Edited

23. The Best Thing I Learned Was Hide-and-Seek (2)

“The fallen noble’s young ladies will probably sell themselves to a merchant who sees nobles as loot, but from the remaining nobles they will demand a ransom for them in their households.”

The young lady Beatrice, sobbed.

“I’m not sure if I can comply. The amount they demand here at the upper ranks is too high… Even if we emptied our family’s entire fortune, it wouldn’t be enough.”

The situation was bleak, with no sign of hope.

“However, I heard that Lady Elizabeth’s family, the Viscount of Snowa, has hired a private security force. The imprisoned young heirs and the families of the Count are also complying.”

Isabella spoke.

“…Perhaps it’s because of the presence of the magician. They are moving too quickly. We were in the northwest just a few weeks ago. They traveled at an incredibly fast pace. Although the magician has limits to their distance, we need to slow down our speed to allow the pursuing knights to catch up. That way, we can be intercepted.”

“We need to buy some time,” Elizabeth continued.

“Should we start a rebellion…?”

Beatrice bit her lip.

“If the hostage exchange doesn’t go as planned, they will sell us at a slave auction. Delaying will only make matters worse.”

“But it’s too risky. And there’s no guarantee that stalling here will bring them.”

Everyone hesitated, uncertain. It was clear that they had wasted time in this state of confusion.

“No. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it.”

As I watched over them, I spoke up. They all looked at me.

“He will definitely come. Let’s give it a try, even if it’s just once.”

“Is Lord Arin that wealthy?”

Beatrice asked, seemingly puzzled.

It was indeed surprising that the young lady of the Marquis would pay such an enormous amount that even the Countess hesitated.

“No, not the Count, but the Duke.”

As long as I’m here, I will come to rescue them.

However, even as she spoke, she was uneasy.

Is there any value in rescuing me even if they eliminate the illegal upper echelons?

By now, the Duke’s office probably knows that I have disappeared with the prince, and they are weighing the situation between me and the prince.

I couldn’t gauge how heavy the scales on which I was placed would be.

The carriage creaked and came to a stop.

“We’ll be staying here now. We always do at this time,” she murmured.

A man entered and untied the ropes behind them, then bound their wrists together in front.

Without resistance, everyone extended their wrists to him, as if accustomed to it.

“Here, eat this.”

A man’s hand reached through the tent and placed a bowl in front of them. Then he left a dish on the doorstep.

It was a watery porridge without any solid ingredients.

Even though we are hostages, being served such a meager meal. Well, it was the same in the Duke’s castle, so I guess social status doesn’t matter.

“The meal isn’t great, is it?”

Without lifting the bowl, Elizabeth glanced at me and indirectly spoke. I nodded.

“Has it always been like this?”

“Yes. Still, please eat it resolutely. They intentionally make us starve and suffer so they can send video letters to our families. They put the mail in magic beads with an unknown sender. It’s a scheme to let them know about the miserable situation of the hostages. We shouldn’t just fall into their scheme.”

She calmly explained about magic crystal beads and their principles.

“Lady Arin seems to know a lot about magic.”

“Well… My father and uncle worked at the mage tower, so I naturally became acquainted with it.”

I nodded.

When the sound of the luggage cart’s wheels stopped, I heard voices outside clearly.

There were at least three men talking.

Come to think of it, the number of managers was small, just as the number of hostages was small.

I put down the dish and listened closely to their conversation.

Their voices were full of agitation.

“No. We should hand over everyone except for that red-haired woman.”

“But still…”

“That noble instructed us to deliver or execute that red-haired woman in an undisclosed location. She’s already received a hefty sum for her value.”

“But isn’t it a waste? That woman is also of noble birth. We don’t know which noble family she belongs to, but aren’t those young nobles good at coaxing money out of nowhere? It’s a chance to earn some extra money. Let’s take our share firmly.”

“Well, that may be true, but…”

“Honestly, does the client know how we handled things? That person is probably from the same noble circle and won’t be pleased. There might be consequences if we’re caught, but we have the magician with us.”

“We’ve wasted a lot of money using multiple teleporting magicians. It turns out there are people from that house involved in the mage tower. We have to sell off the ones we can raise the price on, even higher than the original hostage prices. We’re not even breaking even. It’s a disaster!”

“That’s why we should target the lower-ranking nobles. There’s no point in abducting the Countess!”

I could hear the sound of a commotion from outside.

“It was you who chose that woman!”

“You were the one who gave her the cup! And to make matters worse, she’s pregnant, causing us headaches. What if something goes wrong with the baby? She’s supposedly the first successor of a Viscount! It’s clear that it will bring attention to slave trafficking and the palace.”

“Stop it!”

An elderly man shouted.

