[ Chapter 25 ]
It’s completely absurd. A person was popping out of a trash bag. Of course, I have my fair share of exploring garbage, but I’ve never gone to the extent of actually behaving like one.
“…who are you?”
Deon, who was staring at me and the man with a bored expression, lowered his gaze to the man with an indifferent look as I asked the question. He seemed to want to ignore and leave, but he realized he couldn’t because I had already started the conversation.
The man who popped out of the garbage bag with his face down swallowed nervously. Judging by the frills that were visible under his neck, he didn’t seem to be of common status. Could he be a noble?
“I-I’m an external watcher from the Southern Empire… By any chance, are you Lady Lemony?”
The South Empire? The external watcher? No way.
“An external watcher, you say?”
As the man introduced himself, the air around us seemed to change. I couldn’t believe it, so I asked again, and the man nodded as if to say, What’s the matter?
The original work was told from the perspective of the prisoners, and the external watcher never appeared in the story. However, as someone who read the original work, I knew his true identity based on the world-building setting. Dreys Prison is a joint prison created by the South and West Empires. The design of the prison was entrusted to the South Empire, and the West Empire provided the staffing of the prison.
Due to the overflowing number of prisoners, the two empires created this prison as a joint effort. An external monitoring team visited the prison every six months to assess its situation. This time, it was undoubtedly the turn of the South Empire.
“How did you get in here? The prison is completely closed off right now.”
At Deon’s sharp remark, the watcher blinked innocently and looked at me.
“The gate was open…”
The gate was open?
“So, considering the current state of the prison, you should have immediately gone outside and informed the Southern Empire.”
“Yes, that’s what I intended to do, but…”
“But…?”
The expression on the watcher’s face became more and more innocent.
No way.
“Why?”
“What?”
“What an idiot.”
The foolish conversation came to an end with Deon’s curse. He looked tired as he slowly wiped his face with both hands. However, the watcher who had seen us had a resentful look.
“I, I am a watcher. I just came in because I saw the gate was open and thought you knew that I was coming early.”
Well, who could have predicted that the prison would end up like this?
“First…..”
I shouldn’t judge by appearance, but I wasn’t very confident in his ability to fight, even though he looked like he might be able to. The frill hanging from his neck didn’t exactly inspire confidence either. But his presence alone gave me hope. If a watcher had come through the open gate, then at least one other person had come through that gate into the prison.
Who could it be?
In the original work, it was said that the first-class prisoner who escaped for the first time went over the wall, so I couldn’t rule out the possibility of someone other than a first-class prisoner having escaped from here. In conclusion, it seemed better to take that man with me. It was pitiful to be looked at with vacant eyes, and as a watcher, he would at least have a communication stone to contact the Southern Empire.
If the watcher did not return, the Southern Empire might become interested in Dreys Prison. In any case, it was better to take him with me.
“Come out for now.”
“I-is it okay for me to come out?”
Judging from his manner of speaking, he might be the first man I have to take care of in this place.
“Yes. I don’t think prisoners will jump onto your lovely frilly shirt.”
I stood up, glancing at Deon, wondering if he was okay. I wasn’t sure. Anyway, seeing that he didn’t object, it was clear that he had similar thoughts to mine.
“I, I’ll go out then.”
At this point, I thought things were going well.
“By the way, Princess.”
It may seem unnecessary, but I have gained a comrade and there are no monsters watching us yet.
“His Excellency, Duke Christina has been worried about Lady Lemony….”
However, when the watcher who had been whispering to me fell to the ground with a foolish sound that wouldn’t be heard by anyone else, and a sound that rang out like tinnitus in the quiet prison spread out loudly, I realized that the situation had changed.
“Just go back into the garbage bag.”
All the sympathy I had left disappeared. At those words, the watcher, who had turned into a rabbit-eyed creature, hesitated and went back into the garbage bag. At that moment, he unconsciously grabbed my wrist and moved me behind his back.
“…watcher.”
An uneasy silence lingered like a raven. They surely heard it. The monsters with sensitive hearing wouldn’t have missed it.
“Yes?”
“Try to escape as much as you can, and if the monster approaches you, smash its head with a frying pan. If it’s difficult, scream out loud. I’ll take care of the rest behind you.”
