Chapter 697: Chapter 697 On the Ropes
“What do you think your chances of getting out are? I’m bound up so tightly with metal cables that I don’t think I can free myself without help. I’m not even sure I can free myself WITH help. I’ve only got a few somewhat... iffy ideas that might or might not be possible,” said Kat after a few seconds of silence from Blue.
Blue let out a sigh, “I’m bound by what looks like normal rope. It can’t be that because while my strength is fairly low, I could slip out of a normal bit of rope. It seems to want to stick to my hands. I might have to use magic to get out... but I don’t really have the control or the spells to do that behind my back. I might not be in a much better situations then you. I can see that I’m a lot less tightly bound.
“I’ve got... I think one rope wrapped a few times in a few different ways around my hands, keeping them together and unable to move properly. Both legs tied using one rope to the chair but I think I could squeeze out of that pretty easily, and then the one around my chest that keeps me pinned to the chair. I can even look over at you, sort of. We’re tied back to back and you have a LOT of metal around you,” explained Blue, “What did you do, piss Thyme off or something?”
Kat shrugged the best she could manage, “I don’t know. Well, I imagine it wasn’t any true personal grudge. Perhaps this is a handicap for the others? I know I’m strong enough even with the stupid bracelet to rip myself out of basic rope without any troubles. I wonder how the scenario is set up though... am I actually like this because it’d be too easy otherwise, or is this the result of not getting taken out by the sleeping drugs?”
“We can think about that later. Do you have any possible way of getting us out of here? Anything to cut the ropes around me?” asked Blue.
Kat thought for a moment and came up with a few easy answers, “A couple actually. The first thing I could do is keep my fingers straight. My hands can’t move much but my nails are still open to the air. They are sharp and strong enough to cut rope. Alternatively, I think I could summon my fans back to me. The problem is I have no way to hold them, they’ll just fall to the ground. If you can pick them up somehow the fan edge is sharp, easily sharp enough for some rope, and maybe even this metal... though I’m not sure about the second one,”
Blue thought on this, attempting to move the chair she was on and found it wasn’t stuck down or overly heavy after a few moments. Gritting her teeth Blue started to tug on her feet, shifting them from being pinned at the front of the chair the middle. The way they had been wrapped was a with a single rope criss-crossing from side to side. This meant even though it was tight against her, the robes Blue wore provided enough protection and slippage to get away from it. Once her legs were in the larger space provided Blue got to work pushing her boots off. It was a little difficult because of the slack already in the rope, but with a bit of effort she managed it.
.....
Feet free from their shoes, it was a simple matter to extract them from the rope completely causing it to go slack. Blue tried to stand up with the chair still attached to her and found it WAS possible but very awkward. Blue was mostly just glad that the two chairs belonging to Kat and Blue hadn’t both been tied together. “Ok, I’m able to move. I... I don’t think I could really get a good angle on holding anything either so... I guess I’ll use your nails? Is that... that fine?” asked Blue hesitantly.
“Go for it,” said Kat, “My finger will almost certainly bend before my nails will break. Honestly that’ll be the hardest part. Hmm... is there anything you could do to keep it relatively straight? I’m strong but even then there’s only so much of that strength I can use in just a finger.”
“What about your wrist? From where I’m... awkwardly standing, it seems like you could probably force your fingers together and use them that way,” explained Blue.
“Hmm...” mumbled Kat. *The cable makes it a little hard to do properly... but I suppose keeping my whole hand straight and trying to make it more about the wrist... I might be able to managed it.* “Might be doable. I guess... set up whatever you want to free and try the best. I can’t really move my hands much from were they are so... I’ll leave it to you?”
Blue nodded, though Kat couldn’t see that and started to get into position. It was just a closer version of they the pair were already assembled. Blue took care to line up the middle section of her hands were the rope was with Kat’s outstretched fingers as best she could. Once in place, Blue started using that edge to saw at the rope. Minutes passed as the pair continued their work. For Blue it was mostly in the elbows, getting what movement she could out of them rather then trying anything with her feet. For Kat, it was a constant strain on her wrist and finger joints. She suspected that had she not had regeneration the process would have caused at least a sprain.
When the first snap of rope was heard Kat’s heart soared, only to be crushed by Blue’s next word, “One down, at least two more to go,”.
Kat didn’t want to complain though, so she started to strike up conversation, “So... Blue... um... anything interesting you want to chat about?” asked Kat
“Anything interesting says the demon. From my perspective everything about YOU is potentially interesting. I just live a relatively normal life... but we got time. This isn’t exactly riveting work and I think I’ve got the motions down. So... I guess I’ll trade you question for question. You can start,” offered Blue.
“Hmm... why did you decide to become an adventurer?” asked Kat.
“Oh... lots of reasons,” said Blue with a sigh. “I’m the second daughter of a noble Fae house. Normally this means I’d get nothing, but my family takes a different approach. We have a competency test instead. After two hundred years, or when the current head of the family retires due to health issues, a series of tests will be set up. Now not all of these will be combat related, in fact most aren’t...
“But my family has never once had a head of house that failed to win the combat portion. This is in large part due to the fact that the other tests happen after the combat section. If you’re knocked unconscious, or in a few cases, killed, then it doesn’t matter how smart you are, you can’t take the test. There was a rather famous example of a third son in my family that was considered an unrivalled genius. They could answer any question presented to them and they were ready for the tests... except they hadn’t done any combat training. Their elder sister knock him out in one blow. He was asleep for four days and failed to show up to the next test,
“So... that’s probably the biggest reason. I have others but... I feel like that’s enough from me for now. I want to know what it’s like being a demon? Hmm... perhaps that’s a bit broad. What do you normally DO as a demon? Is it all contracts and plots?”
“Not really,” said Kat, “Some contracts are longer than others and depending on the timings you might not get long to rest... but you can honestly look at it like an adventurer. Well, I’d guess anyway. I’ve never been a real adventurer. You get called up by the contract holder, asked to do a thing, you either accept or decline and then get to it. The main difference is I travel between worlds to do it instead of regions,”
“I’m not really sure what I was expecting but that makes a shocking amount of sense now that you’ve pointed that out. I guess demons are just regular people too,” mumbled Blue.
“Yeah pretty much. The biggest difference might be our power level. It can climb quite high, but I believe everyone has the chance to get there as well. Hmm... though we don’t really have to work for it. Skill of course comes with practice but I can gain a good jump in power just by existing,” explained Kat.
“That feels a lot like cheating,” complained Blue.
“It is what it is,” said Kat not quite wanting to reveal she hadn’t always been a demon and could empathise properly.
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