Kibble scribble: Little late on this chapter and I'm sorry, but IRL stuff is being problematic, so until further notice all chapter updates will likely be irregular, and longer.

xxxxxx

A pair of strange gems, a small knife, some wire, metal fragments, two small batteries, and a small nobly object that the girls recognized as some form of thrown weapon, though the name still eluded them. That was all they found of even minor use in the storage room, the rest of it being bare. The knife was small but sharp, the ire long and very tough, and the metal fragments could probably be thrown like a sharp rock or used like a knife in a pinch. The batteries and gems seemed the most useful, followed by the thrown weapon sphere thing.

"This, is this really going to help us?" Montmorency asked as she looked at the small array of what mostly amounted to junk.

"There's nothing else, so it's all we'll have unless we can find weapons along the way," Louise said as she looked them over and sighed, picking up the knife in a hand. "Ideally, I don't think we should even have to use any of this."

"What?"

"We don't know how many people are here, or whose an enemy. Our best bet is to sneak out."

"through that vent?"

"Yes."

". . . . . I know we'll fit, but do you think it will actually lead to a way out?"

"We don't exactly have any other option but to try," Louise said as she looked at the items before them again." Lets leave the shards of metal. I'll take the batteries, you take the wire and throwing thing. We both take a gem."

"Why not the sharp pieces?"

"We have no pockets to keep them in, and I feel like crawling around with Sharp pieces of metal in our hands would be bad."

Montmorency looked at the shards for a second and then at her hands before nodding in understanding. "So, how do we use the vent then?"

"We crawl in and see where it goes" Louise said as she moved over to the shelf with the vent behind it. She had already removed the cover and a number of boxes so they could crawl in. The vent itself seemed a decent size, but it still wasn't that big.

"Will we fit?" Montmorency asked as she looked at it. She knew they both could as neither of them were really big in any place of notice, but it still looked cramped and narrow, uncomfortable at best.

"Yes, it just might be tight, and we'll have to go slow probably."

"Why?"

Louise reached into the vent and flicked kit, a metallic tinging sound coming from it in response.

"Oh, its noisy," Montmorency said with a nod of understanding as she looked into the vent. All she could see after a bit was darkness. " How are we supposed to know where we are going?

"One of the cantrips I learned can create a little dim light," Louise said as she made gesture with one of her hands and said something under her breath. A second later a tiny globe of white light, about the size of someone's eye, appeared above he hand and just floated there.

"That . . . . how does Halkeginia not have such a useful spell?" Montmorency asked in utter confusion as she imagined dozens of ways such a simple spell would help people in Halkeginia. If nothing else it would be great for late night studying.

"Because magic is only for nobility, and we make servants do things like keep lamps fueled," Louise said before shaking her head. "I'll crawl in first, you follow behind me, alright?"

Montmorency nodded right before Louise crawled into the Vent, being followed by Montmorency a second later. The vent did fit them, but they were essentially crawling on their stomachs and using their legs and arms to pull themselves forward. It was slow going as they both shifted and crawled trying to make the lest amount of noise, but also to cover distance, and after what felt like an eternity, but was in reality maybe a few minutes, Louise slowed down and stopped.

"Why's wrong?" Montmorency asked quietly. Hoping that her voice would travel too far. She could only imagine how much danger they would be in if they were caught.

"There is a vent up ahead," Louise said nervously as she began moving forward much slower this time. " I can see light from it."

Montmorency nodded, only to realize that Louise couldn't look back at her, but said nothing and continued following her. A few seconds later she could faintly see the vent ahead, and a few second more Louise stopped in front of it, make a stifled gagging sound, and kept moving, faster this time. Montmorency didn't think any of it until she made the mistake to stop and look through the vent into the room.

It was a small room but was utterly filthy. The floor covered in dirt, bile, and various other liquids including what looked like blood. On the wall was a person, some kind of beastlike humanoid alien, obviously female by the shape of her naked body, and from the way she was chained to the wall by her neck and arm, and the cuts, bruises, and dried blood on her body it was clear she had been tortured. Worse was that lying on the floor near her was another of her kind.

And she very much was not in the land of the living.

The smells hit Montmorency a second later making bile rise up her throat, but like Louise she held it back and looked away, following a second later. "That, by the founder, what is wrong with these people?" Montmorency finally said after a few minutes of very slow silent crawling, the smell still lingering in her nose.

"These are pirates, like bandits and slavers, the worst of the worst," Louise said grimly, reminding Montmorency that her family had likely taken part in subjugation of bandits and the like.

Her own family had never done such things, so all she had ever heard about how bad such people could be was from the rumors that nobles liked to circulate. Louise though had likely heard some such store first hand from her own family, who did take part in such things. "So, if we get caught-"

"We won't," Louise said seriously as she continued to crawl. " Come on."

"R-right."