Chương 105: 18 - WARDENS

Everyone in the room let out simultaneous sighs of relief when the new woman showed up. They were finally getting out of that little insane asylum after who knew how long. Though they had no idea who this new person was- some vigilante citizen, another member of the police force. Based on looks alone, she didn't quite fit either of those descriptions. From top to bottom, she wore a grey beanie on a head of straight red hair.

There was a cute little pigtail just before the spot where the beanie rested on the top of her head. Her face was a little plump with full cheeks and thin lips. A black graphic and a thick green coat covered her wide and stout figure, while the rest of her was protected by a pair of long black socks and dirty, white sneakers. But most of what T'balt and the others were concerned with was her face and the expression on it.

She had a squinted smile, not like she was trying to be friendly, but the smile of someone who fucked something up and was waiting to see how bad it was.

"Ummm… you all alright or are you just going to stare?" T'balt wiped his face, brushing away what he would've tried to do if she had waited any longer to show up.

"No, it's fine. But where's the woman who put us here?" She was still their prime directive for being here. The Redeemer. Whether any of them liked it or not, they were going to have to see her again. The redheaded woman stepped to the side, showing them the stairs. They were ready to bumrush it to get out of there, but that's when the woman with the gas mask stepped down. Except she didn't wear the gas mask this time, showing her face to them for the first time.

Slim eyes, slim nose, small mouth that looked used to being scrunched up all the time. Below that was a small beauty mark, a mole on the left side of her jaw. He was almost expecting something a little less plain, a little more menacing. That didn't mean he didn't flinch when he saw her.

"Here she is," the redheaded woman said.

"Now don't you have something to say?" The other woman looked at her plainly and then back to the others, still trepidatious by her arrival. Suddenly, she bent over, bowing to them like a Japanese dignitary.

"I apologize for locking you in here and… shooting your friend in the foot." She straightened.

"But if you all try anything strange, I won't hesitate to—" The redheaded woman kicked her in the shin. The woman didn't flinch or show any signs of the pain it might've caused. She just stopped talking, looking a little bashful. The stout woman smiled.

"There. Now don't we all feel better?"

"You mean my foot? No." Cannon spoke up, staring at the woman who shot him.

"It isn't like you're going to die. Be grateful I aimed for your foot and not your head," she responded, trying to avert her eyes. It was strange that even though the words were cold, she almost said them like a normal girl, when before her body language was that of a calculated military commander.

"Well, anyway," the redhead clapped her hands.

"How about, as a proper apology, I show you all around the city? I hear you're new here. Oh, and don't worry about that mess with the police. I got all that cleared up. You're now free to walk around at your leisure as citizens of Graceland."

"Uhh… thanks?" T'balt paused.

"How did you manage that?"

"I told them you were friends of mine. They know me pretty well around here."

"And you are?" If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She glanced at the other and twisted her mouth.

"We'll worry about that a little later. My friend has major trust issues, but I'm sure you think that's an understatement."

"No. I get it. I really do." T'balt said.

"But if it helps her get over her trust issues at all, my name is T'balt. I'm a Redeemer. And these are my… friends Ellie, Cannon, and Acelin."

"We know," the dark-haired woman said. When she saw the almost disgusted look on their faces, the redheaded woman answered the question in their minds.

"She spent most of the last few weeks listening to you, transcribing most of your conversations."

"Why?" asked Ellie.

"To give them to me. But it wasn't like I told her to do it… in fact, once she finally told me where she'd been for the last few weeks, I immediately came to let you out. So it isn't my fault. Just a misunderstanding, Mr. Redeemer. Anyway, I'm dying to show you around and learn more about you." T'balt looked at the others, still a bit awkwardly after what had just happened between them. But he felt the need to get their approval. Acelin shrugged, but Ellie brought up the only issue with that.

"Cannon's foot is still in bad shape, and he's not going to be able to walk normally. How's he supposed to be able to walk to go on your little tour?"

"She's right," T'balt answered.

"If we can get our loot back, we could heal him." He looked at the slim woman, who only responded with, "trust issues."

"Ugh…" the other woman groaned.

"At least let me take care of it." The two women exchanged glares before the dark-haired one fetched a bag from the staircase, T'balts' bag specifically, that was full of all his things. She fished out a healing loot and handed it to her friend. She equipped it and, as peacefully as she could, knelt to heal Cannon's foot. Afterward, he stood pretty much back to normal, stretching and doing high knees as a stress test.

"Ahh… that's better." Back in the day, the healing loot wouldn't have fixed any scarring or permanent lameness, but Ellie's loot, the one the woman just used, had been compounded by at least five, making it much stronger than before. But what happened after was jaw-dropping. The slim woman then stepped behind her friend and put a hand to the back of her neck. They heard something like static as a red glow formed under her hand. Then the loot, that same healing loot, popped out into her palm.

"Wait, what the hell was that?" T'balt nearly chased the woman, who was putting the loot back into his bag. But of course, she didn't answer. It was her much more talkative friend.

"Oh, that. What else could it be but another piece of loot? That one's called The Loot Thief."

"The Loot Thief?" Acelin's eyes glowed right next to T'balt as they both concluded what that meant.

"Yeah. My friend here is a bit special. She's got the one loot in the entire world that can remove any loot without killing the host."

"Any loot?" T'balt asked.

"Well, not yours, of course, Mr. Redeemer," she answered.

"Yours is a little more special than even that… but still, the Loot Thief is like legendary grade or something."

"Legendary?"

"Sorry. I've read a light novel or two." Ellie watched T'balt go into the weird state of his whenever he found something new about this world's new magical powers. It was like he got manic, and she almost didn't want to know all the things that crossed his mind. But in his head, the idea of being able to remove loot on command was revolutionary. Entire iterations had been crippled by what loot he decided to marry him and his team to.

It was largely why he started most lives out by going lootless until he had no other choice. But if he wasn't married to everything that he could equip, then the possibilities were endless, and he wouldn't have to wait to die before experimenting with new combinations. And then what if he could equip and re-equip in the middle of a battle… He stopped thinking when he realized he was drooling over himself.

"Are you okay, buddy?" the redhead said, waving her hand in front of his vacant eyes.

"Uhh yeah. That's some loot. I just got lost thinking about everything I could do with something like that."

"Well, keep it in your thoughts," she said.

"What?"

"That loot is ours. Not just this life. Every life. And there's only one." T'balt almost forgot looking at the other woman.

"I'm just like you remember," the slim one said, patting T'balt's own bag of loot.

"Oh…" he had to think back to when he was dealing with Monan. When he wasn't the only Redeemer around, they were competing to grab the best loot first. And when they were limited, whoever had that special one had the advantage. He had to remember that. Because now there was someone else he had to compete with. But both women started making their way up the stairs of their prison. The redheaded one gestured for them to follow.

"So, ready for the tour?"