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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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Rescue (1)
Yuma had no intention of staying at the count’s castle.
The entity occupying Count Rubelt’s body would likely try to monitor him and his companions somehow.
Even if they were to infiltrate, the chances of being detected would be significantly lower if they infiltrated from outside the castle.
“Murphy, Murphy. Help my brother. You said you knew where he was.”
“Shhh, you must speak quietly, miss.”
Yuma turned his head towards the source of the voices.
A young knight with brown hair was patting the shoulder of a blonde girl, Luine, whose eyes were filled with tears, comforting her.
He was a mid-level Sword Expert.
His limit was also mid-level.
He was a 30-year-old swordsman who had already reached his growth limit.
Yuma stared intently at Murphy and Luine.
It was evident that Luine trusted Murphy.
Yuma spoke to Hestia, who was standing next to him.
“Can you remember the scent of that knight and Luine? We’ll make contact with them separately later.”
Hestia nodded, her ears hidden under her robe twitching.
“Yes!”
As Yuma left the count’s castle, he recalled his conversation with Luine in the guest room a few minutes ago.
“Be outside the castle somehow at night. It would be good if you could bring along a knight or soldier you trust. Then I’ll come to get you. I’ll help you find your imprisoned brother.”
Luine whispered a location in response to Yuma’s words.
“…The bench across from the clock tower.”
It seemed that if Luine were to venture out at night as Yuma suggested, she would likely be accompanied by the knight named Murphy.
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Yuma, Cloney, and Hestia filled their stomachs at a restaurant near the inn and waited for the sun to set.
Even while eating, Hestia’s eyes darted around.
She seemed to be looking around, thinking that perhaps her missing sibling might be here.
“You said it wasn’t your real sibling, right?”
Cloney asked, fixing her golden eyes on Hestia.
Realizing that her sibling wasn’t in this restaurant, Hestia became a bit gloomy and nodded slowly while eating her pasta.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then how did you meet? With that sibling?”
“I met him in a nearby rural village called Garbel. His name is Haruk, an unusual name! I saved him when he was about to be killed by a bear. But he said he was a wanderer too. He said his entire village was burned down by bandits. He was so full of self-blame for being the only one who survived and escaped.”
It was a common story.
“So we traveled together. Both of us wanderers. We managed to enter Count Rubelt’s territory together. But on the third day, he suddenly disappeared. It was a pretty rundown inn. He told me to wait on the first floor, but…”
As she explained, Hestia hung her head low.
“If we had been together, I could have protected him.”
Yuma stared into Hestia’s green eyes.
“There’s no use in blaming yourself for something that’s already happened. When we meet the eldest son, Kaisen, who seems to know something about this situation, we might learn something.”
Hestia chuckled at Yuma’s indifferent consolation.
“That’s right, we’ll be able to find him.”
The meal gradually came to an end.
Yuma’s group got up.
They headed towards the bench across from the clock tower that Luine had whispered about.
Not only Hestia but also Yuma and Cloney were wearing robes.
“Sniff, sniff, I smell something. I think they’ve come.”
Hestia sniffed the air.
Yuma looked around.
He could understand why Luine had suggested meeting at the bench across from the clock tower.
A tree with very dense branches completely obscured the bench.
“You managed to sneak out of the castle safely. At this hour of the night.”
At Yuma’s words, the blonde girl sitting on the bench raised her head.
The girl’s small mouth opened.
“If you climb the mountain at the back, it takes a long time, but you can sneak out.”
Yuma stared intently at the girl, Luine, upon hearing those words.
Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead.
Her blonde hair also looked damp with sweat.
The brown-haired knight Murphy, standing next to her, stepped forward.
“You… why did you call for Lady Luine?”
“You must have heard too. The eldest son, Kaisen, is in prison. And it’s a special prison where visits aren’t allowed.”
“…I think there must have been some misunderstanding about that. However, it’s still the count’s orders.”
Yuma and Murphy’s gazes met.
“You must have felt something strange about the count’s behavior recently too.”
Murphy’s expression suddenly crumpled.
Yuma’s words were correct.
Originally, Count Rubelt’s body had been growing weak.
But suddenly, he seemed to have gained energy and became vigorous.
As if he had undergone rejuvenation.
And even though incidents of boys, girls, and young men and women occasionally disappearing from the count’s household were occurring, he didn’t issue any countermeasures and just ignored it.
Such behavior from the count couldn’t help but sprout one hypothesis in Murphy’s mind.
A question that didn’t make sense by common logic.
The assumption that the count might be involved in the series of disappearances occurring in his territory.
“The innocent eldest son Kaisen is imprisoned in a jail where visits aren’t allowed. That means he must know something precisely. Wouldn’t it be better to hear what the eldest son has to say?”
Yuma stared intently at Murphy.
“Guide us to the prison, you know the location, right?”
