Episode 503
After the non-gong peddler began to unfold, the empire’s time, which had been at a standstill, began to pass quickly.
“Serena, good morning.”
“Are you already at work?”
“The documents to be paid today are…”
The person who created such a feeling in the stagnant empire was none other than Serena.
“…Hmm.”
She, who has recently had more days without sleep than days with sleep, enters her office with coffee in her hand.
“Please take it easy.”
“Then you get sick.”
Several people said that with worried expressions when they saw her with a half-asleep expression, picking up a stamp and a pen as soon as she sat down.
“…it’s okay.”
She shook her head and then spoke in a stern voice.
“There are only five agenda items that need to be passed today. We can’t do things hastily at a time like this.”
“Ugh…”
“Accept it. Reform requires some sacrifice.”
As the saying goes, the cost of pushing forward with the imperial reform that everyone had longed for was quite high.
“…If it weren’t for Serena, we would all dry up and die.”
“That’s right. How many days have it been since I haven’t slept?”
“If anything goes wrong with that person, it’s all over for us…”
If it were not for Serena’s transcendent administrative power, which is at the center of reform, and the warriors who stand behind her, this level of progress would probably have been impossible.
“Then, that report… wouldn’t it be better to hide it too?”
“Okay, let’s figure it out on our own…”
The members of the reform department, who were well aware of this, decided to hide the newly arrived report this morning, which was likely to cause severe irritation in a negative way to Serena.
“…What is that report?”
“”…………!!!””
I had overlooked that Serena’s ears were very bright.
“Three, Serena. This is…”
“Hmm, let’s see.”
As Serena appeared behind them in the blink of an eye, snatched the report from their hands, and returned to her seat, more and more people began to look at her with restless expressions.
“…Ugh.”
Eventually, the low but clear sound of teeth grinding echoed through the office, and the atmosphere became solemn.
“Really… I’m so shameless that I’m speechless.”
In that atmosphere, Serena quietly stands up and mutters with an expression as cold as ice.
– A hostage crisis occurs in the imperial prison, and the instigator is Icy Winter Cloud. There is currently no contact with headquarters.
“…I’ll just die quietly.”
In her eyes, the contents of the letter that had just arrived were quietly reflected.
– The man taken hostage is believed to be Frey Raon Starlight.
.
“…Hmm.”
When I came to my senses, I felt the fishy taste of blood in my mouth.
‘Is my life still alive?’
This is truly amazing.
Icy Winter Cloud, princess of the Cloud Kingdom and commander-in-chief of the war.
I can’t believe the empire is still putting my life on the line.
If it were me, I would have cut off his head the day I was caught to get rid of the regret.
– Clang…!
With that in mind, I tried to get up, but the chains that were binding me caught me without fail.
“……”
I sighed and quietly opened my eyes, only to find a dark basement with not a single ray of light entering my field of vision, and a solid iron cage.
How much time has passed since I was imprisoned here?
“…What, are you awake?”
At a time when I could clearly feel that even the vague sense of time that remained was gradually disappearing, the guard who came in front of me noticed me opening his eyes and started talking.
“I have something to announce.”
“…notification?”
As I was making a puzzled look at the atmosphere that was somehow different from usual, the guard opened the cage door and placed the meal in front of me with a sneer on his face.
“Your sentence has been confirmed. It will probably be carried out tomorrow morning.”
Ah, it has finally come.
This was the first thought that came to mind when I heard the guard’s words.
“Whether it is hanging or beheading is being discussed, but it will be a public execution. Everyone in the neighborhood will clearly see your death.”
“To say something like that to a death row inmate who is about to die, the Empire is barbaric after all.”
I tried to calm my racing heart and shoot it with a cold smile, but the guard’s attitude didn’t change at all.
“Think of it as a personal punishment given to war criminals of the Empire.”
While saying that, the guard approached me and immediately took out a key from his pocket and unshackled my right hand.
“What… are you doing?”
