Chapter 213 – Her First StepHikaru returned to Conia"s cell, stuck his hand through the meal tray slot, and motioned her to hold it for Group Obfuscation to take effect.
「I"m breaking you out.」
「What?!」
「My word is absolute. From here on out, don"t make a sound and don"t ask questions. Understand?」
He then let go of her hand and with Stealth still on, took out the wakizashi from the Dimension Dragon Box. A leather strap was firmly attached to the sheath, the design a complete mismatch with the grip of the weapon.
As Hikaru drew the wakizashi from its black sheath, faint images of a drakon popped up around the edge and gradually vanished.
Drake, who was wrapped around his neck, groaned. The white drakon had been sleeping a lot more lately when not eating. Sometimes, Hikaru would feel worried about his lazy lifestyle, being a drakon and all.
『I feel my own aura.』
「What? Anyway, someone who doesn"t know about you will be joining us, so stay put.」
『I"m hungry.』
「You had food before coming here. You"re probably half-asleep.」
『Oh, right. Okay, I"m going back to sleep.』
Soon enough, he wasn"t moving. What a carefree creature. Hikaru pulled himself together, readied his wakizashi, and thrusted it at the cell"s lock. After putting more strength into, it pierced into the door easily.
Hikaru heard a gasp inside the cell. The lock was now broken, and as the door opened, Conia stood there with her eyes wide open. She wasn"t wearing her usual Blue Knight attire, but instead had on some shabby clothes. Obviously, the Tower didn"t want her to wear the prestigious blue uniform.
「Wh-What? I-Is someone there?」
「Right. I still have Stealth on… Over here.」
Conia let out a shriek and jumped back a little as Hikaru touched her hand and switched to Group Obfuscation.
「Wh-Who are you?」
The mysterious person was wearing a silver mask, hood pulled over the eyes, and a white scarf around his neck.
「Silver Face. Let"s go. Make sure you don"t let go of my hand, or you lose the effect of the magic item.」
「But I—」
「No buts. Just keep your mouth shut.」
Hikaru pulled Conia out of her cell. She found it strange how the guard didn"t notice the door being wide open.
They started walking, hand in hand. Conia felt uncomfortable, but so did Hikaru.
Hazuki-senpai and I talked a lot, but I never once touched her.
Not even a little. Perhaps that was why she only appeared as a faint silhouette in Hikaru"s mind, giving off a perpetual dim light.
The two quickly made it to the entrance. On the other side of the iron door, the guard was sitting on his desk with his back turned, working on some doc.u.ments.
Hikaru turned around to Conia.「Can you knock him out cold?」he whispered.
「I can. So you don"t want to kill him, even with such a handy magic item.」
Wakizashi in hand, Hikaru had sensed Conia"s intense stare. She must"ve felt the immense power from the weapon. If not for Group Obfuscation, its presence could probably be felt for miles.
Ignoring Conia"s comments, Hikaru destroyed the lock just like he did earlier. Even with the loud sound he produced, Conia wondered how the guard didn"t even budge an inch, but followed Hikaru"s order and refrained from asking questions.
Hikaru opened the door for Conia as though telling her to proceed. Confused, she stopped beside him, and let go of his hand.
「Hmm?」
The guard seemed to have noticed something and turned around, but a chop from Conia to the back of his neck made his body shudder. Supporting him with both hands, she lay his face down on the desk. A fine display of skill.
I could"ve asked Gilbert to use accursed magic, but if I let him out now, there"s no telling what he"ll do, Hikaru thought.
Hikaru closed the door so the breakout wouldn"t get discovered right away.
「Let"s go.」Hikaru said as he held out his hand.
「You"re worried about Gilbert?」
Conia nodded.
「We"re leaving him here. He"s dangerous.」
「Can you wait for a bit?」she asked, a worried look on her face.
「Fine. You got one minute.」
Conia opened the door and headed to Gilbert"s cell. Hikaru could hear a bit of their conversation, but couldn"t pick out anything significant as their voices were low. After a while, Conia returned.
「Let"s go.」she said.
「Are you sure about this?」
「Yes. I apologized for doubting him and leaving him behind. I also told him that you"ll help him out.」
Hikaru scoffed. Conia"s expression turned sour.「Is there something funny?」
「Who knows? Why don"t you figure it out yourself?」
Hikaru grabbed her hands and started walking. No sounds came from what seemed to be the guards" break room. It was overall quiet, with only one person guarding the entrance. They managed to make it outside and slip into the cover of the night without trouble.
Help him out? No, Hikaru thought.
Gilbert lived his life sticking firmly to his beliefs. He pretended to obey the Pope, basically working as a double agent.
There was no saving him. If left behind, he would receive the death penalty. If let out, he would launch a suicide attack.
The only one who can save him is himself.
That was the case for Unken. It was already too late for Gilbert. No words from anyone could ever change him. He had to change himself. All Hikaru could do was to set the stage for that.
Three hours had pa.s.sed since the Blue Knight broke out of prison. About a two hours walk from Agiapole was a forest where a group made camp.
「Lady Conia!」
「Father Gravey!」
It was the slum"s residents. Unable to return to their homes, half of them had dispersed to different places. Still, a handful of them remained with Gravey and made it all the way here.
The priest was surprised to see Conia with her shabby prisoner clothes, holding nothing but a sword.
「I"m glad you"re all right…」the man said, teary-eyed.
The light from the bonfire revealed children sleeping, wrapped in small blankets. They were better off, as many didn"t even have blankets, and used their overcoats as sheets to sleep on. The lookouts approached them, wondering what was going on, but Gravey eyed them, telling them it was fine.
「Yes… I"m not really completely all right, but I somehow managed to get here.」
Conia told the priest about how a person who called himself Silver Face rescued her. After stealing a sword from the armory, they went together outside the walls before splitting up. He said he had something he needed to do and directed her to this place.
「He also told me to give you this…」
Conia handed Gravey a leather bag filled with gold coins. The priest looked at the coins and then at her. The money amounted to a few hundred thousand.
「Silver Face said to use this money to escape. He also told me that if we really wished to follow the Saints" teachings, then we should stay away from the holy city. If going to the countryside is difficult, he said Einbeast might welcome us with open arms.」
「Really…?」
「He seemed to know that you were using the money that you received from Lord Gilbert to send people to the suburbs.」
「Ah…」Gravey got down on both knees and clasped his hands together. Bowing deeply, he closed his eyes.
「F-Father?!」
「Oh, thank heavens! Truly, we don"t deserve him.」
「What"s wrong?」
The people who were awake gathered around. Gravey was overcome with emotion, his voice trembling.
「This person is no doubt a being sent by G.o.d.」
「Wh-What?! You"re saying he"s a Messenger of Heaven?!」
「He"s a Saint who had appeared before us in our time of great need. I never thought I"d be a witness to this most auspicious moment.」
There was a stir among the people.
For real?! That cheeky kid is a messenger?! He did carry an extraordinary weapon…
Conia didn"t seem to buy it. Gravey actually hit the mark, if only by chance. Hikaru did have a job cla.s.s called High Cla.s.s Heaven"s Messenger: Greater Angel.
「Once dawn breaks, we"ll gather as many people as possible and leave this place, away from the holy city. Whether we"ll head to the suburbs or not will depend on transportation.」
Gravey"s voice brought Conia back to her senses.
「Father.」she said, kneeling down.「I, Conia Mercury, swear to protect all of you. I will never make the same mistakes ever again.」
An oath to protect not her status, but the weak, and guide them to the right path. She would raise her sword for that sole purpose.
Conia made her first step in her journey to become the second coming of Saint Rusalka.