Plans in Motion (Part 2)

With all of this said old man Ivan explained to them that they would be lining up at the passageway to leave and be checked for security reasons before they exit the settlement and everyone agreed with it as nothing seemed wrong by being careful so no one had any problems with the guards doing so as it's for their safety.

The Rats though knew that they couldn't bring their weapons with them, or else they would be discovered so they disposed of them to make sure as they don't want a situation where they would be hunted by the guards if they were found to have daggers on them as they are rare because only knives are used.

So with that, the traitors quickly dispersed and threw away their weapons and to say that they work together is almost right as it is about their interests aligning as many of the rats come from different people to scout out the situation of any settlements they find and report back to their masters which they then will be rewarded.

So in all, they work together until they escape this settles only having one exit and entrance, especially being trapped underground caused many plans to backfire, and tracking their locations from the slave mark is impossible because of the properties of the sand so they have to escape at the right time when they get out.

All the people then gathered the little necessities they needed as old man Ivan their leader told them they couldn't bring much in the haul back to Karisa and her entourage's settlement as they knew that there were many of them and the journey would take a while so they were to pack lightly.

And old man Ivan he was waiting for the show to start as he allowed Karissa and her group to exit first and with some of the guards situated outside to deal with Seras, Ranr, and Hanes with them as well to help deal with problems even Seras and Ranr were scared as they never killed people before.

They remembered that Captain Buren told them there would be a day when they have to kill their kind for the greater good as both of them knew that these people would not let off with the information and cause Lord Niles future problems that may end their dreams before they started.

As they knew that this was for their people and their hands that were shaking a while ago calmed as if they were on a still sea. They had to do this for everyone and they are willing to get their hands dirty and Hanes seeing this let out a little smile thinking that he would have to deal with the spies himself if any came his way because the both of them were shaking from nervousness but it looks like he doesn't have to worry as he wasn't a talker to give an encouragement talk as they looked calm, cool and collected on the situation.

Back underground you could see the guards left down their keeping order and instructing everyone to wait in line and were going through the process of being checked by using the Talent orb even though they didn't know why as well as a mana indicator as all would not have known but they just followed the guards order as it was required to leave to go up to set up camp in the ruins.

Karisa was in the underground settlement helping to keep order as well and the line moved rapidly with people going up you may have wondered how are they going to tell the ones upstairs that the traitors were the ones coming up next was very easy actually and wouldn't be noticed by anyone as it would not be seen through as it would have the same meaning but they use different phrases.

They did this by using Karisa's idea to say the phrase 'Another one going up' which they would say things like be care up the stairs and go up which all sounded the same but the phrase used by Karisa had a different meaning and by the time they even figure something was wrong they would be dead already.

And because the passageway has a guard in it which can transfer the message to the upper ruins can allow them to prepare in advance so they aren't caught off guard by the sudden coming of people when they exit the passageway.

So the line went up and the people kept moving and the mana indicator lit up five times but was hidden before the traitors could see it and were weirded out by the guards' behavior but just continued as they couldn't figure out the reason so they just focused back on their primary mission.

Old man Ivan was excited by finding them because can eliminate them early and was extremely angry at the number as it had risen to twelve and some of them were even trusted people who were promoted to manage resources and such Ivan took a look at himself and sighed thinking that he will need to be more careful in the future and cull his kindness without being suspicious of the person first.

The line continued and while this was happening you could see blood far away from the site of the location of the entrance which was bloodied due to some having noticed that something was wrong as the guards weapons were out and tried to run, some even cursed and tried to alert other and the innocent ones did come but after the guard explained to them what happened they just had cold eyes and went back up to camp near the others.

Seeing this most will even take the initiative to attack when they noticed the bloody smell but were skewered by the spears thrown without remorse they had even come in the direction of the Seras, Ranr, and Hanes to which two almost got away from the initial four that was fighting but Seras quickly shot arrows at their calves with three in each leg for each of them and they cursed a while and Seras and Ranr couldn't kill them and let Hanes do it.

They still did what they were supposed to do by securing the perimeter of the area to not allow anyone to escape and had done their job well and seeing the sun getting lower the guards upstairs told them it would be night soon.

They then told everyone to be quieter and for those who are tired could rest until they are ready to enter the line again as they were many people who looked sleepy while standing but resisted for them to go up so they may start a new chapter in their lives and even the guards were tired but they knew that this needed to be done to avoid future troubles.

So they did their best to continue servicing the people and some people even brought them eaters and some rations to help them as they say the tired state of the guards and old man Ivan even had to switch them out to avoid slackness in the plan and helped monitor people in the line to ensure their safety.

This continued until the very next day the rise of the sun and the guards had to be shifted three times you could even see some persons out of the line sleeping on the floor due to exhaustion with smiles on their faces as if finally having sweet dreams and the plans to catch rats were still going on to which they had 58 spies inlaid down here and this frightened the guards.

Even old man Ivan was frightened as you can imagine what would happen if these persons reported back to their masters. You could imagine the force that would have appeared to extinguish them from the face of Visteria. As there were even some who were nervous about the mana indicator feeling something wrong which Ivan let them through and all of them were rats.

He was happy that they were finally being eliminated this fast and Ivan enjoyed it as the number of them dwindled and they hadn't noticed yet which serves them right after all who told them to sneak in here they must think just because he doesn't have a method to get the mark behind at the back of their necks to appear which would make to the acquisition of them many times easier doesn't mean he can't find alternatives.

This was until a peculiar young-looking girl was in the line and did something that was promiscuous lifting her shirt and showing the word help written into her skin to which after she tested the mana indicator found she was a spy as well and this matter surprised the guard to which he reported it to old man Ivan to see what must be done.