The Special Economic Zone Chapter 5: Until Nightfall

 

Until Nightfall

Thorn found the three adventurers tied up in a small back chamber. They looked up at him when he arrived.

“You didn’t torture them, did you?”

“Just a bit. I mean, think of how they treat us!”

Thorn sighed. “Look. I mean it when I say I don’t mean to hurt you. But you’re really testing my patience.”

“As long as your promise is kept, we will do what you say. This is enough, yes?”

Thorn bent down next to one of the adventurers. “Hey. Do you understand me?”

The adventurer nodded. Thorn removed his gag. “You guys probably asked for this when you went into a goblin cave without enough support and without adventurer’s insurance.”

“It was too expensive.” The adventurer coughed. “Thank you for saving us.”

Thorn stood up. “Yeah. The rest of the goblins won’t hurt you. Come on, gather your friends.”

The three adventurers followed Thorn out of the cave.

The one female adventurer looked up at Thorn. “My name is Alice. You used some sort of charm spell on the goblins, right?”

“Something to that effect.” Thorn cracked his neck and sides. “Okay. We’re on our way back to Albern.”

“Thank you. I know we can’t pay you well, but if you ever have a favor to ask of us, we’ll be glad to help.”

“Good.” Thorn started walking. “Then I’d like to join your adventuring party.”

“You?” Alice looked confused. “But you’re obviously much stronger than us.”

“Despite how it looks, I am a level one adventurer at rank E.”

“Then the administration must have mislabeled you.” Alice frowned. “You were able to rescue us, after all.”

Thorn sighed. “What are the names of your companions?”

Alice pointed to a rather large man in armor. “Fred.” She pointed to a skinny rogue wearing light leather armor. “Jack.”

“Alice, Fred, and Jack.” Thorn shrugged. “Nice to meet you. While I won’t be able to adventure with you much, when I do get the chance I’ll come find you.”

“Where are you from?” Alice walked beside Thorn.

“Farrow Dells.”

“What!?” Alice stopped in her tracks. “That’s the realm of the Red Dragon of Chaos!”

“Oh, Aki? Yeah, she’s kind of my friend.”

Fred crossed his arms. “You’re a lot more than you look, aren’t you?”

Thorn slipped his magic suppressing ring back on his hand. It’s lucky that none of them are mages, and they all seem to be kind of dense to magical auras.

Alice tilted her head. “You suddenly appear a lot less, um, shiny.”

“Yeah?” Thorn tried his best to smile. “Yeah. I guess it’s just a trick of the light.”

“I suppose so.”

The four travelers arrived in Albern about two hours later. At that time, it was high noon. Thorn had a couple of hours before his meeting with Ron. He looked at the three adventurers. “I have some things to take care of. I’ll leave you with my contact information—wait, we don’t have that stuff here, do we?”

Alice held up her adventurer card. “If you’re asking for our card numbers, we have them right here.”

Thorn stared at the card. “What am I supposed to do here?”

“Come on. Take out your card and touch it to mine.”

“Um, okay.” Thorn took out his adventurer’s card and touched it to Alice’s. Both cards glowed.

“Now you can send us messages whenever.” Alice smiled. “Thank you for saving us.” She handed him three silver coins. “I’m sorry that this is all I have. But I really appreciate you saving us.”

Two female adventurers rounded the corner and gasped. “Alice! Fred! Jack!” They ran for the three adventurers Thorn had saved, hugging Alice when they got there.

Alice looked incredibly relieved. “Maria. Lee. I’m so glad you guys called for our rescue.” Alice pointed to Thorn. “That’s the adventurer who saved us. He said he wanted to join us on an adventure sometime.”

The girl named Maria shook Thorn’s hand. “I’m so glad that you saved them!”

Thorn smiled. “You’re welcome. If you ever have any other missions for me, I’ll be happy to take them on.”

Maria bowed. “Thank you.” She bowed again. “We’ll be going now, but message us any time you need assistance.”

Thorn nodded. “I’ll remember that.”

The five adventurers left Thorn, turning the corner and disappearing. Thorn took a look at his adventurer card. A translucent video game style window opened in front of him.

[Friends: Alice]

Thorn closed the window. He had a couple of hours to spare before his meeting with Ron. With his hands in his pockets, he wandered the city.

He came to a large department style store with four stories and windows filled with goods. It was decorated in a gothic style, a la eighteenth century Paris. Thorn walked to the entrance.

A bellboy held out his hand. “Do you have a pass, sir?”

“No. Where can I get one?”

“The Duke has declared that only those with passes may shop at Leclair Mall.”

Thorn sighed. “Do you know where I could find one?”

“Only the Duke can give one out.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very good business model.”

The bellboy leaned close to Thorn. “Can I tell you something? You appear to be a smart fellow. Maybe you can help us.”

