Calian and Wolvin, who were forcefully herded down the narrow alley at swordpoint, finally came to a halt in front of a considerably large and spacious wooden building, standing out starkly amidst the row of dilapidated wooden shacks surrounding it.
A man from the group immediately stepped forward toward the main wooden door, then opened it with a special key.
"Get inside, quickly!" barked the man leading the group while pointing his sword.
"W-Why are you doing this to us?" Wolvin asked with a feigned expression of fear and panic. "What mistakes have the two of us made against you?"
"Hahaha!" The man laughed loudly, his facial expression displaying an unhidden slyness. "The two of you are indeed not at fault at all. But, blame your bad luck for coincidentally running into us on that quiet street earlier! Because after this, the two of you will make a lot of money for us, especially for a beastfolk like you!"
Hearing the greed-filled answer from the man who had previously threatened them, Calian and Wolvin were finally completely certain that this group was the kidnapping syndicate that had been abducting many people and causing unrest among the residents of Gias City.
"Move!"
The man pushed Wolvin's body very roughly from behind until the Night Wolf youth almost stumbled forward. Beside him, another man also forcefully shoved Calian's back. The two of them were mercilessly herded to step past the threshold of the large house.
Seeing his spouse being treated roughly like an animal, Calian felt furious. However, he quickly composed himself and chose to suppress his anger in silence, not wanting to ruin the plan he had formulated and turn it into a chaotic mess.
With weapons continuously aimed at their backs, Calian and Wolvin walked into the large house. They kept walking down the hallway until they finally arrived in a quite spacious room complete with various furnishings.
Inside the room, a man from the kidnapping group walked toward the center area, grabbed the edge of a wooden table, and slid it to the side.
Beneath the moved table, the wooden floor turned out to have a flat, tightly shut door that blended seamlessly with the floorboards, which seemed to be a secret passage leading to the underground area.
As the man pulled out a latch and opened the floor door, sure enough, a dark hole gaped behind it with a flight of stone stairs leading underground.
"Go down!" ordered one of the kidnappers.
Calian and Wolvin were forced to walk down the stone stairs, accompanied by the footsteps of the eight kidnappers behind them until they finally arrived in a fairly long and wide underground corridor.
As their footsteps echoed down the corridor, the dirt and stone walls on the left and right sides began to transition into rows of sturdy iron bars.
Inside those prison cells, there were quite a number of people being held captive. They sat huddled there with only dirty straw for bedding, their hands cuffed. Their clothes were also incredibly worn out and dirty, and their appearances looked very pitiable, like people who had lost all hope to live.
Are they the missing people? Calian thought while glancing carefully to his left and right. He saw humans of various ages, as well as several other non-human races. These kidnappers are truly disgusting scumbags!
Their steps were finally brought to a halt in front of an iron-barred cell located at the end of the corridor.
"Prepare the cuffs for the two of them!" the man leading the group ordered one of his subordinates.
One of them nodded, walked quickly toward a small room nearby, and then returned carrying two pairs of shackles in his hands.
Clack! Clack!
Without wasting time, they immediately and forcefully grabbed Calian and Wolvin's hands, then locked the cuffs onto the wrists of the two youths.
And what happened next was a shocking, instantaneous reaction. Right after the cuffs were locked and secured around his wrists, Wolvin's body immediately felt weak, as if all the strength within his body had been sucked out without a trace.
"W-What are these cuffs? Why does my body suddenly feel this weak?!"
Hearing the Night Wolf youth's groans, the man leading the group smirked.
"These are special anti-magic and mana cuffs crafted by our alchemist slaves! Anyone who possesses mana in their body will instantly feel weak, because those cuffs absorb and completely drain the entire flow of mana in your blood vessels! As long as you wear them, you are nothing more than a helpless lump of meat!"
Hearing the explanation coming from that man's mouth, Calian, who from the very beginning was born with the 'Empty' condition and had absolutely no mana in his body, instantly took action. He acted weak, exactly like what had happened to Wolvin's body.
Not having mana in my body turns out to be very advantageous in a condition like this. I can still use my power to its fullest even though my body is shackled by these anti-magic and mana cuffs, because from the start my [Time Loop] only uses my physical stamina.
On the other hand, Wolvin glanced at his husband, who was also bending over weakly. Even though his own body truly felt weak right now because his mana was completely drained, the Night Wolf youth instead felt immensely relieved in his heart, knowing those cuffs would not affect his husband in the slightest.
The men pushed the backs of the two of them roughly, throwing Calian and Wolvin into the prison cell.
Clank!
The iron-barred door was shut, then locked with a padlock.
Feeling that the two youths were already safe inside the locked cell and securely bound by the anti-magic and mana cuffs on both their hands, the kidnappers immediately turned around and walked away, leaving the underground corridor.
However, without them ever realizing it, the eight armed men had made a fatal mistake. They had locked up and left behind a youth who was a controller of time, one who did not even need mana to use his power.
Meanwhile inside the prison, Calian slowly straightened his back again. He looked at the anti-magic and mana cuffs that were currently binding both his hands.
To him, those cuffs were no different from ordinary iron bracelets that had no effect whatsoever.
The purple-haired youth shifted his gaze and stared at the iron prison door with a calm face.
Despite his incredibly calm expression, Calian was formulating the plan he would execute next to completely uncover and kill all people involved in the kidnapping cases occurring in Gias City.