<~> Chapter 119I described the process of opening the door but it became obvious pretty quickly that I was going to be the one who had to open it. The diagram described switg between six magic elements. Ice, fire, water, light, wind, and finally earth. Despite not being skilled with any of these magics directly I had affinity for all of them and this lock or seal or whatever, didn't require too much magic to crack open.

  I pced the tips of my fingers on the spot indicated in the diagram and followed the pattern. I did it slowly because the pattern was slightly curved and I wao make sure I did it correctly. At each of the indicated points I shifted my magic to a different type and tihe pattern. When I finally got to the end, the pattern lit up and the wall clicked open.

  There was faint breathing ing from down the dark hallway, a few feet inside was a slight recess in one of the walls. I cast another [Light Orb] a progress forward and illumihe path. When the orb passed the i I could hear a start and the rattle of s. Whatever was in here seemed to be locked away.

  I took a deep breath. "Let me go first, I'm—"

  "I'll go." I turned and Mimi stepped forward. "I'm sturdy, if there's danger I back off no problem!"

  I waue but she was right. Out of all of us, Mimi was the least likely to be hurt, and with her speed, she might just dodge whatever es her way instead.

  I nodded my head. "Alright. Be careful. I'll keep the light up for you."

  Mimi walked through the small hidden door, trag a hand along the wall as she went. When she reached the i in the wall there was a gasp from whatever was there and more rattling. Rather than stop, Mimi tinued down the hallway, looking for any other danger. When she was satisfied it was clear she came back.

  "No problem. There's a man ed to the wall over there." She poio where the recess in the wall was. "I didn't see any monsters, it looks safe."

  I pat her on the shoulder. "Good job Mimi." The rest of us ehe hallway until we got to the iion. There was an emaciated man ed to the wall there naked. He was a human with brown hair and bck eyes, his skin ale and he had bright red marks around the dark bruises where his wrists and ankles were ed to the wall. In front of him en sve colr, it looked as if it had fallen from his nee time ago judging by the dust that had collected on it. He had bags under his eyes, they darted between the four of us, trying to uand what was happening. His karma was mostly ral, only slightly positive but I didn't see any miasma ing from him. He looked normal other than his circumstances.

  "Man, do you see any magic or traps?"

  She looked around the i. "No, no magic. I'm not an expert on traps so it's hard to say but it doesn't look like it to me."

  Bel looked ed. "We're going to help him right?"

  "Of course," I said with a soft smile.

  I gently grasped one of the man's wrist cuffs, careful not to hurt him. There adlock, though the keyhole was on the front rather thatom. Each shackle had a matg one.

  "Torien's not here, we'll have to look for the key. For now let's give him some water and heal him."

  The man's eyes lit up but he didn't speak yet. So far he's only let out grunts and wheezing breaths. People are only able to live 3 days without water but this man looks like he's been here lohan that. There was a small coat of dust on the colr that had fallen from his ned the atta the city had been lohan a mere three days ago.

  I held my waterskin to his mouth. "Slowly now. I know you're thirsty but try not to drown yourself." I tipped the waterskin and the man just about started sug the opening. After several gulps, I pulled it away a him catch his breath again before handing it to Bel.

  "Bel, go ahead and heal him and give him more water. Man, show me where you found that diagram for the secret room. Maybe we find the key." As well as some information on who this guy is. He looks like he was bei as a sve but I don't know why he would be bolted to the wall like this. The man looks harmless but I'd like to be sure I'm not letting a serial killer loose or something.

  I turoward Mimi. "Please keep Bel safe in case we missed something. And don't try to let him out on your own, I don't want to risk hurting him when he looks this frail."

  "Of course!" Mimi said with a grin.

  Man led me to the room where she found the diagram. It looked like a fancy study. The room was filled with books but on iion, they were things like almanad shipping routes. Probably quite useful to the people who hem but I wouldn't know where to start. I moved on to a desk with a chest of drawers.

  "The diagram was on the desk here, turned face down. I tried the desk too but it was locked."

  I walked up to the desk and tried it. It was locked alright but not for long. I braced one hand oop of the desk and yahe handle as hard as I could. The drawer ripped from the desk, the wood splintered as the pnk that held the lock pte broke off. It was a shame to ruin su otherwise beautiful desk but sidering there was a man ed up iher room I wasn't feeling all that charitable. In that first drawer was a leather-bound journal with a key tied to a ribbon hanging from it.

  Man sighed. "Really Lilith?"

  I shrugged. "Your sister isn't here and I didn't want to leave that guy tied to the wall for too long."

  I opehe journal and could immediately tell the book was written in the same cipher as the diagram. This guy went to great lengths to hide whatever was in this journal. Why am I able to read it? Maybe because it's a cipher of a nguage I speak?

  I opehe book to the most ret entry. It seems that my transtion title trahe first month as January even though it's teically called something else, iing.

