Arc 4 Chapter 41 : Escape

[Raul POV]

Thanks to the blindness in my left eye, I have to adapt to my reduced field of vision. It would be difficult if I had to encounter someone as powerful as Siena during my escape.

Right now, I'm sneaking through the underground area where I was previously imprisoned.

People are coming and going, some pushing carts filled with food supplies while others transport piles of weapons. It seems they've turned this place into a temporary warehouse during the war.

When I spot one of the workers pushing a cart by himself, I follow him using the Featherstep technique to silence my footsteps.

"Hah... Because of this war, I can't even see my family in the capital," the man pushing the cart complains. "Judging by the progress of the war, there are still no signs that either side will be defeated anytime soon."

"I sympathize with your misfortune, Officer."

Hearing my voice, the man suddenly turns around, startled to find me standing behind him.

"Wh-who are yo—"

—Bammm!!

I punch him unconscious before he can finish his sentence.

I then drag him into a container, strip off all of his clothes, and take his hat to use as a disguise.

After that, I place my palm against the man's forehead and utter a spell.

"Neutralize..."

This ability is the second stage of the Profound Codex Phantom Thief that I obtained from The Masquerade. It allows me to erase someone's short-term memories, but only for a period of one or two minute.

Once I'm finished, I put the items from the cart into the container and close it again.

I then push the cart toward the exit of the underground facility with one hand.

Despite the many people who see me, not a single one suspects anything. Hopefully, the guards stationed at the entrance will also be careless enough not to pay attention when they see me leave later.

"Has the Alliance army already departed?"

"They began moving toward Ebro Village, the western part of the Tuscan Forest, and Bitola Village this morning."

"I hope we can achieve another victory like last time."

I overhear the conversation between the officers in this underground facility.

"So, that means another battle will be starting soon, huh?" I mutter.

Not long afterward, I reach the guard post at the entrance to the underground facility.

I try to act as naturally as possible. Several of the guards have been watching me for a while now.

"Hey, you."

One of them calls out to me, making me stop.

Two of the guards then approach me, each holding a drink in their hands.

"Why are you wearing your hat tilted like that?" one of the guards asks.

"A few days ago, I was involved in an incident..." I try to come up with an excuse on the spot. "I don't want anyone to see this... You know what I mean?"

I then remove my hat and show them my face.

"Why is your face so badly bruised?"

"Your eye also looks like something pierced it. Was it a workplace accident?"

The two of them question me about my injuries. Of course, I answer them as naturally as possible.

"With injuries like those, I think you'd better get some rest," one of the guards says.

"If I'm not mistaken, there's a Priest treating the war casualties in the city square."

After thanking them, I walk out of the place.

Phew... I guess I got pretty lucky back there.

After putting the cart where it belongs, I make my way through the city streets, searching for a way out. The city is still heavily populated despite the war nearly reaching this place.

Some children can even be seen happily playing, completely unaware that disaster is looming right before them.

After walking for several minutes, I arrive at an open-air market. The streets are packed with merchants displaying their wares.

I then remove the warehouse worker's clothes and throw them into a trash bin.

"Come and buy! New clothes from the Kingdom of Weimar!"

"Cheap scarves! Cheap scarves! Only 20 Silver!"

I look around. When the merchants aren't paying attention, I begin secretly taking their belongings.

A tie, a top hat, a coat, a scarf, tobacco, a smoking pipe, a wig, a magic wand, and an eyepatch—I take them all to disguise my identity so I won't be easily recognized.

—brak!

"Hey, watch where you're going, freak!"

I bump into someone, and he immediately becomes irritated and scolds me.

After he leaves, I open my right fist. Several Silver coins are visible in my palm, obtained by pickpocketing the man I just bumped into.

I then leave the market and hail a horse-drawn carriage.

"How can I help you, sir?" the coachman asks me.

"Could you take me outside the city?" I say to him while handing him one of the Silver coins I stole earlier.

"Get in. I'll get you there quickly."

After climbing aboard and sitting beside the coachman, he snaps the reins, causing the two horses in front to pull the carriage forward.

—Ting! Ting! Ting!

Suddenly, I hear the sound of bells ringing. I also see numerous soldiers running back and forth along the city streets.

