A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Eloise raised her hand and almost like a reflex reaction to Henry's greeting, she smiled and said,

"Hello."

Louis' eyes were as wide as usual as he nodded a few times and said Hello as well. Andor did the same.

When Eloise put down her hand, her smile became a slight frown as her hand went to the handle of the sword hanging off her waist.

"Where's the slaver?" She asked.

Aurelius furrowed his brow and said in a voice of caution,

"Eloise, don't."

Eloise shook her head,

"We're inside the Dungeon now. What better time to get rid of that piece of shit than now?"

Every word Eloise said was back with a forceful righteous vehemency that had her grey eyes flaring almost in rage. Henry could have sworn he had seen eyes like those before but he didn't bother to think too hard on it when there was clearly a misunderstanding.

"Oh, hold on—" he started to say but Eloise interrupted,

"He's behind that door, isn't he? Along with the rest of his disgusting Mercenary buddies. I'll cut them down right now."

"Eloise, that's enough," Aurelius said, "You're being silly. The situation of these young men is unfortunate but it's none of our business. This has nothing to do with keeping your oath."

Eloise turned around with her brow raised like she couldn't believe how much Aurelius just kept trying to stop her from taking action,

"Your argument works in the City where I'm outnumbered and many others like you are so adamant on looking away from the horrible treatment those monsters put innocent people through just for cheap labor.

But here, where I can do something about it, free some of these slaves, you keep trying to stop me…"

"What about the Squires?!" Aurelius asked with his voice raised as his arm gestured toward the rest of their Party,

"Have you thought about them? Have you thought about what would have happened if you started a fight outside the Dungeon? Have you thought of the chaos you would have incited? Have you thought about how these innocent Squires would have had to join the fight? Potentially losing their lives in the process?"

Eloise paused and then looked at the Squires, some of them looking worried about a potential battle and others gazing at her with admiration.

"You're training to be Knights. You hope to take on chivalrous and honorable oaths… If you're not ready to fight and die for what is right, then you might as well give up now."

Eloise paused as though to let her words sink in and seemed pleased that a few of the Squires stood even straighter with a look of righteous conviction.

Next, she looked at Aurelius again,

"Do not try to play on my sympathies just so I close my eyes to the atrocities I witness," she said with every word carefully chosen and in a tone thick with the disappointment she felt about how Aurelius had acted so far.

Aurelius pursed his lips but said nothing as Eloise turned her attention back to Henry, and the others who had so far been watching the conversation with interest. Louis in particular found his sense of righteousness rising deep within him and his eyes even teared up a bit.

Andor was gripping his Spear with both hands with a look of fervent solemnity on his face as he stood straight and pressed his lips together.

Henry found the words nicely sounding enough. After all, her actions would have been of so much help earlier in the day. However, as quite a bit of a cynic that he was, he couldn't help but think of different ways anyone —him included— could take advantage of such pureness. Of such righteousness.

Eloise had taken two steps forward when Aurelius seemed to realize something and he called out,

"Wait, I don't think there's anyone with them."

Eloise would not have been stopped but those words did get through and she paused,

"What?"

"There's no one with them," Aurelius repeated.

"Oh yeah, I tried to tell you that," Henry said, "Doherty and his Mercenary buddies are dead."

"They are?" Eloise asked as her grip on her sword loosened.

Henry, Louis, and Andor nodded while they held up their wrists to show that they no longer had control cuffs on.

"They are. We got free a while ago," Henry said.

"Oh, splendid then," Aurelius said but it was clear he didn't care that Henry and the others had gained their freedoms. He was just glad he and the Squires were not going to get pulled into a battle.

"The others died too, didn't they?" Eloise asked when she noticed no one else was coming through the door behind Henry and the others.

She had seen more than three cuff-wearers outside the Dungeon and the idea that they had died because she hadn't acted quickly enough looked to be impacting her mood to rejoice.

"The others stayed behind," Henry said, "They didn't want to continue through the Dungeon."

"So they're alive?" Eloise asked.

"They are," Henry said and he couldn't keep from smiling along when Eloise smiled so brightly that it lit up her beautiful face.

"Alright," Aurelius said with a relieved smile on his face, "Now, Eloise, can we get across the hall now?"

Eloise nodded and looked away from Henry to return to her party.

"We should get across too," Henry said to the others.

"There's something about off about this place," Louis said, "I can't quite put my finger on it though."

At the same time, Eloise stepped forward until she was a step away from the large square segmented portion of the Hall's floor. She closed her eyes with her hand stretched in front of her as she cast a spell.

A spell circle formed above Eloise's palm then and it spread a magical wave across the entire floor. Almost all at once, the squares began to light up with Arcane Markings of three different colors; White, Green, and Red.

"A magic detection spell," Louis said with his wide eyes twinkling with wonder.

"She can use Magic?" Andor mumbled, "I thought she was a Knight."

Eloise opened her eyes and studied the symbols as the Spell circle above her palm vanished. Its job was done.

"The white symbols are safe to step on. The Green is dangerous. The red is worse."

"What'll happen if we step on the green or red?" One of the Squires asked respectfully.

Eloise shrugged,

"If I were to guess from what we've faced so far, undead Monsters will be summoned. Just only step on the White squares. And step quickly. I imagine the symbols could switch places soon."

Eloise and Aurelius led the way and their Squires followed close behind.

"Let's step on the White squares too."

The White steps were fortunately not congregated on only one part of the Hall which meant Henry, Louis, and Andor could keep pace with Eloise's party by picking their path many feet away.

They were making it across well enough. Carefully picking white squares to place their feet on. It was then that one of the Squires glanced over at Henry, Louis, and Andor and saw something that raised alarm.

"Holy— What the fuck is that?" The Squire asked in a loud voice while pointing at Henry.

Everyone paused walking and all eyes fell on Henry and others who were quite confused.

"What?" Henry asked.

*Gasp*

Andor and Louis gasped then before the Mage mumbled with a bit of fear in his eyes,

"Henry, look at your shadow."

Still confused, Henry looked down and his eyes widened when he saw his Shadow was getting thicker and spreading to the point of covering steps that had green symbols on them as well as one step that had a red symbol.

Henry's hand clenched and 'Violent Retort' appeared in his hand, cocked and ready to shoot when he heard a familiar voice in his head. A voice that had his lips stretch into a smile.

"-Boy, that was a good nap!—" the voice said.

Out of the shadow, rose a brilliant black mare whose coat seemed to glisten. As she rose, Henry's wide-spread shadow became smaller until it was normal and the horse's entire body was out and stretching gloriously.

Andor's eyes were wide and he gripped his Spear ready to stab it at the creature. Louis' staff crackled with lightning as he readied himself to attack.

Both their faces went blank with confusion, however, when Henry leaped at the horse and wrapped his arms around her neck while yelling,

"Nyx!"

"-Henry!-" Nyx said and closed her eyes to nuzzle her neck against Henry before she opened it again, looked around and asked,

"-Hold on, where are we? What have I missed?-"

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