Chapter 1699 Mind your Mannors

--- Hunter ---

Hunter was of the opinion that Strdl had quickly gone soft. For all the talk of killing Ronldo for good and saving the world from his future predations… she very quickly came to the side of ’but that could be bad for his injuries’ once it was time to get moving. Hunter had dressed the wound skilfully and had even gone so far as to wrap Ronldo’s ’missing’ arm in preservatives before sticking it in her storage ring to act as a bargaining chip later in case she needed it.

At no point, despite Ronldo’s regularly protests of "OW THAT HURTS!" or "ARE YOU TRYING TO FINISH THE JOB!" during Hunter’s dressing of his wounds did Strdl so much as twitch but as soon as Hunter got ready to leave and it became clear she was just going to drag him behind her… well then suddenly that was ’inhumane’ and ’needlessly reckless’.

Ronldo wasn’t some mortal that would keel over if she breathed too heavily on him. It would be most unpleasant and perhaps cause some minor damage but nothing crippling in the long run… but nope. It was apparently too mean for the police officer. Instead she’d suggested making a sled for Hunter to pull.

Hunter almost wanted to reject. She didn’t have a particularly strong pride in most instances but the way Strdl clearly envisioned things going down was nearly enough for Hunter to slap the girl for her stupid thoughts. Instead she just agreed and carried the sled above her head instead of dragging it. If she happened to tilt it a bit far to the side whenever they approached corners and the ride wasn’t terribly smooth? Well Hunter could hardly be blamed for that now could she?

At the very least Strdl’s suggestion meant they were making good time. With both of her… companions along for the ride she wasn’t slowed down by their walking speeds and while she didn’t quite think it was safe to go full tilt they made excellent time to the ruined manor at the top of the cavern.

It was a complete mess but in a rather strange way. The manor was currently half-standing in the strangest way. Entire sections had completely collapsed but other hallways were completely fine and were even supporting other collapsed sections without any sign of strain that Hunter could see or here.

It was quite obvious that for some reason certain hallways and rooms had been reinforced above the standard of the rest of the house. Hunter wasn’t sure why and decided to ask, "Why is it that you have half a house here? I would think either it was going to collapse or it wouldn’t. Perhaps with some allowance for the location of the explosion.

"It is-was part of the security system. Something I talked Pebbles into. I wanted to ensure that if we were getting attacked we could bring the building down on them… but he wasn’t super keen on the whole building collapsing just in case we had people there we wanted to keep safe. Not sure why you wouldn’t take them with you when you left or protect them properly… but whatever I wasn’t the one building the place.

"So instead you have this compromise. Certain sections were massively reinforced to withstand the building collapsing… though we had assumed it would be an earth mage who did it. The explosion means that the foundations might be more damaged then they seem so I’d still be careful," explained Ronldo

"Being useful for once?" asked Strdl with a glare though it was half-hearted at best. Strdl had designed the sled with a nice bit of space at the back she was currently laying down on and Ronldo had been stuck up the front. Trapped in a chair that was facing sideways. Why? Hunter didn’t know. In this case though it meant Strdl wasn’t willing to get up and glare properly and Ronldo wasn’t really looking at her but ahead at the ruins.

"Hey, I’m currently stuck to this thing as well. Hunter is going to suddenly change her mind and leave me behind," complained Ronldo. "So it’s in my best interest to ensure she doesn’t get killed… because that would probably get ME killed,"

"So where am I going," Hunter cut in before an argument could start up again. She’d been tasting the air and couldn’t pick up any recent scents from Trvis. Not since he entered the place earlier in the day. Which was odd. Hunter expected to be able to smell him in the vault at the very least.

"Hmm… well there’s a couple of entrances because the vault is also connected to the shelter. A decision I was never super happy with Pebbles for making… but ultimately might have been the best idea. Not that I’d ever admit that to him, but you know how it is," ’answered’ Ronldo.

"The location?" asked Hunter.

"Right well… the closest one is just there," said Ronldo with a jerk of his head towards a nearby rubble pile that had collapsed over the garden. "There’s a secret entrance underneath that. There WAS a nice rose bush there that you could shift aside with earth magic so you could bust your way in that way…"

"And that traps?" asked Hunter.

"Eh… I’m sure you’ll be fine," offered Ronldo.

Hunter rolled her eyes. "What other entrances are there?"

"Are you sure you don’t want to try that one? It’s right there!" insisted Ronldo.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Hunter considered for a few moments if it was worth bringing that arm out as a bribe for this particularly question… but decided to hold back on it for now. She could do some intimidation first. She summoned her gun out and pointed it backwards over her head without even looking at Ronldo, managing to press the barrel directly under his chin. "Perhaps you might want to discuss the other options?"

"Ha! You can’t kill me if you want to know!" answered Ronldo smugly.

"Correct. Good thing I didn’t load these with anything lethal. It’s a very low powered electrical bullet. Normally it’s for stunning Rank 3 monsters. I’m pretty sure you’ll survive with your trinkets and whatnot…" offered Hunter.

Ronldo shivered at the cold tone of Hunter’s voice… not properly noticing that it was the same tone of voice she’d used in essentially every other conversation. Having a gun pressed to your throat really changes your perspective on things you know. "Right so there are a few other entrances. One is under the entrance hall but it’s in even worse shape and I’m not actually sure where it is in that rubble,"

Ronldo tried to gesture over towards the area in front of them that was covered in rubble. It was by far the most wrecked section of the manor. Hunter was of the opinion that it probably should have been one of the reinforced areas. "… but that’s fine. Um… there’s a secret passage in the kitchen which is that section of the building over there…" Ronldo gestured towards the back over a bunch of rubble to what looked like… well a pile of rubble. "It’s one of the reinforced areas but I’m not sure if the passage was also reinforced and the cellar definitely isn’t so that might have collapsed.

"There’s one in my quarters and one in Pebbles… but I’m not sure if you can get into those. We have enchantments preventing anyone from entering them should something trigger them and the explosion should have. While I don’t doubt you could bust in… the tunnels are also quite trapped and don’t see you as a registered user. I would not recommend those," explained Ronldo.

Hunter tasted the air with her tongue a few more times as she tried to work out which entrance would be best… and decided on the one in the kitchen. It might seem to be the least safe but if the cellar did collapse into the passageway she could enter it through the break without needing to pass through whatever enchantments were on the main entrance.

"HEY WHAT… oh… well… ok then I guess you’ve made a decision," grumbled Ronldo when Hunter took off without verbally responding to any of his suggestions. At least her destination was quite clear.

Hunter placed the sled down on some mostly level ground and then quickly threw away the rubble surrounding what she could smell was the door. Before long there was an obvious way inside… but the door was too small for the sled. Glancing between the sled and the door Hunter debated breaking it down when Strdl reacted first, getting up and separating the section with Ronldo in it and fashioning it into a much smaller sled. Really just a matter of runner at the bottom so it was more like a set of skis. What did Strdl care if they cut into the floor.

Hunter nodded at Strdl, thankful she removed that little bit of uncertainty and pulled the doors open to reveal a rather normal kitchen with all of the floorboards missing. Or rather they were on the floor bellow. The island counter was better supported and her remained ’floating’ in the centre alongside a lot of the cupboards and fixtures. "Where exactly is the entrance?" asked Hunter.

"Behind the fridge. Press your foot against the bottom and lift up," said Ronldo with a smug grin.