It's the fifth day now, the fifth day since Alex had been placed in his cell. It has gotten to the point that his strongest memory of this new world is about this cell. His whole world is this cell now. On this morning as well, like the other mornings, he does his business. In the cell there is a bucket, his guard had left it there for him to do his businesses. A curtain was also put up so that he could do his business with some amount of privacy. Squatting atop the bucket, Alex contemplates the conveniences of modern plumbing.

After he's done, Alex hands the bucket over to his guard, who will then empty the bucket of its contents and bring it back cleaned. At first, Alex felt embarrassed about handing the bucket over. He feels as if he would be judged by the contents of the bucket, but by now he's over it, arriving at the realization that it's only natural. He could probably even do his business without the curtain now, that's how much he had gotten over it. As a person, Alex's adaptability was high.

Soon after the guard had left with the bucket, Alex could hear footsteps coming down the stairs to the dungeon. It was too soon for the guard to return. In other words, a visitor? Alex looked out of his cell expectantly, perhaps today is the day he'll finally move out of this cell. Well, he wasn't wrong.

The one who appeared before his cell was Gene, sometimes called Eugene apparently, but mostly referred to as Gene. From his belt, Gene produced a ring of keys and promptly uses it to open the door to Alex's cell.

"Good morning. How are you?" Gene greeted.

"Good morning to you too, I'm doing fine," Alex replied formally.

Gene smiled, glad that the boy is doing well, after all, it'll be very bad for him if the boy is sick or ill at this timing.

"Here, a gift," Gene hands over a bag to Alex. "Everything is for you, the bag included."

Alex looked inside, finding some clothes and what seems to be a wand with a small azure gem affixed at the base.

"Are you sure you want to give this to a prisoner?" Alex asked.

"Not anymore you're not," Gene replied, "Not from this moment onwards. So get changed, today will be your big day."

Gladly, Alex changed into his new clothes, he had been wearing the same clothes he wore since coming here and it's beginning to smell. The clothes that Gene brought over include a shirt, a vest, a pair of trousers, and a red long coat enchanted with magic resistance.

"Why red?" Alex asked, and though he's fond of the color, he feels that standing out too much in this world isn't a very good thing.

"It's so that I can tell you apart from the rest in combat more easily, and because I thought it'd look good on you."

"Combat!?" Alex didn't like the sound of that.

Then, a ruckus can be heard from above and at the same time, the door to the dungeons flew open and footsteps can be heard rushing down the stairs.

"Looks like we took too long chit-chatting," Gene muttered as he steps out of the cell and quickly assembled two of his three steel rods together with swiftness. "Alex!" Gene called over. "I say this once, if you want to walk freely under the sky again, I suggest sticking close to me."

Before Alex could even respond, armed officers were already arriving at the bottom of the stairs, their gazed fixed on Gene who quickly readied himself to receive them. For a moment, the officer at the forefront hesitated, but at the urging of his fellow officers behind him, he charged forward with the ones behind him following suit. However, just as they arrived before Gene, the one at the front suddenly fell, and then the two behind him, unable to react in time, fell as well. It was then did Alex notice the length of wire stretched across where the officers had tripped. When was the wire there? Alex asked himself, and with a little thought, the answer was quickly obvious. Gene, standing there with his cheeky grin, had likely placed it there when he came in here.

Before the fallen officers could get back up, Gene stepped over them and leapt over the wire he had placed. The officers that had not yet crossed the wire prepares to receive him, but Gene was faster and he thrusts his staff at the officer at the most front, striking the center of his chest. The officer began to fall backwards, but right after Gene's first strike, the etchings on the staff glowed with magical light, and a small bubble of pure force appeared where Gene had struck. The bubble then rapidly expanded, doing a second strike to the officer, knocking him back even further with tremendous force and sending him flying into his fellow officer, tipping them like a row of dominoes. The bubble was a [Shield] in spherical form, and it was but one of many forms Gene could produce them in, it was one of the spells with a low enough mana cost that even Gene could practice it, and practiced it he did.

More officers began pouring down the stairs, and the stairs were unfortunately their only way out. Alex understood that, while Gene was impressive, he can't possibly win against wave after wave of officers. Their only hope is to escape, yet the exit is blocked by the very waves of officers that needed to be fought. The situation seems hopeless. So why then, Alex asked himself, is Gene smiling as if everything was going according to plan?

