Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit-Chapter 122: Happy to Help

"O-okay, just...just be cool. Yeah, I need to act nonchalant, nice and chill," Ravella muttered to herself, as she took breath and slowly exhaled, before approaching the entrance to the Knight outpost in Garnet City.

It was the 22th of April, 1919, nearly two weeks since the Knights eliminated Exalt. And having purged several more corrupt Nobles who had been colluding with Exalt, all present obstacles to the nation’s positive progress were now effectively out of the picture.

Ravella had taken a day off today, and decided to come to Garnet City to hang out with Aster. It was a few minutes to 6 PM, when he’d be done with his duties for the day.

She greeted the Knights standing guard outside the entrance, before they let her in and she entered the building, looking around for Aster.

"Hm? Oh, hi, Miss Ravella. What brings you here?" Nile Voner greeted her politely.

"Hey, how’s it going? I’m off-duty today, so I figured I’d come here and hang out with Aster, is he here?" She responded with a smile.

"Yes, he’s in the back, I’ll show you to him," He nodded, before leading the way.

"Okay, this is it, can’t lose my cool now...," Ravella thought to herself as she slowed her breathing to compose herself, before stopping as Nile came to a halt in front of a door and knocked on it.

"Yes? Who is it?" Came Aster’s voice from inside.

"It’s me, Captain. Miss Ravella is here to see you."

"Ah, I see. Thank you, Nile. Let her in."

Nile then opened the door, before shutting it as Ravella entered the room and walked in, her nerves starting to act up a bit.

"U-uh, hey, Aster. Fancy seeing you here," She greeted him, cringing a bit as her voice cracked slightly, while thinking to herself, "That was so stupid, what happened to playing it cool!? I should’ve just said hi and left it at that!"

"Hey, Ravella, it’s good to see you. What brings you here?" He replied with a smile, a slightly stressed and worn out look on his face, dark circles under his eyes.

"I took a day off today, and I figured I’d come here to hang out, if you’re free, of course. Um, you okay? You look kinda drained," She responded, as he stifled a yawn.

"Yeah, a bit...three days ago, we got a report of a woman who had gone missing the previous night, and more women have vanished every night since. It’s likely a kidnapper, or a group of kidnappers, at work. All the women who’ve disappeared were described as young and attractive, around your age. So, it’s all but certain that these disappearances are connected. All the reports of the disappearances stated that each women vanished around 10 PM, more or less.

We haven’t detected any unauthorized teleports out of the city, and the guards along the city’s border haven’t reported any suspicious individuals leaving on foot, so it’s highly likely that they’re still in the city. I plan to be working overtime until we find and capture the culprits, so I’m afraid I don’t have any free time right now. Hm, but Tacitus should be free, he’s taken several days off, so he’s probably lazing about at home right now," Sighed Aster, as he rubbed the corner of his right eye wearily.

"Damn it! I shouldn’t insist or push too hard, given the situation...I don’t want him to think that I’m insensitive or something. Grr, stupid, cockblocking kidnappers," Ravella thought to herself in irritation, before responding, "Alright, then I think I’ll go explore the city for a while. Tacitus would probably just get annoyed if I interrupted his lazing."

"Yeah, I can definitely see that happening. I’ll see you later, then," Replied Aster with a smile, before turning his attention back to his work as Ravella headed for the door with a wave.

She then left his office and headed out the building while racking her brain to try and think of a way to free up Aster, intent on creating an opportunity to spend some time with him before leaving.

An idea then hit her as she walked out of the building, her expression lighting up as a gleam appeared in her eyes.

"I got it! I just need to use myself as bait, get kidnapped and then destroy the kidnappers from the inside. Oh, and rescue the kidnapped women too, I guess. Aster said that all the women who disappeared were young and attractive...I think I fit that description, if I do say so myself.

This cute outfit I picked should help too...ooh, and I should let my hair down, don’t want the kidnappers to recognize me, after all. Let’s see, Aster said the disappearances happened around 10 PM. That’s still more than four hours away, though. In the meantime, I should ask one of the other Knights about the specific locations where each of them disappeared," She thought to herself.

...

...

"Alright, here goes...I really hope they show up quickly, everything will be closed if it gets too late," Muttered Ravella, as she strolled past a dark alley, swaying a bit to make it look like she was drunk.

