A few stray rays of light peaked through the horizon while the party finished a quick, impromptu grave for the fallen cult member. Even though he'd been an enemy, leaving him out like roadkill didn't sit right. The reality was that most of these cult members were probably desperate people that had been manipulated, just like the bearded middle-aged man. But that didn't excuse the many terrible things they probably did.
The remaining cult members were tied from head to toe, including their mouths. They laid unconscious inside the carriage hold where Fleur once resided. Even the stubborn, restless one had passed out after hours of unrest. The carriage drivers agreed to head to Petram, but straight to the authorities, instead of the drop-off point. Though there was probably not much the small town-watch could really do, there was a chance they had a communication magic artifact that some cities and towns had in the kingdom. With that, the incident could be reported to the guild.
The party headed after Fleur to the cult's hideout the man had told them about. They chatted while they traversed through the eastern forest on the outskirts of Pertam, not far from where they had sat up camp the night prior, and Kamiro revealed to the girls the truth he had learned about Fleur.
"I-I never would have imagined," Earla said. Ayu shared her saddened expression.
"She was planning to tell everyone in the morning," Kamiro said.
The girls seemed even more motivated to rescue Fleur. The group picked up the pace while an old crumbling church came into view through the tall trees.
"Guess this is it..." Kamiro said.
The inspiring glow of a new day should have been hopeful, but instead, Kamiro was filled with unease as he laid his eyes upon the deteriorated concrete building.
"Not too many believers of the goddess around here?" Kamiro walked toward the church's grand entrance and observed the statue of their deity he passed by. "Wait..." It was different than he'd come to learn of the main religion in the kingdom. Instead of the beautiful Goddess Orses, it was of a serpent-like humanoid creature with an androgynous appearance.
"This appears to be a church of Baffum. It was one of the prominent ancient religions before the Church of Orses grew to become the official religion in the kingdom," Earla said.
"I'm surprised it's still standing. Well, kind of anyway," Ayu said.
The party was weary while they made their way inside. No doubt, the grand entrance had grand matching doors at one point, but those had long since fallen; a long and wide empty hall was visible inside. Still, overall, the large building seemed structurally intact.
"These kinds of buildings were often reinforced with magic when they were built. Although time has not been kind to it, I'm sure we won't have to worry about it coming down on us," Earla said, "Still, we must be watchful. If this is truly being used as that cult's hideout, there might be traps."
Ayu and Kamiro nodded.
The three made their way through the pillar aligned passage. A dark, burgundy-colored marble floor echoed their steps while they reached the church's wide-open central worship area. Growing light of another hot summer day shined through the large stained-glass windows and illuminated rows of dust-covered pews and the grand altar overlooking them.
The building was impressive. It wouldn't have been out of line to describe it as a small cathedral since the architecture resembled it, though more simple in design. And with an odd color scheme. Who hired their interior designer?
More ground could've been covered if the group had split up, but they didn't want to take any chances and decided to explore the church together. The party continued to inspect their surroundings, but there didn't seem to be any sign of life.
"Were we too late?..." Ayu said.
"No, the man had mentioned that there were no plans for their cult to move their hideout. Still, no sign of habitation is... discouraging," Earla said.
"Let's try upstairs." Kamiro led the group.
On the eastern and western side of the building were a pair of white, spiral staircases. They were identical, except the eastern one led up and the western one led down. The party trod carefully up the stairs, their eyes fixed on the mural-covered cobblestone walls that depicted what appeared to be scenes of the religion's founding. It showed the same religious figure of a serpent-like human with androgynous features, looking over the people kneeling before it. The different scenes continued to the top, from worshippers presenting gifts such as jewels to darker ones that depicted sacrifices.
"Guess the people got tired of Baffum wanting sacrifices." Kamiro chuckled. He attempted to lighten the mood ...but it failed.
Ayu and Earla didn't even seem to register that Kamiro said something.
At the end of the staircase, the party was greeted with the earthy aroma of a small dust-filled library. The open dome-like room was aligned with bookshelves, and small stained windows on the roof provided plenty of natural light for reading. A few creaky, dark wooden desks and chairs still survived long enough to furnish the cozy area.
Kamiro looked around the shelves, which were pretty well stocked, except for some random gaps here and there, where books should've been. Someone's not gonna be happy with their late library fees.
Ayu and Earla took a seat on two of the wooden chairs that sounded like they wouldn't be able to support their slim physique. Though urgency was still in the air, considering the long night they'd endured, just a moment of rest was much appreciated. And the party was out of ideas.
"Was this even the right place? That man's mind was pretty lost..." Ayu said.
Kamiro fumbled through some of the dusty books, looking for anything that might've been able to help. Maybe some mention of the cult? It couldn't have hurt to look.
