Escape (1)
Escape (1)
Taking advantage of the chaos, we escaped the mansion, but we still weren't safe.
We couldn't rest easy until we were outside the mining city and its outer walls.
Joachim and I broke out of the mansion and ran through the upscale residential district. Our pursuers would be after us soon. There was no time to rest.
I asked Joachim as we ran. Only now did I finally have time to ask questions.
"A sudden arrest? What on earth is going on?"
Joachim, running alongside me, answered.
"They claim that the people who came from the Empire with me killed someone this time."
A multitude of expressions flickered across his face.
The people who came with him? Did he mean the imperial officials? But why would they suddenly commit murder?
"Murder? Who?"
"They said several people died. Supposedly, they self-destructed using an ability. But could such an ability even exist...? Besides, none of them possessed an ability like that."
I knew of such an ability—no, such an item.
I had one myself. I touched my chest, and my hand caught on the necklace.
'Could it be... this wasn't a misunderstanding?'
At any rate, if they had self-destructed, it had to be considered a terrorist bombing.
"You said it was murder."
"They said the whole scheme was staged to kill one person. The person they intended to kill was Lady Ivana. They said Lady Ivana died, and a mercenary survived to testify..."
Fortunately, perhaps because the Princess and the Grand Archduchess were together, they seemed to have disclosed the full situation.
Wait, if it was Ivana, she was the special ability user who had come to see me a while ago.
Indeed, the freshman who had granted an ability to the Marquis's son was named Ivana.
She had been murdered? Taken down by a self-destruction ability?
Even after hearing the reason, it made even less sense.
If they had tried to kidnap her because her ability was fascinating, that might have made sense.
As expected, running away seemed to have been the right decision.
If I had been caught like that, I would obviously have ended up locked in a dungeon without even knowing what had happened.
But something about this still seemed strange.
If those were the circumstances, neither the Princess nor the Grand Archduchess would have tried to intervene like that.
When I voiced my doubts, Joachim filled me in on what had happened.
"At first, they tried to drag me away by force. Only when Princess Aisha and the Grand Archduchess stood in their way were we able to get even a word of explanation out of them."
They hadn't kindly explained the situation because the Princess and the Grand Archduchess were present.
The two of them had forced the reason out of them.
In that case, it was only natural that the atmosphere had turned sour.
Hearing the details come out one by one, it was hard to believe. And judging by what followed, it seemed the Senior Knight had done it deliberately.
Should I have landed a blow on him with my sword after all?
But he wasn't a Senior Knight of the Royal Knights for nothing. He wasn't someone I could take down in a single strike.
If I had picked a fight with him, there was no way we would have escaped this easily.
I asked a few more questions as we ran, but that was all Joachim knew.
"By the way, will you be alright? Running away like this?"
"You saw it earlier, didn't you? The Royal Knights seized the opportunity to try to kill the Princess and the Grand Archduchess. If you're arrested, you'll be dead before you even stand trial."
Given the Kingdom's relations with the Empire, there was a high chance they would kill Joachim without even acknowledging his arrest.
Joachim agreed with me.
"Still, will you be alright, Young Lord? I only need to escape to the Empire, but this kingdom is your homeland, isn't it?"
Perhaps if he hadn't given up on his life, he wouldn't have been able to shoot that arrow back then.
Frankly, I didn't feel much attachment to this kingdom. Abandoning the country and going to another one would be no big deal.
But there was one thing I couldn't give up.
Even if I could abandon everything else, I could never abandon my mother at home.
"Come with me to the Empire. I'll guarantee your safety. With Young Lord Alex's skills, the Empire will surely welcome you with open arms."
For that reason, Joachim's offer didn't resonate with me.
I couldn't bring my mother to the Empire, so going alone was completely meaningless.
I shook my head at his offer.
"That's not something to worry about right now. We haven't even escaped this city yet. Besides, it's even more uncertain whether we can get out of the Kingdom."
Besides, as I fled alongside him, I was actually looking for a place to die.
Either way, it seemed it wouldn't be easy for Joachim to return to the Empire.
The first hurdle was getting out of this city.
The outer walls were high, so scaling them without being caught seemed difficult.
Breaking through the city gates was an option, but a pursuit party would undoubtedly be right on our heels.
If a pursuit party latched onto us, we wouldn't gain any information. I would end this life doing nothing but running away.
That couldn't happen. I kept searching for a way as I ran.
Just then, someone blocked our path as we ran down an alley.
"Stop!"
It was a haggard man wearing leather armor.
A mercenary?
While I was thinking that, Joachim swung his sword.
"Aaargh!"
Startled, I swung my sword as well.
Clang!
I barely managed to block it.
If I hadn't, the mercenary would definitely have been split in half.
"Wait a minute. I don't think he's an enemy."
With the blade right in front of his nose, the mercenary collapsed to the ground.
"Ugh... I almost died."
"Who are you?"
At my question, he snapped out of it and spoke to Joachim.
"Paula sent me. I ran as hard as I could, but I was a bit too late."
At the mention of Paula, Joachim brightened. But his expression hardened again at the mercenary's next words.
"Don't tell me she knew in advance and sent you?"
If she had sent someone knowing this would happen, then what he'd heard must be true.
At his words, the mercenary glanced at me.
