District 42-Chapter 114: Holding onto hope

Casper felt that Ragnar gave a slight nod while on his back. His body seemed to be getting paralyzed, Probably because of the amount of effort he displayed there.

What that guy had done wasn’t something little. Nobody would pass through such pain and exhaustion just for show, or even subordination. If he wanted to, he could disobey Casper at any time.

"In the end, all these people are fighting with their lives to get out of here. All of them are doing their best to finally get their freedom. They have their own motivations, desires, and feelings, but are working on a single goal that can lead to it in the end.

"I can’t afford these people to sacrifice their lives for nothing. I did a couple of wrong things, even cruel ones, to get where I am now. But I will not see five hundred prisoners dying in front of me without doing something about it. That’s why I can’t give up!"

Casper forced his trembling legs to continue running no matter what. His breath was still unsteady, and he couldn’t oxygenate the body perfectly. However, he was doing it the best way possible in that situation.

"No matter what, keep going forward! There are enemies in front, so be prepared for the clash!" After those words, Casper could see that the hope left the eyes of each prisoner that was around him.

His pace decreased notably, the will to survive they were transmitting before almost vanished.

But every single Frelsi, Jarl, or commoner there showed their resilience when, even without any hope or will, they kept running. Even though their rhythm was all messed up, they didn’t give up. Even if those guns in their hands were a burden that got in their way, they held it as tightly as they could.

They were prepared not just to keep surviving like prey being chased, but to fight to keep alive as well.

"SURVIVE!" That voice seemed to tear the eardrums of Casper, making his brain shake inside the head, awakening his body and filling him with a determination of fire.

"If everyone’s hopes ended, then I will hope for all of them! If their will to survive ended, then I will live for them! That’s what it means to be a leader!" He recited the phrase he heard from that special person he lost back in his world.

"Ragnar, that’s the last thing I will ask for you to do! Listen well! Don’t let me down, ok?" The tattoed guy didn’t respond, not even telepathically, but the soldier was sure that he heard him, so he started to say the orders.

"Say to the north group, specifically to Alfar, this: This time you can do it right. Don’t fail. The south group probably will catch up by themselves. The west group must keep up with their pace normally, so no need to tell them anything.

"Let’s minimize the groups we talk through telepathy now, and tell everything subjectively, because the person betraying us is also a telepath, and he is spotting everything we are ordering!"

Ragnar didn’t answer, but Casper saw that his eyes were shut hardly, so he probably was concentrating using his last energies to pass the message to Alfar.

After this, the White warrior knew that Ragnar had passed out. He couldn’t endure that last effort and keep conscious by any means.

Now, Casper was completely blindfolded. He was running towards the enemy, ready to clash with them and start a terrifying battle.

He was hoping that the other groups would arrive in time. He needed it. If they didn’t, Casper’s group would be wiped out.

"You trusted in me all this while, now I trust in you all!"

...

Alfar received the message of Ragnar. He barely could hear what he was saying, but he could sort out mostly.

"What the hell does that guy meant by it?" Because of his irritation with Casper, Alfar could only think of negative things about him.

He was still frustrated because of what happened. Deamhan was talking like never before inside him. That thing was fed with his bad feelings and thoughts.

He had stopped to walk to hear the message, and the rest of the group stopped with him. As they were waiting for the other groups to catch up with them, they weren’t in any rush.

They encountered some Ridires in the middle of the way, but just one time, which made them the group with fewer encounters of all the others.

He hated to admit it, but the protocols that Casper made to fight against the Ridires were helping a lot. He wondered how many encounters his group needed to have to him grasp that pattern on their actions.

Nevertheless, no matter what the White warrior did until that point, no one could let their grudge aside. The fact that they were still walking blindly and ordered as if they were pawns pissed them off. And the sight of the other groups suffering back there because of Casper’s mistakes also helped to make them get this feeling about him.

Alfar, however, was trying to find some sense in the message delivered to him. It was quite strange, although it made him even more furious.

"What he said this time, Alfar?" A prisoner asked, impatiently.

"This time you can do it right. Don’t fail." Alfar repeated.

The prisoners glanced at each other. Probably they had understood those words as false motivation, or even that they were being underestimated.

However, those words weren’t for them, but for Alfar. After he said it out loud, he remembered the time at the infirmary, and what Casper said... His failure... And...

"Rescue." He spoke, abruptly, and all that people looked to him with confused expressions behind the masks.

"They need to be rescued! Don’t stay standing here, let’s retrieve and help them!"

When they realized what was happening, they began to run with all their might, going the same way as they come.

"Split into groups, everyone! We don’t know in what part of the complex they are. If we split, we can find them more easily. Take different paths and search everything!"

His comrades did as he said, spreading through the corridors of Halden and going back at full speed.

"What did you do this time, Casper!? What the heck is this? Don’t tell me that you messed up with things again, damn it!" Then, Alfar realized something. That detail that he was hiding from himself all this while, everyone was doing it.

It was easy to go hard on Casper when he was desperate, when his decisions didn’t make sense, or when he was trying to cover and fix his mistakes, but no one gave it a try to just think how it was to be the White warrior... And how many mistakes he did before.

"Thinking about it... I can’t remember. Everything he did until now, even the wrong things, he could find a way to pull through somehow and make his plans succeed.

"In every action, we depended on Casper. We let all the burden of an entire prison on his shoulders until now, and the guy never succumbed to pressure. He kept walking, even when he needed to do it dragging his feet."

It was frustrating to think that way, but everyone there who dared to thought bad about Casper was just hypocritical. He himself was one, and the worst one.

"The only time when Casper needed someone to save him, not the contrary, we failed completely, and he needed to clean our mess afterward anyway. That hell of a guy had a letter in the sleeve for every situation. Damn! He has nothing to rely on, instead of his technical abilities, but he keeps facing powerful people, and dangerous situations."

Alfar knew that any of these things made Casper’s responsibilities as a leader lighter. He had to carry that burden because he wanted to, and for it, he must do the right things.

But the point was that it was worthless to keep complaining about his mistakes and just wait for him to do things alone all the time.

Now that Alfar had the opportunity to pay back that dependency on Casper, he would do it even with that grudge on his heart.

His anger wasn’t ceased, but he had something to make him understand Casper’s point of view.

"When I save you, I will tell you in your face everything that’s wrong here. I will take your place, and prevent you to let these prisoners down. Everyone will escape from Halden, willing you or not."

The Dark elf had made up his mind. It was time to take that burden of leader to himself again. Casper couldn’t carry it alone forever.

"Let’s save Casper and then retrieve our freedom. Now it’s time to make things right!" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Alfar’s group didn’t know, but the White warrior was almost at reach. Their high and steady pace was paying off.

However, no one could predict what would happen first: would the groups reunite, or would the Ridires catch them first?