Chapter 489: From Despair To Hope

They followed Cassius’s instructions and went further down through the narrow tunnel, the air growing heavier and colder as they burrowed further down.

Each time he stopped, they listened. Each time he tilted his head, they waited. Then came his low murmur.

"Closer." He said. "The sounds are getting closer. Just a little bit more."

No one questioned him. They could all feel it too—that odd hum echoing through the soil, something alive beneath the layers of stone.

Even Aisha, who normally would have filled the silence with a dozen sharp comments, kept quiet. Cassius’s expression was too firm, too focused.

They continued until Cassius suddenly raised a hand.

"Right here."

Everyone stopped at once.

He turned to Skadi, his tone calm but commanding.

"Bust a hole through this spot." He pointed at the stone wall directly ahead.

"Eh? You want me to break through it?" Skadi blinked. "Master, aren’t we supposed to be doing the secret stuff first? You know, scouting?" She tilted her head, confused. "If I kick it open, won’t every cultist in the area know we’re here?"

Cassius shook his head, an easy, knowing smile tugging at his lips.

"I already have a rough idea of what’s on the other side. Don’t worry about it. Just go ahead."

That made all three of them—Julie, Aisha, and Skadi—exchange uneasy glances. Julie sighed softly.

"You’d better be right about this, Cassius."

"Always am." He said simply.

Skadi exhaled, squared her stance, and nodded.

"Fine. Everyone take a step back. Don’t blame me if the wall comes down on your heads."

They all stepped back. Skadi’s muscles tensed as she twisted around once, her heel glowing faintly with mana before she kicked the wall with full force.

BOOM!

The sound echoed through the tunnel like thunder.

Stone and dirt blasted outward, and a gust of stale, cold air rushed into the passage. Dust billowed everywhere, thick enough to make Aisha cough.

When it finally cleared, they all stared into the open space beyond—and froze.

They were standing in a long, dim corridor. The air was thick with moisture and rot, and the ground beneath their feet was slick with moss.

The walls were rough, carved stone, but lined with iron-barred chambers on either side. The smell hit them next—a sickly, metallic stench of blood and decay mixed with mildew.

Julie’s eyes narrowed. "What is this place...?"

They crept forward, and as the flickering glow of Aisha’s wand illuminated the first few cells, their hearts collectively stopped.

Inside each chamber were children.

Small, frail children—some no older than five or six, others barely ten.

Their skin was pale and bruised, their limbs thin like sticks, their clothes torn and filthy. Many of them were lying on the cold stone floor, motionless but breathing faintly.

Some were awake, eyes hollow and glassy, staring vacantly into the dark. Others flinched at the faintest sound, too weak even to cry.

There were five prison cells on each side of the corridor—ten in total—and each one was crowded with at least twenty children. Over two hundred of them.

Julie’s hand trembled as she lowered her sword.

"Children...so many of them..." She whispered, her voice breaking. "How could they...?"

Skadi’s claws dug into the wall

"They’re all locked up like livestock." She snarled softly. "And they look like they haven’t eaten in days...maybe weeks."

But Aisha was the one who most in shock. She had always had a soft spot for children, gentle and patient even in her angriest moments.

But now her face was pale, her lips trembling. Her wand hand shook as she stepped closer to one of the cells.

Inside, a small girl sat huddled in a corner, her tiny frame wrapped in rags. Aisha knelt down, trying to soften her voice.

"Hey, it’s okay...you’re safe now. I’m not going to hurt you."

She reached her hand through the bars, her expression tender—but the child flinched violently and backed away, her eyes wide with terror.

"Please, please don’t hurt me!" The girl cried, her voice breaking into sobs. "I-I’ll behave, I promise! Please don’t hit me! It hurts, it hurts so much! I’ll be good, I swear! Please, don’t—"

Aisha froze. Her breath caught in her throat.

Julie’s eyes widened, and Skadi’s tail stiffened.

The girl had curled into a ball, trembling uncontrollably, covering her head with her arms.

The fear in her voice wasn’t just from being startled—it was the sound of a child who had been beaten, tortured, and broken over and over again.

