"Naoto von Auslese...?", Van uttered, drawing in a cold breath. "Why does that name ring a bell? Wait.."
"You guessed it. I'm part of Liberl's Royal Family. And you all can keep a secret, right? I just so happen to be their newly-appointed Crown Prince.", I said, dropping a news bomb on them. Van's eyes turned wide in shock.
"Liberl's Crown Prince...", Van said, still shocked at the revelation. "Let alone an orphan like me, how in the hell did a Crown Prince end up in one of these lodges!? Shouldn't the whole country be looking for you?"
"I'm sure that would be the case under normal circumstances. There are a few outliers. One namely how secretive the DG Cult is. I'm sure local police and detective agencies have started to see a rise in abducted children.", I said, giving Van a little bit of insight. Before long, patterns will start to arise around Zemuria about the abducted children. From here on, several different police agencies across the entire continent will join hands and collaborate with one another to find the cause.
The DG Cult Extermination.
This event is set to take place in the next couple years. S1198 to be specific. It is S1195 now, so I still have a couple years to get into contact with the people I want to reach out to. Originally, it was only supposed to be Tio Plato here, but I happened to come across both Sherryl Sky, and Ennea. Can't forget about Van Arkride either. Our group is turning out to be something, eh? New friends all around!
In this next period of time, many lodges across Zemuria will get their locations discovered. As a result, many top policemen, detectives, government officials, and even the Bracer Guild will unite all under one banner, and deliver a fierce and harsh assault on the DG Cult. Hence the name, the DG Cult Extermination. Several will take on each lodge.
Once such individual, who led the assault on the lodge in Altair and is the same lodge we're residing in, is a guy named Guy Bannings. The older brother of Crossbell's protagonist, Lloyd Bannings. The one protagonist I have yet to meet. Accompanying him would be Arios Mclaine, the future Divine Blade of Wind. I do not know if he holds this title at this time, but he is definitely a force to be reckoned with. It was said even the Septian Church had some involvement in taking out some lodges. I'm sure Kevin partook in it.
It wasn't just these guys either. Ouroboros also ended up raiding a very special lodge. The very same one I plan to head to next. Paradise. There is still some time for us to cause a little bit of chaos.
And there's some stuff you can't talk about, you know? I'm talking about Renne's situation. What she went through...
I quickly shook that thought aside. It should still be early enough where Renne won't experience the bulk of what happened to her. Her situation is far worse than Van's and Tio's. I mean Sherryl's is pretty bad too. Let's just say...it involved tearing some body parts apart. By the time her family found her, they found a dismembered corpse. That won't happen as long as I'm around. I just need to make sure Renny becomes Renne, and becomes the Angel of Slaughter, joining Ouroboros just as it happened in the games.
I'm not entirely sure what happens to Van considering I haven't played the games, but he looks the most normal out of us. Just somewhat beaten up. Has he even taken Gnosis yet?
And who knows. If the timing aligns right, we could even join Ouroboros in their operation to raid Paradise. But that won't happen for another two years. Do I want to wait that long?
Hell no! It was time to meet everyone's favorite sadistic little angel!
I share the same sentiment with Van. I have more than enough power to leave whenever I want to. I could have left earlier, but like I told Campanella, I wanted to be here, all so I could encounter these people.
And that does beg the question. Did someone place a hit on me? Why was it that the Red Constellation showed up of all Jaegers? Wasn't it supposed to be a no-named corp hired by the nobles who hated Father? It sounds like some things happened in the shadows that I wasn't aware of. I didn't think High Priest Joachim would side with the Red Constellation either...
Still, I saw Van frown.
"Those policemen can't do shit. If they had a proper network setup, they'd already find us by now.", Van said, retorting to me. Hearing that, I smiled.
"Haha, it takes time. But through combined efforts, it will eventually bear fruit. Thankfully, we do not need to wait around for that to happen. There is no reason for us to stay down in these caves any longer.", I said to everyone. "Any objections?"
Ennea quickly shook her head, keeping silent.
"None. Let's ditch this cursed place.", Van said.
"I do not.", Tio said.
"It's about time. These stupid caves were even more boring than that base we were in. They barely did anything to us besides injecting Gnosis. All of the prisoners are too jacked up on it to even cry out for help anymore.", Sherryl bluntly said, causing me to look at her. It wasn't just me. Everyone just stared at her.
"What?", Sherryl asked, confused. "Did I say something I shouldn't have?"
"Sigh. You...", I began to say, only to sigh. I shook my head. "You'll need to learn how to be considerate later, Sherryl. But now isn't a time to have a crash course on proper etiquette. Let's move onto the actual operation, shall we? Is there anyone here who doesn't know how to fight?", I decided to ask, changing to the topic I wanted to bring up next.