"Alex," Gene said without turning, "Can you set fire to the stairway?"

Alex's eyes widened, feeling a little horror from that suggestion.

"B-but, I don't want to kill anyone."

"Silly boy, look with that Mystic Sight of Knowledge of yours. They're wearing armor enchanted with magic resistance. Fire won't hurt them. However, it's human instinct to fear it. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

At once, Alex looked with his eyes and indeed, their armor has been enchanted with magic resistance, strong enough to resist magical fire to a certain degree.

"I get it now!" Alex said, readying his new wand and pointing it towards the staircase.

"Good, I'm counting on you," said Gene, quite liking the boy. The quick-witted ones are so much easier to work with.

As Alex began gathering his mana, Gene proceeds to fend off the fallen officers that were getting up and the new ones coming down the stairs. One after another, Gene brings them back to the ground again and again, with most of them hardly ever had the chance to get back onto their feet.

"Aren't you done yet?" Gene asked as his foot slams into an officer's chest.

"Just give me a little more. I... I'm still a little nervous about using fire."

"I can't do this all day. You either do it now or stay your hand forever."

As more officers arrive, Gene began to lose ground, and he held what ground he could keep only due to the narrowness of the hallway.

"Alex!"

"Alright, I got it!" Alex drew a deep breath. "[Conflagration]!"

Gene pulled back just as a great stream of fire spewed from Alex's wand, consuming the entire hallway in front of the cells and all the way up the stairs. With everything surrounding them going up in blazes, the officers immediately panic in spite of the fact that they're protected by their armor. To get away from the flames, some rushed forward, only to be taken down by Gene's swift staff strikes, while the rest retreated up the stairs and out into the halls above.

"Perfect! Well done, Alex!"

"Uh, thanks, I suppose."

"Alright, next I need you to count to five. When that happens, dispel your fire and rush upstairs, got it?"

"But why?"

"No questions, I must go now while they're panicked."

And with that, Gene rushed off into the flames, leaving Alex with no choice but to do what he is told, fearing what might come should he disobey.

On the next floor, the officers were beginning to regroup around the entrance to the dungeon. While they could enter the fire once more with the panic of being surrounded by fire now wearing off, it was still considered unwise, as they would be unable to see within the inferno. So they waited, knowing that Alex could not keep this up for much longer as spells took not only mana but also one's focus. It won't be long now before Alex's focus wanes. That's what they thought. However, before the fire fades, a figure leapt out of the burning stairway to the dungeon, and while bits of his clothes were on fire, the figure himself and the magic resistant cloak he wears were not.

"Gene!" yelled Captain Gerald, standing amongst the other officers, glaring down at Gene angrily.

"Ah, captain, you got back sooner than expected."

"You should have knocked me harder on the head, Sword Saint."

"Hmph, I did not want to risk killing you captain."

As soon as he finishes his exchange, from his back, Gene pulled out a black ball that could fit comfortably in one's palm and tossed it into the air, attached to the black ball was a fuse that was nearly burnt to its base. There was nothing anyone could do but helplessly watch as it bursts into smokes.

The countdown to five was soon over with, and as per instructions, Alex dispelled his flames and rushed up the stairs. There, he was met with a thick screen of smoke, too thick to see through had it not been for his mystic sight, revealing outlines of figures within the thick obscuring cloud. Alex was surprised, to think that his sight can show him more than just words. However, he does not have the time to be discovering the extent of his new found abilities, he needed to find Gene and get out of here.

From within the smoke, a hand reached out towards him, and Alex did not hesitate to grab it, there were no reason for him to hesitate, the words floating within his sight had already identified it as "Gene's hand".

Once he grabbed onto the hand, Alex was quickly pulled along. Running blindly forward and trusting only in the outlined figure in front of him. Eventually, Alex found himself outside of the cloud of smokes with Gene in front of him. However, they were not the only ones. Following the sound of their footsteps, several officers of the Administration as well broke through the smoke screen and began chasing after them, and before long, a magician within the officer's ranks casted a spell of wind and dispersed the smoke, and now all the of officers were on pursuit.

"Where's the vice commander!?" Captain Gerald yelled.

"She's not here," one of the officers answered, "She went with the Lady Oracle for a morning walk."

"Since when does the Oracle take morning walks!?" the captain yelled again, frustrated at the terribleness of the timing. "No choice, we'll just have to do this ourselves."