“With what?”

“The Duke has become tyrannical in the past few months. He’s been squeezing this town dry with taxes, and he’s been regulating almost everything so harshly that we can’t do business. Many people are leaving Albern.”

“What do you expect me to do?”

“I heard that you helped an adventuring party singlehandedly without asking for that much money. You’re strong and you’re charitable.”

“I don’t think I want to get involved in politics just quite yet.” Thorn turned around. “I’ll go and ask the Duke for a pass, then.”

“You won’t be able to get an audience with him.” The bellboy stepped away. “If you really want to buy good items, there’s an underground black market in the sewers. If you ask around you should be able to find the entrance.”

Thorn nodded. “Okay. I’ll try and find that then.”

However, Thorn knew that trying to find an underground black market haven would take more time than he had left before his meeting with Ron. So, instead, he went to the market and bought a sausage and some cheese, sitting on an old bench to eat it. When it was time to meet with Ron, Thorn stood up and returned to the warehouse district.

Ron was waiting in front of the warehouse with his arms crossed. He waved without saying anything.

When they were both upstairs, Ron sat down in a wooden chair. “I have good news and I have bad news.”

“Tell me the good news first.”

“The good news is that all of the remaining members of Rea’s pack are in one place.”

“That’s really good news!” Thorn almost smiled.

“But wait. The bad news is that person is the Duke of Albern himself. He appears to have a fetish for vulpine demihumans.”

“Oh.” Thorn was expecting to clash with the Duke at some point, but this was a bit too quickly. “What is the duke using them for?”

“What else? Slave labor. The Duke has a lot of projects going on that need slaves.”

Thorn sighed. “Okay. Do you think we can buy the vulpines off of him?”

“No. Straight no. The Duke never lets go of something once he’s acquired it.”

Thorn gritted his teeth. “Okay. How about we bust in there and try stealing them?”

Ron grinned. “That’s exactly what I’ve been planning. The Underground Railway has been preparing a hit on the Duke for quite some time now. With your powers and linguistic skills, we may just have a chance of rescuing them.”

Thorn sat down in a chair near the wall. “Okay. I’m in. Whatever needs to be done to rescue those wolf people.”

“The Duke has over a hundred slaves in his estate.”

“Then we won’t be able to save them all?” Thorn rubbed his chin.

“No. We’re planning on doing the biggest heist the Underground Railway has ever done.”

Thorn raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like a logistic nightmare.”

“We’ve been practicing for this for years now. It’s high time that we struck back at the Duke who’s been causing all this city’s problems.”

“About that.” Thorn looked out the window. “What exactly is the Duke’s purpose? What is he trying to do?”

“No one has any idea. It’s not just the Duke. Ever since King Henry was placed on the throne last year, the government has become quiet tyrannical, and there’s nothing that anyone can do about it.”

“I think …” Thorn pursed his lips. “Would you like to move to a new place? A virgin field waiting to be developed, where there will be only good laws that are meant to protect?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t know of any good land on this entire continent that isn’t claimed by a government.”

“Have you heard of Farrow Dells?”

Ron’s face paled. “The lair of the Great Red Dragon?”

“The very same.”

“But …” Ron rubbed his temples. “I can assume that, since you’re putting forth the idea, you know something I don’t.”

“Why do you think I’m trying to rescue the vulpines of Rea’s pack?”

“Really? Are you serious about this? You’ve got the Great Red Dragon and the Wolf of Darkness to agree to let you settle Farrow Dells?”

“Exactly. And stop calling her the Great Red Dragon. Her name is Aki and she’s my friend.”

Ron leaned back in his chair. “You know what? I think I’m done with this whole thieves’ lord stuff. I’d like to switch to a more honest living.”

Thorn stood up. “Then I’d be happy to accommodate you. When is the raid on the Duke’s palace going to start?”

“Nightfall.” Ron leaned forward in his chair. “We’ve been digging a tunnel underneath the Duke’s residence for the past six months. The tunnel was completed two days ago.”

“So I came at just the right time.”

“Exactly.” Ron rubbed his hands together. “The Underground Railway intends to open the tunnel in the slave quarters and get them all out of the city before anyone notices.”

Thorn crossed his arms. “And how do you know you won’t be detected?”

“The Duke locks his slaves in their quarters when nighttime falls. If we are quick, no one will even notice until dawn comes.”

Thorn nodded once. “Okay. I’m in on this. Where’s the rest of the crew?”

Ron stood up. “I’ll introduce them to you.” He walked to the door and waved for Thorn to follow.

Thorn followed Ron downstairs. When he saw who was down there, he grinned.

“Alice. Everyone. You’re here.”

Alice and her adventuring team lit up. “It’s Thorn!”

Thorn turned to Ron. “Well, this has started well.”