Arcane Innovator

"I came here to rescue you..." I said matter-of-factly, and as Theo heard this, I could see a fire ignite deep within his eyes, rekindling the hope he seemed to have lost long ago.

Since he didn't respond, I thought he was probably still in shock from this sudden development, so I handed him a healing potion and urged him to drink it before I went over to the side of the cage to see if I could somehow open it.

I instantly spotted the massive chain that was roped around the cage's bars with a large padlock hanging out on the side.

I soon realized there was no way I could break it without making a lot of noise. So, instead, I forced my essence into it, slowly heating it up until it started to melt.

Right as the first drops of molten iron began dripping down, the lock seemed to lose all of its cohesion and break, falling to the ground.

As I hurriedly unwrapped the chain, I saw that the potion had already worked its magic, and my friend's sorry complexion had significantly improved.

So I whispered to the still dazed-looking Theo, "I don't know how much time we have before they notice something is wrong, so we need to move fast."

"W-Wait!" Theo stuttered as he seemed to finally break out of his stupor, raising his hand to stop me.

"What is it? We can't linger here... it won't be long before they notice you're gone!" I whispered urgently, trying to get him moving, but he grabbed the edge of my coat with an evident desperation in his eyes. "We need... to save Hans and Greta."

Hearing this, I couldn't help but widen my eyes as I was convinced they were killed together with the rest of my servants.

"They're here, too?" I asked, still unable to fully believe they had made it out.

"Yes..." Theo said after a while. He then sighed and dejectedly shook his head.

"It was all my fault, you see... I stayed late in the workshop, running a few experiments to see if we could make the other types of basic potions with your new method. I didn't tell you about it back then as I wanted to make it a surprise... to make myself useful since it was you who did most of the work."

Theo paused before showing me a weak smile. "Hans and Greta were there with me when the assault happened... They offered to help me with the experiments as they, too, wanted to surprise you and made themselves useful to repay your generosity."

He then grimaced, looking away. "When those masked brutes barged in, I tried to fight them off, but there was nothing I could do. The next moment, I was on the ground, restrained, and their leader then said they would be taking me with them before ordering the others to get rid of all the witnesses..."

"Realizing what that meant, I begged them to keep the children alive, making up a story that they were both my apprentices and that they were essential. It somehow worked, and they kept them alive, but they ended up here with me, locked in the cage somewhere... If only I kept them away from the workshop."

I grabbed his hand, pulling him up to his legs. "You did good back then. They would both likely be dead right now without your quick thinking."

He blinked, looking at me hesitantly. "Realy?"

"Yeah, they killed all the other servants in the house... Including my sister and master Lily." I said bitterly.

This revelation made Theo visibly gasp in horror. "T-They killed Helga and Lady Liliam, too?"

To which I could only weakly nod, busy battling the sudden wave of anger that washed over me from having to relive those ugly memories.

After a while of silence, I shook my head, looking ahead with determination. "What is done is done; there is no point in dwelling in the past. All we can do now is to help those who are still alive and seek revenge for those who aren't... Are you with me?"

Theo remained silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, but then he looked at me with a grave expression that I had never seen him make before. "Of course, whatever it takes to save Greta and Hans!"

I tilted my head to the side, wondering when he grew so close to the children that he was willing to go to such lengths for them. 'I guess I was too preoccupied with my own interests to pay attention to those around me.'

Back then, I was too naive. I took it all as a game, treating everyone as pieces on a chessboard, which ultimately led to my downfall.

Still, it was too late to second guess my life choices; all I could do now was learn from my mistakes, move forward, and finish what I had started.

Resolving myself, I turned around, realizing we had already lost too much time here. "Do you know where they keep Hans and Greta?" I asked Theo over my shoulder.

"Sadly, I don't... After they took us here, they separated us, threatening to kill them each time I didn't want to do their bidding. So I had no other option but to cooperate."

He paused, grimacing, before he continued explaining. "I tried to buy us some time, telling them I could replicate our workshop while I searched for a way to rescue them and escape, but there was nothing I could do."

"Wait, so the herbs, the workshop... everything was fake?" I asked him incredulously, amazed by his resourcefulness.

He gave a weak smile. "What did you think? I still have no idea how you actually crafted the elixirs in the first place. Anyway, yesterday, they told me that in three days, I was supposed to perform the entire crafting process before Sir Konrad, so I was already beginning to lose hope. If you hadn't come in time..."

"Well, I did have some trouble finding this place..." I said while grinning, but then I noticed that several life signs began quickly moving in our direction, which compelled me to adopt a somber look. "You can tell me all the details later, but now we have to move."

I ordered Theo to get right behind me as I cautiously moved toward the bonfires. It looked like a pair of guards were coming over to check in on their prisoner.

So I patiently waited for them to get close and finished them both at the same time with a stone bullet before they had a chance to discover that the cage was empty.

Since they didn't suspect an ambush so deep within the safety of their own base, they offered no resistance and simply collapsed to the ground, their faces colored with confusion.

I sighed in relief that our cover remained intact, but I was very well aware that we were now on borrowed time.

It won't be long before the rest of the gang discovers that the patrol isn't coming back and raises an alarm. So I become fully alert, carefuly weighing our options.

We could possibly try to sneak up the same way back as I come up, but all it would take would be a single mistake to have the whole gang on our back. So now that I had Theo safely behind me, I decided to finally drop the pretense and slaughter them all.

Still, I wanted to remain hidden for as long as possible to avoid alerting the higher-ups that they were under attack and mount an organized resistance.

Thus, I quietly began moving toward the nearest bonfire. After a brief observation, I noticed that there were six drunken thugs sitting around it, totally oblivious to the fact their sorry lives were about to end.

Six stone bullets came flying from the darkness at tremendous speed, piercing their heads and killing them instantly. They collapsed to the ground with a small thud, but I didn't pay them attention as I was already moving toward my next target.

Taking them all by surprise was a bit anticlimactic, but I didn't really care. My goals weren't to play a hero but to enact my revenge and make sure we would all make it safely out alive.

So, without wasting a breath, I quickly approached the next bonfire, slaying the unsuspecting gang members without mercy.

I was slightly taken aback by how smoothly everything was going so far and that nobody had raised the alarm yet, but I guess they had never expected me to find their secret tunnel that led directly into the base, thus averting all security measures they might have prepared outside.

'One more bonfire to go...' I smiled coldly, looking at the warm, flickering flame that appeared to be at the far end of the spacious cavern, inciting me over.