“It’s a custom. Any prisoner’s hands are shackled at least when they eat their last meal.”
For a moment, I thought about stabbing the guard with the knife provided as a cutlery, but when I looked again, there were no such things as cutlery.
“Of course, cutlery will not be provided as usual.”
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As I was looking down at my poor meal, the guard who lightly tapped me on the shoulder quietly stood up and walked away.
“There are quite a few people whose lives are stigmatized by their unsightly appearance, but… it’s not me. Call me when you’re done.”
“…………”
“You better eat it as long as possible, right? It’s the last meal of your life.”
As soon as the guard disappeared, I tried to twist my body as hard as I could, but the chains tied to my remaining arms and legs were tightening me.
– Shaaa…
I tried to force mana into my free right hand, but I soon lowered my head helplessly.
“…It’s really the end.”
Thanks to the suppressor that the Empire placed on my body, I was unable to gather enough mana to successfully use attack magic.
The only thing you can try is a curse.
If you only memorize the magic circle, it is a curse that you can successfully attack a person just by touching his/her hand to a vital area, such as the heart.
However, there is no way that thoroughly trained guards would allow access.
That guy who was acting out just now immediately distanced himself from me after the restraints on his hands were removed.
“…Tsk.”
Yes.
The end really has to come for me.
Honestly, I thought this moment would come someday.
That the empire will not leave me alone as a defeated enemy, and that they will hold me responsible for the war and give me the most miserable end possible.
It was all expected.
– Parr…
But why is my body shaking so much?
Why is my skin so pale and why is my mind so white?
The fear must have been buried deep in my heart since that day.
In the end, was I just a forever defeated coward?
“Hey… you’re in trouble if you do this.”
“Can’t you let go of this?”
As I was sinking into those thoughts with my head down, it was at that moment that an unexpected opportunity presented itself.
“In the first place, there is no way you could do this here…”
“Now, even the guards are climbing on me.”
“…Ugh.”
A man stopped in front of the iron bars and was screaming while holding onto the collar of a new guard who looked foolish.
“You still have the right to choose the slave you want to use while staying at home.”
“Yeah, but…”
“I liked that woman. If someone as big as me is to be a slave for the rest of her life, she should be like a princess of a country.”
“Well, that woman is scheduled to be executed tomorrow! No matter how much you do, you can’t just take her away…”
“Move.”
“Big!”
The moment when the noble boy who spoke with an arrogant expression pushed the guard who was trying to stop him down and crawled through the door of the iron cage.
“Hey, you.”
“………….”
Without even having time to think, I started collecting mana in my right hand again.
“Please consider it an honor. It is not often that you, a mere princess, have the opportunity to become our family’s slave…”
“Go, don’t get close!!!”
Eventually, he came in front of me in an instant, and the guard ran in to stop him with a shocked expression on his face.
– It’s so hard…!!!
“no!!”
It was already too late.
“Huh…!”
“ah…..”
I gathered all the strength left in my body and grabbed his heart.
“If you don’t want to die, just do as I tell you from now on.”
I whispered in a cold voice into his trembling ear.
“First, take the lead and leave this room.”
“…under.”
“Smile?”
If only I had noticed the smile he made back then a little sooner.
That would have been really nice.
.
“Damn, do I really have to just watch like this…?”
“…If we step forward now and Frey’s safety is harmed, the problem will become complicated.”
The jailbreak went unexpectedly smoothly.
“But isn’t that Frey! You know the trial from a few months ago!”
“Of course I know. No matter what, his final sentence was ‘home confinement,’ his title was still that of a duke, and it was none other than the emperor who guaranteed him the right to choose his slaves.”
“Uh, um…”
This was because the boy I took hostage was unexpectedly of very high status.
“So… what do we do now?”
“First, we have no choice but to report this incident to superiors and wait for follow-up orders. That guy can’t leave this place anyway.”
“One way or another, it is certain that it will break.”
