Chapter 138 (2/2)
This is starting to sound familiar.
This conversation caused Ester-chan’s smile to fade away and the peaceful atmosphere surrounding us has disappeared.
The keywords mentioned are thief and jailbreak.
“But how could someone break all of those prisoners out.”
“I don’t even want to find out. This is all just what I’ve heard from a friend of mine, but he was unluckily on duty the day of the jailbreak. He suffered a serious injury from the witch’s magic. Even now he struggles to stand on his own and has to rely on his wife for most things.”
“I wonder if there’s a chance we’ll be able to avoid night patrols.”
“What a stupid thing to say. Haven’t you noticed they’ve been increasing patrols every day since then? Even though they’ve increased patrols by more than fifty percent every day, they’ve yet to catch a single escapee. Until they catch them, and that bastard that leads them, we won’t be allowed a single day off.”
“I can’t stand it. I just want a couple days off.”
“You’re hopeless.”
It was a story I never wanted to hear mentioned again.
When I first arrived in the Penny Empire, I was thrown into prison with Mercedes-chan. Ultimately, we ended up escaping along with every other prisoner. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but apparently, I was wrong. (TN: Tanaka’s escape from prison was very different in the LN. The manga is closer to what happened in the LN. The first chapter can be read .)
“By the way, another friend of mine was killed by a strange man.”
“Eh? Seriously?”
“Yeah. A man with yellow-tinted skin and a flat face.”
“What? Was it some type of subhuman?”
“Who knows. One of the guards claimed that he hit him with an arrow but they never found a body.”
Seriously? There’s only one mongoloid in this world that matches that description.
But I guess, based on what he just said, they think the ‘subhuman’ that was there that day is already dead.
Besides, I may have been the one that healed everyone’s injuries, but the decision to break out of prison was entirely there’s. It was that great thief that opened our cell door and broke everyone out. I was just an innocent citizen that got caught up in everything.
I’m sure it’ll be fine though. Who would take the time to remember this soy sauce face?
“by the way, that man over there, isn’t his skin somewhat yellow?”
“Yeah, it is yellow.”
It happened.
Their attention is on me.
“But the man from the prison was shot with an arrow in the stomach. He wouldn’t be eating a meal in a place like this.”
“Now that I look at them, doesn’t that uniform belong to the royal academy?”
“Idiot, stop staring. The students at the royal academy are all nobles.”
Luckily, Ester-chan was with me.
If I were alone, they may have tried interrogating me.
“There was also a rumour that that vagrant forced himself on a woman in his cell.”
“That same guy did?”
“Yeah. As you know, women are also imprisoned there. A woman of high social status was in his cell and that guy figured if he was going to die there, he might as well enjoy his last hours alive.”
“I see. So that guy deserved to die.”
“Exactly.”
Oi, I feel like I’d remember an amazing act like that. I didn’t even consider that when we were locked up together. But if Mercedes was worried I’d try something like that, it would explain why seemed scared back then.
I got a little excited thinking back to our time in prison. I feel like I missed out on doing something great. Well, as a result, things turned out pretty well, so I guess I should be thankful I didn’t do anything.
“But that prison wasn’t too far from here? I don’t want them to catch me on patrol and kill me.”
“I’m hoping that if I’m friendly enough to the commoners, they won’t bother me.”
“I hope so too.”
“This is only a story I’ve heard but, in the past, the great thief, Hard, that lead the breakout would accept jobs considered to be impossible. Since his escape, he even managed to break into a nobleman’s mansion and destroy many slave contracts.”
“I’ve heard something similar to that. An acquaintance of mine that was to be sold as a slave to a coal mine was rescued by the witch and they managed to escape.”
“That’s amazing. His collar was even removed?”
“Yeah. It seems that the witch was able to remove that as well.”
“As expected of that witch. She’s supposedly a master of many powerful magics.”
“Moreover, during the chaos, that witch seemed to indulge herself.”
“O-Oi, I thought those were just rumours. Is that witch really as promiscuous as they say?”
“There’s something strange about her. My acquaintance barely caught a glimpse of her, but he instantly wanted to grant her every desire. Since then, he’s been obsessed with her. He hasn’t married yet even though he’s now past thirty, but he just continues chasing after the witch.”
“Well, she did save his life. Even if he’s become obsessed with her, it’s not that strange.”
“That’s not the reason. He said she’s a ridiculously beautiful woman.”
“I bet.”
Fortunately for this yellow guy, they’ve moved on to another subject. Earlier in their conversation, they kept glancing over at me, but now they’re focused on this witch. As long as I don’t do anything to raise suspicion, I should be fine.
But there’s still a problem.
What if one of the prisoners or a guard remember my face? Would that be enough reason to imprison me again?
“.”
I know the great thief won’t say anything. I could tell he had a strong sense of duty. However, there were plenty of other prisoners that escaped that day. I can’t know that they’ll all keep quiet.
This is troublesome.
I stopped eating my meal.
The loli bitch noticed my change in attitude and asked me, “What’s wrong?”
“I-It’s nothing. I’m just thinking about something.”
“after all, did I annoy you by asking you out?”
She asked this with a pained expression on her face.
I really am sorry for making her feel uneasy.
“No, it’s not about you. There’s something on my mind.”
“If you’re okay with it, I-I’ll listen to anything you need to talk about!”
“Thank you. It would be nice to talk with someone about it.”
“.”
Ester-chan’s face became bright red.
If she gets any cuter, I really will be in danger.
***