"Miss me?" — I asked, putting my foot on the dead carcass of an ogre. To say that I surprised the girls with my appearance is to greatly understate. I shocked them even more by stepping over the corpse and simply bending the metal bars of the cage to the sides, so that you can pass relatively freely between them.
"You're... back." — Olga whispered in shock when I went inside and, kneeling next to her, began to break her shackles. — "But why?"
"I'm definitely not on my way with these guys." — I explained my decision, continuing to release the elves. — "I prefer beautiful ladies instead of unwashed barbarians."
The last piece of shackles ends up on the floor and I get up to give the girls my hands and help them get up too. — "As for me, the choice is obvious."
Chapters 6-17are already on my pаtrеоn: gheist228
"So you could have been free from the very beginning?" — Chloe guessed. — "The deceiver!"
"To then look for where they hide my things? I just took advantage of the fact that they kindly brought me to them." — I shrug my shoulders, examining the girls for damage. There were no serious injuries visible, but I clarified just in case. — "How are you? Can you walk?"
"Yes." — Chloe informed me with a short nod, but instead of answering Olga closed her eyes, listening to something, her face took on a concentrated expression.
"That's weird." — She said, looking at me in confusion. — "There's almost no magic left in the Citadel. I don't feel it."
"And what does this threaten us with?" — Magic. Another unusual feature in the piggy bank.
"I will be recovering for a long time. This blocker that you broke," — a glance towards the wreckage of her collar. — "he drank all the power out of me and deprived me of the opportunity to feed myself from the outside. I was hoping that if I took it off, I could get to the control crystal and take control of the monsters, but..."
Eyes the color of molten gold met mine. — "it's impossible now. Without magic, I'm just a useless woman, and even if I somehow get to the crystal, it still won't work. Due to lack of energy, he will not respond to commands. I... I just don't know what to do."
Chloe stood nearby with a lost look, nervously fingering her fingers and, every now and then, anxiously looking around. So, well, this is no good.
"So." — I decided to take matters into my own hands. — "I didn't come here for you to breed snot here."
I grab the queen by the shoulders and shake her slightly. — "Look at her."
I step aside so she can see Chloe. — "This girl believes in you. You've ruled this place for a hundred years, you know every corner here and you should know a couple of secrets that will help us get out of here. If not for yourself, then at least for her you have to act. This is not the time to sit here and indulge in reflections."
"You're right." — She recovered quickly with a little help from me. Well done. Really, a very strong woman. And there is nothing shameful in the fact that she was confused. The situation is really scary, but she's fine now. Well, I can work with this.
"Chloe, Kay," — Olga looked at us in turn. — "forgive me my weakness. There is a secret door relatively close by, if we get to it, we can hide and have a time to think of something."
"So lead on" — I smile at the girl, removing my hands from her. — "And don't worry about the mercenaries. Rely on me."
"Okay." — . The girl nodded. — "This way."
And then there was a short race through the corridors of the tower. Thanks to thermal vision, we managed to avoid the patrols relatively easily. Apparently, my little performance has gone unnoticed so far, judging by the fact that the local inhabitants are not rushing around the fortress like crazy. But it's only a matter of time, and therefore, we didn't stop for a second. Both girls concentrated as much as possible and kept themselves in hand. Before we got to the hiding place, we went down 2 floors, bypassing the rooms filled with Vult's soldiers and monsters, and at the exit almost immediately dived into the next secret passage, located very close. The Queen really knew her former home very well.
"Here." — Olga said, when We found ourselves in a small room, more like a mini-warehouse. Boxes, bags and shelves with all sorts of good, including quite understandable things like clothes, weapons and supplies, ending with things whose purpose is unclear to me. — "I arranged this hiding place especially for such cases. No one but me knew about it. Even you, Chloe. Sorry."
" It's okay, Mistress." — The girl bowed lightly. — "Now he came here very handy."
"Prudently." — I chuckled, throwing my backpack off my back. — "How long are we staying here?"
