The soldiers moved away without noticing the presence of the wealthy.
'I need to move to the ventilation shaft again.'
The structure of the castle she had figured out in advance, and the shape of the torn-topped dot Eric had dropped flashed through her mind.
'The lord's office is to the north of the castle.'
The ventilation shaft would have been a better way to move to the upper floor to the north while avoiding the surveillance in the hallway.
A short while later, Lou went down to a small room on the floor where the lord's office was located.
Eric and Maya were standing back-to-back on the cold floor.
The rough rope wrapped tightly around the body dug into the flesh every time it moved.
However, what was more painful than that was an unknown anxiety.
Crackle crackle.
The sound of Maya chattering her teeth filled the quiet room.
"I should have entered through a different route instead of the basement..."
Thanks to Lou drawing attention a few hours ago, the two of them hid in a food cart and safely made their way inside the western loading dock.
However, while heading to the basement, they were caught by patrolling guards.
"I wonder if Lou found the traces I left behind."
Eric muttered in a cracked voice.
Even while running away, he hurriedly dropped the token, hoping that Lou would recognize it, but quite a lot of time had already passed.
The fact that there was still no sign of life weighed heavily on Eric's heart.
"That sound earlier... was the sound of something exploding."
The fact that there is no sign of anything yet means...
"You know that popping sound earlier? Maybe Lou did it."
A moment ago, the shoulders of the two people flinched simultaneously at a strange vibration rising from the base of the castle. But that was all. There were no flames, nor any following roar.
The guards who had arrested them disappeared as if they had received an urgent call when the outside became noisy, leaving the two of them far away in this room.
Since then, all that could be heard was the sound of hurried footsteps crossing the hallway.
“It was a success.”
A faint flush spread across Eric's face.
Their order was to go down to the basement and first find out what that mysterious cart delivered by the Black Anchor gang was.
However, he was captured before he could even fully carry it out, but there was a belief that Lou, the leader, would surely have accomplished something.
"Success? Even if it succeeds, do you think he will come to rescue us? Look how quiet it has been so far; the dog already ran away to save himself. He abandoned us even though he knew we were caught!"
Maya's face, as she looked at her brother, held both anxiety and anger.
She simply couldn't understand it.
The foolishness of jer brother, consumed by guilt over failing to complete Lou's orders even at this threshold of death
"Lou isn't that kind of kid."
"What do you mean it's not? Look at us now. This is all because we just followed the dog's orders!"
Maya's shrill voice echoed through the room.
However, what lay at the end of that cry was not so much hatred for Lou as a fundamental fear that she might have been abandoned.
Bang-!
Just then, the door burst open as if it were about to break.
A knight in black armor burst in and looked down at the two of them.
"You bastards, you're in league with the ones who detonated the bomb in the basement."
"Explosion...?"
The two people's eyes went blank.
Did that vibration earlier really sound like a bomb exploding?
Then what happened to Lou? Could it be that he was swept up in that massive explosion?
The minds of the two went blank as they understood from the knight's words that an explosion had occurred.
'If Lou is dead, then what am I, what am I, what am I supposed to do...?'
"We don't know anything!"
Maya shouted first. The knight gritted his teeth and roughly grabbed her by the collar.
"Fine. Watch your mouth. Let's see if you can run your mouth just the same way in front of His Excellency."
The soldiers dragged the two people across the hallway like sacks of cargo.
"No, no... Let me go!"
The siblings were so engrossed in resisting that they did not notice the soldiers' clothes had darkened from absorbing moisture.
He threw the two people inside the roughly opened office door.
Her vision went blurry from the impact of being slammed mercilessly onto the soft carpet.
Nevertheless, it was impossible not to notice the distinctly different environment from the dark corner room just moments ago. Just the touch of the carpet against her cheek was enough.
Through the large window, the view of the peaceful blue sky and the sparkling moat came into sight at a glance. Inside, the antique fireplace and office desk gleamed with a polished gleam.
In stark contrast to the fierce, murderous intent of the knight filling this space right now.
"Did an explosion, did an explosion really happen?!"
Eric approached the knight's feet on his knees while bound.
'There's no way Lou is dead.'
There was no way that a brilliant commander would be defeated so futilely; he was determined to confirm Lou's life or death by any means, but far from hearing an answer, he was punched directly in the face.
"When? Exactly where it exploded, cough!"
“Brother!”
"If His Excellency hadn't said he would see you guys himself, I would have ripped your mouths open long ago."
The knight spat it out as if chewing on something.
