Escape from the Mansion
We stepped out into a corridor steeped in the antique grandeur of a count’s estate that had stood for generations, and moved at a quick clip.
As if no one had ever imagined trouble starting from inside, nothing blocked our path for quite some time.
For me, who wanted to slip out as quietly as possible without a single clash, it was a thoroughly satisfying situation—but the thoughts of Hana at the lead seemed a little different.
“It’s way too quiet. Shouldn’t something come out already? Tch. Why’s this organization so sloppy?”
She muttered in a tone that said she was bored without a fight, smacking her lips, and I answered her.
“This is better if we want to get out quietly.”
“Huh? We’re leaving? Not wiping out the organization in this mansion?”
I explained the plan that had been sitting in my head to Hana, who looked completely bewildered at the idea of going outside.
“Yeah. First we need to rescue Count Hamel. Taking the rescued count to the security chief and bringing troops back to suppress this place seems like the safest way to finish the job.”
“Hmm… Well, if that’s your call… Fine. Then we head down. By the way, do you even know where Count Hamel is?”
After hearing the plan she tilted her head, furrowed her brow, then nodded and asked. Looking at her, I recalled the man who had been suddenly dragged out of the prison—the one whose status window I had wanted to check again but never got the chance.
He was definitely a ‘Lord’… And a lord locked up there at a time like this would almost certainly be Count Hamel.
I nodded, nearly certain that the man whose job I only remembered from a fleeting glance was Count Hamel.
“Yeah. Probably. He should be there.”
“Well, good enough. Then we go down. Let’s move.”
With our destination set, we followed Hana as she took the lead and stepped into the first-floor lobby—when we ran straight into Hans, the same man who had kicked me in the stomach back in the prison.
“Huh? What the hell are you? How’d you get out? And why is that bitch standi—?!”
Hans, who looked like he had simply been on his way somewhere—probably the basement—rather than on any kind of patrol, took Hana’s fist in the gut the instant it flew and collapsed without finishing his sentence.
“Hmm. Would’ve been fine if I’d hit him a little harder.”
I muttered, unconsciously rubbing the stomach that had been kicked, and spoke to Hana, who was already rummaging through Hans’s belongings as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Stop looting and let’s go. Before anyone else shows up.”
“Just a sec. Corpse looting is basic, right?”
“Uh… Did you kill him?”
I asked with a dumbfounded look, having assumed she had only knocked him out hard. Hana, who had thoroughly emptied even his inner pockets, held out a few coins and said,
“Probably? Even if he’s still breathing, he’ll be dead soon. His guts are pretty much pulp.”
One punch and a person is… By the way… No real feeling at all… Hmm… This is…
Looking at Hans—whom I had wanted revenge on but not necessarily dead—I newly realized just how thoroughly Kylie had rewritten my mind. A strange sense of disconnect and unease settled over me at the sight of my own indifferent self even as a man died—or was dying—right in front of me. I took the coins anyway.
Hana, who had handed them over and watched me for a moment, spoke.
“What. First time seeing someone die? Looking at your reaction, the mental protection seems to be working fine… Are you fretting over whether you’re still yourself?”
Ah.
Only after hearing those words did I understand the source of that nameless disconnect and unease. I stared at Hana with surprised eyes—she had read emotions I myself hadn’t fully grasped.
Receiving my gaze, she shrugged and started walking as she continued.
“Well, don’t worry about it. Mental protection doesn’t turn you into a complete psychopath with zero feeling. The reason you felt nothing looking at the guy who just died is because your mind clearly registered him as an enemy. The death of someone you actually had a connection with will hurt plenty… No. Maybe even more.”
With a voice tinged with a strange sadness, Hana explained mental protection to me as I followed behind, then stopped in front of the massive front doors and smiled.
“Shall we head out now?”
When I gave a small nod, Hana opened the doors, and a garden swallowed by darkness spread out before us.
Keeping our bodies hidden behind the well-tended trees, we crossed the long, wide garden. Around the time we drew near the huge main gate, the mansion side grew noisy—someone must have found Hans’s body.
It bothered me that the ones guarding the main gate, rear gate, and watchtowers were ordinary security soldiers with no connection to Raven. I grabbed Hana just as she was about to rush a yawning guard and asked,
“Can you just knock him out without killing him?”
“Well… I’ll try.”
Answering me, Hana charged the guard at once.
In the blink of an eye she was behind him, clamping a hand over his mouth and crushing his throat.
“Ugh!?”
Subdued before he even understood what was happening, the guard flailed while pressed against Hana’s full breasts—her white shirt pulled tight—then went limp.