"Attention! A prisoner has escaped!"

"Everyone! Secure every exit from the city!"

"Hurry and find the man matching the description!"

Seeing the City Guards frantically searching everywhere, I take out a smoking pipe and fill it with tobacco.

"Sir, do you have a lighter?" I ask the coachman.

Hearing my request, he reaches into his pocket and hands me a gas lighter.

"Thank you."

After lighting the tobacco, I begin smoking and enjoy the journey through the city.

—Bah!

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

I cough after taking a puff. At first, I wanted to disguise my breath with the smell of tobacco, but I'm not accustomed to smoking.

"A prisoner escaped? Did the Imperial soldiers we captured some time ago rebel in their prison cell?" the coachman says.

"Perhaps," I reply. "But they shouldn't do something as pointless as this. Their resistance would only give our soldiers an excuse to kill or torture them."

I didn't expect them to realize that I had escaped this quickly. The guard shift shouldn't change for another two hours. However, it seems someone else visited the place where I was being held earlier.

Not long afterward, I can see a checkpoint guarding the road leading out of the Inner City. A dozen or so soldiers are stationed there.

"Hold! Stop right there!"

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One of them orders the coachman to stop.

Two of the guards then approach the carriage, apparently intending to ask us a few questions.

"Where are you going?" one of the soldiers asks me.

"Oh, I'm heading home after a date with my lover, sir," I answer.

"Get down first," another guard orders me.

I have no choice but to comply. I get down from the carriage and approach the two of them.

One guard examines me while the other begins reading aloud from a piece of paper in his hand.

"Injured eye, black hair, and a face covered in wounds," the guard mutters.

His partner then examines my face up close, making me rather nervous.

"Hey, what's wrong with your eye and face?" the guard asks me.

I glance around. The man reading the paper then signals for the other guards to come over. It seems it will only be a matter of time before they discover my true identity.

"Work-related incident," I answer.

"Oh, and what exactly do you do for a living, Mr..."

"Houdini!" I give him a made-up name. "I'm a magician!" I declare.

They look confused by the word magician.

It's understandable. In a world filled with magic, a magician wouldn't exactly be able to become popular.

"Then what did a magician like you do to end up with injuries to your face and eye?" they ask, growing even more suspicious.

If I weren't wearing this wig, my disguise would probably be exposed immediately.

In response to the two guards' questions, I remove the hat I'm wearing and hand it to them.

"Could you hold my hat for a moment? I'll show you how my face and eye ended up injured."

One of the guards takes my hat. Next, I extend my right hand forward and clench it into a fist.

"Place the hat over my fist and watch," I instruct him.

They nod and do as I say, clearly curious.

"Simsalabim! Abracadabra!" I chant like a magician from my original world. "Now open the hat and take a closer look!"

The two guards lean closer before opening the hat covering my wrist.

"..."

"..."

They look shocked when they discover that my clenched fist has suddenly produced a middle finger right in front of their faces.

—Baamm!!!

Taking advantage of their momentary distraction, I punch both guards, delivering an uppercut to each of them and sending them flying backward.

I then rush back to the carriage, shove the coachman off, and seize the reins.

"Damn it! Attack him!"

"Report to headquarters! We've found the escaped prisoner!"

I immediately whip the reins and hurry away from the checkpoint. Several guards begin mounting their horses and pursuing me from behind.

I've just left the Inner City and am now in the Outer City.

If I remember correctly, the distance from the Outer City to the area outside the city is only three kilometers. That means I only need about three to five minutes to escape the guards chasing me.

"Stop, bastard!"

"We won't let you get away!"

Two men have already begun chasing me. Each is riding a horse, one on my left and the other on my right.

They draw their swords and begin closing in on the two horses pulling the carriage I'm driving.

I grab a whip from the coachman's seat. The two guards attempt to slash at the horses carrying me, but I lash their hands with the whip I'm holding.

—Splat! Splat!

"Arrgghhh!"

"Damn! That hurts!"

They scream in pain and drop their respective swords after being struck by the whip.

But I don't stop there. I stand up and crack my whip, wrapping it around the neck of one of the pursuing guards.

"Let go! You're choking me!" the man cries.