Alex and Gene kept running, with Gene affixing the third of his rod to the rest of his staff, completing it at full length now that the halls are wide enough for him to swing it without obstruction, and he'll need it too it seems, as another unit of officers came charging their way from the opposite direction.

"What now!?" Alex asked, and though he still hasn't quite wrapped his head around the situation, he was already too caught up to be worried about that.

"Window, smash it!"

Alex turned to his right, where there are large fancy looking windows, and beyond the glass, a courtyard can be seen.

"But these look expensive!" said Alex, his "good boy" sensibilities kicking in.

"Don't care. Neither of us will be paying for it."

Pressured by Gene's words and the rapid footsteps of the approaching officers from both sides, Alex gulped down the saliva gathering in his mouth and pointed his wand at the large window before him. Then, "[Stone Boulder]!", and the window easily shattered into a thousand pieces.

Wasting no time at all, Gene immediately leapt out of the window and into the courtyard. Alex followed right behind, getting increasingly not fond the idea of being caught after all the damage he has done here, first with his fire and now with the window.

The two sprinted across the open courtyard as the officers began to converge from their left and their right, as well as from behind. Alex dared not to look at them, his mind imagining the angry faces that they are making right this moment as he moves his legs like he had never done before.

"Just head for the wall," Gene had said when they entered the courtyard, pointing towards the wall at the far end. It was a wall far too tall to be scaled barehanded, but with magic, it shouldn't be a problem. Or so Alex had thought.

From the center of the Strangers' Administration HQ, which is a building the size of a small castle, a pillar of light shot up into the sky. When the pillar reached the zenith of its height, it dispersed and spread over the large building, creating a dome of transparent light that steadily encloses the area from above, all the way to the edges of the walls on the far end of the courtyard.

Alex could feel his mystic sight weakening in this dome, the words feeding him information less clear and difficult to read, eventually fading away almost completely. However, before it got to the point where he could no longer make out the word, he read one that said "[Greater Magic Resistance Barrier] deployed."

"I don't think we could use magic anymore!" Alex cried.

But Gene was unfazed as he disassembles his staff and shoving them back to the straps on his back. He had been expecting this. "Don't worry, just keep running!" he reassures Alex as he straps on what appears iron hooks to his palms.

Once they came near the wall, Gene begins to pick up speed and leapt right at it, the soles of his shoes clung onto what protrusion the walls of stone brick has and propelled him upwards, and once he reached the furthest the initial momentum could take him, he dug into the crevices of the wall with the iron hooks in his palms and proceeds to crawl up the rest of the way. He reached the top in almost no time at all and from there, he dropped a length of rope down to Alex.

"Grab hold, I'll pull you up," he said.

By the time the officers caught up, Alex was already climbing over to the top.

"Gene, get down here!" shouted Captain Gerald, "It's not too late to turn back. If you come down right now your punishment will be light. But! If you refuse, your punishment can only be severe."

To that, Gene snorted and made a grin most wicked. "Only if you catch me captain. Only if you catch me." And with that, he nudged Alex off the wall.

Alex was flailing when he was pushed off, only regaining enough composure to cast a [Gale] spell just before he was about the hit the ground, and though his coat was enchanted with magic resistance, his spell was fortunately powerful enough to surpass it, with more than enough force remaining to halt Alex's fall.

Following Alex, Gene leapt down as well, performing a practiced tumble after landing to mitigate the impact of the fall. At this height, Gene had no use for magic.

"You almost killed me!" Alex complained.

But Gene only shrugged at his anger. "Come now, it's not like this is the first time you leapt down from higher grounds. I saw you back at the inn, when you jumped out the window."

"That's when I under Fitta- I mean, Fittoa's charm."

"But it seems like you remembered how to do it, and all of the spells you learned during that period. Fittoa may have been in control at that time, but the abilities your mystic sight displayed back then were no doubt yours, you simply need to learn how to use them and a little push now and again can help that, especially now when we don't have much time to wait around."

"I... I guess...?"

"Good. And speaking of not having much time..."

Angry voices can be heard from the other side of the wall, it seems that the officer had not yet given up and a few are even trying to scale the wall.

Deciding that it's best not to wait around and see if they succeed, Gene and Alex sprinted off into the streets, disappearing within the crowd.

***