“Hey, find the source of the smoke?” a voice called out from around the corner at the bottom of the stairs. All Ves, Nell, and Hiroko froze mid-step.

“Come on, don’t leave me in suspense, did you or did you not?” Ves could hear the man walking over. In seconds, he would see them and raise the alarm.

“I’m serious, Xander is asking.” Those were the man’s last words as the second he turned the corner, Hiroko embedded an axe in the man’s throat, damn near decapitating the poor bastard. Just barely catching him in time, so the body didn’t make a noise as it crumbled to the ground. All the while, Ves could see the barely restrained anger in Hiroko’s eyes. Not that she could blame him. These people kidnapped his friends and family. They deserved anything and everything they had coming to them.

Hiroko took the lead and stepped around the corner before quickly returning, motioning Ves and Nell to join him. They found themselves in a small room with a large but open reinforced door. Ves was glad they managed to get in without raising the alarm. She had no idea what they would have done if the gate was shut.

“Ves, you wouldn’t happen to know your way around, would you?” Hiroko asked.

Ves shook her head. It was several years ago that Ves had been here, and she had only been taken to a receiving room with her master, anyway. She had no idea where the cages were.

“Damn, well, from here on, I think we should split up, we need to find and rescue everyone quickly. That and these halls are too small to allow us to fight side by side anyway.”

“Nell should go with you, it’s not like she can open any doors in the body. She can also let me know if you find them.”

“Fine, then we’ll go down this hall, you take the other.”

‘Be safe, Ves.’

“I will,” Ves answered and set off. While Ves did know the way to the reception room, she figured there was no reason to go. She just needed to find the captives as quickly as she could. She was a little surprised they hadn’t run into even a single low-ranked cultivator so far, but in retrospect, the place was mainly kept safe because of its location. It would cost too much to keep a cultivator standing around all day in a place unlikely to ever be attacked.

First room Ves came up to, she found was empty. It looked like a larder, a fairly well-stocked one at that. Still no guards, no captives. So she continued on.

A little farther down the hall, she could hear movement. So she hid behind a crate as she saw a human woman walk into a nearby room. Based on her rough attire and the collar, Ves knew she had to be contracted. It was a risk, but perhaps the woman could tell her where the others were.

Just as Ves started to leave her hiding spot, a man slipped into the room ahead of her. It was pure luck the man didn’t see, but based on his depraved grin, the bastard had other things in mind. As soon as the man entered the room, Ves heard a brief scuffle, followed by a loud thud, as if something had been shoved into the wall. Having a good idea of what was about to happen, Ves quickly crept into the room behind him.

Inside were the woman and the man. Seeing as he was armed, she assumed he was a guard. Neither had noticed her, the man being too distracted, making unwanted advances towards the woman. In one arm, he had her wrists held above her head as he pressed her against the wall. The second hand, but she couldn’t see from her angle and only assumed the worst. The woman couldn’t even fight back, not as a contracted, and not in a place like this.

The woman turned her head away in disgust, only to see Ves. Her eyes went wide for but a moment before she gave Ves a look that cried out for help. Ves lunged, and a few quick steps were all it took before she had grappled the man. Her left hand holding his mouth shut. It did well enough to muffle his scream as Ves plunged her claw into his chest. She continued to hold on until the man stopped struggling and his heart beat no more. Turning around, Ves saw the woman staring at her wide-eyed, fixated on her claw and the bloody mess of a corpse at her feet. The woman staggered back a few steps before taking a deep breath and composing herself. She straightened out her disheveled dress before deeply bowing to Ves in apparent thanks.

“Thank you for not screaming,” Ves said as she shook the remains of the man’s insides from her claw. “I’m here with others to rescue everyone. Do you know where they are?”

The woman nodded in confirmation.

“Can you tell me the way?”

This time, she shook her head and then pointed to a long, jagged scar across her throat. No wonder she hadn’t screamed. While the wound looked old, Ves was honestly surprised the woman was still alive.

“I see,” was all Ves could say in response. “In that case, find a place to hide.” To that, the woman shook her head and walked towards the door. After looking both ways, she beckoned Ves to follow.

After switching senses quick to ensure Nell and Hiroko were fine, Ves continued following the mute woman. She was taken aback by how large the complex was. Not that most of it was utilized based on how many empty rooms they passed.

Along the way, they encountered a handful of additional contracted servants. With the mute woman calming them down before any screamed at Ves’s appearance. Claw aside, she was covered in blood. Based on how the others treated her, it seemed the woman commanded a great deal of respect among her fellow contracted. Each time after the women calmed them, Ves instructed them to quietly make their way to the surface. Ves was also able to confirm the contracted were largely only under two magically enforced orders. Don’t try to escape and don’t resist or directly harm their captors. So while the contracted women couldn’t stray far, they would at least be under the watch of Yujiro. Her heart bled for the contracted. The signs of abuse and worse were clear. It all just went to reaffirm her stance that none of these fuckers be allowed to leave this place alive.

