"Carole."
Carole looked up after Theo called her.
"I'll ask you again," Theo said. "I'll save you, destroy those people, and save your little brother. After that, you will work for me, right?"
Carole instinctively wanted to refuse him again and say that now wasn't the time for that, since they were currently surrounded by those people — The Rats — who had come to take her back and might even hurt the two of them if Theo and Tizmilly ever tried to oppose them.
But she stopped herself when she looked into Theo's sharp blue eyes. Those weren't the eyes of someone who hadn't seen the world, like Tizmilly's. It was the exact opposite: he had seen most things, and to him, the people surrounding them weren't even considered a threat.
Of course, Carole couldn't see that much from his eyes, but she instinctively sensed it and chose to believe him.
"As long as you can save us, then yes, I'll work for you."
Work as a maid? If this man could really save her and her brother from those people, then it wouldn't even be a problem if he wanted her to work as a laborer.
Theo grinned.
"Cool."
Tizmilly watched the two of them, glad that Theo would help Carole and her little brother escape those evil people. But deep inside, something different was growing. And it disliked the sight of Theo grinning at Carole.
Around them, of course, The Rats' members — and the short man, Goffekarg — noticed that Theo and the others were planning to do something.
"Hey, lad! Don't you ever think of doing something stupid, or you won't be able to leave this alley in one piece," Goffekarg screeched, trying to threaten Theo and Tizmilly.
Theo shrugged in response. "Don't worry, I've always considered myself a little smart. I won't do anything stupid."
He acted like he would cooperate with them and willingly leave Carole to them, so Goffekarg immediately cheered inside.
"I-I see. When I look at you, as expected, you are a smart boy! Hahahaha!"
Theo smiled.
"Yes, that's why I will only choose smart options..."
Goffekarg began approaching Carole. Noticing his movement, Carole glared at the short man and slowly backed away from him.
"Then, come to me, Carole. We'll continue what we hadn't finished this morning, kehehehe..."
Goffekarg slowly extended his hand toward Carole, and that frightened her. She began sending Theo panicked glances.
"H-hey, why are you just standing there? Help me!" Carole yelled at him, but Theo remained still.
Goffekarg was the reason she had run away from The Rats this morning, leaving her little brother alone. After the short man noticed that Carole had been growing into a fine woman day by day, he'd started to harbor dirty ideas. And those ideas exploded this morning when he suddenly intruded into her room to assault her. Fortunately, Carole managed to escape, but maybe she shouldn't have escaped if she'd known it would only hurt her little brother. But still, she felt like it would be too much if she let this man take her purity.
"Mister Roost...?" Tizmilly looked at Theo confusedly, not understanding why he had acted like he was about to save Carole before, then suddenly acted like this.
However, since she didn't have time to think about it, she couldn't see how Theo's eyes were scanning every member of The Rats surrounding them. He did it to stall for time while he formulated a way out of their encirclement, and a plan for after they succeeded in escaping.
Unable to just watch from the side while that short man was about to get Carole, Tizmilly stepped forward, but her shoulder was yanked back before she could help. Tizmilly turned around, and it was Theo who had yanked her.
"Mister Roost, why? Why aren't you helping Miss Carole? She... She—"
Before Tizmilly could finish her sentence, Theo placed his index finger on her lips and shook his head lightly so that The Rats wouldn't notice his movement.
Tizmilly's eyes widened. Finally, she understood: Theo was waiting for the right moment. She hesitated for a while, since Carole was currently sobbing with Goffekarg following her around as she tried to escape with no way out, but after some thought, she chose to believe in Theo.
"H-hey... Y-you said you would save me, right?"
Carole moved closer to Theo and Tizmilly, sending them desperate glances, but received no response, which devastated her even further.
Meanwhile, Goffekarg felt like he would ascend to heaven right then and there, seeing how passive these friends of Carole had become just after he said a few words to threaten them. He believed that the two wouldn't dare to do anything to him anymore, so he chased after Carole, approaching Theo and Tizmilly without fear.
Without Theo and Tizmilly's help, Carole realized that it was over for her, so she shut her eyes and stopped trying to escape right at Theo and Tizmilly's backs, waiting for Goffekarg to bring her back to The Rats' base.
Steps taken by Goffekarg toward Carole. He reached toward her, just inches away from touching her skin, but then—
A fist landed heavily on his nose, sending his consciousness deep into his mind and making his nose bleed.
The sudden change of events shocked everyone except Theo and Tizmilly.
Theo grabbed the unconscious Goffekarg's hair to prevent his body from falling to the ground.
He looked at the thugs' shocked faces and grinned. "And being smart is waiting for your prey to willingly bring itself into your attack range."
Theo cast Levitation on Goffekarg to reduce his body's weight and let his subordinates see his bleeding, unconscious face.
"Now, if you don't want this man to die, obey my words. Take twenty steps back, twenty meters away from us."
The thugs exchanged uneasy glances, uncertain whether they should attack Theo and the others or obey his words. But Goffekarg was their direct superior. Their boss would kill them if he knew they had abandoned him here, so after some thought, they decided to obey Theo's words and began to slowly step backward.
Carole finally realized that Theo had never been trying to abandon her when the thugs began backing off.
