulled her out of the cage, perhaps a bit too hastily, which caused her to let out a scream. It seemed like she might have hurt her leg inside the cage.

I stared at her. It was the same girl we had seen on the ship when we arrived at Thistlemere Harbor. I couldn't help but wonder if her mother had sold her.

"Your mother sold you?" The words slipped out of my mouth without much thought.

"Wahhhhh!" Lily began to cry loudly, as if my question had struck a nerve. Perhaps I had hit the mark—her mother had indeed been a renouncer.

'More importantly, you remember her...damn,'Blaze was stuck on that, and yes, I did remember her vividly.

But this situation made sense. The warehouse was full of transported slaves, Lily had clearly been brought here from somewhere else, and the recent activities of slave smuggling from Elishia Forest to Viceburg all connected the dots.

I glanced at Lily as she continued to cry. Sighing, I sat down beside a barrel and let her cry for a few more minutes. I gently held her as she sobbed.

After a solid fifteen minutes, she finally began to calm down.

"Listen, little lady," I tried to speak as gently as possible, "I came here to save you." It was a lie, but what else could I say to a child in this situation?

"S-save?" Lily's eyes wavered as she looked at me.

"Yes," I replied, sticking to my fabricated story, "I was told that you were here, so I came from a faraway place to save you."

She remained silent for a moment, and then said something that didn't make much sense to me.

"What?" I asked, leaning closer to hear her better.

She repeated herself, her voice getting louder, "T-there's another girl... here. Those guys took her... those guys!" She seemed frightened.

"Don't worry," I reassured her, "we've already rescued her and sent her away. The men responsible were arrested. Now, it's just you that we need to get to safety."

' You should try in story telling....you got scope,' Blaze's impressed comment about me potentially becoming an author. For now, I focused on Lily.

"S-she's saved?" Her eyes seemed to water with relief.

"Yes, she's safe," I confirmed. "But let's go now. I'll take you somewhere safe and far away from here, alright?" I carefully picked her up, though she winced in discomfort.

I bought a healing potion and tried to make her drink it, but she refused.

Gulp*

"See, it's safe. It'll help you recover and stop the hurting, girl," I said, taking a small sip of the potion myself to reassure her.

Lily hesitated for a moment longer before finally taking the healing potion. Her small hand shook slightly as she brought it to her lips. She sipped it cautiously, and then, after realizing it wasn't harmful, she drank a bit more.

"That's it," I encouraged her. "It'll make you feel better."

As she finished the potion, her expression seemed to relax slightly. It wasn't a complete transformation, but at least she wasn't as visibly distraught as before.

I carried her out of the warehouse, leaving the grotesque scene behind as I locked it with the same seal again. It was an easy task since the small artifact was still there; I planned to sell it when I returned.

The stench of death and decay was overpowering, and I was more than relieved to be out in the open air. The sun was rising, warming the atmosphere and dispelling the cold.

"W-where?" Lily finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

"To a safe place," I replied, looking around to make sure we weren't being followed. "Don't worry; you'll be okay now."

Blaze shifted forms, and I mounted him with Lily in one hand and the cloth-covered corpse in the other. Lily didn't ask anything about it and Blaze.... she's still in daze or just aware of me.

With a powerful flap of his wings, we soared into the sky.

'Where to?' I asked Blaze.

"To do a bit of acting," I replied to my own question. I wasn't sure I could bring myself to enter a church, but I had a plan in mind.