Just as Ye Chui’s clones turned into over a hundred small bats searching for Debbie’s figure in the mine caves, Debbie was nervously following behind the middle-aged Joker, walking deeper into the cave along a small stream. Jiji was chirping and fluttering around her side. The light on the little Valkyrie’s body illuminated the surrounding area.
The middle-aged Joker walking ahead would stop every so often, making “Mmm mmm mmm” sounds and gestures urging Debbie to follow him.
Earlier, Debbie had gotten separated from Ye Chui in the mine cave and suddenly encountered the middle-aged Joker. At first, Debbie had prepared to fight him, but soon she realised that the middle-aged Joker didn’t seem to have any intention of battling. His appearance and actions seemed more like he was concerned for her, and he even made gestures as if wanting to take Debbie somewhere.
And Jiji, who had always shown fear and anxiety because they were in the dark cave, suddenly chirped “Jiji” and flew up, circling the middle-aged Joker a few times. As a Valkyrie, Jiji could discern if someone harboured malice, and she seemed to sense no malice from the middle-aged Joker at all. In fact, certain auras on the middle-aged Joker made her feel very close and familiar.
This slightly dispelled some of Debbie’s wariness.
“Do you mean he’s a good person?” Debbie had asked Jiji at the time.
“Jiji, jiji, good person!” Jiji nodded vigorously and said.
Debbie frowned, feeling something was off, so she asked the middle-aged Joker: “Where are those children?”
“Mmm mmm, mmm mmm…” The middle-aged Joker gestured and pointed in a certain direction.
“Can you take me to see those children?” Debbie asked again.
The middle-aged Joker seemed to hesitate slightly. His eyes, lined with thick eyeshadow, looked Debbie up and down a few times, later Debbie would learn that he had mistakenly judged her petite figure as that of another child. His gaze then shifted to Jiji, who looked completely like a toddler, so he nodded and began leading the way ahead.
Debbie followed closely behind him. Along the way, she remained somewhat vigilant in her heart, clutching the summoning key tightly in her hand, ready to summon Gilgar at any moment.
She was also worried about Ye Chui in her heart, but she knew Ye Chui’s magics were varied and he shouldn’t be trapped for too long. They had come to the mine this time to search and rescue those imprisoned children. Now that she had encountered the middle-aged Joker, she absolutely had to go see what tricks he was up to. After all, she, Debbie, was a fearless adventurer.
Soon, under the middle-aged Joker’s lead, Debbie was brought to a vast cave resembling a karst cavern.
This place was very spacious, and the air wasn’t as humid as outside. In the centre of the cavern, there was a huge bonfire burning with roaring flames. Those flames also brought waves of warmth to the cavern. Sweeping her gaze over the situation inside the cavern, Debbie’s body paused slightly. She saw children of various ages sitting around the bonfire.
They were all wearing somewhat tattered clothes. The oldest was no more than twelve or thirteen, the youngest only five or six. There were occasional crying sounds, which quickly quieted down under the comfort of the older children.
After the middle-aged Joker and Debbie arrived here, these children all turned their gazes over.
“Uncle Joker!” a little boy called out. He was wearing tattered fur clothes. After scrambling up from the ground, he hurried to the middle-aged Joker’s side, his eyes still looking Debbie up and down.
The middle-aged Joker reached out and stroked the little boy’s head, then made “Mmm mmm mmm” gestures again, looking at Debbie, as if expressing some meaning.
A few more children gathered over. They didn’t seem afraid of the middle-aged Joker; on the contrary, they seemed to have a kind of affectionate dependence on him.
“Uncle Joker, I’m hungry!”
“Uncle Joker, I miss my mother, waa…”
“It’s so cold, Uncle Joker.”
Hearing these children’s words, the middle-aged Joker immediately became tense. He stroked each child’s head one by one, then suddenly straightened his body and began performing some clown tricks that didn’t seem funny at all. This middle-aged Joker’s intelligence was clearly not high. He now seemed to want to use his comical acts to make these children forget the terrifying environment they were in.
Unfortunately, his performance was really not successful. Those comical acts weren’t funny at all and couldn’t dispel the pain of longing and hunger and cold. The children’s faces all showed a bit of helplessness. Yet they couldn’t directly point it out, so they could only force dry, stiff smiles.
Debbie standing beside them was already stunned. She had heard from Ye Chui that these children were imprisoned by a middle-aged Joker, and that the middle-aged Joker was forcing the children to watch his performances. Ye Chui had even guessed it might be some evil ritual…
But now she discovered that the so-called ritual’s truth was actually like this!
“Is he protecting you?” Debbie came back to her senses and asked the little boy standing closest to her.
The little boy was clearly a very cute child, but having been locked in this cave for who knows how long, his face was terrifyingly pale, his hair messy and unkempt. A pair of eyes curiously fixed on Jiji on Debbie’s shoulder. Hearing Debbie’s words, he immediately nodded: “Uncle Joker saved us from the town… Our fathers and mothers went mad at night and wanted to kill us. Luckily, Uncle Joker brought us here.”
“He didn’t imprison you?” Debbie asked in surprise.
“Imprison?” The little boy shook his head. “Uncle Joker doesn’t let us leave here, but we know he’s actually doing it for our own good…” The little boy’s voice paused, then he continued asking Debbie, “Big sister, my name is Turi. What’s your name?”
“Oh, I’m called Debbie.” Debbie replied. She hesitated for a moment, then reached out and gently ruffled Turi’s head.