I could use the guard to get us out of here like last time, but we still might have to fight our way out. We are now a group of five, compared to three. It might look more suspicious to see five kids being transferred out, so it won't hurt by me asking this.
Ennea was the first to keep her hand down. That is expected of her. She's an ex-assassin after all. Surprisingly, I also saw Van keep his hand down. He did live the life of an orphan, so I'm sure he's had some street brawls here and there. He likely learned how to defend himself. As for me, I kept my hand down too. My Father drilled me with his combat techniques, as did Roselia and the Sword Fox. I have a wide variety of Skills I can use during battle now.
The only two who raised their hands were Sherryl, and Tio.
"I do not know how to fight.", Tio said.
"Neither do I. What you saw earlier was all an act. A spontaneous decision. How'd you like my acting, Big Brother~?", Sherryl replied with a grin.
"Yeah, yeah. Both of you haven't entered a fight before. Ennea is self explanatory, but you know how to fight, Van?", I asked, wanting to make sure.
"'Course I do. Living on the streets isn't as fun as you think it is. Taught myself how to fight. Mostly street fighting though.", Van answered, causing me to nod my head.
"It really is like that then. But it should be enough. As for me, my background has been pretty strict. It isn't easy when your family is really high up in the military. You've got to live with certain obligations. Started training me since I was three.", I explained my situation a bit, earning more surprise.
"No shit? You already look like a monster. Just what have they been feeding you with?", Van cursed, still shocked. "And I'd also like to point out that I can handle myself with a weapon. Preferably a bat."
"Got it.", I said, nodding again.
"Is it alright if I bring something to the table, Big Brother?", Sherryl suddenly asked me, causing my eyes to look at her.
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"It's about Gnosis. I haven't really shown any physical reactions like Tio or Ennea. I was wondering if I was resistant to it, like you are. We know that I can increase my blood flow and all of that, so I did some more testing. I can hold my breath for longer periods of time. Like, much, much longer. Probably a lot longer than a normal person could.", Sherryl said, which drew my interest.
"Is that right? How long do you think you can hold your breath for now?"
"Thirty minutes. Give or take.", Sherryl answered me. I was even surprised to hear that. But in the end, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Haha! Well, Gnosis does affect individuals differently. It is dependent on the person. You might have good potential to learn martial arts, Sherryl. It shouldn't be hard to unlock your battle qi.", I said, ensuring Sherryl was fine. She began to show interest in her eyes.
"Really? But right now, I don't know how to fight, unlike you...", Sherryl said, becoming dejected again.
"Why don't we put it to the test then, Sherryl? No one is stopping us now to try it out. Might be a bit cramped because of the cell we're in, but it'll do for now.", I suggested.
"Wait a minute...", Van suddenly said. It looks like it dawned on him. "Don't tell me, this is your plan of getting us out of here?"
I simply smiled, and disregarded his question. Instead, I looked back at Sherryl, and nodded my head at her.
"Can I really?", Sherryl asked, wanting to be sure of what I just asked of her. In response, I stood up from the stone bed, and patted the dust off of my Phoenix Robe. Seeing me stand up, Sherryl followed suit. We squared our positions. Me behind, Sherryl in front. We soon looked at each other.
"I won't move from this spot. Place your right foot outward, and rotate your punch. Strike me with the intent of hitting my chest. Might as well test your strength out before we ditch this place.", I said, answering Sherryl. Seeing the seriousness in my eyes, Sherryl nodded her head.
"Okay. Be ready, Big Brother!", Sherryl responded.
I instructed Sherryl to a tee. She took in a deep breath, and timed her attack. In one swift movement, she struck out, aiming right at me.
"HAAH!", Sherryl exclaimed, striking outward with her fist.
I was not expecting much to happen at first, but I soon started to regret what I requested of her. Before I knew it, I felt a very heavy impact strike against my chest. I did not feel much pain from it, perhaps due to my Stats and all. But Sherryl's force alone was strong enough to lift me up from the ground, and sent me flying. I hit the wall hard, and it knocked some air out of me.
Van's eyes turned wide seeing Sherryl punch me across the cell we were in.
"Holy shit!", Van cursed. Even he decided to shift his current position back a step or two, moving away from Sherryl. All Sherryl did was stare at her own fist. It was actually steaming a little bit, likely thanks to her Gnosis effect.
"That...was something, alright.", I said, mustering up some strength to stand back up. I even felt a trickle of blood run down my lips. Seeing this result, I knew I made the right decision. I simply smiled back at Sherryl as she continued to observe her fist in awe.