He struggles, but I activate Temper and pull him toward me, causing his body to crash into the guard on the other side.

"Hooo~ Turns out a whip is quite useful in battle," I think.

If I remember correctly, there was also a character in the game who used a whip as her primary weapon. However, I don't want to meet that Dominatrix woman.

She's the female version of Vlad's character in the game.

"Chase him!"

"Capture that escaped prisoner!"

Tch, there are already more guards pursuing me from behind. I whip the reins harder, urging the two horses to run faster.

I can already see the road leading out of the city. However, the streets ahead are filled with people coming and going, obstructing my path and making my escape difficult.

I leap from the carriage, approach a pulley, and cut the rope holding a crate above a building.

The object above falls, causing the rope I'm holding to rise and carry me onto the roof of the building.

Below me, I see several guards dismounting their horses and climbing onto the building. But I don't stay there. I immediately begin leaping across the rooftops toward the outskirts of the city.

I'm only about one kilometer away from escaping the city.

However, I've run out of buildings to jump across. Looking down, I see numerous mounted guards patrolling the area and searching for me.

"Quickly, head toward the city exit!"

"That's right! He must be heading there! Set up a barricade so he can't get out!"

I have to move quickly. If I stay here too long, the number of people chasing me will only increase.

"There he is! On top of the theater building!"

One of the guards spots me. The Musketeers accompanying him then raise their rifles toward me.

"Fire!"

—Bang! Bang! Bang!

I have no choice but to leap back onto the building I crossed earlier.

In a situation like this, I have to remain patient and search for the perfect opening to escape.

"Tch, he disappeared across the rooftops again!"

"Quickly, call the Knights of the Greco Republic and the Draconia Kingdom to help us capture that prisoner!"

I continue leaping from one building to another, searching for a way past the crowd of guards blocking my path out of the city.

Finally, I find an opening. A rope is hanging from a building about one hundred meters ahead.

I leap toward the rope, then run as fast as I can to build up momentum.

"Look! He's up there!"

"Quickly, shoot that man!"

I leap and grab the rope with one hand before swinging over the guards filling the city streets below.

—Bang! Bang! Bang!

I hear gunshots being fired at me, but not a single bullet hits me.

After clearing the crowd of guards, I release the rope and land on the street, performing a forward roll.

This time, there are no soldiers blocking my path.

"Chase him!"

I glance behind me and see dozens of guards beginning to pursue me once again. I quickly activate Ashpalt and sprint away from the city.

The guards can't keep up with me after I activate this spell. However, I can't afford to celebrate yet. I have to put as much distance between us as possible so they won't be able to catch up once the spell's effects wear off.

.

.

.

.

.

After running with Ashpalt for ten minutes, the spell's effects begin to fade, so I switch to the inferior Acceleration spell to conserve my Mana.

Half an hour later, I spot a forest and enter it. Once I feel safe, I deactivate the spell I'm using and climb a tree.

I sit against the tree and rest after running nonstop for around forty minutes.

"Hah... Hah... Hah... After using magic continuously, it seems my Mana is almost completely depleted."

Still, at least I've managed to get far away from the city and escape.

I'm now in the Tuscan Forest. If I remember correctly, the Alliance's main army will pass through the eastern side of this forest tomorrow morning. I hope I can reach the Fortress City of Regium, where the Imperial army is stationed, before nightfall.

Honestly, I'm already exhausted today.

My left arm is broken, my left eye is blind, and being in this condition while trapped in enemy territory was extremely dangerous.

I hope that in the future, I won't make the choice to let myself be captured by the enemy again just to accomplish my objective.

Right now, I've accomplished half of my objectives in this war.

The first was confirming Siena's true identity, whom I previously believed to be the reincarnation of Liana—my former lover. As it turns out, what she experienced was merely a dream or vision of my former world.

However, the fact that the life she dreamed about was that of Liana—my former lover—doesn't seem like an ordinary coincidence. There must be some particular event that caused this to happen, just as it happened to me.

The second objective is to give Siena the counterpart to the artifact she possesses. I'm certain she will combine the two artifacts.

My reason for doing this is as a precaution. If the Empire attempts to attack the capital of the Venetia Republic, she will undoubtedly awaken and go berserk. Nothing will be able to stop her except another Demigod.