The streets were fairly deserted, the civilians opting to hole up indoors earlier than usual thanks to the kidnappings.

And while the Knights and Inquisitors were patrolling to try and find the kidnappers before they could claim any more victims, the city was far too large for them to cover every area at the same time.

Ravella had made her way to a fairly deserted area, which wasn’t being patrolled since there wasn’t much foot traffic in this spot.

"Hm...will the kidnappers really make a move tonight? They’ve only been kidnapping one woman each night, which tells me that they must be a pretty cautious bunch. Maybe they’ll opt to lay low now that the Knights in the city are so actively hunting them," Ravella thought to herself, before tensing for a moment as she sensed someone following her.

She quickly composed herself and feigned being oblivious, suppressing her instincts to fight back as her pursuer steadily drew closer and closer.

Suddenly, the footsteps quickened as the figure closed in on her, her sight going dark as a bag was pulled over her head. She let out a scream and shakily struggled, before freezing as she felt a blade pressed against the back of her neck.

"Don’t move. Resist and I’ll stab, got it?" Came a man’s voice.

She nodded in response, while starting to tremble.

"Wow, I’m impressing myself with my acting, that felt super convincing," She thought to herself, before speaking in a shaky tone, "P-please don’t hurt me."

"Cooperate and I won’t," Came the response, before the man took out a Teleport Spell and activated it, teleporting himself and Ravella into a basement.

"Hm? The temperature changed, there’s no breeze and it’s a bit warmer...and the air’s kinda stuffy too. I must be indoors, seems he used a Teleport Spell," Surmised Ravella, as she continued to tremble in order to appear scared.

"Huh? Oh, you actually found one?" Came another man’s voice, sounding surprised.

"Hah, I told you, bro! I knew we could get away with going after one more, that makes five so far, pretty good haul!"

"Yes, well, let’s not push our luck any further. Let’s gather the five of them and teleport out of the city. We can look for buyers after things settle down."

"Sure, sounds good. Though, who are we going to sell to? Pretty much all our clients have been imprisoned or executed."

"Not to worry, I have a few contacts in Anima, demand for human slaves among some of their wealthier citizens is pretty high there. Crossing the border won’t be easy, but we’ll figure something out."

"I see, so they’re slave traders," Surmises Ravella, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

"Take off the bag, let’s get a look at this one. Her body isn’t half-bad, but we won’t get a good price for her if her face isn’t attractive."

"Right, yeah...it was pretty dark out, and I snuck up on her from behind, so I didn’t get a got look at her face myself. Let’s see what we’re working with here," Remarked the one who’d grabbed Ravella, before pulling the bag off her face.

She put on a nervous look on her face as she surveyed the space, spotting four large metal cages by the wall to her left, with a woman locked up in each of them.

"Oh, not bad at all...I’d say she’s the most attractive one of the lot, great work. Here, put this Enslavement Collar on her, let’s have a taste, shall we?" Smirked the other one, as he tossed a collar at his partner before reaching down to his belt buckle as he began to approach Ravella, a bulge starting to form.

"Now, be a good girl and let me put this on you, struggle and you’ll get stabbed," He warned her, and he began to move his knife behind her neck against.

"Yeah...no, thanks, no one’s ever gonna put a collar on me again," She responded icily, as she unleashed a burst of light energy from the back of her neck, knocking the blade out of the kidnapper’s hand and eliciting a sharp, startled yelp of pain from him.

She then swiftly struck his throat with her elbow, eliciting a wheezing gasp before whimpering as she slammed her knee onto his balls before grabbing the sides of his head and yanking it down, driving her knee up.

She broke his nose as her knee powerfully collided against the middle of his face, blood gushing out as a dazed look appeared on his face, before his eyelids fluttered shut as his eyes rolled back.

Ravella turned her attention to the other one as the one she’d knocked out hit the floor with a thud, narrowing her eyes at his partner, who stumbled back before quickly reaching into his pocket.

Ravella swiftly fired out a blast of light, hitting his wrist, before firing out a rapid light arrow at his pocket as he let out a stifled hiss of pain, the projectile slicing his pocket open, a Spell Card falling out and hitting the floor with a clatter.

She then shot forward and fired out another light blast, aimed at the Spell Card, shattering it to pieces upon impact.