“Ha, why on earth did that guy come to our prison…”
Fray Raon Starlight.
It was a name I had also heard of before.
As the head of an enemy country, it was impossible not to know that he was the number one contributor to destroying the empire from within.
“Save me! Someone save me!!”
“…Noisy.”
“Huh…!”
So, until I broke through the siege with him at the forefront and even got over the wall covered in magic circles, to me he was just a fool worth using.
“B-but…!”
“I told you to shut up…”
“…If you go that way, you won’t be able to escape.”
Was that why?
“…what?”
“You don’t know much about the structure here, do you?”
As soon as he escaped the encirclement, his expression changed in an instant. When he said that to me, it was inevitable that goosebumps appeared all over his body.
“What are you?”
“Wow.”
“What are you saying?”
I was quite taken aback by the sudden change in attitude, so I squeezed out the remaining mana and violently twisted the small ice dagger that had been driven into his heart.
“Tell me, what are you…”
“…Just calm down first.”
However, his face turned slightly pale, and with an indifferent expression, he grabbed my shoulder and whispered.
“Doesn’t something seem strange?”
“Well, what…”
“The head of the enemy country escaped, but everyone’s reaction was too relaxed, wasn’t it?”
Contrary to his sudden change in attitude, the situation was sufficiently suspicious, so I unconsciously nodded, and with a quiet smile, he took out an old map from his pocket.
“This…”
“Now do you understand why?”
What was drawn on the map he took out was a huge island.
“No way, where is this prison…?”
“Yes, this island.”
Even if you board a ship with navigation magic, you have to sail for ten days from the nearest land.
A remote island isolated at such a distance was where I was now located.
“You weren’t imprisoned, you were trapped on this island.”
“…….”
“Probably tomorrow, the great wizards who have been teleporting in large numbers will overpower you and drag you to the execution table.”
There was no hint of lies in his words.
In the end, I was played by the empire until the very end.
“Ugh…”
“I’m sorry… it hurts so much…”
“Everyone, shut up.”
Due to the anger creeping up, Frey unknowingly gave strength to the dagger and stumbled with a tired expression on his face.
“You, you… are my hostage now. So…”
“Yes, I am your hostage now.”
Then, upon hearing what I said, he smiled softly and took a step forward.
– Squeak…
“Uh, huh?”
“…So, come to your senses and hold on tight.”
Forward to me, step by step.
– Grumble…
“Well, Munde…”
The dagger that had been driven into his heart sinks even deeper, and my hand, which was holding the handle like a string, is pushed into his flesh.
“haha…”
“What are you…”
“Come to your senses and fuck me harder.”
When I looked embarrassed at that, Frey, who was bleeding from the corner of his mouth, looked at me with a bloodshot face and said.
“That way, those soldiers won’t be able to step forward without permission.”
As I was looking at him with a puzzled expression that I couldn’t understand, Frey continued speaking with a weak smile on his face.
“Now, bravado is reaching its limit, isn’t it?”
“Huh, don’t talk nonsense…”
I denied it without realizing it, but what he said was true.
I broke through the siege by launching the ice block as splendidly as possible, but I didn’t have any strength left to move it forward.
– Parr…
In fact, right now, I didn’t even have the strength left to hold on to the dagger that was stuck near the heart of this unknown hostage.
“Well, that aside… shall we take a break?”
“…….?”
“Over there in the forest.”
As I was on the verge of missing the dagger several times due to my hands becoming numb, his unexpected proposal came to me.
“Maybe it’s because I got stabbed by your dagger, but my chest is so cold that I want to rest for a while…”
“………….”
While I was blankly listening to that absurd suggestion, I suddenly realized two things.
“Uh, I’m sorry… I only have an ice dagger? Can’t I just stab you with a knife…”
For some reason, the curse placed on his heart began to spread unexpectedly quickly and severely.
and.
‘…no way?’
The sight of him walking ahead of me with my heart pierced was somehow starting to look familiar.
fantasy,