"I-I thought you were going to leave me to them..." she muttered in a sobbing voice.
"Of course not," Theo immediately replied with a smile. "Neither Tizmilly nor I brought our weapons, so fighting them head-on would be too much of a risk. I'd rather avoid that situation if I can. Let's wait until they stop stepping away before we escape from this place."
Tizmilly and Carole nodded strongly in response. "Alright!"
Minutes later, the thugs halted their steps. The distance between them and Theo, Tizmilly, and Carole was now about eighteen meters. Less than what Theo had said, but Theo knew they wouldn't back off any further even if he threatened to slit Goffekarg's throat at that moment.
Thus, instead of that, Theo gestured at Tizmilly and Carole with his eyes.
In response, Tizmilly hesitantly jumped into his embrace, her face blushing. Theo grabbed her slender waist with his left hand, threw Goffekarg away, and also grabbed Carole's waist with his right hand, carrying Carole like luggage under his armpit, before jumping up with Levitation cast on their bodies.
With his strong legs and Levitation, they immediately launched into the sky like a rocket, leaving the thugs no time to react.
The moment they recovered from their stupor, Theo and the others had already landed on top of a building, before jumping again toward another building, their movement swift and instant.
"Ah, they ran away!"
"Chase 'em!"
"Get Goffekarg as well!"
Before they completely lost sight of Theo and the others, they immediately chased after them while carrying the unconscious Goffekarg.
...
"They're chasing us," Tizmilly said, peeking at the thugs' movements over Theo's shoulder.
"Can't we move faster!?" Carole complained with a pale face.
Seeing the city while they were floating in the air like this frightened her, but she endured her fear by reminding herself that it was for her and her brother's safety and freedom.
"And why didn't you hold me the same way you held her!? It would certainly be more comfortable that way!" She added another complaint.
Theo landed on top of another building, his heels producing a worrying sound when making contact with the tiles. Fortunately, his Levitation nullified their weight. Otherwise, the tiles would have been crushed under them.
Then Theo jumped again toward another building. While floating, he glanced back, looking at the group of thugs who were still chasing them through the alleys.
"I can move even faster, but first tell us: where is their base?" Theo replied with another question.
Carole looked around while they kept jumping from roof to roof before she finally remembered the location of The Rats' base.
She pointed her index finger toward the southern side of the city.
"Go south! To the Ghost District! Their base is there. They rebuilt an abandoned mansion there!"
Theo frowned slightly after he heard what she said. The Ghost District was the most chaotic place in Dungeon City in the later part of the game. All kinds of twisted people lived there. If he could, he would like to avoid visiting that place, but since they had already gone this far, he could only press forward and hope that The Rats wasn't some gigantic criminal organization.
Shifting his direction, Theo jumped toward the south.
"The Ghost District? I don't think there was a district with that name in Dungeon City..." Tizmilly muttered while holding her bangs so they wouldn't cover Theo's face and disturb his focus.
Carole was the one who answered her, even while she was trembling every time she looked down.
"Ugh, so high!" she squeaked, before looking up at Tizmilly. "Officially, there isn't. The Ghost District is what the locals of Dungeon City call the southern outer part of Dungeon City. And that's a very dangerous place!"
Disbelief was written all over Tizmilly's face.
"Dangerous? How could it be dangerous? The guards of Dungeon City always keep the city's residents safe with..."
Tizmilly wanted to say a place that dangerous wouldn't be able to exist in this city with the guards diligently patrolling from morning to midnight, but then she recalled what those thugs had said when they surrounded them before.
Theo sighed when he noticed Tizmilly's lost expression. He increased his speed before he opened his mouth.
"As the saying goes: the purer the light, the deeper the shadow hiding under it. In this world, there is no place completely spared from danger and malice, Tizmilly. Not even Dungeon City."
_Or rather, it's the place where the greatest chaos is creeping..._ Theo thought to himself but kept it to himself.
"No, but..."
Tizmilly shut her lips, not knowing what to say.
To think that inside the very city where she had lived until this moment, evil and shadows were lurking.
That was unimaginable for her.
Unfortunately, that was the truth.
...
—The southern outer part of Dungeon City, a.k.a. The Ghost District.
Theo finally put Tizmilly and Carole down on the roof of an abandoned house. Before them, about 100 meters away, a big mansion stood with its aged paint, its yard heavily guarded by a group of mismatched people.
After Theo increased his speed, the thugs immediately lost them, so they didn't have to fear being chased anymore.
"So that's the place. The Rats' base," Tizmilly muttered, her eyes filled with hatred, not because they had hurt her or Carole and her little brother, but because they had forced her to rebuild her understanding of this city and her whole life.
"Remember, our goal is to get Carole's little brother, Timmy, out of there. Don't fight them if avoiding them is possible. Also, if we have enough time, let's try to get evidence of their crimes. Understand?"
Theo didn't want Tizmilly to do something stupid, so he reminded her of their main goals. Tizmilly could only nod and abandon the dark idea she had in her mind.
Before they went, Theo and Tizmilly first sent a letter to the Academy using the token they had with them, which told Carole that they were actually two of the top students of the Academy. She gaped when she realized how lucky she was to have encountered and even secured help from people like these two.
"Then, let's go!" Theo stated.
With this, the infiltration commenced.