Picking Up the Exiled Prince

Translator: CleiZz

Editor: mon cherry

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Ch 19 Infiltration and Escape

A few hours ago…

Danis and Chris had been caught and taken to jail on purpose, using Chris’ men as planned.

Naturally, everything they had was confiscated and they were left alone.

Surely this would be the easiest way to sneak into the tightly guarded castle. However, Chris wondered what he was going to do in this situation where he was in a prison and couldn’t do anything.

It was true that they didn’t have that many men to guard the jail, so they didn’t have much manpower, but there was still time for a shift change, and if they could get out of this jail, one soldier would be able to manage them quickly.

Chris glanced at Danis, who was locked up across from him. Danis must have noticed his gaze, but he didn’t seem to react. As usual, he didn’t know what he was thinking.

After a while, the prison guard began to doze off. It was understandable that he was sleepy because he had almost nothing to do, but if Chris had found him in his usual position, he would have scolded him.

Then Danis finally made his move.

He looked at the sole of his shoe and pulled out something that looked like a thin wire. Chris was astonished. He certainly wouldn’t check places like that.

Danis dexterously removed the handcuffs with the wire and stood in front of the iron fence of the prison.

“What are you going to do from here?”

Chris spoke in a whisper so that the jailer would not hear.

“Well, there are many ways to do it.”

Chris was surprised to hear that there was more than one way to do it, but he wanted to sigh, thinking that he would have to make some improvements to the jail.

Danis tapped his hand lightly on the iron fence of the jail. The jailer didn’t respond, probably because he was asleep. Next, Danis looked at the ground and ceiling where the iron fence extended from.

Chris looked at him quizzically, wondering what he was checking.

“Chris, do you have any strength in that state?”

“? I do, as long as I can hold it, but what does that matter?”

Even though they were handcuffed, it didn’t mean the bars couldn’t be grasped. However, it would be difficult to use both hands. When Chris didn’t understand the intent of Danis’ question, he instructed him…

First, I have to grab the steel frame of the jail. Then I was told to put all my strength into raising the fence upwards. It was a steel fence, so of course it was heavy. I had to put a lot of pressure on my face. 

“Kuk!”

The fence, which he had raised with all his strength, felt as if it was floating a little, and when he looked at the ground, he saw that the fence had come loose from the hole it had been stuck in.

Danis told him to keep moving backwards, so he did, and the moment he lowered the fence to take a break, the iron fence fell beautifully on its side.

At the sound of the fence falling, the sleeping soldier noticed, came over, looked surprised, and tried to shout for help. Chris stood behind him in an instant and struck the back of the man’s head with his hand knife, knocking him out. Grabbing the jail key that was hanging on his waist, Chris threw it towards Danis.

“I didn’t know there was… such a way to escape.”

Chris sighed at the fact that he had been able to get out so easily as a partial captain.

“There’s a mechanism for making everything. It’s not a trick you can use twice.”

Danis watched the whole thing with a cold face, then took the key and unlocked the jail from the inside and left. Chris also took off his handcuffs and grabbed his original sword, which was placed near the jailer’s desk.

Danis also took his coat and pistol.

“Well, things get real from here.”

“I don’t need to be told!”

We made sure that there was no sign of anyone at the doorway of the prison and opened the door, which led to the stairs leading up from the dungeon.

Chris went up first, and Danis followed him. Chris was the one who knew the castle well. When he reached the top of the stairs, making sure that there were no soldiers ahead of him, a soldier watching the entrance blocked his way with his hand.

Chris took a reflexive stance and put his hand on his sword.

“Captain Chris… the prince seems to be in the guest room.”

The soldier who was watching the entrance muttered. Chris looked closely and saw that the soldier was from his own unit.

Apparently, he was going to help them get out.

“Thank you,” he said.

“The replacement will be here in a while. Hurry up.”

Chris nodded and was heading toward the guest room, checking his surroundings, when he heard a thud from the prison doorway and turned around.

It seemed that Danis had stunned the soldier who had just given him advice.

Chris was surprised by Danis’ sudden action.

“What?”

“He was in your squad, wasn’t he? If we had escaped and he stood there without incident, he would have been punished.”

Chris had no choice but to shut up when Danis made a good argument. Right now, Chris was standing on the side of the prince who had made him flee. If Chris was the only one who was the mastermind behind this, the soldier couldn’t get involved here, and Danis made the right decision.

But still, it would have been nice to have a word with him…

“Let’s go. It’s the guest room, isn’t it?”

When Chris was somewhat unsure of what to do, Danis urged him.

Danis immediately ran toward the guest room. Chris tried to stop him, but he was surprised to see that he was going in the right direction, and he swallowed his words so as not to be noticed.

Chris quickly caught up with Danis, and whispered.

“How do you know it’s this way?”

“That’s for later, we need to figure out what to do with the soldiers first.”

He paused at the corner of the corridor and saw the soldiers standing guard ahead of him. It’s not often that you’d find soldiers standing guard in the guest rooms unless you had visitors. Two of the soldiers were standing guard in front of the room.

Certainly, this was the first thing to take care of.

However, very few people were allowed into the castle. Even nobles were not allowed to enter the castle unless they were ordered to do so by the royal family.

Rooms were only used by high ranking people.

Even if they were in charge of the downtown area, there was no way they would have any knowledge of the interior of the castle. But now was not the time to be questioning him, so he shook his head and pushed other thoughts out of his mind.

“I’ll clear the troops and charge inside, you keep watch.”

“Okay. Don’t be indignant if you see any unsavory sights.”

After suggesting a suicide mission, Danis paused for a moment before saying something abrupt. “What do you mean?” Chris asked quizzically.

Danis, in a nonchalant tone, while checking the bullets in his gun, said, “If you go, you’ll probably find out.” Then he cut off his speech.