Fatigue and murderous intent crossed his eyes as he clutched his temples.
In fact, it was not yet certain whether these rat bastards were really in league with the guys who destroyed the basement.
However, it was evident that they had infiltrated the castle and rummaged through it even before the banquet began.
'It doesn't matter what your ulterior motive is.'
The knight looked down coldly at them. Whether it was once or not, these bastards would never leave this room alive.
Just then, another knight came and urgently whispered in his ear.
"Lord Osric says he must see the Governor right now."
"In the midst of this chaos, who has the energy to appease that pig!"
The knight roughly ran his hand through his forehead. That troublesome lord, too, should have been reduced to a handful of ashes in the explosion.
However, since they are currently searching the banquet hall and the castle, the lord's side is raising a huge fuss, asking why they are suddenly bringing in soldiers. It seems they have also discovered our troops ambushed in the rear fortress.
The situation got really twisted.
Normally, it wouldn't have been a matter to worry about.
Once the ice iron's bomb swallowed up the nobles and lords of the banquet hall all at once, all they had to do was seize the castle with the remaining troops.
However, since those bastards who should have died are still alive and kicking, they are needlessly sticking their noses into everything at every turn.
"...I’ll go and shut these bastards up for now. Don't won’t let them go outside until His Excellency arrives."
“Yes, I understand.”
The knight kicked open the door and left as if annoyed.
With the last thing being the dense line of soldiers holding spears, the heavy door slammed shut.
Silence returns.
That silence pierced her skin even more chillingly than when she had been in the secluded corner room just moments ago. Maya involuntarily clenched her teeth and trembled.
"Oh. Brother, are you okay?"
She crawled on her knees to the outside of Eric, who had collapsed.
"Uh. What do I do...? The blood..."
As she saw blood trickling down the corners of his mouth and his face beginning to swell up blue, her fear grew uncontrollably.
Working as an information broker in Lou, she had secretly witnessed the shady dealings of the port. She thought she had become bold enough to make even the tyranny of the rough Black Anchor gang look quite laughable to her now.
However, the lord's castle was on a different level.
The castle walls, soaring as if to pierce the sky, felt like a massive tomb in themselves, and the soldiers' fierce spears and swords seemed ready to be aimed at her at any moment.
Fear gradually turned into twisted anger.
She wonders why Lou told them to go in first.
'Could it be that he used us as bait first?'
Maya resented Lou, thinking that the ropes wrapped tightly around her body as if to constrict her, and the ruthless violence inflicted on Eric just moments ago was all because of him.
"Lou, Lou can't possibly die..."
"Does that matter right now? We're about to die! Even if we did survive! You heard they swarmed the castle with soldiers. They would have abandoned us here and run away!"
Then, suddenly.
A small noise caught the ears of the two people.
The two people looked up at the same time. A slender arm suddenly shot out of the ventilation hole in the ceiling.
The sound of the joint being loosened followed.
"I came to rescue the two of them, not run away."
And soon, a familiar face peeked out.
"..."
"...!"
Lou!
Eric and Maya, who had almost shouted out a name, hurriedly shut their mouths.
Meanwhile, Lou, having pulled himself out of the ventilation shaft, landed lightly on the floor like a cat.
“You’re alive!”
"Of course. Thanks to the mark you left, I made it this far easily, Eric."
Although she lowered her voice, Lou spoke on purpose cheerfully.
"The surveillance was so tight from the fourth floor that I had to move only through the ventilation shafts. It took a while, and since you guys suddenly moved rooms, I had a hard time finding you."
Lou was breathing heavily. They could guess how arduous the journey to get here had been.
"What on earth happened? Was it really an explosion? Where did Les, that man, go?"
Eric asked, but Maya's gaze was elsewhere. She pointed at Lou with a trembling hand and looked shocked.
"Lou! You, were you a woman?"
"A woman? What are you talking about—"
Eric frowned as if asking what kind of nonsense that was in this situation, then paused.
A white neck visible beneath tightly tied, luscious hair, skin shining even whiter with humidity, and lips standing out in a deep red.
The outline of an unfamiliar woman overlapped with the face of Lou, who had always looked like a rough street boy.
'Ah, this.'
Lou swallowed a sigh inwardly.
In a hurry to find the two, she forgot that they were in their original form due to the hot water and humidity in the basement.
Moreover, these two have only seen Lou in her male disguise...
"You tricked us? Was that all just a disguise all this time?"
Maya's voice was filled with a sense of betrayal and shock.
"I'll tell you later. That's not important right now. The Governor of Barmia is coming soon."
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