Inverse System

"Here is the plan. Since the mayor is not here today, it is the perfect opportunity to do this operation. I can bring a maximum of 3 of you inside, disguised as butlers, the rest of you need to begin preparation to exit the city as fast as possible," Lagurin informed them, to which they began dividing the group.

"I think I should definitely be one of the ones who stay outside. I can quickly speed up the cart when everyone boards," Elaine explained, everyone nodding in agreement.

"Sorry Elaine, but I really want to go inside. I won't be there to protect you, so be careful," Lance seriously spoke, making Elaine slightly angry at his over protectivity.

"Xenia and I'll join Elaine then!" Core swiftly declared, giving Xenia no room to opine.

"What?! But I wanted to go in!" She protested.

Core walked past her towards the north exit, whispering something into her ear as he passed.

"Tch, fine. We'll prepare the cart, you three be careful," she followed Core and Elaine to the north gate, leaving Rein, Reggie, and Lance to go into the plaza.

They entered the guild branch and got dressed in all black suits, with white gloves and black shoes. They also did their hair, slicked back, and gelled to glistening condition. Lagurin took them out and lead them into the plaza, getting past the guard at the front with relative ease, telling him that they're butlers the mayor hired.

As they entered through one of the doors and exited into the large square in the middle of the manor, they found themselves walled in a series of buildings, a small field of grass within the windowless and doorless confines of the unroofed plaza.

"Wow, those buildings really are confining," Reggie noticed.

"That's correct. The mayor bought out every building in this block and had it renovated. Every one of them is connected with a door from the inside to each other, and the mayor uses this entire plaza as a base of operations," Lagurin informed.

"Um, sir? Where exactly is King? Why are we standing in the middle of a field?" Lance curiously inquired.

"King… Is right under us. The mayor had an underground dungeon built for him."

The group recoiled in disgust, Rein silently gripping his folded arms in haste at the back of the group, not reacting like the two in front of him.

"He almost never comes out of the dungeon, and silently stays holed up in there throughout his long, harsh days. He's barely fed and spends most of his time curled up in the corner of the room. I'm sorry, but I can only allow 1 person to enter the dungeon at a time. That person will have to convince King to come out, which even I haven't been able to do."

"I'll do it," Lance clenched his fist, a fierce scowl of righteous determination etched on his face.

"Are you sure? What you see down there may be scarring. Maybe someone like you wouldn't be suited for it…" Lagurin hesitantly spoke as the prejudice of looking at Lance's righteous image came over him, which determined Lance even further.

"If I want to change and better myself, I have to be able to overcome situations like this. Please let me go," he asked Lagurin, but at the same time asked his teammates, who both nodded.

Rein thought Lance to be the most suited for this situation, using his overwhelming charm to convince King to emerge, so he allowed him to be the one to enter the dungeon.

"Very well. I'll open up the dungeon hatchet for one second, and you'll quickly enter it. Once you're there, try and make friends with him and bring him up to the surface. The other two fake butlers will pretend to do chores around the estate so as not to cause suspicion. Understood?"

They all followed Lagurin's plan, Rein and Reggie walking around the estate with brooms in hand, avoiding suspicious looks from other workers in the mayor's cabinet. Rein would often bump into the workers, insincerely apologizing afterward as the pompous workers would scoff and dust it off.

"Psst! Rein, could you pay more attention to where you're walking? I think you've bumped into every single worker in the building at this point," Reggie inconspicuously whispered to him, making Rein nervously laugh and apologize.

"These workers… They know about what's happening, huh?" Reggie continued the conversation while sweeping, Rein giving a nod of affirmation.

"That's right. Everyone here knows but chooses to keep silent," Rein spoke, unconsciously tightening the grip around the broom he held.

"What are we gonna do with them after..? You think we can get an arrest warrant for them and the mayor?" Reggie despairingly asked, Rein staying silent to his question, Reggie understanding what the answer would be.

"Probably not huh..? These guys would just get away with all they've done…" Reggie angrily spoke, Rein putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Let's just focus on saving King now. We'll deal with all of that stuff later," Rein confidently spoke, reassuring Reggie.

"Haha, did you take that opportunity to copy my Spring?" Reggie jokingly scoffed, trying to lighten the mood.

"Heh, you underestimate me. I've had your Spring copied since the night of the volcano. Still haven't had a chance to use it in battle though," Rein retorted, making Reggie slightly shiver, impressed and scared at the same time.

"Dunno why but I feel creeped out now," He laughed. "So, what is my inverted Spring?"

Their conversation continued, making sure to keep their voices quiet and continue to sweep, keeping attention off of them.

Meanwhile, in the grassy field in the middle of the plaza, the dungeon hatch was opened by Lagurin, who used the mechanism in the mayor's office to allow Lance entry.

He told him that he would only keep it open for 1 second, so Lance would have to enter by then. When he was ready to leave, he would contact either Rein or Reggie on their tablet, and they would inform Lagurin.

As the hatch slowly opened, Lance swiftly slipped through into the dark bunker, the hatch slowly closing after he entered. He briefly saw the rocky brick texture of the wall when the hatch opened, the sun lighting up the entrance for a few seconds.

As he stood up after sliding in, seeing the light of a torch flickering around the corner of the hole. He mentally prepared himself, taking deep breaths and calming himself down. But through those deep breaths, he almost threw up, smelling the deep stench of dried blood through his innocent nostrils.

The atmosphere down in the hatchet was nothing like the outside, almost as if some of the boy's sadness was leaking out into the small confine he resided in.

Lance re-composed himself and turned the corner, seeing the most horrific sight he'd ever seen. A small, black-haired boy sat curled up in the corner of a prison cage, shivering vigorously, ducking his head into the corner, not visible to Lance.

He saw various torture weapons scattered across the room, some of them mounted on the walls and some stained with blood on the floor beside the boy. Needles, plyers, broken glass, and other sorts of despicable things were spread throughout the room, making Lance recoil in his stance, tears beginning to swell up in his eyes as he held back the forceful urge to throw up.

He calmed down and fearfully approached the boy, entering through the open door of the cell. Lance was confused as to why the door was opened, but it seemed that whoever came down here knew that King would be too scared to cross through the door, so they saw no use in closing it.

"H-hey?" He stopped in front of the trembling boy in the corner, who furrowed his face into the angle of the room.

Lance thought that he was shaking out of severe fear, but he saw nothing in his eyes when the boy turned his face to him. It wasn't fear, nor was it any other emotion. His barren eyes horrified Lance, as the boy trembled out of pure reflex.

"Are you here to hurt me too?" The boy softly spoke, his expression not changing as he addressed the tall, brown-haired man in a butler suit that stood in front of him.

Lance dropped on the floor as tears began flowing out of his eyes, gazing upon the beaten-up boy who was cut in every pore of his skin. His face was slashed, and parts of his skin were burned, his fingernails growing in the sockets of the top of his fingers.

"No…" Lance sternly spoke through his tears. "I'm here to save you, King."