You think there’s something I’m going to resent? Can you predict that?

Prince Alan is at least one of the royal family. Even if he is in a position to be accused of a crime, he should not be treated roughly. But would this man, Danis, without any proof, say there’s something that would upset me in this situation?

No, he wouldn’t do anything unprofitable like that.

Chris took a deep breath to calm down, having a bad feeling about this.

“Let’s go.”

Chris ran out of the corner and ran to the guards by the guest room.

The guards were momentarily startled by the person who suddenly came out of the corner, But for Chris, who already had his hands on the hilt of his sword, that moment was enough.

He drew his sword and killed both of them with a single blow. The soldiers on guard fell with a thud.

Danis, who had been watching, said, “That’s great,” and he was able to get out of the corner. Danis was paying attention to his surroundings, just as he said before. Even though it was a single blow, it made a bit of a loud noise, and other soldiers could have come at any time. It was only a matter of time before they found out about the prison break.

Chris grabbed the doorknob, knowing he had to act as soon as possible. Of course, the door was locked.

“… It doesn’t look like these soldiers have the key.”

Danis was rifling through the soldiers lying on the floor.

This means that the door is locked from the inside, and if they don’t have guards, then there may be soldiers inside as well. However, there was no time to waste on such groundless fears.

Before Chris could think about it, he kicked the door in front of him with his foot.

“Wh-…kuk!”

As soon as he kicked it open, he heard someone moaning.

Perhaps he was lucky, there seemed to be a soldier behind the door he had kicked. Thanks to that, he was able to save time and effort. Chris immediately went inside and shouted.

“Are you alright? Prince Alan!”

At that moment, Chris paused for a moment at the overwhelming sight.

Prince Alan was definitely there. But he was hanging from the ceiling by a chain, and his skin showed obvious signs of abuse, even from a short distance away.

Prince Alan looked at me with blue eyes that were quite fatigued and his messy hair that had been handled roughly, and for a moment the light stung his eyes and then his eyes widened.

What kind of thing is this? I didn’t think the prince of a country would be treated like this, Chris thought angrily, but he didn’t know if he could escape successfully if he lost his cool. Chris clenched his hands tightly to calm his anger, and after taking a breath, he immediately took his sword and broke the chains that bound Alan.

“Chris…”

Prince Alan called Chris’ name in a slightly weak voice. It would be natural if he looked like this. If he wasn’t careful, it might be hard for him to even move.

Prince Alan’s limbs were sweaty and wet with liquid, clearly showing the scars of his mistreatment on his feet. Then Chris felt like he shouldn’t look at him, so he looked down and put his own military coat on Alan’s shoulders.

“Hey, we’ve got company. Let’s get the hell out of here!”

Danis came in a little too quickly. The moment he saw Alan, he felt a slight crease in his brow.

Anyone would have to react if they saw a boy who was only sixteen like this. That’s how bad the prince looked.

Chris reached out his hand to help Prince Alan.

“Can you move?”

Prince Alan had tears welling up in his eyes. He immediately wiped them away and took Chris’ hand.

“It’s probably fine,”

Prince Alan was about to stand up when he almost fell to his knees. The reason he didn’t fall was because Chris reflexively supported him.

 If you looked closely, you could see that Prince Alan’s body was trembling. He seemed to be losing strength, and Chris felt the anger he had been suppressing still rising in him.

“Please don’t strain yourself. Please get yourself on my back.”

Prince Alan averted his gaze and nodded curtly. The prince’s face had a complicated look on it.

Oh, I want to tear the guy who messed with this prince to pieces right now, Chris thought inwardly. But right now, the priority was to get out of the castle.

Chris carried Prince Alan on his back and left this disgusting room.

“Hey, let’s go! The way we came, it’s not safe.”

“I know!”

Chris and Danis ran with their backs to the road they had come. But then they heard the whistle of the soldiers calling for men. It was a call for backup. If we don’t get out of here soon, we’ll be surrounded in no time.

“What do we do from here?”

Chris spoke to Danis.

Danis paused for a moment to think about something, and then tried to say something, but Prince Alan, who was being carried by Chris, interrupted him.

Alan said, “…This is a guest room, isn’t it? If that’s the case, there’s a warehouse ahead that’s…”

In the middle of his speech, Prince Alan choked on his words as if he was in some kind of pain. He also seemed to be somewhat short of breath. I wondered if he had been given some kind of strange medicine. If that’s the case, I’d like to see a doctor as soon as possible, Chris thought in his mind as he headed toward the warehouse indicated by Prince Alan.

When we entered the warehouse, we found that it was a place where things used for ceremonies were stored.

“Here we are, but what is this place?”

“There’s a statue of a man at the back of the room. Keep your right hand down.”

True to Prince Alan’s words, Chris pointed his right hand down at the statue. Immediately, he heard the sound of dull metal moving, and a staircase appeared on the left side of the statue.

Chris blinked, a little surprised.

As a captain and a well-known nobleman, Chris knew more than a few hidden passages. However, this place was completely unknown to him.

Danis snickered, looking a little amused.

“I see. I was wondering how you managed to escape by yourself last time, is this what you mean?”

“I didn’t know there was such a place.”

“No wonder. This is one of those places that only the king and his heirs are told about. I was told about it a month ago.” 

Chris and Danis were both surprised by these words.

It’s a secret to everyone but the king and his heirs, and he told us about this place a month ago. That means he was thinking about the possibility of this place being used.

This means that the king was somehow aware that his life was being threatened.

“If so, why didn’t he order his guards to be strengthened?”

Chris muttered to himself.

Then there was a commotion outside the warehouse room.

A voice echoed, telling us to search everywhere.

“Let’s get out of here for now.”

“Right.”

The three of them hurried ahead to the secret passage.


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