Paralyzed (Tboah!AlbeCale)

24) Deruth no longer holds the bullshit eater title

A/n: includes mentions of torture

"Are you okay?! How did you get like this?! What happened?!"

Hilsman hastily untied the gag and ropes that bound Hans while questioning him in a panic. The commotion caused everyone else in the group to look towards the bushes.

"Hans is there??!"

"DO WE HAVE A PRIEST!?"

It was Eric who answered Hilsman. "Only the royal knights have one, but I messaged them just now! They should get here within five minutes! Is he okay?!"

"Urgh— I'm fine, just a little sore. Is the young master...?"

"..."

"As I thought, it was a kidnapping."

By this time, Deruth had made his way over to the small group huddled around Hans, who was tenderly rubbing his wrists.

"Hans, what do you remember? Where is my son?"

"That... haaa. The young master and I were on our way back to the Henituse mansion, when we came across an old man covered in blood, face down on the road. I went to check if he was alive or dead while the young master stayed in the carriage, but as I reached the old man, something struck me on the back of my head. That is all that I remember."

Deruth and Hilsman's expressions dimmed.

"Hmm... We were searching for you and my son after he didn't return even four hours after the expected time. There are a few different search parties including this one, and we were looking through most roads that you could have used. Hilsman found you in the bushes just now, but the carriage you drove here is missing."

"Yes, when you first arrived, I stayed quiet because I didn't know who you were. I was lucky Hilsman's sword only slashed just above my head. Thank you."

"Ah, well, it was nothing! I'm just glad you're alright."

Hilsman awkwardly scratched the back of his neck in response to Hans' thanks. He wasn't used to getting complimented like that.

Eric then joined the group after receiving another message, this time from Gilbert's search party.

"Gilbert says he will also be here soon. He finished checking all of his routes as well, and mentioned that he is closer to us than the royal knights. He should be here within ten minutes."

"Then let's camp out here tonight. I'm sure everyone is tired since we had no breaks today, so rest well."

As much as Deruth wanted to keep looking down this road since it was the first major clue as to which direction Cale disappeared to, the sun was almost completely below the horizon now, and the autumn night would get chilly fast. The knights also needed a break to eat and sleep, otherwise their performance would drop.

His anxiety never left him, but he slept quickly thanks to the comfortable carriage and soft noises of the knights chatting and the campfire crackling.

Soon after he fell asleep, both of the other search parties also returned, and everyone had a nice time eating roasted meat, and conversing about their life adventures. The reason the atmosphere was so pleasant and worry-free, was because most of the knights did not care much about Cale's wellbeing.

In fact, Hilsman, Hans, Deruth, Tasha, Eric, and Gilbert were the only ones out of the entire group that held some form of care for Cale. And of them, Eric(and maybe Deruth) was the only one who would do practically anything to save Cale.

The rest only felt obligated to help because of their own personal reasons.

___

"Knock knock, princess. Had a nice talk, didn't you?"