"D-damn it, I knew we should have quit while we were ahead!" Yelled the kidnapper as he began to charge up a fireball, before stiffening as Ravella shot towards him and got low as she closed in.

He began to lower his aim towards her, before she swiftly slammed her palm onto the middle of his stomach and unleashed a fierce blast of light, knocking him out in an instant, blood pouring of his mouth as he collapsed onto the floor with a thud.

"There, that takes care of that," Muttered Ravella, before heading towards the cages and slicing through the locks with light blades, addressing the women as she opened the doors and let them out, "You’re going to be okay now, I know you haven’t exactly had a pleasant experience, but these assholes can’t hurt you anymore. Are there any others, or is it just the two of them?"

"W-we’ve only seen these two, b-but I don’t know if they have any other allies."

"I think it’s just the two of them, they never mentioned anyone else."

"I-I’m just glad we’re free...I really thought I was going to end up getting sold off to some creep."

"Thank you so much, you saved us."

"Don’t mention it, I’m glad I could help. Now, then...I’ll escort the four of you home, and then I’ll have to inform the Knights. Hm, let’s lock up these pieces of shit in those cages, don’t want them coming to and escaping in the meantime," Mused Ravella, before adding,"Oh, if you want to beat them up a bit before I lock them up, you-..."

Before she could finish, the four women marched over towards the two unconscious men and began kicking them mercilessly, most of their hits very deliberately aimed below the belt.

Ravella let it go on for a few minutes, before deciding to step in and put a stop to it before the women could end up killing them, since she didn’t want to get in trouble.

She then locked up the men in the cages and led the women out, heading up a flight of stairs and finding themselves in an old, rundown building, before walking out through the doorway.

"What is this place?" Frowned Ravella, as she stepped outside and looked around. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"This area was devastated by the Undead King’s forces, so no one lives here at the moment. From what we’ve heard, the buildings here are supposed to be renovated soon," Explained one of the women.

"I see, I guess the whole mess with Exalt must have delayed that. Well, anyway, let’s get going...tell me which way to go to each of your homes, I’ll make sure you’re safe," Ravella assured them with a smile.

She then led them through the city, following their directions and taking each of them home, one by one.

Much to her relief, all of them lived in areas that weren’t too far from the kidnappers’ lair, and after about half an hour, she had dropped off all four of them.

With that done, she headed to the Knight outpost to report what happened, before leading them to the kidnappers.

A little over an hour after she let herself get captured, she was back in the basement, along with the Knights. The kidnappers were still unconscious, both with spots of blood stained on their trousers over the crotch area, thanks to how brutally the kidnapped women had kicked them there.

"Great work, Ravella. Based on what you said, they were planning on leaving the city tonight, so you showing up here was great timing. Did you plan this out after you left my office?" Aster asked her as he patted her shoulder.

"N-no, I was just roaming around and then sensed someone following me, I figured it was one of the kidnappers and played along, that’s all," She replied with a smile as she glanced as Aster’s hand on her shoulder, before feeling a hint of disappointment as he took his hand off.

"I see, well done. If you’d attacked him, the other one might have teleported away with the women they kidnapped, good thinking," Responded Aster with a nod of approval, before adding with a slight sigh, "Alright, with this, I can finally get to tackling the mountain of paperwork that’s started to pile up on my desk. These kidnappings kept me pretty busy over the last few days."

"Huh? He’s still gonna work!? Come on!" Ravella thought to herself in disappointment, "Maybe you should save that for tomorrow, you look really tired. Wouldn’t it be better if you just take it easy tonight and then get to the rest of your work tomorrow, once you’re all rested up and fresh?"

"Hm...yeah, I guess you have a point," Nodded Aster thoughtfully, as he let out a yawn, before adding, "In that case, I suppose I should head home and get some sleep. Thanks a lot for this, Ravella, I’d still be working if it wasn’t for you, I appreciate it."

"Damn it, I screwed up! No, he really does look exhausted, I shouldn’t get in the way of his rest. Actually, maybe this works out...thanks to me, he can get some proper sleep after several days of overworking, so maybe that’ll make him see me in a more positive light. And who knows, it could even lead to him developing feelings for me...okay, when I put it that way, it sounds kinda calculated and manipulative," Ravella thought to herself, before putting on a smile and responding, "Hey, don’t mention it, I’m happy to help!"