""Hold tight

Wait til the party's over

Hold tight

We're in for nasty weather!

There. Has. Got. To. Be. A. Way,

Burning down the house!""

"Oh great, now there's more of them singing! Is this place, an opera house now?"

Philip grumbles to himself as he leads Princess Ruri and her guard, Julius, down into the prison.

"W-well, at least they're in high spirits right?"

"...We should've never put that damned bard next to him."

"I really don't get how he could be singing in this position. I thought the palace's dungeons were meant to be a punishment. "

The three arrive in front of Kendrick's cell.

"Welp, here you are. Try not to claw out your ears after listening to him sing. Personally I'm gonna go do just that right now."

Kendrick glares at Philip while he walks off. He always was a sourpuss, and he was incapable of appreciating the arts. All in all, Philip was Kendrick's least favorite guard. The whole traitor business didn't help, but it was mostly because he didn't like his singing. Kendrick's new bard friend, Cyprien, on the other hand is pretty rad. Cyprien calls out to the guard,

"Yeah run away pussy!"

Philip ignores him and meanders off.

"Hehe, gottem!"

Kendrick gives Cyprien a thumbs up and then turns to the princess,

"So what are visiting for, your highness?"

"HIGHNESS?! H-how big of a crime-"

Julius glares at the bard quickly shutting him up. He gulps and gives Kendrick a worried look. Kendrick just shrugs, not particularly concerned.

"W-w-w-well-"

Julius pinches the bridge of their nose and sighs, interrupting the princess struggling to speak. The Griffith lookin' ass motherfucker says his master's words for her,

"you’ll be able to head back home for today. Although highly put under inspection, a variety of nobles insisted on leaving you out of custody. You'll be required to return to the catle in a week to meet his highness though."

Kendrick sighs. Seems like that bitch actually pulled it off.

"You DO realize my family is gonna tear me to shreds before that meeting right?"

""...""

"Yikes, bro..."

Julius avoids Kendrick's eyes and says,

"In all honesty, I believe that's what his highness wants. Either you die and he gets the casus belli to go all out on the Alastair family, or you'll survive and he'll get your testimony. No matter what happens, he wins."

Kendrick smirks, breaking the somber mood.

"What if I just refuse to leave my cell? What is the king going to do, arrest me for trespassing?"

"K-kendrick..."

Cyprien's eyes light back up,

"Yeah you tell them, Kendrick! Nobody can stop ya! ...eek!"

That little outburst got him another mean glare from Julius. Ruri just smiles wryly at the bard. Julius gives the two a questioning look,

"Why are both of you calling him Kendrick?"

"Because that's my name?"

"Ah- wha- know what? It doesn't matter. What matters is that if you stay here assassins will likely infiltrate the dungeons and kill you. We've already had to take down a few, but we believe that those were decoys that the conspirators wanted us to catch. There could be spies already watching you. You are not safe here!"

Kendrick raises his hands in surrender a smile still on his face,

"Fine, I get it. Its a good thing I prepared a contingency plan for something like this. Its a lot more risky, but it'll be a lot more fun."

In truth, Kendrick was sorta hoping something like this would've happened. He figured it very was incredibly unlikely, but still he had hoped and so he had it prepared. 

"P-plan? W-what are- O-oh yeah! S-spies..."

""...""

"Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get me out of this cell and into a carriage! Don't forget all of my belongings I brought along to the party."

Julius unlocks the cell and removes the chains on Kendrick. As he walks out, Kendrick looks over to Cyprien,

"How much is your bail?"

Cyprien's eyes go wide, tears threatening to spill out.

"Y-you'd really do that for me even though we've only known each other for a few days?!"

"Of course dude! You're my friend!"

His tears spill like water from a cracked dam,

"50 gold royals! You better come back alive to bail me out, Kendrick!"

"Don't worry, I will."

------

Kendrick rumages through the tool kit he brought along to the party and finds what he is looking for, a file.

"There we are! Let's get to work!"

He pulls out his room key and starts filing down the protruding metal bits. Julius, sitting across from Kendrick, gives him a disapproving look,

"Is that what I think it is?"

Ruri looks over to her guard,

"W-what is he making?"

"Oh just a skeleton key. Pretty easy to make and will open up pretty much any lock!"

"A-aren't those l-like incredibly illegal?"

"Very."

"Oh woe is me! Julius is gonna throw me back in jail, what every shall I do!"

"You do realize I can cut you down with my halberd at any point, right?"

"Julius!"

"Hoo violence is it? I'm sure killing me here and now would do wonders for the king's political situation! Hey! Hey! Look here's my neck! Go on now! Let's see how cleanly you can cut it, big man!"

"..."

Julius just grimaces. He can't touch the smug bastard. Not while the princess is here anyway. Kendrick's face grows a bit more serious,

"You know, maybe instead of making lock picks illegal, why don't you just, I don't know, make better locks?"

"You can't just expect lock innovation to pop up out of nowhere."

"Does innovation not pop up during dire circumstances? Everyone's house having an universal master key that anyone can easily make seems kinda dire."

"..."

"What ever, just keep fuming. Not like it changes anything."

------

Finally Kendrick steps out of the carriage in front of the Viscount's estate. The carriage speeds off into the opposite direction. Kendrick faintly hears a soft 'B-be safe' from Ruri. He gives them a warm smile and a wave before returning his attention to the gate. A familiar butler comes running up to Kendrick, clearly in a panic.

"HOLYSHITTHEYRETOTALLYGONNAMUTILATEUSMASTERWENEEDTOGETTHEFUCKOUTOFHEREANDFAST!"

"Yo Jredd relax. It's fine."

"NO IT IS NOT! I OVERHEARD THE VISCOUNT PLANNING TO TORTURE YOU AND ME THE MINUTE WE STEP INSIDE THE MANNER! WE NEED TO GO!"

"Jredd are you feeling brave?"

"Huh?"

"If you're not, then why don't we have a drink to calm your nerves? I have some bottles stached away in the woods over there. Good thing I brought a shovel to that party! Otherwise I would've needed to go inside the manner to get it."

Kendrick starts to walk towards the woods. Jredd hesitates for a moment, but after turning towards the wooden mansion quickly runs after his master. Maybe a stong drink would ease the pain of being disembowled.