It was a feeling of plummeting to the bottom of the heart. I was clinging to his back, trembling in the uncomfortable silence. In the distance, the roar of beasts rose like smoke.
I tightly closed my eyes. I couldn’t see, but I could feel that they were getting closer and closer with irregular footsteps.
And suddenly, a bone-chilling, eerie sound rushed toward us. Clack! Beyond his narrow back, a strange scream echoed. And someone grabbed my trembling wrist. It was Deon. I faced the red pupils of the man who had lightly struck the creature’s abdomen with his long legs. It meant “pull yourself together.” And I was pushed back by his powerful grip, covering my mouth as I saw the scene unfold before me.
I thought there were only two or three of them. However, with the monster’s scream, more and more heads started to appear from those in Building C, rushing, drooling and spitting.
The frying pan. The frying pan. The more tightly I gripped the handle of the pan, the more my trembling hand refused to listen to me. He was the only one I could trust, and I was holding onto the tail of his shirt, but suddenly I felt like my hand was empty and lifted my head.
Deon was not there.
“Deon?”
I looked around, but a massive hand grabbed my clothes.
“Close your eyes.”
The fresh scream was cut off by the man’s low growl. He lifted me lightly onto his shoulders and threw a trash bag toward the monsters around us with his muscular hand, causing them to collapse like dominoes. Amidst the fallen monsters, the watcher who let out a cry emerged.
Deon ran toward the watcher, using him as a shield.
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Ugh, uweaek.
As soon as I got off the man’s shoulder, I searched for cool air and felt nauseous. I felt like I was going to die. If I could spit something out with the accumulated saliva in my mouth, I might feel better, but unfortunately, there was nothing in my body.
“It’s better to run away than to die. That’s how you survive.”
Deon, who was clicking his tongue while looking at me, sighed. We must have run for about 15 minutes, but it felt like we had been moving for much longer.
In a novel, one punch would be enough to take down all the monsters, but this was reality. Or maybe it was just that this prison was a mess.
I stared at the man who seemed to show no signs of exhaustion, even though he had been through so much. He was like a man of steel. Beads of sweat trickled down his thick neck through the black robe, but the man just neatly brushed back his hair, which had become sweaty due to the heat.
“Princess, Princess!”
At that time, someone whispered. The watcher who had managed to escape without dying came running toward me with the frill around his neck flying.
“He’s a thin, long-lived guy.”
Deon, who had a cold tongue, focused on his task without much enthusiasm.
“You still here?”
“I’m still here? I’m here! Did you think it’s okay to swing people like a club? It was already terrifying enough not being able to see anything inside the bag!”
“I didn’t do that, it was Deon. If you want to blame someone, blame that man.”
The watcher, who had been glancing at Deon, closed his mouth. When the situation calmed down, Deon, who seemed to have finished his preparations, raised the cuffs of his sleeves and glanced in our direction.
“Get in. Go straight to Building D.”
“Is Building D safe?”
“As if it is. To you, even a wild rabbit in the Northern Grasslands of the Southern Empire would look like a beast.”
“Isn’t everything that hasn’t been touched by human hands considered a beast?”
Deon’s handsome face twisted at the watcher’s reaction. It seemed like they didn’t get along well. At times like this, it would have been better if Ian were here to ease the tension a bit.
But where is Ian?
It’s absurd, but now I just remembered his absence. Come to think of it, I forgot that Ian wasn’t around for a few days because I was too focused on Deon.
Is he dead?
Currently, Building C is filled with monsters because of the whistle, so if he didn’t escape, he surely couldn’t have survived. There are always inevitable sacrifices in the process of survival. But I never thought that Ian would be one of them.
“What are you doing?”
It’s a bit sad. With a complicated and subtle feeling, I stared at Building C in the distance. Although he had a crazy personality, he wasn’t the one who would die right now. Since the original story has changed, are the main characters all just going to die? I wonder if I survived by trampling on the deaths of the main characters.
….what if everyone dies because of the original work went wrong?
It was when I was sinking into dark thoughts.
“It seems like I always have to drag you along by the hand to get you to follow me.”
Suddenly, Deon grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the boat. His rough touch caused the small boat to vibrate gently. Then, as if on cue, a hand emerged from the river and grabbed my ankle, pulling me down.
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Thank you for reading!
