Arablest/ Prototype

“Why are you here?” I asked. “If you asked me to bring Leona here, and then I find you here myself, then what’s the point? Why did you send me on such a mission?” I challenged. “If you had a village to watch, what are you doing here? You could at least have come with us.”
“Well… You see, …The king sent me an urgent message to come here after I sent you, so I travelled here as quickly as I could,” replied Brixus. “Despite Thanti under attack by… er, by an unknown army, I was able to easily cross the country without being seen. I suppose you have been rather unfortunate, though.”
“How did he send the message? And don’t you have a village to watch?”
“By attaching a letter to a hawk, of course. And… about the village… Another group of bandits came by and burned it down after you two left, so I brought all the refugees to other villages.”
“…How awfully convenient for you. Your village gets burned down just when the King of Thrycia asks you to drop by. And why did you choose to come anyways? You, the leader of a village in Raalte, could always have refused his call because of bandit attacks.”
“Yes, that may be true, but I’m not just the leader of the now-destroyed-village.”
“Really, now?” I replied sarcastically. I wasn’t very happy with him, sending me off on this ridiculous and dangerous mission that I was completely not trained for, and then following along later.
“Yes. I am noble here as well. Baron Brixus of Thrycia. There is a reason why Leona, the king’s daughter, was in Thanti. Surprised, are you?”
“…Only because you are a noble here. I already know about King Raymond and Leona being her daughter. Tell me, why weren’t you able to at least fend off another bandit attack?”
“They outnumbered us and overpowered us, and this time we didn’t have help. A… friend of my came by too late to help as well.”
“A friend…?”
“…! Anyways, why are you here?”
“Are you kidding me? You sent me here!”
“That’s… that’s true, but I honestly didn’t expect you to survive after finding out what’s happening in Thrycia. How did the two of you manage to make it here safely?”
“Just the two of us? King Raymond sent an escort with us, and since then we’ve been on quite a few adventures avoiding battles and such.” I chuckled. “It wasn’t too troublesome, really, but I suppose it did slow us down quite a bit.”
“Ah. I see. Who did he send?”
“Eh, two knights named Joseph and Garrett, and a fire mage, Durand.”
At that he laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Ray—Raymond sen—sent those three? Hahahahaha! The two knights are practically complete opposites! But think I can understand, seeing that together the three of them are more powerful then they seem. I suppose Durand took a great disliking to someone, eh?”
“Yeah. It was me.” I replied.
“Don’t worry, he’s always like that, although why he does it, we don’t know. Maybe he’s a loner? Anyways, on every mission Durand has been sent on, someone comes back in a crazy because of him, so he rarely is sent on any missions. He certainly is noted for his power and skill, though.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” I replied.
“Well, I’m surprised to see you haven’t really changed, even Durand was there to drive you crazy!”
“Are you going to help me find my way back home now?” I asked quietly. “You promised.”
“Eh…? Oh, that’s right, I did… I can’t believe I forgot! But… Where’s Leona? I don’t see her here.”
“She’s with Joseph right now, I believe. There appears to be some problems…”
“Yes, I’ve heard. Raymond has gone missing. I wonder what will happen…”

We stood there silently for a while after that. I was busy thinking about what could happen when I heard a voice.

“Jeremy! There you are! We’ve been looking over for yo— Brixus?!?”
It was Leona, with Joseph close behind.

“Oh, hello, Leona.” Brixus replied. “It’s been a while.”

After some more time was wasted explaining everything to her and Joseph again, we decided to look for King Raymond again, but Brixus would not have it.
“Jeremy, this is no longer your concern. Thrycia will deal with its own problems; let me help you find your way back home, as promised.”
“I—I… thank you, Brixus. I would certainly like to take up on your offer, but I have not yet completed my mission. I need to deliver Leona to King Raymond—“
“Yes, yes, I understand that’s your mission, but how can you deliver someone to a person no one knows where he is? He could be dead for all we know; this is why it is no longer your concern anymore. You already have done a great job brining Leona here. Now is the time for you to find your way back to your home. Please, don’t let this matter trouble you anymore.”
“…I see. Very well—”
“Jeremy!” Joseph cried out. “I know now that this matter doesn’t concern you, but please help us this one more time! Help us find King Raymond, and I will do all in my power to help you back to where you live!”
“I— I don’t know anything, though… How could I be of any help?”
“Nonsense! You’re a tactician! The best I’ve ever met! Surely you could come up with something!”
“…Have you searched the entire castle yet?”
“Eh…no, not yet. We still have one more area that we’re supposed to search, although I find it very unlikely.” Joseph replied
“Where is it?” I asked.
“You see… It’s the dungeon.”
“Ah. I can see why he probably wouldn’t be found there. But we can’t leave any place unchecked, right? Let’s check it out.” I reply. “Then after that we talk to the others and see what they found. But after this, you will help me get back to my home, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I honestly don’t think Raymond won’t be in the dungeon. How is that even possible?” Brixus said. “If Raymond was taken by something or missing, he would certainly still not be in the castle, nonetheless the dungeon. It would most likely that we would be long gone from here.”
“That’s true. But it’s not certain. So we’re checking.” I replied. “Let’s go.”
“I wouldn’t have done that if I were you.” Brixus replied ominously. “The dungeon would be the least likely place you would find anything. Instead, questioning the people may be a better idea.”
“I don’t care. I’m not leaving any place here unchecked. You’re just scared of going down there, aren’t you?
“What? How dare you—”
“Let’s go.”

And with that, we left Brixus behind.

“Which way to the dungeon?” I asked, as I followed Joseph. I was determined not to get lost staring at the architecture.
“It’s this way…. Almost there. You know, Brixus brought up a good point. The dungeon is the last place of all places for Raymond to be found. Why the dungeon?”
“Even if it was the last place, and even if we might not find anything, there’s still the possibility, and I don’t want to leave anything unchecked.” I replied.
“I see. Well, here it is.”

We walked down the corridor, turned around the corner, and then came face to face with a thick wooden door. Joseph knocked a few times, and then kicked it open when no one replied.

It was a small room.

“This… this is the dungeon?” I replied, rather confused. It certainly didn’t look like it.
“No. This is the dungeon master’s room. Let’s see… Ah, here it is.” She said, picking up some keys, a lamp, as well as a piece of paper. “Let’s go.”

In the dungeon it was rather dark and scary; the place was large too, and I hoped we wouldn’t get lost.

Turns out I probably didn’t have to worry, because Joseph also brought along a map.
“Do you think we’ll find anything here?” She asked. “I don’t think we’ll—“
“What was that?” Leona asked, pointing. “I heard something over there…”
Leona and I walked closer to where she was pointing. It was a jail cell, with a man inside it, chained to the wall. I could not see his face, and he looked starved. It was a horrible sight.
“Hmm?” It appears to be a prisoner…” Joseph said. “Come, let’s go—“
The man groaned. It must have been what Leona hear earlier.
“Huh?” Joseph said, looking up again. “Hey you, in the cell. Do I know you?”
The prisoner looked up; he was in extremely bad condition. Leona and I stared until Joseph dropped her lamp.
“Joseph? Is there something wrong?”

“You… I… Is that you, Raymond?”