“Big sister, I haven’t seen you in town before. Are you from outside?” Unlike the other children’s fear of strangers, Turi wasn’t shy and asked Debbie crisply.
“Yes, I’m an adventurer from outside.” Debbie said with a smile.
“An adventurer, like them?” Turi suddenly said, then pointed to a corner of the cavern.
“Them?” Debbie was stunned and looked in the direction Turi pointed.
Behind a huge stalagmite in the cavern, three figures were slowly walking out. Seeing their appearances, Debbie’s eyes widened abruptly. Jiji, who had been lying on her shoulder, also became instantly alert.
“Uncle Joker found them in the mine this morning. They don’t know why they fell into the mine and got lost. They have injuries on their bodies and were almost starved to death, so Uncle Joker brought them back.” Turi’s crisp voice explained.
However, Debbie had already shown a tense expression.
Those three people were none other than the three from the group of seven that had tried to intercept Ye Chui and the others last night!
The wind magician Tag, the beautiful swordswoman Dallas, and another tall swordsman whose name Debbie didn’t know.
Yesterday, Ye Chui had tricked them, causing a magic bomb to explode beside them. This morning, when Dany and the Ninth Prince arrived in Joker Town, they mentioned a big hole on the road, seemingly blasted open by yesterday’s bomb. Ye Chui and Debbie both thought they had all died, but unexpectedly, three had survived!
The middle-aged Joker had found them in the underground mine. So, although they hadn’t died in the explosion, they had fallen into the dense mine caves below the mountain. Unable to find a way out, they got lost inside. Luckily, the middle-aged Joker had brought them back.
Tag and the other two had originally been silently squatting in the shadow of the stalagmite. After Debbie appeared here, they seemed a bit panicked. When they realised only Debbie had come, they calmed down somewhat. They had already experienced Ye Chui’s terror, but Debbie was different. She was just a little girl who seemed to have no intimidating presence at all. After whispering a few words, when they noticed Debbie looking at them, they simply walked out from the shadows.
The three of them no longer had their original neat and tidy appearances; they looked ragged, with quite a few bloodstains. Clearly, even though they had dodged Ye Chui’s explosion magic, it had still cost them dearly. After half a morning’s recovery, they had regained quite a bit of vigour. Now, the looks they gave Debbie were filled with cold killing intent.
A summoning gate appeared beside Debbie, and the krypton-gold female swordsman walked out from it.
At the same time, Tag also summoned his spellbook.
They had fought once before, and now encountering each other again, it seemed no extra words were needed; they could just start fighting directly.
“Swish”
Clusters of wind blades were immediately summoned by Tag.
Gilgar instantly rushed in front of Debbie, ready to intercept those wind blades. But unexpectedly, accompanied by a cry of pain from the middle-aged Joker, his body heavily fell to one side!
Tag’s attack wasn’t aimed at Debbie, but at the middle-aged Joker!
This left Debbie momentarily dumbfounded.
“What are you doing?” Debbie asked in shock.
Those children were also startled by this sudden change. They hurriedly ran to the middle-aged Joker’s side, crying out: “Uncle Joker?” “Uncle Joker, what’s wrong with you?”
“He is the devil Joker!” Tag said coldly. “No wonder your Magicians’ Guild insisted on taking this mission. So you’re in cahoots with the devil Joker! Debbie Yaden, Joker Town itself is the origin of your family. Everything here is inseparable from you. We don’t know what you abducted these children for, but today we will rescue them!”
Debbie: “…Ha?”
Tag and the other two had fallen into the mine because of Ye Chui, and in their lost state, they encountered the ferocious-looking middle-aged Joker. At the time, they were exhausted and nearly desperate, and were brought to this cavern by the middle-aged Joker just like that. Here, they discovered the children held captive by the middle-aged Joker. Rumours said the devil Joker had abducted the children of Joker Town, so they naturally concluded that the middle-aged Joker was the rumoured devil Joker.
The middle-aged Joker couldn’t speak and had intelligence issues, so he couldn’t explain the situation to these people. As for the other children, even if they said Uncle Joker was protecting them, how could normal adults’ wisdom easily believe it? The middle-aged Joker bringing them back probably wasn’t with good intentions, right?
Now, seeing Debbie being brought back by the middle-aged Joker, and knowing Debbie was from the Yaden family, which had mysteriously disappeared for over sixty years, with Joker Town being the Yaden family’s origin, and seeing Debbie on friendly terms with this middle-aged Joker, plus the fact that they had gotten lost in the caves because of Ye Chui, they naturally jumped to the conclusion that the Casual Magic Guild was in league with the devil Joker.
Earlier, they had been working hard to recover their strength, and just now, taking advantage of the moment when the middle-aged Joker was comforting the children with his back to them, they suddenly attacked the middle-aged Joker.
All their judgements were logical and well-founded, except… their intelligence was slightly lacking.
“With this level of intelligence, you dare to go out and mix around? Why not just die stupidly!” Debbie turned her head to glance at the middle-aged Joker who was now surrounded by the children, and shouted angrily.
It was also at this exact moment that a bat flapped its wings pitter-patter and flew out from a cave on one side, quickly flying towards Debbie’s side.
“Don’t bother me!”
Then Debbie slapped that little bat away with one palm. She then rushed to say to Gilgar: “Go and take out those three for me!”
“Yes, Miss Debbie!” Gilgar immediately moved into action.
The certain bat that had fallen to the ground on the side: “…”
