Rogue Villain-Chapter 306: Finding Makkel

After reaching deeper inland, Ackster and the others stopped flying. They were getting closer to the bigger cities. Being careful, even with Mara’s invisibility magic, wouldn’t hurt. There was also no need to fly when they were right in front of Makkel’s last recorded location.

Although the Guild’s information was a little outdated by now, it was a good first place to look. It was better than flying around the entire continent and looking from the sky, at least.

The city of Gromid was a big city, but Ackster didn’t know a lot about it. It was only one in the list of the many places Makkel had struck during his rampage before he went after The Hero. Fortunately, Wilma knew enough to get them inside and look around the place for traces of Makkel without issue.

Wilma had said she was going to supervise. But if she didn’t help Ackster with trivial things like this, Ackster would use the only method he knew: brute force. Wilma didn’t want to get innocent people caught in the crossfire between Ackster, Makkel, and the Vider Empire’s troops.

If she were unlucky, Vider might recognize Kargas and Karandiel and decide to escalate. Wilma didn’t want Ackster’s actions to be the spark for another war. Not when The Calamity was still growing, and the world was already more chaotic than usual.

Ackster and the others looked around the city, at poster boards, and at bars for information. But it took a trip to the guard station in the center of the city to find any traces of Makkel.

"What do we do now?"

Wilma crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall of the room at the inn.

"How important is this guy, boss?"

Kargas leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees as he sat on a wooden chair by the door.

"He could be very useful, depending on a variety of factors."

"Do we have any other options?"

Karandiel leaned against Ackster’s right arm.

"He’s an arsonist, right? I can do fire."

Mara took his left.

"His fire is special. It’s a unique skill."

Ackster paused for a moment as he considered what they could do.

"We just need to break him out."

He also wondered why Makkel was caught when no one had even caught so much as a whiff of him in the original story until he decided to throw himself against the brick wall that was The Hero. But he had a feeling it was because he had asked Wilma to look for arsonists in Vider. The Guild looking for him had opened up the road for Vider’s forces.

"Are you sure that’s smart?"

Wilma gave Ackster a warning look.

"He’s in a maximum security jail for the attempted murder of a relative of the Emperor’s. Makkel is waiting for the death penalty. If we break him out, we have to do it quickly. Doing it quickly means doing it sloppily. And doing it sloppily means our identities might get exposed. Are you willing to take that risk?"

Ackster looked at Wilma in silence. Although she said it was for their sake, he could tell she didn’t want him to cause too much international trouble for the sake of one death-row arsonist.

"If we do it right, we don’t have to expose our identities. There aren’t any dragons. Kargas won’t be exposed. Karandiel will be supporting, and Mara and I will breach and extract. No one knows our fighting styles and faces. We also have Mio to disguise ourselves with. We go in hard and pop Makkel out before anyone’s the wiser."

Wilma sighed.

It wasn’t a great plan. It was barely even a strategy. But Ackster didn’t need a plan or a strategy, nor did he need to plan, study the prison, or infiltrate. He was strong enough that his brute force method could work.

"I’m against it."

"I’ll follow you, Brian."

"I will do as My lord sees fit."

Mara and Karandiel shot Wilma a pair of gazes, but Wilma just ignored them and looked at Kargas, the only one yet to voice his opinion. It probably wouldn’t change anything, but it wasn’t impossible that Kargas could convince Ackster.

Kargas looked Ackster straight in his eyes.

"All right. Let’s do it. I don’t want any casualties, and none of us get hurt."

Ackster nodded.

"Naturally."

Kargas continued,

"What happens if he doesn’t want to join us?"

"We convince him or toss him back before getting the hell out of here. I don’t think anyone at the prison can stop us. But the Empire has people strong enough to do that. There’s also the Hermit. He shouldn’t interfere as long as we don’t threaten to destroy the continent or something, but keep that in mind."

Ackster looked at Mara, Karandiel, and Kargas before finally turning his gaze toward Wilma.

"This is only the beginning. If any of you are having second thoughts or want to reconsider, tell me now."

Although he had looked at everyone, everyone in the room knew Wilma was the only one with a serious amount of doubt in Ackster. The others, including Kargas, had already resolved themselves. Kargas still had a limit, but Ackster was confident he could push that limit little by little if necessary. Of course, if everything went according to plan, he wouldn’t need to.

Wilma sighed. She didn’t want to make a choice like this where there was no right answer. She could take a step back and distance herself to let Ackster and his crew run wild, or she could join them and stop trying to hold them back.

Since Ackster was about to break a convicted criminal out of prison by using overwhelming force without regard for the surroundings and with his past of trying to incite war, Wilma was worried that she would have to silence her conscience to follow him. But stepping back wouldn’t save her conscience. She would have to live with the awareness that she let Ackster run loose when she could have tried to rein him in.

It wasn’t an easy choice.

She could trust Ackster’s words and wait a few years for an explanation while he ran around to try and do what was best for everyone, apparently. But....