  ***

  January 14th

  We are getting close to the night of the city-wide ritual that will give the cultists cover to kill the Baron. It really is a shame, I rather enjoy the man's pany and we share many things in on. His young daughter has invited Katerina to many of her tea parties with some of the other noble daughters. They led to a few ued es over the st few years. As as long as he works to oppose svery in the kingdom, the Amphores cultists will tio seek his death. It is rather humorous that the prejudice the Tamin church holds towards the beastkin gave them such a huge blind spot. As long as it tio predominantly be beastkin who are taken into svery, they aren't ied in stepping in and tio maintain their rality oopistead, they run around looking for demons wherever they find them and harassing the on folk rather than using their influenewhere that would actually impact their quarry. Amphores and some of the other demon-worshiping cults are gathering on the eastern frontier. As much as I would rather avoid whatever the cults are scheming it will be much safer to flee toward the frohan go back to the capital with all the issues happening there.

  The cultists are paying me a substantial sum to use my house as some kind of anchor point for their rituals so they insisted I leave this m but it will be too challenging to sneak Julian out of the city during the day. I ofte being impatient and kidnapping him rather than triving a reason to ensve him wfully. Perhaps I bribe someone in the sver's guild in Traehall, their frontier spirit may allow me to find someone open to less ethical practices if the money is right. I will have to be quick, the cultists io release the demons one bell after sundown so I will o have a carriage ready if I want to escape with Julian before they release the demons. I am just gd I have already sent Katerina off ahead of me, I wouldn't wao ask me why I am bringing along a male bed sve in my personal carriage. If all goes well I will be on my way to Traehall by the time this city is up in fmes.

  ***

  I closed the book and rubbed the bridge of my nose. This was way more information than I was expeg to find here. It seems I've stumbled on a spirator of the atta the city. The man ed to the wall seems to have been someone who was kidnapped and turned into a 'bed sve.' The thought turned my stomach.

  "I've found what I needed Man. If the man iher room is Julian, then he was a man who was kidnapped and held as a bed sve by the owner of this journal. Whoever wrote this clearly khe city was going to be attacked by the 'Amphores cult' and aid to use his house as part of the ritual. Something must have happened and he never made it back."

  Man's brow furrowed. "Do you think the demon downstairs..."

  I grimaced. "I'd rather not specute but... there was a lot of blood. Anyway, let's go let the poor man out. I 't imagine how he's feeling right now. First kidheo die ed to a wall."

  When we came back to the room Bel was feeding the man some of the jerky from our rations. A lot of the color had returo his fad the bruises on his wrists and ankles were healed. The man was still quite emaciated though, so he still looked quite frail. I held the journal behind my back, I wao be sure this was who I thought it was before releasing him.

  "What's your name?"

  The man turned his head and croaked out a reply in a weak voice, "J-Julian."

  I nodded. "Good, I found the key." I pulled the key from the journal's ribbon ao one of the locks. "Bel, Man, hold him for me, don't let him fall."

  They braced him as I unlocked his wrists and held him up while I unlocked his feet. This close to him the man smelled terrible, I would rather not specute on what I was smelling.

  "Do you want to up here? Or would you rather leave as soon as possible?" I asked him.

  "I leave?" He rasped out.

  "Yes, you're free now. The man who kidnapped you is likely dead, caught up in the demon attacks."

  His eyes went wide. "Demons?"

  "It's too long a story to expin right now. But we've killed the demons that were here. We should take you to the guards, the city isn't very safe right now and you o recover." I gently brushed the hair out of his eyes, tears ran down his face.

  "Th-thank you. I'll never fet this, your kindness..."

  I smiled. "It's okay." I turan. " we take him to the guards? Will they help him?"

  She frowned. "It's hard to say." She looked down at the leather-bound journal in my hand. "That journal might have a lot more information they would be ied in. If you hand it over with the key to the cipher, they would probably be gd to take care of this guy for us. If there's proof in there he was kidhe city may give him any of the kidnapper's remaining assets iy as pensation."

  "Let's do that then. If nothing else this journal is a huge clue for them." I looked over at the naked man again. "We should him up though. I ime to trahe cipher and we should get him bathed and clothed before we head bato the city. We also o meet up with Torien and Silva soon."

  Bel nodded. "I'll help him bathe. Man, will you help find him some clothes please?"

  "Sure."

  A few mier I was at the kidnapper's desk writing out a key to the cipher in one of the bnk pages of the journal. I hadn't expected to learn so much more about the situation from what amounts to a random sidequest. I sighed a scribbling in the journal. On the bright side, the man had quite a few inkwells and a handful of expensive leather-bound journals that found a new home in my bag.

  Saine

  Hello! I hope you ehis chapter! The excerpt from the journal retty fun to write and answered some of the mysteries that have been around for a while. You'll have to wait a bit loo learn more about their motivations but we've finally found some breadcrumbs to follow.

  I wanna shout out another writer that I like a lot, check out beast_regards' story here on scribble hub The Mook Maker! It be quite a bit darker than my stuff often is but there's something about their writing that really keeps me captivated. It's one of the stories on my list that I keep up with every update. I hope you'll give their story a shot! See you ime!

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