My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 23Vol 2.

"Yeah, Altair will come to rescue us."

If he were capable of thinking, he’d quickly realize that he’s holding a key to saving us, wouldn’t he?

...Well, if he knew how to think, that is...

“That guy doesn’t seem to be thinking these days!”

Unfortunately, Altair seemed a bit lost in the joy of his discharge from the Border Defense Army and was living somewhat thoughtlessly. Just a few days ago, I teased him about how absent-minded he was.

XX, that means we have to escape on our own, without any help from him, huh?

"The transport for the Dark Sorcerer is supposed to happen in two days," I remembered.

We need to get out of here quickly! Tomorrow, the prison will be chaotic with preparations for the sorcerer's transfer, so we need to escape today if we can!

“Should I dig through the wall with a spoon...?”

I said this in a serious tone while staring at the earthen wall, but suddenly, Karоn shaped his hand like a spoon and pretended to dig.

“Salvia, I don’t have a spoon, but I can dig with my fingers! Just wait a moment!”

“No, no! Stop it!”

Thankfully, Karоn immediately stopped. Phew, this guy really only seems to follow my words without any thought.

‘The other kids were a lot smarter... well, not that much smarter.’

I thought of Sanchez, who was the same age as Karоn, but I shook my head. Well, at least Karоn’s grown up more than Sanchez... no, wait, that’s not the point!

I was getting off track again, but now was really the time to focus on how to escape.

I concentrated and began recalling the movies I’d seen in my past life on Earth.

Digging with a spoon, making fake people with hair and newspapers, swimming in the sea...

All of these methods would take a long time. These kinds of methods would be impossible to escape in a day!

“Karоn, any ideas?”

“I think Salvia’s idea is good!”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t have any ideas...”

Then I’d have to come up with something myself.

One, call the guard, knock him out, and steal the keys.

‘That’s impossible.’

We had discarded this option from the beginning because the guard always carried a whistle that made a loud noise. If he blew it, the entire guard force nearby would come running, and it would cause too much of a commotion. That wasn’t the kind of chaos we needed for this covert mission.

Besides, unlike in the movies, the keys weren’t hanging visibly from the guard’s belt, and he wasn’t dumb enough to flaunt them saying, “Steal these!”

Two, remove the bars.

‘This could actually work if done right.’

Karоn had grown stronger as he aged, and now, he was almost as strong as Sanchez. If that was the case, we might be able to rip these bars off with strength!

I stared at the bars intensely and found a part that seemed a little loose.

“Karоn, try pulling this off.”

“Yes, I will!”

Without asking any questions, Karоn immediately stood up and grabbed the bars, pulling with all his might.

Clang— Clang—

There was a nasty metallic sound, but it wasn’t loud enough for the guard to notice. Surprisingly, the bars seemed to be loosening.

“Good, there’s hope!”

Hearing my encouragement, Karоn’s arm muscles tensed as he put more force into it.

“Ugh!”

The bars didn’t break. Instead, Karоn, unable to control his own strength, fell backward.

“Ah! A-are you okay?”

I hurriedly helped him up and discarded the second plan. Yeah, no matter how strong Karоn was, ripping apart steel bars wasn’t going to happen. This was going to get him killed.

‘XX, that leaves us with no choice...’

As I held my head in my hands, trying to think again, Karоn stared at me and asked.

“Salvia, is it possible to escape with the hairpin?”

“Yeah! I told you about that!”

“Aha, so you must have a hairpin, right?”

“It’s with Altair.”

“No, I mean on your head...”

“My head?”

I touched my hair in confusion, then...

“Wha— what is this?!”

I pulled my hand away in shock as I felt the hairpin stuck in my hair. It was neatly fixed somewhere in my otherwise perfectly tied hair.

“Why is there a hairpin in my hair... Ishina!”

“Salvia, wait, you need to tidy up a bit more.”

Ah, that’s when Ishina helped me tie it neatly! No wonder it looked much cleaner than when I did it.

“Truly, Ishina...” I said, feeling deeply moved and almost tearing up. Perhaps Ishina is the only person among the male leads I can truly rely on...

Afterward, I easily picked the lock as practiced. The lock on the prison door we had been trying to escape from clicked open within three seconds of inserting the hairpin.

“Hah...”

I let out a sigh, feeling empty as I looked at the open door and gestured to Karоn. I wanted him to quickly make a crude figure out of straw to delay the Dark Sorcerer as much as possible.

“Salvia, is this good enough?”

“Mhm, perfect.”

Looking at the straw figure Karоn made, I nodded in approval. As expected, he was skilled in all sorts of tricks and had great dexterity.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Yes!”

We whispered quietly and slipped out of the prison. Then, we locked the door behind us.

We had been locked in a part of the prison near the entrance, so the path ahead of us led to a dark corridor that continued into the deeper sections of the dungeon. The hallway was so dark that I wondered if they’d intentionally left the lights off to create an eerie atmosphere.

Before starting our mission, we had gathered as much information as we could about the temporary detention center, but we hadn’t been able to pinpoint where the Dark Sorcerer was locked up. Now, we had no choice but to find it ourselves.

“The last time I saw the Dark Sorcerer, they were wearing a black robe.”

Speaking quietly, we moved forward into the darkness.

Though the corridor was dark, we were able to gradually get used to it. After all, we had once worked in a place deep in the mountains where there was no light, so our night vision had gotten quite sharp.

I motioned for Karоn to follow me. Having played tag with the company commander in the Snow Mountain Battalion, I knew how to move secretly in the shadows.

