A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

The man handed out other assignments ranging from. Security detail to mercenary work before telling Ed to handle the rest so he could focus his attention on the raiding party.

"For those of you who don't know me," the man said with his eyes specifically on Henry,

"My name is Doherty. Throughout our expedition into the Dungeon, you will call me Captain Doherty or simply Captain. You are not to disobey any of my orders or I will make sure you feel the most debilitating pain possible leaving you squealing on the ground to be picked off by whatever horror awaits us.

Am I understood?"

"Yes." The raiding party chorused mostly in deadpan tones.

"Good," Doherty said, "We leave at dawn."

They were dismissed then and allowed to return to their encampment. Louis stuck close to Henry,

"You did a good job getting into the party. Would have been such a shame to have to do this on my own."

"Do what exactly?" Henry asked.

Louis looked at him and his already wide eyes seemed even wider to portray how incredulous he found Henry's question, but there was hardly much difference to note.

"I already told you the plan," Louis said.

"You told me something, sure. But it's not a plan. Not yet, at least," Henry said,

"How are you going to make sure Doherty dies?"

Even as Henry asked the question, jolts were being fired into his brain but he endured them in silence and kept his eyes, fairly open, on Louis, who shrugged.

"I don't know," he said.

"What?"

"I don't know," Louis repeated and then when he noticed Henry's glare, he quickly added,

"Yet. I don't really know, Yet. I'm kinda making this up on a fly."

Henry had no real issues with badly formulated plans. Sometimes, pushed by circumstance, it wasn't unusual for someone to throw caution to the wind and come up with a plan they already know only has the slimmest chance of success.

Hell, his stunt at the Mountain Path had been precisely an example of this and it would have worked if certain elements had fallen in place better.

Anyway, Henry gave Louis the benefit of the doubt and with his head angled, he urged the wide-eyed young man to get right into it.

Louis took the cue and cleared his throat before leading Henry toward a far wall in the room. It had the least population of people standing close by so clearly Louis chose it so they wouldn't be overheard. Although Henry doubted the lifeless bunch in the room even cared enough to overhear.

"Alright, here's the thing," Louis said, and when Henry thought he was going to slip into a long detailed explanation of his 'plan', Louis just grinned widely,

"I've always just thought Dungeons were cool."

Henry angled his head as if to tell Louis to continue until he realized there was nothing more.

"Wait, that's it?" He asked.

Louis nodded with that smile on his face and a slightly crazed look in his eyes, as he answered,

"Yes."

Henry clenched his fists and his black eyes glowered as he inched closer to Louis as though to punch,

"You fucker—" Henry said and although he wanted to sound angry, he just sounded more amused that he had agreed to the plan of a stranger who apparently was just a crazy person without a plan.

"Whoa!" Louis recoiled from Henry as he held out his hands,

"Relax. I still want to get away from here. If I didn't, I wouldn't have approached you. And while I happen to also think it's cool, Dungeon raiding is as good a way to get away as any.

You asked me how I was going to make sure Doherty died and I told you I didn't know yet. Because I can't know. It could be by pushing him into a den of monsters to tear him apart or making sure he gets stung by a manticore or roasted by a dragon. I don't know because I have no idea what is in the Dungeon.

What I do know is, if Doherty dies there, his Command cuff is free for the taking and we can be free.

So now, I ask you, Henry, how much more details do you want?"

Henry glowered for about a second more before he unclenched his fist, took a step back, and placed his palm over his face as he let out a chuckle.

The plan sounded about the same as what he tried at the Mountain Path except now it would be with the horrors in the Dungeons rather than Bandits.

'The Dungeon horrors are certainly worse and this plan could kill me, but Fuck it! I'm getting this cuff off my wrist one way or the other.'

"So how did you get taken?" Louis suddenly asked.

"Hmm?" Henry said as he put down his hand to raise a brow at the wide-eyed curly-haired boy.

Louis let out a sigh before he started,

"Me, I was snatched from my Town. Well, 'snatched' is making it more violent than it was. Really, I was tricked.

Some assholes came over to my Town and told me there was work for me in Alvareen if I wanted. They said someone had use for my talents and all I had to do was put on a cuff and they could get me right on my way."

"And you put it on?" Henry asked, incredulous.

Louis shrugged,

"I was dumb. Once I realized what the cuffs were actually for, I tried ripping them off and got my brain zapped. Kept thinking of escape and kept getting zapped…"

At this point, Louis grinned with that crazy look returning to his eyes,

"What they didn't know, and still don't know, is I've been zapping myself for years. Accidentally, of course. With no one to teach me how to use my magic, I learned the one spell and kept zapping out lightning that somehow always came back at me.

It's why I've built up a tolerance so while this bunch (waves at those in the room) have been rendered sheep, I'm sharp enough to think. To plan."

"I'm not sure you are," Henry said quietly and Louis chuckled.

"So what about you?" He asked.

"I was in a fight. Fell unconscious and woke up in a cage," Henry said.

Louis nodded thoughtfully,

"Yes, yes. That story is very common. The cuffs snap right on when there's no resistance."

"Of course, the story is common," Henry said with a smile, "No one is foolish enough to snap one on their wrist themselves. No one except you, of course."

Louis laughed,

"You'd be surprised. I'm not the only one who was tricked."

Henry looked all over the room,

"Sad how they've all become," he mumbled.

"You'd be like that too if you were here for a few more weeks. It's why we have to get away now. Any more zaps to my brain and I think it'd turn to mush."

'It hasn't already?' Henry thought and enjoyed a private chuckle.

That evening, Henry endured the hard bed he had chosen with his eyes staring at the ugly ceiling. As he slumped off to sleep, with many others snoring close by, he failed to notice something bubble in the darkness that was his shadow.

•••

—Morning—

The first light of dawn was barely out when Doherty came to the encampment yelling the Dungeon Raiding Party awake.

As he and the others slugged out, Henry saw Ed push a covered cart over. He stopped it a few feet away from the encampment and pulled off the tarp to reveal a collection of weapons —Swords, Spears, staffs, and even bows with quivers of arrows— as well as leather armors stacked atop each other rather neatly.

"Select your preferred weapon and your armor and let's move out."

Everyone slumped off to the cart, picking out weapons to look at in the dimness of dawn.

Henry searched and it didn't take long for him to notice there was a weapon choice missing,

"Excuse me, Do— Captain Doherty," He caught himself and corrected before he received an intense glare.

"Yes, newbie?" Doherty answered with a raised brow.

"I don't see a gun here," Henry said.

Doherty looked almost shocked,

"A Gun?" He asked.

Henry nodded like he hadn't noticed the shock,

"Yes," he said,

"I'm gonna need a Gun."