Chapter 70: Liss’ Escape

POV Cornelius

The last day was very exhausting, especially mentally. The boss fight took a lot out of all of us, but it took a lot of energy to calm Eli down. I'd suspected for a while that she didn't like Liss very much, but yesterday it escalated. Because I couldn't protect her enough, she had to suffer a lot of pain and wounds. Eli blamed Liss, because it was the job of ordinary people like her to serve and protect us with their life. This ended in us throwing Liss out of the group tomorrow. A pity, really, because she had proved herself to be very capable and competent, and had complied with all instructions without contradiction. I couldn't blame Liss tactically, as she had only done what I had told her to do in the boss fight. If only I had foreseen this beforehand, it wouldn't have come to this. But there was nothing else I could do and we had all gone to bed.

In the middle of the night, I was startled out of my sleep when the alarm went off in the camp. I pulled myself up, grabbed my sword and stormed out of my tent. In addition to our three guards, I saw the four soldiers who were currently on duty. They were all gesticulating wildly and arguing loudly.

"What's going on here? Situation report.” <Cornelius>

“Noble hero, we have discovered an intruder in the camp. He fled again as soon as he was spotted. So far we don't know what he wanted here. He is on horseback.” <Soldier>

“Guards, you check on the others to see if everything is okay with them. Soldiers, you check whether anything has been stolen.” <Cornelius>

“Yes, noble hero. Guys, you heard it. Swarm out.” <Soldier>

The soldiers went searching while our guard went to fetch my three companions. Ansgar was already awake and ran towards me. The other two took significantly longer, especially Eli.

"What happened? Enemies?” <Ansgar>

“We don’t know yet. So far we only know about one, but he escaped.” <Cornelius>

One of the guards came running towards us.

“Noble hero, I cannot find your companion anywhere. Your tent is empty.” <Guard>

Then one of the soldiers came towards me.

“One of the horses is missing.” <Soldier>

“Show me the tent immediately.” <Cornelius>

I ran to Liss' tent. It was empty and all equipment was missing. Damn, did she hear us when we were talking about her expulsion? Was she then afraid and would she rather run away than face the shame? Understandable, I would do it the same way. I wouldn't want to live with the shame either.

“What should we do, noble hero? Should we organize a persecution?” <Soldier>

“No, there’s no point. The fugitive is a scout and is much more capable than you when it comes to covering up tracks. Plus, it's the middle of the night and we can hardly see anything anyway. In which direction did she flee?” <Cornelius>

"The sounds of a horse riding away went towards Lightburgh." <Soldier>

“Towards the city, then. Well, as soon as the sun rises, we will set off towards Lichtburg. Now that she has voluntarily broken with us, she has to pay for it. She will never find work in the capital again, I'll make sure of that. It would have been better for her to accept the shame of being thrown out.” <Cornelius>

“Yes, noble hero. You heard him, prepare the departure of the heroes.” Soldier

“We will pack then, noble hero.” Guard

“Do that. The main thing is that you are ready after breakfast.” Cornelius

“So she ran away? Serves her right.” Eleonore

“We’re turning our backs on the dungeon?” Ansgar

"Yes. We must spread the word of their treachery throughout the capital. Also, we no longer have a scout. We need a replacement for it, but this time we have to pay much more attention to making sure he or she doesn't hide anything. Are you taking care of this, Javier?” Cornelius

“Hmm, that means I have to use my appraisal skills more often and draw the right conclusions from them. But I would be interested to know how she managed to deceive my skill. She must be hiding something, otherwise she wouldn't have run away. Or it means we need to put more emphasis on questioning. As soon as we get back to the capital, I will visit the library and research whether it is possible to deceive a master rank appraisal." Javier

“Do you do that in church too, Eli? Research, I mean. We can’t get in there that easily.” Cornelius

“I’ll do anything for you, you know that.” Eleonore

"You're simply the best, Eli." Cornelius

We spent the rest of the night packing our things. That meant we let our servants do it. The next morning, straight after breakfast, we rode towards the capital. We didn't know how much head start Liss had, but even if she arrived now, she would have a maximum of a day to either go into hiding or continue to escape. Either way, she will have a much harder time making a living in the future .

POV Eliza

So the heroes decided to ride back the next day. This means I had to let a little time pass before I could tackle the dungeon solo. The soldiers first had to calm down again. So I used the day to build a small shelter for myself about ten minutes into the forest. Then I went in search of water and set up some traps for small animals such as rabbits and birds. Then I rested until evening and went back to observation position as soon as it got dark. I tied the horse so that it could break free in the event of danger, such as a bear, and otherwise provided him with water for two days. There was enough food nearby.

As night fell, the camp became quiet. The guards were probably still tired from the long night before and therefore hopefully less attentive. I took the opportunity to sneak into the dungeon and enter it at an unobserved moment.