Aisha’s hand slowly withdrew. Her entire body began to tremble. She stared down at her palm, then at the crying child, and her vision began to blur with tears.

Her teeth clenched. "Those bastards..." She whispered, her voice quivering with fury.

"Those bastards!"

The trembling in her body turned into shaking rage.

Tears spilled down her cheeks as her voice grew louder, breaking with emotion.

"I’ll kill them! Every last one of them! How could they do this to children?! They’re monsters—filthy, disgusting monsters!"

Julie immediately grabbed her by the shoulders. "Aisha—calm down. Not now!"

But Aisha’s body trembled uncontrollably.

"They did this to children, Captain! Children!" She cried, tears falling freely now. "I’ll kill them...I’ll make them suffer..."

Julie squeezed her shoulder harder.

"You will." She said softly but firmly. "We all will. But not yet. We save them first."

Hearing this, Aisha took a deep breath, shaking, forcing herself to nod. But her eyes never left the terrified little girl who still sobbed in the corner.

Julie then let out a sigh of relief seeing that Aisha was back to her senses before having a solemn look on her face and saying,

"We still have some time. The Blood Moon hasn’t reached its peak yet, which means the ritual won’t begin for a while. That gives us a window, but not much of one."

She turned toward the cages, her eyes tightening with resolve.

"Our first priority is saving these children. We get them to the surface, every last one of them. Only after that will we move on the ritual site. No exceptions."

Her tone brooked no argument, but Skadi still looked uneasy, her tail drooping slightly as she tried to approach one of the cages. She crouched down and gently extended a hand to a small boy near the bars, but the child recoiled instantly, crawling backward until his back hit the wall.

Seeing this, Skadi pulled her hand back, ears drooping.

"Captain...how are we supposed to do that?" She said softly. "They’re all too scared. I mean, look at them."

"They don’t even trust us enough to move. Even if we tried to lead them out, they’d just hide or scream. And I don’t want to force them." She added, her voice trembling as she glanced down the corridor. "They’ve already been through enough. Forcing them will only make it worse."

Aisha’s hand hovered over her chest as she looked into the hollow eyes of another child.

"They’re completely broken." She whispered. "Whatever the cult did to them...it wasn’t just torture. It’s like they stripped away the idea of safety itself."

For a few moments, the corridor was silent, the faint rustle of chains and the shallow breaths of the children the only sounds.

Then, Cassius’s voice came through, calm and assured as ever.

"Leave that to me." He said.

They all turned to him as he stepped forward and stopped in the center of the corridor, between all the cages, and looked around at the frightened faces peering out through the bars.

He then crouched slightly, resting an elbow on his knee, a small, almost playful smile touching his lips.

"I have a question for all of you." He said gently, his tone carrying just enough warmth to sound nonthreatening. "Do any of you know who the Holy Guard are? The ones from the Holyfield Estate?"

The silence stretched. The children only stared—some trembling, some hiding their faces, others too exhausted to even react.

Cassius chuckled softly under his breath and reached into his storage ring. With a flick of his wrist, a small piece of wrapped candy appeared in his hand, glimmering faintly in the dim light.

He held it up between his fingers, letting the sweet catch the glow of Aisha’s spell.

"If you answer my question." He said. "I’ll give you this."

That got their attention.

The children’s eyes—wide, hollow, and dull—flicked toward the candy.

A few of them stirred, shifting slightly. Hunger gleamed faintly behind the fear.

One small boy near the front hesitated, clutching his knees before whispering shakily,

"T-They’re warriors. The protectors of the Holyfield Estate. That’s what...my mommy told me..."

Another voice followed, softer, but steady.

"They protect people." Said a little girl clutching a torn doll. "They’re...really nice...knights. My sister said...they were heroes."

Then a third, this one a timid boy who barely looked old enough to go to school.

"They fight dragons." He murmured, almost to himself. "And...they always win."

Cassius chuckled, nodding as he handed candy to each of them in turn.

"Good. Very good. It seems you all know a lot...You’re smart kids, aren’t you?"

