Smugglers and Dungeons!

"Master Tang," Icarus was no liar. Even as Basila gently tugged at his sleeve, he didn't want to lie to the old Guild Master.

The man had taken them in. Given them books, clean water, and food.

One could argue that he had given them a roof over their heads as well. If one could consider the sewers a home.

"I talked Basila into getting rid of the slave runes of my family members!" Icarus bowed his head. Ready to take the beating.

"Good on you, but she can't. Not yet," Master Tang took another piece of the perfectly grilled meat and ate it. Not caring that he had meant to sell all those rats and finally get himself some new sandals.

"Then when?" Basila's voice was leveled, for once. Not raised, not snotty.

Hua Tang wanted to hug the girl. He had nearly given up on her.

"Do you even know what a slave rune is?" He asked. Few did. He wasn't going to blame the kids for their lack of knowledge.

He just wanted to show them how hopeless it was for them to risk their lives with so little training.

He wanted for them to become old enough to make a mark on the world.

The times of the adventurers were behind them all. There wouldn't be no fifteen-year-olds doing dungeon delving.

The Emperor was going to have their heads if he caught them.

"We only know what we read in the books you gave us," Basila answered.

"Good. Then I'll tell you!"

He pulled his scarf down. Showing the remains of his own slave rune. Something he had burned through.

At a great cost.

"Come over here, Basila. You know your runes. You can guess what this is," he smiled at her, as she began to shake. "Or can you already?"

He saw as Icarus took a hold of her hand and shook his head. Ah, was the boy her Champion?

Master Tang found the two too sweet for words.

"I have to study it!" Basila said, more to herself than to the two of them. Soon, she was by Master Tang's side. Her fingers tracing the runes which had remained. Her eyes calculating and wide.

"Good God," she whispered.

"Yes, indeed," the old human looked her in the eyes then, she was biting her lower lip.

"What? What does the rune do?" Icarus asked, as he came to them.

"It… the heart," she traced a jagged line which looked like a rose torn. "The lungs! Even the kidney!"

"Yes," Master Tang said. "Everything! You see, the Emperor loves God. So, he tried to make it so, that everyone got to live in a way which is pleasing to God."

Master Tang spat on the ground, away from the children.

"But the bastard knows nothing about God! He was raised in a gilded cage, with only the Holy Scriptures for reading material, and those… well, in the hands of fanatics, those are deadly."

"Are you trying to defend him?" Basila yelled, her eyes blazing.

"Is your family outfitted with slave runes, girl?" The Guild Master knew the answer. But he wanted the girl to come clean.

He wanted for Icarus to understand that the two of them were the same.

"Yes!" Basila roared.

Icarus was looking at her with wide eyes.

"What does… the rune do?" He didn't know why he asked. He felt that it would be better if he didn't know. That if he knew, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

But Basila's sobs made him turn his back to his comfort.

He wanted to share in her pain. Only then could he go and comfort her.

Master Tang told him.

Icarus understood.

Only then did he have the right to go to Basila, curl up with her, and share in her tears.

0000

Both of the children, once they were done crying, refused to sit idle.

Master Tang knew only one thing which could appease them.

The end of the slave runes.

"It is possible to burn through the runes," he told them, as he sent them through the tunnels.

He was well known in the town. The guards would catch him and throw all three of them in jail.

"But for that, you need the mana of a dungeon core. And it just so happens that there is a slime dungeon not far from here," he hoped that it was still a slime dungeon.

But hopes and dreams were empty. It was up to the two smugglers to do their first mission successfully.

And save Icarus' clan.

0000

The guards were playing a die game in front of the exit of the sewer. Both teenagers did not dare so much as breathe.

They didn't know how the guards hadn't noticed them yet, but it was obvious that the men were well-armed. Even if they were so drunk, they weren't even bothering to hide the fact they were cheating…

Icarus took a deep breath and then placed an arm around Basila. She was wearing her leaf dress.

He had a plan.

"Trust me," Icarus whispered in her ear, as he kicked the crates which were separating him from the guards.

The men were up on their feet and swaying dangerously, but they did have naked steel in their hands.

"I found this nymph in the sewers!" Icarus yelled, as he made a give me money sign with his fingers. "And I will bring her to the Lord myself!"

"Wait! Aren't you that kid who's sweet on Ingrid? What were you doing in the sewers?"

Icarus scratched himself behind the head, as Basila did the first trust fall she had made in the past decade.

Refusing to say a word. After all, female nymphs were sometimes born without the ability to talk, before they became adults.

"Well… there was this flower I brought to the sewers for… you know…?"

Even Icarus didn't know. But as the guards began to chuckle and yell crude jokes, he knew he had distracted them.

He led Basila up the stairs as if they were going to enter the castle.

And then, in the cover of darkness, he snuck inside the side entrance for the servants…