Those are mine…
I shot a brief glare at the guard who had felt the softness even I, the master, had not yet tasted, then opened the main gate. Selena, still openly admiring Hana’s skill, and Hana herself—who had already looted the guard’s belongings—stepped outside.
“Too light… Well, can’t be helped.”
She handed over the coin pouch from the guard’s waist, swung the sword she had also taken a few times, and muttered before asking,
“So what now? Going to rescue the count?”
“Yeah. He’s probably in the prison, so let’s head there.”
“Where is that prison?”
“Uh…”
Only after hearing Hana’s question did I realize we knew next to nothing about the geography of Hamel. I blankly looked around.
“Ha… Should we just go back in and deal with the organization first?”
I knew Hana and Selena’s abilities were outstanding, but I had also heard they would be tightening security. Wanting the safest route possible, I bit my lip and thought hard.
What do I do… We could probably handle it, but if anyone gets hurt even by chance… Isn’t there some way to find the prison’s location…
“Ummm…”
While I was still hunting for a method, the unconscious guard’s breathing made me frown.
Ah. Damn guard. If you’re going to stay unconscious, at least stay quiet… Wait. Guard?!
Realizing I had a regular soldier who would know the locations of every major facility in the city lying right next to me, I pointed at the sprawled figure and said,
“Him. Grab him.”
“If you were going to do that, you should’ve just told me to subdue him.”
Hana grumbled lightly and came out carrying the limp guard over her shoulder.
The moment she cleared the gate I shut it, then moved while hugging the shadows cast by the high walls, searching for a place to interrogate him.
“There. Let’s go there.”
The instant we slipped into a secluded alley a short distance from the mansion, a sharp whistle cut through the night sky.
“Uh… We need to do this fast. First, wake him up.”
Sensing that the sound was not a good omen, I spoke, and Selena dumped a stream of magically created water over the guard’s face.
-Splash!
“Hup!”
The guard bolted upright, water streaming off him, and looked around wildly.
“Where is this… I was definitely leaning on something soft…”
I had no time to wait for the man who had just woken to finish reminiscing about the softness I myself had never touched. I asked hurriedly,
“Where is the prison?”
“Eh? Prison? Uh, that is…”
Still half-lost in the memory of that sensation and wearing a hazy expression, the guard told us the prison’s location without a shred of suspicion.
Armed with the information, we knocked him out again and left the alley.
“But is he really there?”
“Almost certain.”
Answering Hana, who still seemed short on faith in her master, we ran through the night streets until we reached a stone building that rose near the castle walls.
“If I’d known this was the prison, I wouldn’t have needed to ask.”
I muttered while staring at the structure that had been visible even from the mansion—something I had simply assumed was part of the wall fortifications—then pointed at the two guards dozing against the wall and asked,
“They’re sleeping, but better to knock them out, right?”
“Knock them out… Can we? No matter how fast we are, it takes a second, and the other one will hear the noise and wake up. Plus there’s another guard up there.”
Following Hana’s skeptical fingertip, I saw one more guard circling the narrow rooftop, scanning the surroundings.
“Then…”
“What then. Either kill them fast and go in, or go in hoping they don’t wake. Of course, high chance they wake and we get chased.”
I still didn’t want to kill innocent guards. If we just got Count Hamel out, every misunderstanding would clear up. I said,
“Let’s go quietly. If we’re spotted, Selena can bind just their feet with magic. Or make an ice path, or throw up an ice wall to block the way—something like that.”
“Understood, Master.”
After Selena’s answer, a short wait. The moment the rooftop guard turned, we began carefully moving toward the prison entrance.
Don’t wake. Don’t wake. Don’t wake.
I chanted the words inwardly and stepped as carefully as I could, but unlike Hana with her overwhelming agility or Selena whose agility rating was quite solid, my FFF-rank steps slapped the ground with every stride. The noise was more than enough to wake the dozing guards.
The only good news was that we were already right at the door, and the half-asleep guards’ reaction was sluggish.
“Huh? In—intruders! Intruders!!!”
While the guard hesitated, still doubting what he had seen, we slipped inside and hurried down the stairs to the basement.
“What the hell is this ice wall?!”
Leaving the flustered shouts of the guards behind the suddenly risen ice wall, I entered the underground prison and began scanning the status windows of the inmates, searching for the ‘Lord’.
Bandit, Pirate, Unemployed, Mercenary, Merchant, Farmer, Inquisitor, Fisherman, Hostess, Thief, Assassin, Sex Maniac…
Huh?
Gone. The Lord and the knight I had clearly seen before were nowhere to be found.