Earla's face showed a hint of doubt. "This... this is all we have."
Though it hadn't been long since the party got to know Fleur, she'd become someone they couldn't abandon. Especially after learning more about who she was. But to Kamiro, it was a contradiction. The last thing he wanted was to grow too close to others. Yet, having learned a bit about Fleur's history, he couldn't lie to himself about his feelings. He saw someone that was alone, something he had known too well. There was no way he could've abandoned her, and he was sure Ayu and Earla felt the same.
"Let's head down," Ayu said.
She waited by the staircase with Earla while Kamiro finished flipping through some of the books.
"Did you find anything that might help?" Earla said.
Kamiro had skimmed through a few books. Some interesting ones mentioned the rise of the Demon King's domain and some about Church of Baffum traditions, but he found nothing that would've been useful to help with Fleur. There was also an odd leather-bound book written in a language he couldn't read. But the longer he stared at the pages, the more the characters written on it seemed oddly familiar.
"No, nothing useful. This one's pretty odd though, but I can't read it." Kamiro raised the book while Earla narrowed her eyes and walked towards him. "Look familiar?"
Earla looked over the brown leather book. Instead of a title, it had a strange symbol of two squares with a triangle in the center engraved on the cover.
"This is... ancient text," Earla flipped through some of the pages before shutting it with a clap. "It's some kind of book of spells... of Daemon magic."
"Daemon magic..." Ayu joined the others with their eyes widened. "Why does did this church keep a book like this?"
"For reference, maybe?" Kamiro said.
"Perhaps... if it were just a few." Earla glanced at the shelves. "But I don't think that was the case."
Kamiro and Ayu joined her, and it became clear that those gaps in the bookshelves were no coincidence. The party continued to investigate the building.
"There's one last place to check," Ayu said.
They wasted little time to get to the western staircase., but they hesitated. Unlike the one leading up where the light grew brighter with every step they took, this one was the opposite.
"L-Ladies first?" Kamiro said.
Ayu glared at him, and before he knew it, he found himself leading the party into an abyss.
The air cooled while they descended the staircase. The sun's comforting rays grew weaker with each step, and his heart fluttered like the wings of a butterfly. The three stood in a single file line, hand to shoulder. With every step, Ayu's grip tightened and was sure to leave a mark.
Ayu's sudden cry made the group stagger in the darkness. "I-Idiot, Kamiro. Where are you touching!?"
"H-Hey stop pushing, you're gonna make us fall," Kamiro said, "And it's not me, I'm in the front dummy."
"Ha-ha s-sorry, Ayu." Earla strained a chuckle.
The staircase seemed to go on forever, and darkness just made everything slower.
"Earla, can't you use some light magic?" Ayu said.
"I'm sorry. I can use my Lux spell, but the light would be too intense and wouldn't last but a moment," Earla said.
What? I'd expect something like this from Ayu, but not you too...? The image of when Ayu offered to fill Kamiro's water pouch came to mind. He was parched under the blazing sun, and Ayu had a smug look when she boasted about being able to refill it since she was a Glacies user. Instead of water, she filled it with ice since she couldn't use the base elements separately. Even under the heat, her magic created ice took half an hour to melt.
Ayu sighed. "How much longer?"
Kamiro was relieved to find that his next two steps no longer went down. "Looks like we made it."
He stepped forward, and a warm glow began to rise. The large room the group found themselves in was illuminated by magic-infused lanterns on the walls and a large magic circle engraved in the ceiling. It provided a natural overcast glow to the area.
"What was that you'd said about traps? ...Either that or someone's gonna have to pay a century's worth of electric bills," Kamiro said, "...Or magic bills?"
They appeared to be at the crypt, but the area felt strangely comforting. Although it showed its signs of time, instead of being a creepy, dark tomb, it was bright and welcoming.
"This is a trap... isn't it?" Ayu said
Large, white marble columns that supported the mural aligned ceiling were spread throughout. The arching architecture gave the illusion of grand halls. They led toward the four cardinal points and ended at small, stone tombs adorned with golden relics and blossoming artificial flowers.
The party was hesitant to continue; there were signs that people had been through the area. Apart from the magic-induced lighting, Kamiro made out subtle footprints in the dust, along with what appeared to be drops of blood.
"Let's proceed carefully," Earla said.
A small garden laid at the end of the vast open hall north of the staircase, where a statue of Baffum was the center of attention. The lanterns continued to light up in pairs the further in the group headed. They walked along with the golden stained, white marble tiles that were blemished with the occasional blood drop.
"Fleur..." Ayu's expression showed pain when she glanced at the crimson droplets.
"No. I don't think... it's her blood," Kamiro said, "The man she bit was bleeding pretty bad."
"You might be right," Earla said. She looked over the statue.