“Let me help,” the statement caught Ves off guard. Aside from the mute woman, the other contracted had all been skittish and more than happy to run and hide as Ves suggested. The woman before her now was a freckled brunette. Looking to be younger than Ves herself, who was in her mid-twenties. Birthdays were not something celebrated for branded, so Ves herself was unsure of her exact age.

“You want to help?”

“Yes, I want to repay the others, they all have protected me in their own way.” The woman’s eyes turned soft as she glanced to the side. “They purposefully attracted the guard's attention to themselves to keep me safe.”

“What’s your name?”

“Erin”

“Erin, look, I appreciate it, but I'm not sure how you can help. You don’t look to be a fighter, and correct me if I’m wrong, but the contract prevents you from harming your captors regardless.” Ves noted the mute woman shared her concern based on her expression.

“It does, but I think I can lure most of them to one place for you. All the doors can be barred from the outside in case of a lockdown or if needed as extra cells. I can get them to come to the dining room. Then you can lock them all inside.”

Ves raised an eyebrow. She had to admit it would be helpful if it worked. “How can you do that?”

“The commander has a special reserve of aged whiskey. The guards are always talking about how much they want to try it. I think it would work well as a bait.”

“Won’t the commander be an issue if we try and steal his personal reserve?”

“No, the commander is out. If you can break into his office, I can do the rest. Then we can just lock them all inside as they drink themselves into a stupor.” The plan had merit. This place was like a maze by design. Trying to find and eliminate all the guards before they could safely move the prisoners would be difficult.

Ves took a moment to relay the plan to Nell. Erin and the mute woman gave her odd looks, so she lied and told them she had a magical communication device. While she had heard such things existed, they were exceedingly rare. Nell quickly agreed to the plan and decided to stay in hiding until Ves was done. They had apparently found some cages, but it was too risky to free anyone until the hideout was secure.

“Ok, let's go with your plan.”

Carefully, Erin and the mute woman whom Erin properly introduced as Alice, made their way to the commander’s private room. Needless to say, the room was locked with a hardy-looking padlock. So while Alice and Erin kept watch, Ves, as quickly as she could, ripped the lock from the door. The metal may have held, but the surrounding wood was old. The hideout as a whole has obviously seen better days.

The door open, the three quickly made it inside. The room was filled with various golden or gemmed knickknacks. It seemed the commander was doing rather well for himself. It didn’t take long for Erin to find the prized alcohol. Unfortunately, it was too heavy for Erin or Alice to carry, but Erin knew where she could find a cart nearby. As soon as she left, Ves felt a tap on her shoulder, only to turn and see Alice pointing towards a small glass bottle. It was poison, rat poison to be precise. Ves had used the same stuff before around her Master’s estate. It worked wonders; it was also incredibly toxic to most races in general, with clear warnings never to ingest. Alice’s intention was apparent, so before Erin returned, Ves grabbed the bottle and dumped the contents into the keg. It would be too diluted to kill anyone, but it would still make them sick, quickly at that.

Ves had only just finished sealing back up the keg by the time Erin returned with a cart. While Ves loaded it up, Erin walked over to a device Ves had seen a few times in the past at the manors of some nobles. It was a network of brass tubes that could be used to pass messages throughout the hideout. Or, in this case, announce a special reward waiting in the dining hall. After the announcement, Alice and Erin went to drop off the tainted booze while Ves stayed out of sight in the commander’s office. A short time later, Erin and Alice returned. Carefully leading Ves towards the dining hall where she could hear the men, and surprisingly a few women, deep in their jubilations. She was worried a few of the contracted had been pulled in, but Erin assured her that was not the case. A few of the guards were indeed women. This surprised her when she considered the rampant cruelty and debauchery of the place, but she supposed being a right bastard was not the sole domain of men. One of the most deranged people she had ever known was a woman, a cruel and twisted princess who ordered Ves to treat her as an older sister.

Ves was stirred from her thoughts as it sounded like the rat poison was starting to kick in. One man, green around the gills, started to hobble out, arms clutched around his stomach. Before he could even react to her presence, Ves charged. Violently, shoving the man back into the room as she could hear him crashing into the others. Immediately, she fled and slammed the door shut, pulling down the bar, locking it. For good measure, she also barricaded it with a few heavy crates from a nearby storage room as she ignored the pleas for help. By the time she was done, she could hear the guards vomiting, the poison fully kicking in. Served them right, it also likely weakened them enough that they wouldn’t be able to escape with brute force.

The worried look on Erin’s face was conflicted. Especially after Ves offhandedly explained she had poisoned the drink when Erin was out of the room. A conflict that neither Ves nor Alice shared. Not a trace of pity on either woman’s face as they left the guards to their fate. With most of the guards now dealt with, the group continued on their way. It was time to resume the rescue.