Chapter 79: Rescued?

"Haha, that was definitely a sight to see. Who knew a little kiddo like you could pack such a punch like that?", A carefree voice suddenly struck our ears.

It wasn't a familiar voice the five of us heard either. This voice wasn't spoken from our mouths, that's for sure. As soon as we heard this voice reach our ears, our bodies started to tense up before a shadow of a figure appeared outside of our cell, which connected to the rest of this large limestone cave system.

"Ennea.", I suddenly said, looking at her.

"Already on it.", Ennea replied, quickly reaching underneath her gown, only to pull out the dagger she had used against the incapacitated guard earlier. The moment she drew her dagger, we saw Ennea vanish from sight. When she becomes serious, her speed is not a laughing joke. If her speed was already this good, it does wonder why Ennea ended up as an archer when she joined the Stahlritter. Well, with her eyesight and perception improving thanks to Gnosis, it does make sense for her to become one.

Ennea quickly reappeared behind the figure who was still approaching our way. She pointed her dagger right behind the person's back, which caused the figure to pout the moment they felt a dagger poke at their back.

"Hey man, that's not cool. If I was gonna attack you guys I would have done so already.", The figure said, revealing that to be of a guy. And surprisingly this boy seemed to be around thirteen years old. Despite saying that, thanks to feeling Ennea's dagger poking into his back, he could only lift his arms up in the air as he slowly reached the cell's entrance.

Once the figure reached the cell door, we saw what appeared to be a teen boy, no older than thirteen years old. Even though he was just thirteen now, he was still dressed just like his older counterpart. A boy with medium length yet messy scarlet hair. He was currently wearing his dark violet and and red suit with black dress pants, fitted to his current age. I became dazed seeing this figure now in our sight as the boy was currently pouting a bit.

"L-L-LECHTER!?", I couldn't help but exclaim aloud, looking at the scarlet haired boy now in front of us.

"You know this bimbo?", Van retorted seeing this new arrival.

"Kind of...", I also couldn't help but utter seeing this boy.

"That was uncalled for but I'll take it.", The scarlet haired boy responded Van, but it still caused him to chuckle while shrugging his shoulders a bit. He then continued to speak. "Heh, I wouldn't call it that, since this is our first time meeting each other. But the Old Man did say you'd probably know who I am. Sure enough he was right.", the boy continued to say, not denying that his name was Lechter.

"Haha, looks like I won this bet, Lechter.", Another more firm sounding voice said, which revealed another figure slowly approaching behind Lechter. This figure appeared more like one of the robed guard priests, but that seemed to be a disguise of sorts. This second figure was a lot older, who was already around eighteen years of age and my eyes turned wide with shock seeing this second figure appear.

At the same time, a sword could be seen held in his hand which was quite bloody at this point. At the end of its blade was the actual hooded priest which kept guard over here not too far away, but the sword was currently pierced through his chest. With a flip of his sword, the priest fell down onto the ground dead, which caused a smell of blood to waft around us. Seeing this happened I took a good look at this second figure.

Long blonde hair that was already tied into a small knot, coupled with pale blue eyes. Despite wearing a hooded priest robe right now, his stature and movement was still poised. And despite that, he was still wearing his usual calm expression, a rare smile appeared on his face the moment he saw me.

"It's been a while, Young Duke. Six or Seven years I take it now?", The blonde haired boy said, reaching Lechter's side. He saw Ennea was still armed with her dagger but ignored her. Ennea saw this and remained quiet as well, she could feel danger warnings being released from this blonde haired boy despite acting calm right now.

"Is that really you, Rufus...?", I uttered in shock, seeing the blonde haired boy in front of us now.

"Haha. Why wouldn't it be me? I am the one and only Rufus after all. Were you expecting someone else?", The blonde haired boy said, only to reveal himself as Rufus. The same Rufus Albarea I had encountered back during the crowning of Prince Eugent III several years back. We hadn't seen each other since then, but now he is right in front of me. Of course I couldn't help but be surprised.

"This place shouldn't even be accessible right now.", I said with a retort seeing Lechter and Rufus appear. But seeing them together, I could probably assume who was behind this...

"I know right? But your Old Man really pulled some strings for us to discover this location. It took quite a bit of effort to find you, Young Master.", Lechter said scratching his head a bit. "Also would you mind pulling your dagger out of my back missy? I'd hate for it to leave a mark.", Lechter said, shifting his eyes downward toward Ennea. I too nodded my head hearing that.

"It's alright, Ennea. These two are friends. Or at least I can assume as such?", I said as looking back at the two.

"You can take it as such for now. I don't know when reinforcements will come but our primary objective was securing you, Young Duke. Did you really think Father wouldn't prioritize your safety while you were gone these last few years? He'd figure you'd have a plan since you were taken to one of the lodges, and now it was time to act accordingly.", Rufus said, explaining the situation a bit.

Right...it's going to take some time getting used to having Rufus address Giliath as Father....He is the one who sees him as his own Father now and not the acting Duke Albarea anymore.

"Oh right. What's this I hear about an operation?", Lechter also asked. After asking this, Ennea finally pulled back her dagger. Ennea then returned, only to sit in front of me. "Sheesh, how protective can you be?", Lechter continued to retort seeing Ennea do this.

"You really befriended a weird lot, didn't you, Young Master?", Lechter continued to ask as he continued to observe us.

"I don't know why but I'm already starting to get annoyed hearing this bimbo speak. Can I punch him, Big Brother?", Sherryl said as an annoyed look appeared in her eyes.

"Haha, please refrain from doing that, Sherryl. But long story short you two are her to secure our path out, right?", I asked Lechter and Rufus.

"That's the gist of it. But we became interested knowing that you guys were also going to break out of here despite Lechter and I coming here. It seems you have a destination in mind as well?", Rufus asked with interest in his eyes.

"There is that. What I have in mind isn't done yet, so to speak. And judging from your reactions I can take a good guess that Father knows I'm still alive.", I said, which caused Lechter and Rufus to nod their heads.

"Not once did he doubt that you have perished even if you were captured back then. He could see the determination in your eyes, Young Duke. Father simply let you act as you wanted to. The original plan was to part ways while taking you back, but we can go along with what you have in mind, that is if you explain it.", Rufus responded to me.

"I'd love to hear more about that father of yours dude but it seems we have our escape route secure now. We might not even have to fight either. That's a Crown Prince for ya.", Van replied.

"Where are we heading?", Tio who stayed quiet during this, asked me with interest too.

The moment Tio asked that with a flat tone in her voice and not much emotion, both Lechter and Rufus blinked at her. I inwardly chuckled seeing their reaction.

"So where to, Mini Boss Man?:, Lechter also asked with interest, which almost caused me to stumble over while I was still seated.

"Please don't call me that again.", I retorted Lechter before continuing to speak. "As to where we will be heading to, I hope you like the water. It'll be Messeldam Port.", I declared to everyone.

That's right, we are going straight to where Paradise located at. Right now we are in western Calvard closer to the border which is connected to Crossbell, and Messeldam Port is all the way up to the northeast. Paradise is a small resort island right in the middle of its waters beyond.

*

[Insert picture of Lechter Arundel here]

[Insert picture of Rufus Albarea here]

Giliath demands your power stones!