When Siena's artifact is combined with its counterpart, it will form a new artifact capable of sealing any creature, including Demigods, while absorbing all of their magic so that it can be used by the artifact's original owner.

If my plan succeeds, both sides will likely bring this war to an end through negotiations.

But as I contemplate what might happen during the war, I hear several footsteps and the voices of people talking.

"Cassandra, are you sure he's around here?"

"Of course. My magic can track someone's Mana usage."

I see four male Knights and one female Sorcerer approaching.

I slowly draw my sword and prepare to ambush them.

"Stop here. His Mana trail suddenly disappeared," the female Sorcerer says.

She then looks up toward where I am. However, I've already leaped toward the woman and swung my sword at her neck.

—Slash!

The woman's head is severed and falls, rolling across the ground.

"No, Cassandra!"

"Kill that bastard!"

The four Knights then attack me simultaneously.

Because I spent too long using magic during my escape earlier, I'm now unable to activate even a single speed-enhancing spell.

—Tang! Tang! Tang!

I try to parry all of their attacks, but one of the Knights' swords manages to graze my left arm.

At such a disadvantage, I run deeper into the forest.

"Accel!"

"Accel!"

I glance behind me. The four Knights' legs begin to glow as they rapidly pursue me.

Without magic, their movements are far more agile than mine. To counter this, I don't run in a straight line. Instead, I weave between the trees in a zigzag pattern.

"Lighting Shoot!"

"Myriad Wind!"

—Crash! Crash!

They begin firing elemental sword magic at me, destroying the trees I pass by.

I climb onto a tree and begin leaping from one tree to another, attempting to throw the four Knights off.

The four of them follow suit, leaping and landing on the branches of the trees around us.

"Damn, he's incredibly agile even without magic!"

"He must be hiding behind one of these trees!"

The four Knights look frustrated. I try to steady my breathing and prepare to ambush one of them.

"Let's search one by one," one of the Knights says.

The others nod before beginning to leap from tree to tree, searching for me among the branches.

One of them approaches the tree where I'm hiding. When he's only a few meters away and isn't looking in my direction, I throw my sword in the opposite direction, causing all four men to focus on where it lands.

While they're distracted, I emerge and activate Temper in my leg before launching a flying kick toward one of the Knights' heads.

—Crack!

I hear a cracking sound as my foot strikes his neck. It seems my attack just broke his neck, killing him instantly.

"No, Romulus!"

"Quickly, attack him!"

The remaining three leap onto the tree where I am and unleash dangerous sword strikes at me.

I try to evade their attacks, though not perfectly.

After avoiding their strikes, I kick one of the Knights in the heel, causing him to lose his balance and fall from the height.

—Slash!

Another Knight manages to slash my left leg with his sword, but I quickly smash my Temper-enhanced fist into his face.

—Bamm!!

He is sent flying and crashes into the trees, knocking them down.

"Urrghhh..." I groan in pain.

The last remaining Knight who hasn't fallen stabs me in the left side of my abdomen with his sword. However, I grab him by the neck and lift him up, attempting to choke him.

The Knight struggles, kicking my body repeatedly, but it's all in vain. Activating Temper once again, I crush the man's throat and throw him from the tree.

"Hah... Hahh... Hah..."

Tired... It hurts...

My entire body is difficult to move now after enduring Vlad's torture and fighting the enemies who pursued me.

I climb down from the tree and slowly walk away, pressing my right hand against the stab wound on the left side of my abdomen.

My vision begins to blur, and my body grows weak from blood loss...

But...

I can't give up here...

I have to...

Prevent the destruction of this world...

But what can I do? My body has already reached its limit, and my legs can no longer carry me.

I close my eyes and let myself fall forward.

But, for some reason, what I feel isn't hard ground. Instead, I feel a softness and warmth that makes me feel at ease.

"I never expected to find you here ..."

That voice is incredibly familiar... The distinctive scent of her perfume reaches my nose, causing my consciousness to return little by little...

Only then do I realize that my head is currently resting on a woman's shoulder.

"Elena?" I murmur to her.

"It's been a long time, Raul ..." she says, giving me a beautiful smile like that of a Goddess.