“…I’ve never been there myself, but I know the location from what I heard from my senior.”
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The prison was located in a building that stood to the right of a forest far away from the count’s castle.
A round, circular building prison.
From a distance, it looked like a huge black monument.
“It’s bigger than I thought.”
Cloney said.
Yuma and Hestia nodded vigorously at those words.
Yuma stared at Luine and Murphy.
“Has this prison always been here?”
Murphy responded to that question.
“No. It used to be an abandoned building. They probably started using it suddenly about 4 months ago. And 4 months ago is… when Count Rubelt started to change a bit.”
Murphy spoke with a hardened face.
He had finally faced the truth he had been avoiding while feeling a terrible sense of discomfort.
“…It’s also been 4 months since children and young people started disappearing from the count’s territory.”
Yuma opened his mouth again, looking at Murphy, who seemed to be filled with self-loathing for some reason.
“We’re going in. Slowly.”
The front of the prison was covered with messy undergrowth.
Yuma looked at Hestia.
If the feline race of
A race with an agile body and innate talent for stealth and concealment.
The cat people.
It seemed like now was the time to demonstrate her abilities as a member of this naturally gifted race.
“Find out how many guards there are, just count the number of personnel. Don’t get caught. Can you do it?”
Hestia grinned, showing her white teeth.
“Of course, what kind of race do you think I am?”
Hestia gently pushed her robe back.
It seemed to be hindering her role as a scout of the cat people.
Hestia’s feet, clad in leather shoes, moved.
No rustling sound spread. Silent.
But Hestia’s body was advancing at a rapid pace.
Yuma slowly raised his body.
Then he followed Hestia, who had gone ahead.
Reconnaissance is just reconnaissance.
He was thinking of rushing in unless there were an absurd number of guards, like close to 100.
‘And that’s not going to happen.’
An unidentified prison hidden in the outskirts.
Deploying that many personnel to such a place would rather decrease its security.
The biggest point was that the guard force of the Rubelt Count’s family wasn’t that high-level.
This was because Rubelt Count’s territory had very little chance of monsters appearing or foreign invasion.
‘Probably a small elite force.’
There was a high probability that a small number of elite personnel had been deployed.
Murphy, Luine, and Clone followed behind Yuma.
Swish…
‘Two at the entrance.’
Hestia hid behind the shadow of the prison’s iron wall.
Then she dug into the blind spots of the two sentries at the entrance and infiltrated inside.
Using shadows and cover to quickly sneak in.
And using the strength of her arms and hands and the elasticity of her body, she quickly and quietly climbed the wall.
Hestia’s green eyes were directed beyond the iron bars.
And inside, she could see boys and girls sitting helplessly with chains on their ankles.
Her eyes quickly scanned the children’s faces.
But she couldn’t see the face of her brother Haruk, whom she was looking for.
‘Haruk…!’
She wanted to circle this round prison and look at the faces of everyone trapped in these rooms, but there was no time for that now.
The quickest way was to completely neutralize the forces of this prison, then quickly check all the rooms.
Hestia, hiding her body in the shadows, identified all the visible forces.
There were about 18 visible patrolling soldiers.
A large man existed in front of the door on the east side.
Apart from that man, there were no special combat personnel visible.
Hestia quickly descended the prison using the shadows as her companion.
And just as quietly and quickly as when she went in, she returned to Yuma’s side.
Something suddenly rose from Yuma’s shadow.
It was Hestia, who had arrived at his side in an instant.
“How was it?”
“There’s only one notable presence. At what looks like the entrance on the east side. And… there are children locked up in the prison. They’re probably related to the disappearance cases. I think we should subdue the visible forces first and then investigate the prison further.”
Hestia paused for a moment, then looked at Luine.
“Ah, I couldn’t be sure whether the eldest son Kaisen was there or not.”
The knight Murphy, who was standing nearby, opened his mouth.
“The young master is probably imprisoned underground. They would have made sure he couldn’t escape easily no matter what variables arose.”
Yuma stared into Hestia’s green eyes, which had finished briefing.
Her eyes were trembling slightly. It seemed she hadn’t been able to find her close brother.
“Let’s go in.”
If there were only 18 troops, there was no need to infiltrate secretly.
Yuma headed east.
He was planning to subdue the strongest one holding the entrance first.
“Grrrrrr….”
It was an eerie sound that didn’t seem like it could come from a human mouth.
Red light shone in the eyes of the large man who seemed to be easily 3 meters tall.
Those eyes were fixed on Yuma, who was approaching with dignified steps.
“Don’t hesitate, take them down. That’s how we can safely rescue these people.”
Hestia and Cloney nodded vigorously at Yuma’s words.
“…What should I do?”
Murphy hadn’t yet grasped his weapon.
“Judge for yourself, knight of the count’s family.”
Yuma moved forward.
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