The children clutched the sweets eagerly, biting into them like it was the first real food they’d tasted in days.

Then Cassius spoke again, his tone playful now.

"Now, for another question. Can anyone tell me how the Holy Guard looks?"

He grinned. "If anyone can tell me that, you’ll get ten pieces of candy."

That did it. The room came alive with hesitant voices.

"The captain’s really pretty." Said one girl with a spark in her dull eyes. "She’s got long golden hair and a shiny sword!"

Another boy nodded enthusiastically. "My papa told me she’s a grandmaster swordswoman! The best there is!"

A tiny girl giggled weakly, raising her hand.

"There’s a little puppy too! She’s cute and fluffy, but Mommy said she’s really scary when she’s mad. But she’s a good puppy ’cause she protects everyone!"

"W-Wait, who’s the puppy here?!" Skadi’s ears perked up, her face turning bright red. "I’m a proud wolf!"

Cassius smirked. "Sounds about right."

A little boy’s voice chimed in next.

"And there’s a kitty too! She’s really small but super smart! Daddy said I should study a lot so I can be like her!"

Hearing all this, the three of them exchanged glances—Aisha biting her lip, Skadi bashfully scratching her cheek, and Julie’s eyes softening with pride.

Cassius then gave out handfuls of candy to every child who spoke, smiling as the tension in the room began to melt away.

The once-silent corridor was now filled with the faint sound of children chewing, whispering, and even giggling faintly among themselves.

Then Cassius stood up and gestured toward the trio.

"Now that you all know who the Holy Guard are..." He said gently. "...can you take one look at these three behind me and tell me who they are?"

At first, the children hesitated.

They turned their wide eyes toward the women standing in the dim light—Julie, tall and strong, her golden hair shining faintly; Aisha, short and feisty, her wand glowing softly in her hand; and Skadi, crouched beside them with her soft tail and watchful eyes.

The silence stretched for a moment—until one small boy suddenly gasped.

"It’s them." He whispered. "It’s the Holy Guard!"

Then another voice joined in. "They came to save us!"

And another.

"It’s Captain Julie!"

"It’s the puppy and the kitty!"

"They really came! They came like the stories said!"

One by one, their voices grew louder, more hopeful—until the entire corridor was filled with the sound of crying, laughing, cheering children.

The air that had once been heavy with fear was now trembling with joy.

"Please save us! Please, Captain Julie! Please, Holy Guard!"

A few even reached their tiny hands through the bars, trembling not with fear this time, but with awe.

Hope, fragile but real began to light up the room.

Julie’s throat tightened as she watched. Aisha covered her mouth with her hand, blinking back tears. Even Skadi’s ears perked up again, her expression softening with relief.

Even though the children now reached out to them, crying for help, Julie knew how impossible that should’ve been.

She had seen enough broken people in her life to know that even if they had gone cage by cage, introducing themselves, swearing on their lives that they were here to save them, most of these children would never have believed it.

They had been through too much—beaten, starved, and believed that everyone outside those bars was a monster.

Trusting someone again, believing in someone again, should’ve taken weeks, maybe months. And yet Cassius had done it with nothing but a few words and a handful of candy.

He hadn’t told them who he was.

He’d let them realize it on their own.

He’d let them remember the stories they’d been told about the Holy Guard, the heroes who protected the weak, the defenders of hope and instead of forcing their trust, he’d rekindled it.

He’d made them say it themselves, with their own trembling voices: "The Holy Guard came to save us."

Aisha, Julie, and Skadi stood there watching him in awe.

The way he spoke to the children—softly, patiently, smiling like nothing in the world mattered more—made all three of them feel their hearts flutter.

Julie smiled faintly. "He really can do anything." She whispered.

Aisha nodded, her cheeks warm. "He’s...incredible."

Skadi grinned, her tail swishing. "Master’s definitely getting rewarded after this."

The three exchanged a knowing look, silently agreeing.

Once this mission was over and every child was safe, they’d make sure Cassius knew just how much they appreciated him in the bedroom.