A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"I can't do that," Jonas said slowly.

"I wasn't asking," Roran said, "Open it."

For a minute, Jonas said nothing and just held Roran's stare, and then he looked at Al and made a head gesture.

With a deep frown, Al reached around the front of the Carriage and pulled a set of keys before he got down and walked to the cage. He fiddled with locks and bolts for a while and soon, the Cage's door swung open.

The Ordered Bandit pushed past Al and reached into the Cage to grab Henry's arm and yank him out so he could turn him toward Roran.

Roran raised a hand off his sword handle and curled two fingers toward Henry to call him over.

Henry was still somewhat surprised at the strength of the Bandit that pulled him from the Cage when he saw the gesture and began taking slow steps forward. Taking care to glance at Jonas and give him a sly smile.

Henry stopped about two feet from Roran and stood still as the large Bandit scrutinized him.

"You look small," Roran said before stretching out a hand toward Henry.

From the hand that was stretched to him, Henry felt a wave of Mana that seemed to ebb around his body. It coaxed his Mana to rise and flow from his body in a haze of magical fog that could barely be seen by the ordinary eye.

"So much Mana," Roran said and nodded a few times, "You really must be special."

"He's really not," Jonas said and Henry noticed his hand reaching for something attached to his horse's saddle.

"What do you mean 'He's not special'?" Roran asked with a frown,

"I can feel it."

"Well, yes he has Mana," Jonas admitted with an exasperated tone,

"That's why we're transporting him but he has no relation to the Black Manor or its Lord."

"Lies!" Henry cried out in a loud grandiose tone before he held Roran the Bandit's stare to say,

"He's lying to you."

"Henry!" Jonas yelled, "If you don't keep quiet right now, I swear to gods, I'll—"

Henry raised his hand and showed his cuffed wrist to Roran,

"They put this on me," he said.

Roran eyed the cuff and grabbed Henry's hand to pull his wrist closer and observe the Cuff even more closely. He saw Arcane symbols shimmer on it and detected a whiff of magic.

"You can tell, can't you?" Henry said,

"Powerful binding magic. They did all they could to make sure I didn't run back to my Lord and request help until they got me away.

What more proof do you need to know they're cheating you?"

Jonas blanked for a few seconds as he looked at Henry in awe of just how much bullshit he seemed capable of coming up with.

Meanwhile, Roran released Henry's wrist and scratched his jaw,

"I've decided," he announced and looked at Jonas,

"I'll let you go."

Henry's heart sank. Things were not going the way he hoped.

Jonas let out a sigh of relief immediately and took his hand off whatever he had been reaching for on his horse's saddle. He smiled lightly.

"Thank you," he said and gestured at Al to grab Henry and return him to the cage,

"We should get back on the road. We've lost so much time already…"

"What are you talking about?" Roran asked in a deep incredulous voice.

"You said we could go," Jonas said.

Roran shook his head and chuckled,

"You didn't let me finish," he said, "You can go if you give me a percentage of your coming gains."

Henry's sullen face quickly brightened up again as he realized things might not be looking all too bleak for him at the moment.

Al, who had stepped forward to grab and return Henry to the Cage, found his path blocked by the Ordered Bandit while Roran scratched his jaw as though deep in thought,

"20,000 Gold should be enough."

"20,000?" Jonas repeated with his eyes wide, "We don't have that much."

Roran shrugged,

"Then I suppose you can't leave then," he said.

"This is unfair. We already paid your toll," Jonas said.

"The world is unfair," Roran said and then gained a generous expression as he smiled,

"But I suppose you're right. You did pay the toll. You can go. But your precious cargo stays with us."

Roran placed his hand on Henry's shoulder almost possessively.

"What sort of rubbish is this?" Jonas asked.

"Rubbish?" Roran repeated and laughed, "You paid a toll for three people and one 'unimportant' Cargo. Now that the Cargo is revealed to be so 'precious', it's only fair you pay a toll to match it.

You don't have that toll so you can't leave with it. Is that clear enough for you?"

"I'm afraid that's an arrangement I can't agree with," Jonas said,

"I'm leaving with that loud-mouthed lying bastard!"

Henry blinked innocently like he was stumped as to why he was receiving such an insult. He even pointed at himself comically before winking at Jonas but that only annoyed the man more.

"Hey, Roran?" Henry called out.

"Hmm?" Roran answered with a grunt.

Henry raised his hand to show his cuff again,

"This comes in a pair," he said before pointing at Jonas,

"The other one is with him. You'll need it to keep me with you."

"Hmm, is that so?" Roran asked and gestured at Jonas with his head,

"Hand it over and be on your way. We'll be handling the Ransoming instead."

"There's no ransom," Jonas said through gritted teeth.

"Then you'll have no issues giving up the cuff," Roran said and stretched out a hand to gesture with as he said,

"Give it."

Jonas looked from Roran's face to Henry's smiling one and he just found himself feeling more confused than he already did.

Jonas could already tell by now that Henry had come up with some sort of escape plan that involved causing conflict between their group of three and the Bandits.

How Henry could have devised such a plan without getting jolted with electricity every few seconds was already a mystery but even more so was how the plan could at all be beneficial.

As far as Jonas could tell, even if the Bandits did grab the command cuff off his wrist, Henry would have only traded one imprisonment for another.

It made no sense to him how this was the best Henry could come up with.

But this truly was the best Henry could come up with at the moment.

The very thought of pulling the cuff off his wrist (something he was not even sure he was strong enough to do) hurt him. The thought of running away hurt him. The thought of attacking his captors hurt him. So Henry thought, the only way he could succeed was to have someone else do the work for him.

When Jonas mentioned the Mountain Bandits last night, Henry realized he might have found the little window of opportunity he needed. To avoid getting electrocuted over and over, he thought of it as lying to the Bandits just for the sake of sowing chaos rather than solely to escape.

The way his mind worked, 'escape' was merely a byproduct of Henry's plan and not the reason for it.

It took many trials for Henry to know what keywords (thoughts) triggered the cuff's reaction and it took even more work to avoid those triggers.

The plan was simple.

Lie to the Bandits 'Because causing chaos and sowing discord is fun' and the by-product of the resulting skirmish would free the Command cuff from Jonas' wrist.

That one moment when the cuff was not on a living person whether because Jonas died or because he surrendered the cuff willingly was Henry's window.

He'd take advantage of the chaos, grab the Command cuff, kill a few bandits, rob Jonas of his horse, and get the hell away.

At least… That was the plan.