"We'll rest a little, take what we need, and then we'll be on our way." — The Queen answered me, sitting down on a chair in the corner. — "It is unknown how quickly they will find out about our absence and raise the alarm. But I think we have half an hour."
"Nice." — I sat down right on the floor, opened the backpack and began to lay out its contents. I need to do a little inventory and find out what I have with me. While I was doing this, I suddenly noticed a flatbread with dried meat resting in a thin girl's hand in front of my face. Looking up, I saw that the pen belonged to a blonde elf.
"Here you go." — She said, looking down at me. — "Eat while you have time."
"Thanks." — I accept the treat and take a bite. And nothing so delicious.
We spent five minutes on a quick snack and started packing. While the girls were rummaging through the shelves, choosing what they needed, I was laying out the contents of the backpack on the floor. What can I say, my unknown benefactor gathered me well. Inside was a 60 cm long gladius-shaped HF sword, a pistol in a holster that is attached to a belt, two spare magazines and a hundred rounds of ammunition for it. Boxes with cartridges for the riffle and shotgun, 1200 and one and a half hundred, respectively. Why so little for a shotgun? The point is in size, if automatic cartridges are caseless and take up very little space, so you can stuff a lot of them into the box, then the 12-gauge is already rather big. But it's better than nothing, especially since I can try to save the shotgun shells and re-equip them if you can find gunpowder in future. In addition, there are a total of 80 more rounds in magazines, so not everything is so bad. There were also a dozen fragmentation grenades, a kilogram of explosives, several detonators. Though not for long, but i can fight. Of the non-combat items inside there was a tablet computer, which when turned on showed a full charge, which means the duration of work is at least five years, two dry packs, a multitool. There was nothing else in the main department, except for all sorts of little things like duct tape, a coil of wires and a couple of other things. Rummaging through all this, I found my music player with headphones inside. I grunted, and put it back. It's nice to have him with me.
When I hid everything back, I noticed how I was being watched. Both elves have already finished packing. There are two bags made of thick fabric under their feet, and they look completely different now than during our first meeting. They got rid of their rags and are now dressed in dark blue leather armor with metal inserts on the elbows, shoulders and chest. The same leather pants have protection on the hips and knees, and on the feet are high laced boots with a thick sole, which look very comfortable and reliable. It all looked stunning on them, which I reported.
"You look great." — I smiled, getting up. In response, they handed me a neatly folded traveling cloak, which I nodded gratefully and put in my bag.
"The last one remains." — Olga said and took from the shelf a short scepter with a metal shaft and a pommel in the shape of a ball with a red stone in the middle.
"My old wand." — She commented on the find. — "Before the tower appeared, I used this one. It's worse, than new one that Vult took, but I'm glad I didn't throw it away then. It will still serve me."
Chloe was fastening a scabbard with a short sword and a dagger on her belt at this time. I looked at her doing it, then at the gun holster I was wearing, then at the girl again. Hmm, why not. On the move, unbuckling my belt with a weapon, I step towards the blonde.
"Chloe, look away for a second." — I throw the belt behind the girl's back and fasten it with a click. I take out my gun and lift it into the air so that she can see it clearly. — "Swords are good, but if you have this thing, I'll be calmer."
"Weapon?" — The blonde asked.
"Yes." — I answered. — "This thing throws pieces of metal at high speed and confidently hits a target without armor from 50 paces."
"Everything is as simple as possible. Pointing at the enemy." — I stretched out my hand with the weapon to the side. — "Pull the trigger."
I double-clicked the trigger. — "Repeat it until he dies."
Then I explained to her what the fuse is for, how to reload and load the gun, told her about the shutter delay, why in no case can you point a weapon at someone you are not going to shoot at and why you should not keep your finger on the trigger all the time. Chloe remembered everything from the first time and repeated my actions, for which she deserved praise. After all, despite the most simple technique of handling weapons, there are some idiots who manage to get lost in three pines and screw up. Fortunately, the girl is clearly not stupid and quickly understood everything.
Chapters 6-17are already on my : gheist228