It was apparent that there was some type of hidden passage, and lucky for them, the jewel-encrusted eyes of the statue seemed out of place for it not to be the trigger. Earla pressed them in.
They clicked for a moment and glowed red before they reverted to position. Couldn't have thought of anything more original? Before long, the statue trembled aside and revealed the hidden passage with a gust of air.
"Great, another dark staircase, " Kamiro said.
"W-What is that?" Ayu said.
An ominous clanging sound that was nonexistent until the passage opened up echoed deep within the darkness.
"Guess we gotta find out..." Kamiro unsheathed his twin daggers with a cold sweat, while the party followed suit with their own weapons.
"We don't have time to wait for backup, do we? Ayu looked at Earla.
She shook her head. "Assuming Old Bill and them already alerted the town heads, this is not something they'd be able to handle, and even if they were successful in notifying the guild, it'd take a few days for help to arrive."
Why'd she start the sentence naming the mule? You really got that attached to it?
"I'm sure you two are aware, but walking into their hideout like this is nothing short of suicide." Earla stared at Ayu and Kamiro, who didn't even bat an eye at her comment. She smiled. "I'm glad we feel the same way. I'll take the lead this time."
"Oh, thank god," Kamiro said.
"You coward." Ayu flicked his forehead. He cried out and rubbed the pain away.
Kamiro followed Earla while Ayu tugged behind him on his clothing. They traversed the stone tunneled spiral staircase in what seemed longer than before. But Earla had it off easy as halfway through, a few scattered magic-infused lanterns began to light the way. The deeper they went, the stronger the clanging got, and at times, it made Earla lead the group in a hesitative crawl.
Before long, the party found themselves in front of a set of large steel doors, and by this point, the clanging had become clear enough to make out three of them.
"Guess we made it..." Kamiro said.
"It's still early morning, right? Maybe there's a chance they're still asleep." Ayu let out a weary chuckle.
"W-Well... you never know." Eala scratched her cheek before taking a deep calming breath.
The group stared up at the massive doors. Nerves were in the air, but Kamiro knew they were all aware of the risks as soon as they went after Fleur.
"There's no other way in." He proceeded to open the large doors. "I'll try to do it quietly."
"Should we help?" Earla said.
"Actually, I think it's fine. We don't want to make any more unnecessary noise if we can."
"Maybe we should let Earla do it herself if noise was what you were worried about. I just don't see you opening such heavy looking doors," Ayu said.
Kamiro pouted. "I got it..."
The doors were sturdy but not impossible to push open. When he first saw them, he half-jokingly expected that the three would need to work together to open it, like the first Testing Gate in HunterXHunter. At least there was no giant guard dog around. Or maybe Kamiro had just gotten stronger.
"Just... a bit more." His voice trembled.
"Hmm not bad," Ayu said.
While the gap between the doors grew, an orange glow emitted through. But just before it was wide enough to go in, the last few centimeters of movement released a long and loud creaking sound, like when trying to sneak out of the house late at night. Kamiro held his breath during those last few moments of creaking that seemed to not want to end.
"Seriously?"Ayu said. She and Earla stared at Kamiro with a deadpan expression.
The party made their way through the glowing gap of the double-doored gate. Inside was a passage, lit up by torches on the stone walls' side, aligned by cells that led toward a large central opening with a gate above the entrance. In contrast to the crypt, it was a dungeon straight out of the bowels of a medieval castle. It seemed the church didn't take too kindly to non-believers.
They eased further in and found themselves in a square-like arena. The area was large, and the dirt ground was firm. Three oversized, dark cells were on the front and sides of the square, and whatever was inside of them was the cause of the clanging.
Extensive stone walls continued up another five levels, and normal-sized cells surrounded it, but the growing darkness the higher you'd look, gave the illusion that it never ended. The first level up was slightly different. Instead of cells, it was more of a terrace overlooking the square and a deep passage continued behind, but where it led to was out of view.
"Fleur...?" Ayu said.
Front and center, up on the terrace, was Fleur tied to a rusty chair. Her head hung with closed eyes, her mouth was restrained, and her face was a bit bruised and roughed up.
The group looked up at her with a pained expression.
Ayu's voice cracked. "Fleur!"
A moment passed, and Fleur's eyes twitched before they opened. She looked around with a dazed expression, and her eyes widened upon seeing the group below her. She struggled to free herself to no avail.
The stone stairs on the sides that led up were blocked by large fenced doors. No matter what the party tried, they wouldn't budge.
Fleur peeked behind at times while she continued to struggle and finally managed to free her mouth. "Leave now! It's a—"
She was interrupted by the heavy clank of a large metal gate falling down behind the party. The group was trapped inside.
Kamiro sighed. "Well, we finally found that trap."