Chapter 16- old friend 

It was almost 4 past 12.

The trio were out in the jail. Except for this place, the whole palace had emptied. No other living soul was seen.

Leo's eyes opened slowly—finally, the effect of the poison was wearing off.

Leo, having not lost his consciousness, knew what was going on around him.

He was in an old, dusty room, corners crawling with spiders, skeletons of past prisoners still chained to the wall, wet moss covering the ceiling.

Fortunately for Leo, the guards didn't tie him up in their hurry.

He tried to stand. As he stood, his knees gave in—he fell down. Leo, not giving up, held the bars of the jail door nearby, his arm twitching, his forehead sweating. After struggling, he finally managed to get up.

In his four years of study, Leo had learned various skills—one such was medicine.

Leo always remembered what his master told him:

“Leo, always be prepared for the worst.”

So Leo always had herbs dried and stored in his magic space bag within its vast space.

Leo took his bag, a small inconspicuous pouch closed by a sling.

He took the herbs and made a potion using the fire from the magic stone lamp.

As he was doing this, the potion's aroma spread across the prison.

A voice, carrying a tone of elegance, sounded:

“Are you a medic? Please, save our princess! She is poisoned! We will give you anything you want—please save her!”

Desperately, the voice pleaded.

Leo understood this was the little princess of the Hell Demon Star.

He replied, “I will be there as soon as I save my friends here.”

Then Leo proceeded to take the prepared potion and fed it to Stark and Ryan, who were lying like lifeless corpses. After taking the potion, color returned to their faces.

Seeing them recover, Leo left to help the princess.

The door was locked, but it didn't stop Leo, as picking locks was also a skill he had learned in the Hall of Honors.

He left his cell and came out. There were about 24 soldiers, all poisoned—only one still holding on to his consciousness.

He was a slim-looking man, but his hands showed calluses that proved his life as a knight. His face was pale.

Leo hurried to him, “Here, first drink this.”

Leo gave him the antidote.

“The princess… first save her. My life is of no consequence.”

Leo could see the nature of that loyal knight there.

Leo took his lockpick and inserted it into the keyhole. After a few twists and turns, he opened the cage.

He went near the princess. Seeing her pale face, still unable to hide her excellent beauty—it did not affect Leo. It was something else. Leo’s heart felt that she looked familiar, an indescribable sense of familiarity.

The slim man stopped him. “What are you trying to do?”

Throwing himself in the way.

Leo calmly said, “I am trying to help her. Now move.”

He handed him the potion cauldron and continued, “By the looks of it, you were given mana-disrupting poison. This will help you all. So shut up, drink it, and give it to all your fellows. Your princess’s condition seems to be different from yours.

I need to examine her.”

Unable to refute the resolve in Leo’s eyes, the man drank the potion. Soon, color returned to his face. He started giving the others the potion.

At the same time, Leo took the pulse of the princess and examined her.

The slim knight got near Leo after giving all his fellows the potion.

“Is she… alright?” he asked nervously.

“The princess is also poisoned by the same poison, but only the dose is 10 times that which was used on you.”

“Worry not. She will live, but it will take time for her to wake up.”

Hearing this, the knight knelt on his knees—the highest form of respect a knight gives to another.

“Thank you for saving our princess, Riley.”

A shock went down Leo’s heart. His eyes started watering, his hands trembled in happiness.

He thought, No wonder… no wonder she looked familiar… thank God.

It was his old friend Riley, who he thought had lost her life in the Forest of Nightmares—the one in whose name he took his oath of duty.

He had never been more glad in the past four years—never been more happy to be wrong.

Leo remembered now was not the time.

The knight, curious about what happened, continued, “Sir, I am Reed. The knight from the Order of the Hell Star Knights. We came here under the command of our knight captain, Princess Riley, but we were poisoned and held captive here.”

Footsteps were heard—it was closing in on them.

Two figures came near the gate—one huge, another an average teenager.

In that moment, the knight, recovering some of his mana, went to strike them.

“Stop, Reed!” Leo screamed.

The knight stopped in his tracks.

“They are my friends.”

Ryan asked, “What happened? Where are we, Leo?”

Leo explained the situation to Ryan, Stark, and Reed—how the selfish Gord decided to make the people a sacrifice, kill the princess, and make it look like an accident.

Only then did Stark understand why Gord treated them so nicely.

Stark asked, “What shall we do now?”

Ryan: “Does it mean there’s no way? Are we really going to die?”

Trembling in fear, helplessly.

Then Leo broke the tension and spoke, “The leylines.”

“What?” asked Stark.

“The leylines. Below, there is years and years of stored Orizon herb essence in the sewage. If only we can gather all the people there and stay there for 2 days, we can win this.

Even if the barrier gives up, we can save everyone. No life will be lost.

If only we can bring the people in before the culling starts.”

Stark, relieved hearing this: “We can save them. Let’s do this, Leo.”

