101 Chapter 101 - ...Goes Unpunished (1/2)

Gren had no way of leaving with Robert's knights watching him.The gun would just gather more soldiers to the area with its noise and he didn't want to kill the people that weren't involved.He already had a taste of what would happen if he tried to fight skilled knights back at the guild.Nonviolent solutions wouldn't work since there wasn't enough room to put on armor in the cell that he was in.Gren couldn't use any magic with the interference either so there was no way to heal himself if something went wrong.If he tried to act now then it'd be an instant checkmate.

Sitting in the cell was boring.This wasn't the first time that Gren had been in captivity but it never got easier.”Do I really have to sit here until tomorrow?”The knights didn't respond to Gren's question.”Can we at least talk?I don't want to do nothing for an entire day.”Still no response.How could they just stand there for so long?Being a knight must be boring.

Gren turned to his system for help.He had plans of making vehicles soon so now was a good time to look through the different models from Earth, or Tommy-1 as it was labeled by the Administrator.He mostly used public transportation and the vehicles that he saw people driving usually looked the same to him.He did own a cheap motorcycle for a while--a late 90s Suzuki GS500 that he bought for around $900--but it got stolen and the cops never recovered it.Learning how to drive something with four wheels would probably be difficult and would need a large open space so that Gren had room to make mistakes.

Gren would be building at least three vehicles but they would be for different purposes.A small vehicle that can get around quickly, a supply truck that can double as a transporter, and an armored vehicle with mounted weapons.The biggest problem that he faced was that the roads in this world weren't paved.He could probably drive a small car on the cobblestone streets found in the richer neighborhoods but most of the roads were just dirt that sometimes had some gravel mixed in.

Gren had already looked through hundreds of SUVs and trucks but couldn't find anything cheap enough.They required Platinum or some metal called Palladium somewhere in their designs; both metals were part of the Metals Four research project, an investment that would cost him two hundred research points.He would need to kill another two or three lesser dragons in order to get that which might be possible but wasn't feasible since he didn't know where to find more of them.

There were too many options to look through so Gren decided to limit it to military vehicles.The Humvee that Gren knew of required Palladium so it was immediately removed as an option.The model that he finally decided on was an old jeep from way before his time.The blueprint had it named as M151A2 which was just a series of letters and numbers to him.It needed Circuitry, Batteries, Carbon Byproducts, and Metals One unlocked; Copper and Manganese--whatever that was--were both included in the same research project.

After doing the math, Gren wanted to bang his head against the bars.Fifty five points.He already had that.He could have made the jeep long ago.Why didn't he think about looking for older vehicle designs?Using the same idea for the transport, Gren found something called the M814.As for the armored vehicles, Gren was a bit interested in the M60 but wasn't sure if he could drive a tank.The US military vehicles had really terrible names during that era but the important thing was that he could research them.

After finding out that he could build vehicles, Gren was happy; even if his happiness only lasted for a short while.Returning to reality, Gren was still stuck in a cell.There was nothing that he could do to escape right now that wouldn't result in him becoming an actual criminal.Gren decided that it would be a good idea to start researching Circuitry and try to get some sleep.It wouldn't be finished when he woke up but it would only take ten hours so it would be close to finished by the end of his rest.There was just one thing that he wanted to do before starting the research.

{Tell me a joke.}

<What do you call an angry coach?>

<A cross trainer>

That didn't make sense to Gren.Maybe it'd be funnier if he knew what a cross trainer was but he wasn't familiar with the term.That just left him confused so he needed to try once more.

{Tell me another one.}

<What is heavy forward but not backwards?>

<A ton>

That took longer for him to get than he would like to admit.When Gren did understand it, the joke did get a chuckle out of him.It didn't improve his situation at all and the stone floor was really uncomfortable to sit on but getting his mind off of things for a bit helped him to fall asleep.For some reason, Gren's dream was about the three knights yelling at him during his combat training under them.

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Gren didn't know how many hours he was asleep for before he was rudely woken up.The knights left by Robert and some soldiers were currently being attacked by three people; one of which was a familiar face.Why was the female knight's hairstyle changed?She now had pigtails for some reason.

The group of them didn't look right when next to each other.The female knight was wearing armor but the other two were just wearing regular clothes.The older man with a moustache was using his bare hands to redirect the spears that came thrusting towards him; his style of fighting was almost elegant with the way that he moved just barely out of the way of each strike.The younger man with a healthy tan and thick muscles was just catching the spears with his hands and pulling the soldiers closer to kick them if they didn't let go.The fight was completely one-sided and ended when the muscular man threw a knocked out soldier at the last remaining knight.

The female knight--the person in their group that did the least amount of work--approached Gren's cell.”I knew that you'd be in here.That guy is too predictable.”

”In that case you should have said something sooner.We wouldn't have needed to check those other places.”The muscular man wrapped his arm around her neck before grinding his knuckles on the top of her head.

”Ahhh, I give, I give!It was a lie!”After the muscular man let go of her, she rubbed the top of her head.

”I knew that it was a lie.That's why I punished you.”The muscular man tested the bars before speaking to Gren, ”You might want to shield yourself, just to be safe.”After Gren covered his face and neck with his arms... nothing happened.

”You don't need to do that.These locks are easy to pick.”Gren looked up and saw the older man focus on the lock for a short while before opening it.When the man worked on Gren's shackles, Gren could see just how practiced his skills were.Each lock only took a few seconds for him to open up.

Gren's body was a bit stiff so he stretched when getting up.”Thanks for the rescue, guys, but I've got to get back home.”The play was fun to watch but Gren didn't want to stick around while they tried to guilt him into doing something for them.

As Gren tried to leave, an armored hand landed on his shoulder.”You're going to leave just like that?”The only armored person still standing was the female knight so he didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

”Yeah.”What else was Gren going to say?

”The Duke wants to meet with you.”The older man removed the female knight's hand from Gren's shoulder.”He'd like to talk with you in person.”

”He's welcome to stop by the guild when he's free.”If they still forced him to go with them then there'd be no doubt in Gren's mind that this was just an act.”As long as I'm not doing a request then I'll meet with him.”

The female knight was angry but the older man held her back.”What about Henrietta?Weren't you going to heal her?”

Gren shook his head.”I really tried to but look where it got me.I'm not going to make that mistake a second time.”There was no reason to help her and Gren didn't want to be charitable to his enemies.”Find someone else.”

With the older man holding her back, Gren was able to leave.The other soldiers that had gathered because of the noise didn't try to stop him on his way out.The place that they had him locked up was a dungeon on the far west side of the city.When Gren left, he could see the market that was between the richer districts to the city's northwest and what would be considered the middle class districts to the city's southwest.

It looked like the sun was setting so Gren wasn't asleep for long.The dungeon was pretty warm and humid which caused him to swea; it was pretty uncomfortable but he just needed to take a bath when he got back home.Gren had some pretty rough days before but this one kept pushing him towards insanity.He didn't have an answer to what happened in the early morning, he didn't know how to process the death of a guild member, and everything that happened with the Adiers happened so quickly that it didn't feel real.If it weren't for Estella and the kids then today would have been completely terrible for him.

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There was a saying back on Earth; 'when it rains it pours'.Gren wasn't wearing any shoes which meant the cobblestone streets were hurting the bottom of his feet.He couldn't access the pocket dimension so the only choice that would get rid of the irritating pain was to get off the main streets.The dirt paths with few pebbles were all narrow side roads and alleys; neither of which were particularly safe places to be.