"You can speak. He cut down the Royal Knights to save me. He's my companion."
Just as Joachim had said, right now the mercenary was indeed a companion.
Whether persuaded by Joachim's words or not, the mercenary answered quickly.
"She gave me a letter. I didn't know something like this would happen either. But I was told that in the worst-case scenario, I should help you head to the Empire instead of returning to the capital."
So this was the worst-case scenario?
More than that, though, I was curious about what was written in the letter.
"First, I'll guide you."
The mercenary immediately stood and led the way.
"There's a secret back route known only to mercenaries. It costs a bit of money, but you can leave the city without being caught."
Having found no other route, we followed him.
The mercenary didn't head toward the southern city gate. Instead, he made for the mountain surrounding one side of the city.
"Can we really escape by way of the mountain?"
At Joachim's question, I looked up at the mountain looming steeply beyond the buildings.
It was a rugged, rocky mountain, its crags thrusting straight up.
I could instantly see why they hadn't built a city wall on that side.
No matter how I looked at it, escaping over that rocky mountain seemed far more difficult than slipping past the city walls.
The mercenary shook his head at Joachim's question.
"There's a way to get out without crossing the mountain."
His confident tone left us no choice but to follow him.
Leaving the upscale residential district behind, the mercenary led us toward the mining area abutting the mountain.
The mining area was surprisingly desolate. I had heard they were still mining there, but had they already excavated everything?
"They're still mining deep inside the mountain. But because this spot is so close to the city, digging into the remaining ore veins would be dangerous, so it's been left abandoned like this."
The mercenary guiding us knew surprisingly much about the place.
I was curious about our guide, too, but now wasn't the time to question him.
Two soldiers stood guard in front of an abandoned mine shaft.
It seemed their job was to keep unauthorized people from trespassing.
The mercenary approached the soldiers.
I felt we shouldn't let the soldiers see us, but since the mercenary walked up so confidently, I decided to watch first.
"What brings you all the way out here?"
At the soldier's question, the mercenary pointed at us.
"What else would a mercenary be doing? Escort duty."
Looking at us, the soldiers chuckled softly.
"Things were pretty noisy near the mansion a moment ago. Sounds less like escort duty and more like smuggling human cargo."
"This or that, it's all the same."
"Alright, alright. As long as you pay up, it's all good with us."
"Just keep it secret."
"Don't worry. We've guarded this money-maker for decades. There's no way we'd ruin it."
The mercenary and the soldiers acted like old friends of ten years.
As they talked, the mercenary handed a pouch to one of the soldiers.
The soldier peeked inside and nodded.
"You know the way, right?"
"It's only been a few years. How could I have forgotten already?"
"Alright, see you around."
"Better if we don't."
"Fair point."
Waving to the soldier, the mercenary stepped into the mine shaft.
We followed him inside.
Once we were in the cave, he lit a torch lying near the entrance to illuminate the surroundings.
For nobles who could use mana, darkness like this posed no problem. But for him, who couldn't use mana, a torch was essential.
The mercenary kept walking.
Even when forks in the road appeared, he kept moving without stopping. And places that looked like dead ends revealed paths as he went.
After walking like that for quite a while, the mercenary plunked down onto the ground.
"Phew. Let's rest a bit. You two might be fine, but I really need a break."
Indeed, for a normal person without mana, it was about time his stamina ran out.
When he said that, we sat down as well.
The mercenary pulled a letter from his chest pocket and handed it to Joachim.
"It's late, but here's the letter Lady Paula gave me."
Joachim took the letter and read it.
In the flickering torchlight inside the abandoned mine shaft, his expression grew steadily darker as he read.
"It seems I deserved to be arrested."
After reading the letter, Joachim let out a heavy sigh.
"Was the Royal Knights' story true?"
When I said that, Joachim nodded gloomily.
"The letter only says they intended to kidnap Lady Ivana. They didn't mean to kill anyone, but it seems true that the officials who came with me tried to kidnap Lady Ivana."
If that was true, then it was highly likely the rest was true as well.
"I've never heard of an ability that makes people explode, and I don't know why things escalated into people being killed, but the Royal Knights weren't mistaken."
Having reached his own conclusion, Joachim immediately bowed his head to me.
"I'm deeply sorry. Young Lord Alex suffered because of me."
I hadn't become a fugitive like this because of him. It was because I had tried to save the Princess.
Admittedly, if you dug down to the root cause, Joachim shared some responsibility. But from what he said, he hardly knew anything.
"Others might not believe it, but I really did come to the Kingdom as an exchange student. Everyone else was a member of the Organization."
"An organization?"
At my question, the mercenary cleared his throat.
It seemed the mercenary was also affiliated with this so-called organization.
"Strictly speaking, I'm not entirely unrelated either. My older brother is a member of that organization..."
When Joachim said that, a certain person came to mind—someone whose face resembled Joachim's.
I couldn't help asking him:
"Your brother's name is..."
Unlike before, he revealed his brother's name to me.
"It's Bernard."
His face wasn't identical to Joachim's, but it was similar.
"Bernard... Is his nickname Vid, then?"
"It's not a nickname, but he seems to use that name a lot when traveling around outside."
There was a reason their faces resembled each other.
Joachim was the younger brother of Vid, whom I had killed.