“It’s actually a good thing she’s pregnant! It means we have an extra hostage. Those noble bastards are more concerned about their offspring than their own wives. If a child is involved, even those self-important pricks can’t do anything. It’s like we gained a powerful weapon of coercion. We should either finish it today or give up.”

So, the men had decided to sell me along with the others they were originally planning to deal with.

It seemed like things were progressing faster than I had expected.

I managed to move my body slightly and pushed the tent open a bit.

It was an expansive grassy field with nothing around. I could smell the grass from outside.

I spoke to the women who were stirring the watery porridge.

“Don’t eat it.”

“What?”

“There might be something in it.”

They each started putting down their utensils.

“We were supposed to buy some time, remember?”

“If we can.”

Isabella lowered her voice and said.

“It feels like today is the day. We can’t delay any longer.”

There were three kidnappers and even four including the magician. Even without the mana-depleted magician, the numbers were ambiguous.

But apart from binding our wrists, there were no other restraints.

It was unbelievably sloppy.

As the prince had said, the noblewomen were obediently waiting, quietly anticipating the return of their families. They had no choice but to wait and couldn’t even think of escaping.

The upper ranks were aware of this fact as well. They had the experience of kidnapping and trading nobles before.

“Lady Arin, if we can delay for a few more hours, do you think our families will catch up to us?”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure, but based on the previous teleportation time, if we delay for about seven hours…”

“Then let’s do it this way.”

The women lowered their heads towards me.

“I briefly looked outside, and it’s a meadow. Now would be a favorable time to buy some time. When I give the signal, we’ll split into two teams and run away.”

Beatrice spoke in response to my words.

“Oh! In places like this, there are usually shepherd’s huts or shelters. It should be empty around this time, near the beginning of winter.”

“Then it would be good to hide in one of those huts if we find one.”

As things were progressing step by step, Beatrice cautiously asked.

“But there are three men outside… Can we handle them?”

“We’ll have to take out a few of them.”

“How?”

I turned to Elizabeth. She was anxiously chewing on her lips, appearing restless with her blonde hair disheveled.

“Lady Arin, could you possibly perform a disguise?”

“What?”

She opened her eyes wide.

“What kind of disguise?”

“Can you perform a disguise as if you’re going into labor? So that we can ask the kidnappers to call for a midwife.”

The kidnappers were intending to keep the child alive. They valued the child more than Elizabeth herself.

If it appears that the child needs medical attention, it would be difficult for them to turn away.

“I’ll give it a try… once.”

She nodded cautiously.

“If one person disappears, the magician will be powerless, and two will remain. If we split into two groups and run, we can possibly evade at least one of them, right? Our objective is not to escape but to buy time, so even if someone gets caught, everyone else should keep running without fail.”

Everyone nodded.

Inside the cramped luggage cart, tension filled the air. We tried to take deep breaths and shake off the nervousness.

Elizabeth wiped her forehead with water. Her golden hair stuck to her forehead as if she had broken into a cold sweat.

As the men approached closer to the tent…

“Ahh!”

Upon receiving the signal, Elizabeth grabbed her stomach and let out a scream.

“Hey there!”

“Help! We’re in an emergency situation. Please call a doctor!”

Together with the young ladies, we shouted.

In response to the untimely scream, the men approached the tent.

“What’s going on? Why is it so noisy?”

“Please call for a midwife.”

“What?”

“We need a midwife for the delivery preparations.”

He hesitated at my words.

“What midwife? Now? It’s too early for childbirth!”

“How would you know? The lady was already three months pregnant when she was kidnapped!”

Upon hearing that, he quickly turned his head and glared at another man.

“Is that true?”

“I’m not sure either…”

“Is that about the average term for pregnancy?”

“Well, it varies from person to person…”

“Um, what should we do?”

The man who had been swearing roughly spoke.

“For now, call a midwife. Make sure to charge them extra for the midwifery fee. We didn’t expect it to come so soon, but having two high-value hostages is not bad at all! If they don’t pay up, we can threaten to kill at least one of them.”

He laid Elizabeth on my lap.

Droplets of water, like sweat, were forming on her forehead. I tore a piece of fabric from her dress and dabbed the moisture on her forehead.

“Quickly, quickly! It’s an emergency!”

Trembling as if affected by the coldness of the water on her forehead, she held onto her stomach tightly.

As they fell for Elizabeth’s convincing performance, they easily fell into the trap.

The man who was farthest out rushed to call a midwife. Taking the only horse, he took away our means of escape.

We exchanged glances and paired up, two by two.

“Alright. When I count to three, Elizabeth and I will run to the left side of the carriage, and the young ladies will run to the right side.”

We exchanged determined glances, ready for anything.