‘Where could it be...’

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We kept moving deeper into the dungeon, searching for the Dark Sorcerer.

Finally, in the last cell, we found the figure of someone lying on the floor, cloaked in black.

“Found it!”

I quickly crouched in front of the Dark Sorcerer and cautiously called out.

"Hey, you, lift your head."

"Ugh, what...?"

The voice I had already heard mumbled irritably, but suddenly cut off. The Dark Sorcerer looked up, surprised, and locked eyes with me.

"You’re that... hetero sapiens? The Dark Sorcery Special Forces?"

Once he grasped the situation, he shouted with rage.

"How dare you come here, the one who locked me up?!"

"Shh! Quiet!"

I glanced around nervously, fearing the guard might come, and motioned to Karоn to keep watch. Karоn, always quick to take action when I needed a lookout, dashed to stand guard without hesitation. He was so used to this role by now.

"I'm here to help you," I said.

"Help me? Are you planning to cooperate with the Second Prince's faction?!"

"Well, that's something I’m considering. But first, I want to hear your side of things."

At my words, the Dark Sorcerer’s eyes suddenly lit up with hope. He must have thought there might be a chance to escape this place. His eyes shone with desire, a sharp contrast to his previous lifeless demeanor.

This was the perfect opportunity to use him. I decided to mimic the tone of the conman Dark Sorcerer I’d heard before.

"Do you know? Tomorrow, you'll be taken to a prison where only Dark Sorcerers are held. You've heard of it, right?"

"Ugh...! That place...!"

"Yeah, it’s a hellhole where they lock you in a solitary cell with no light, no one to talk to."

"No! Not that place, anything but that!"

"Exactly, so you’re going to cooperate with me."

I flashed a sweet smile, trying to look as innocent and harmless as possible. The kind of smile a friendly consultant might give.

"Of course, hetero sapiens are discontent with this country, but with our strength alone, we can’t change anything."

"So, you're really planning to cooperate with the Second Prince’s faction! Good choice! Now, please get me out of here..."

"Yeah, once I’m convinced by what you say, I’ll get you out of here."

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

I waved the hairpin in my hand, and his eyes sparkled like he was staring at diamonds.

"Unlocking a lock from the outside is easy. If you’re needed in our plan, I’ll take you with me."

"Yes, yes! I’ll help, anything!"

Suddenly, he dropped to his knees, adopting a respectful posture. Considering how eagerly he was listening, it seemed his time here had been incredibly difficult.

"So, how many Dark Sorcerers are in the Second Prince's faction?"

"Excluding the Dark Sorcerers who sacrificed themselves, I know there are over twenty!"

"And how many soldiers?"

"More than five hundred are still with us!"

"And how many nobles?"

"There's one noble running from the authorities with us, and many others helping us from the shadows. They will be a great help!"

"Nobles, huh..."

I muttered as my eyes sparkled.

To change a country ruled by an emperor, the power of the nobles is indispensable.

The relationship between the nobles and the Arkons could be summed up in one word: ‘indifference.’ Just as nobles didn’t even acknowledge the lower classes, they hadn’t cared about us. Most Arkons were stationed in ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) the northern regions for military service, so there was little contact with the central nobles.

But if we do it right, we might be able to stir the nobles' interest in the Arkons. The number of pure-blood Arkons is dwindling, and now even those with a faint trace of Arkon blood are being used. The bourgeoisie is starting to get involved. A typical example is Winter or Benny.

‘Even though they don’t seem like it, Patty and Matty are bourgeois, too.’

Soon, it might even be the unlucky nobles who get pulled in. Or perhaps they already have. Emphasizing this to the nobles could lead them to change their policies regarding the Arkons.

Currently, the nobles are split between those who support the current emperor and those who backed the Second Prince, and the faction supporting the Second Prince was so large that eliminating them entirely is proving difficult. Most of them have been released after paying bail.

There are still many who once supported the Second Prince left in the current political scene. They could have a huge influence.

I was certain that we would need the help of these nobles to change the country...

But that would have to wait for later. For now, I needed to figure out how to contact them. The Dark Sorcerer was small fry, and the leader of the Second Prince’s faction would be someone else.

"Is the scattered Second Prince faction able to communicate with each other?"

"We intentionally separated them with one Dark Sorcerer each! We can communicate through the Dark Sorcerer’s communication tunnel!"

"The communication tunnel, where is it now?"

"It was confiscated when they came in, so it should be somewhere around here. Ah! When you take me with you, you should also take that with you."

"Alright, got it."

I nodded, half-listening, and continued questioning.

"Who’s the current leader of your side? Are you in contact with them?"

"Ah, Count Schwid. He’s a noble, and right now, he’s being pursued by the government, so he’s fleeing with us."

Of course, anyone actively involved with the Second Prince’s faction was now a target, and it seemed Count Schwid was one of them.

"Of course, a noble is the leader... Alright, understood."

With that, it seemed like I had extracted all the useful information from him.

Through our conversation, I now knew I needed to speak to Count Schwid. So now, my task was...

"Alright, stay here."

"What?! What do you mean...!"

"We’re leaving now, goodbye."

I made a grand gesture to him and was about to leave with Karоn when suddenly, I heard a whistle from down the hallway.

Peeep-! Peeep-!

"An escapee has been spotted!"

XX, it looks like we've been discovered! I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly!

I could hear the guard muttering to himself.

"No wonder, that foul-mouthed woman has been too quiet for once!"

...XX! I must’ve made too much noise earlier! I should’ve been more subtle!