Chapter 67 – Prison Escape Impossible
That being said, there were guards, and his father would probably come down to see him at least once a day.
If he got caught, it would be the most troublesome thing.
In that case, he would do nothing right now. He would use the first day to learn the timing of his father’s visit, when the guards changed, and when his food was brought.
There was nothing more annoying than a boring prisoner.
Don’t talk or make noise. Don’t move or disobey. If a prisoner has no sense of presence, then it becomes difficult for guards to stay focused.
It seemed easy, but it was a job that required a lot of patience.
He had trained well in the Knights Guild. And so he knew that such prisoners were always waiting for the right time to escape.
And so Ralph waited. He spent a day and a half observing.
As he was disarmed when being put in his cell, he hid the butterknife under his pillow.
The guards switched three times a day. Both times, his father visited at night. He was fed twice a day, and the food was brought by a different soldier.
(Surely I can make a move now?)
On the third day, Ralph finally decided to act.
First, he quietly cut through the lock of the cell during the first guard change that day. Now he could open it whenever he wanted.
And just as the new guard came, he threw the knife towards the wall of the passage.
It clanged loudly. And then he made the invisibility cape materialize so that the knife disappeared.
“What!?”
The guard turned towards where the knife had landed. Ralph covered himself with the cape and opened the door.
And while it creaked when opening, the guard saw that there was no one there.
“Damn it!”
The guard cursed and then left. He was probably going to alert the others so they could search the premises.
And so Ralph followed after him. He was careful to copy his steps so as to disguise the sound as he made his way out of the prisons.
This way, the guard opened the doors for him. Once he was out onto the first floor, the guard went to the guardhouse through a back door.
Ralph thought he would be able to get out of the mansion, but they were in the deepest part of the noble district. And so there would be plenty of soldiers outside as well.
And so he moved through places where security was lax…like the servant living quarters. At this hour, there would hardly be anyone there.
In the meantime, he passed by several guards, but managed to go unnoticed. Claus would hear the news soon enough. He wanted to get out before they launched a great search of the entire mansion.
Ralph snuck into a room.
It was the linen room. There were mountains of fabric all year round, which made it difficult to see. However, it was well-ventilated, and it was easy to get out.
There was a door that led outside in order to hang the laundry, but it was locked.
Ralph paused. Should he make the key, or use the spoon to dig his way out… After thinking about it for a moment, he decided to save the spoon, which seemed like it would be able to be used in more places.
Obviously, the cape disappeared.
He put the key close to the keyhole, and the door unlocked easily.
(Good…)
Now he could go outside. However, there were servants outside, as well as guards who were searching for him.
He watched for a moment and then moved through the shadows.
However, he could not arrive at the gates. And so Ralph abandoned the key and materialized the ridiculous spoon.
In the shadows of a pillar where no one was around, he dug a hole that was big enough for a person to pass through. It would surely take them some time to find this hole.
Ralph dug, and dug and continued to dig. With a spoon. But while it was a spoon, he was able to dig a lot as if it was a shovel. And yet it was not heavy at all. It really was ridiculous.
And so he went under the mansion’s foundation and continued to dig so that he could go out of the gate. He dug so that the dirt filled up the space behind him, but left enough room for air to come in.
Eventually, he made it out of the mansion premises. But the sun had already started to set.
Water poured through into the hole, and he struggled against it as he dug his way out, and then swam in the water.
It was a time when there were few people around. And so Ralph held his breath and continued to swim. The moat was connected to the water channels around the town, and so he kept his head below the surface and made his way close to the center.
As it was dark, there were few people around the center. And so he found a place that was away from the shopping district, and emerged from the water.
When he looked up, Stan was flying in the sky above his head.
Menew must have heard the commotion and sent Stan to look for him.
Ralph put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. Stan heard it and then circled above him a few times before flying away.
There was no time to waste.
Claus had probably sent word to checkpoints already. They had to get out of the town somehow.
“Ralph, welcome back!”
“Mr. Ralph!”
“Kyan-kyan!”
Kanon was the first one to jump onto Ralph. He climbed up happily onto Ralph’s wet shoulder.
Totto hugged him after that, and Menew was going to go next, but Ralph held him at bay with a raised hand.
“We missed you. It’s really no good without you around, Ralph.”
“Kanon eats anything, but seemed to have lost his appetite. Though, Mr. Menew was fine.”
“Because Ralph said three days.”
Ralph and Totto didn’t understand.
“Ralph doesn’t say he will do things he cannot do. And so if we wait three days, he would return. Not that I didn’t miss him, alright?”
It wasn’t a matter of trust. Menew just ‘knew.’
(He really is crazy…)
Ralph shook his head with exasperation, but he also smiled.
While he had meant to escape no matter what, it was still something to have someone put that much trust in you.
“My father will have all of the checkpoints watched.”
“Aye. After all, we will be leaving through the side that takes us out of the country. So the security is especially tight.”
Ralph sighed.
Menew took out his brush and used a combination of fire and wind magic in order to dry off Ralph. As it was autumn, he might catch a cold if left like that.
Once the magic dryer finished drying Ralph, he nodded.
“…I will speak with my father.”
“Right.”
Menew nodded understandingly.
There was no real need to run if they had done nothing wrong. He was done going along with Claus.
“And if he gets in your way, I’ll just summon Waldung’s true form. I am a Summoner, after all.”
He said as he turned to Mr. Wal, who was on Totto’s back. And the stuffed dragon nodded.
“Alright, after Shawshank, we get an emotional reunion and separation of father and child. A tear-jerker double feature.”
Menew chuckled to himself, but not a single person there had any idea about what he was saying.