He decided to bet the kingdom’s fate on a young man he had only met a day ago.

A voice sounded, “It will be too late.”

The trio and Reed, hearing this, hurried out.

In the next cell, there was a man wearing a long robe—a middle-aged man with dark circles under his eyes, short black hair.

Behind him, about 100 guards, all poisoned, were lying on the ground.

Stark seemed to recognize him. “Tom? What are you doing here? What do you mean by ‘it’s too late’?” asked Stark.

“The culling will start at sunrise. We have less than 2 hours. Before that, it’s impossible to evacuate them completely,” said Tom.

Everyone was surprised hearing this.

Leo asked, “Who is this, Stark?”

Stark replied, “This is the chief mage in charge of maintaining the ancient barrier’s core.”

Leo, wanting to understand what happened, asked, “Why are you here?”

Tom started talking, “The core’s energy was depleting. The core almost reached its end after running for centuries. We found a way to create a new core—an alternative for the old one.

We made a prototype. Made it work.

But that scum Gord got wind of this. He captured me, killed my colleagues, and destroyed the new core.

He also poisoned the whole guard regiment of the ancient barrier and imprisoned us.”

Leo, now getting the full picture, took out the remaining potions and opened the door.

“Ryan, Stark, Reed—give it to the soldiers.” He handed them the potions.

They went ahead.

Meanwhile, Leo faced Tom and asked,

“Tom, I am Leo, and I think you don’t want any life to be lost today. Can you help me do it?”

“Absolutely. I would love to. But there is nothing we can do. There is no time,” said Tom, slamming his fist on the prison wall.

“Tom, does the core still have mana left in it?” asked Leo.

“Not enough to keep the barrier, but it does have a significant amount of mana.”

“Then it’s not too late, Tom. If you help, we can save the people,” said Leo.

Tom had his doubts, but still, hopeful at looking at this boy not even half his age not giving up, he decided not to give up.

“How are we to do it? We have no time to evacuate the people completely. At most, 1/4 of the population can be evacuated—even if all the knights here help, it’s not enough.”

Leo spoke, “The beasts are sensitive to mana. They are attracted to it.

The core already has capacity to move to the top of the wall.

As long as we make the core release its mana, it should make the beasts gather there—even if only for a short time, it will give us time.

We will evacuate the ones nearest to there, and if we do it right, we can survive this.”

Tom saw hope.

“Still, the knights are not enough. At least a population of 10,000 is here in the kingdom. To reach all of them with only 100 guards and us—it’s impossible in the time.

How can we reach them all?”

Ryan stepped forward. “I can reach them.”

Leo was surprised. Ryan still had something up his sleeve.

“How will you?” asked Tom.

Ryan said, “The soldiers don’t know the streets—not like us rats of the back alley.

There is nowhere they can’t reach in this kingdom, no area unfamiliar to them.

And I’m supposed to be the leader of these rats.”

Leo, relieved, smiling, spoke, “I knew it. You were not an ordinary man. Good. Then let’s do it, Ryan.”

Ryan nodded.

Tom, doubtful but still seeing he had no other option, said, “Let’s freakin’ do it.”

Stark said, “Tonight, none dies.”

Reed: “Don’t count us knights out. We will also help you.”

Ryan asked, “So what’s the plan, Leo?”

Every single person standing there trusted their life with the young demon.

Leo started speaking, “Since the knights are helping us, we have a better chance at this.

First – Tom, with a few guards, goes and activates the transport mechanism of the core. Make the barrier existing.

Second – Me, Ryan, and Stark, with the other guards, go to start gathering the people with Ryan’s people. Then we explain and make them go to the leylines.

Third – The crucial part is the knights. They stay here and power the array, boosting the mana of the core.

Then right at dawn, when the beasts arrive, we should have almost evacuated the major section near the wall.

Fourth – We buy time as much as possible. Ryan and his people focus on evacuating the people. Me, Stark, and the guards—we are to protect the core until the evacuation is complete.

When the evacuation is complete, Ryan will signal us. Then the knights and we, who are guarding the crystal, will retreat.

We wait for 2 days. The culling will end, and the beasts won’t come near the sewer due to the Orizon herbs’ effect. We can stay there and survive this.”

Everyone understood this.

Tom spoke, “I have something that will help. My tool bag has communication crystals that will help us do it smoothly. I have 4 crystals—one for Leo, one for the knights, one for Ryan, and one for me.”

“Great! Let’s do it, then,” said Ryan.

Reed said, “We will survive this. Let’s go, guys.”

“Tom, where is your bag?” asked Stark.

Tom replied, “They must have taken it to the armory.

Let’s head there and head out.”

All the guards and knights woke up. They were filled in on the situation.

Leo, Ryan, Stark, Reed, Tom, and the others readied to head to the armory.

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Will they succeed? What will happen to them? What of the princess? Will everyone survive?

Stay tuned to find out.

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