Chapter 7: Patron Anais (6)
Today, Pierre aims for his niece's life. It was an opportunity to save Anais's life and repay the favour. Despite being an enemy, Pierre was just one person. He was a typical merchant character with no remarkable combat abilities. The only problem was that I was in a similar situation. I had ten Debulroots, which represented all the resources I had. I needed to find a way to resolve the situation with these.
"I need to leave eight Debulroots. I might need them for Anais's treatment in case of an emergency. I have to overcome this challenge with just two Debulroots."
Normally, investing in basic attributes like muscle strength, tissue hardness, and cell regeneration, which contribute to things like RPG games, made sense. But this wasn't a game; it was a real and urgent situation. To solve the problem, I needed abilities that were immediately useful.
"I should wait until Pierre takes action before making my move."
If I were to break into Anais's room before the designated time, it would only confirm the suspicions of being a pervert. Pierre's intentions lacked evidence until he took action. The problem was how to escape this prison with just two Debulroots.
Koo... Koo...
In the cell across from me, Ella was sleeping on a makeshift bed. She had turned her back to me and was now facing this way.
Thanks to her confident plea for help to Wonderstein, she appeared mature, but seeing her sound asleep, she looked like an ordinary girl.
"Member Management."
An interface appeared before me, similar to TTT's interface. The "Party Management" window for managing support characters had been replaced by a "Member Management" window.
I selected the topmost entry from the list of members' statuses.
Name: Ella
Age: 16
Affection: 0 (Next Reward: Affection 15)
Title: Assistant Ringmaster
Occupation: Beast Tamer
Dub: Pigeon
Chick: Mouse
Traits: None
The profile window was similar to that of support characters. In the end, I needed to raise the affection of the members to gain their assistance. But this might not be easy, considering the image Wonderstein had built up.
"Raising pigeons and mice?"
Despite being called a Beast Tamer, these were rather modest animals. However, they might prove to be more useful than lions or elephants when quietly escaping from prison.
I checked the time through the status window. With this, I didn't need to carry around a heavy pocket watch.
It was past 11 PM. It was time to make a move. I got up from the bed and approached the iron bars.
The guards had already gone to the break room and were probably snoring. There was no need to be on high alert here; it wasn't a prison, and we weren't major criminals.
I tapped on the bars.
"Ella, wake up."
"Ugh..."
Ella tossed and turned in her bed. She had initially turned her back to me but had somehow twisted her body this way.
"Ella, it's time to get up."
"Ugh... I want to sleep a bit more..."
Ella groaned and complained, sounding like a child. Strands of hair stuck to one of her cheeks and fell down slowly.
"Ella, wake up."
"Ugh... I don't want to..."
She whined like a child, rubbing her eyes. Her voice seemed reluctant.
I called her name in a louder voice.
She blinked her eyes, realizing where she was and who had called her.
Her expression turned cold.
"What are you doing? I was sleeping so peacefully..."
"I'm sorry for waking you up from a nap."
"Hmph."
She glanced at me and yawned.
"What time is it?"
"It's 11:15."
"Eleven...? Have I been sleeping that long?"
Ella sat up abruptly from her bed, looking around, but there were no clues to indicate the time. This was an underground prison, and it didn't matter whether it was day or night.
"Actually, it's still night-time. You've only been asleep for three hours, Ella."
"11 PM? That's why I felt so heavy."
She stretched herself out, and the sound of her body awakening could be heard.
"Why did you wake me up in the middle of the night?"
Ella rubbed her sleepy eyes and scratched her head, looking at me with puzzled eyes.
"We need to get out of here."
"What?"
"To do that, I need Ella's help. And please answer quietly. The guard might wake up."
Ella glanced around cautiously and then came closer to the bars, whispering.
"Suddenly, what's all this about? Getting out? Escaping?"
"Yes. There's something urgent we need to take care of. We have to leave right now."
"What urgent matter... Wait a minute. Aren't you here to help these people too?"
I quickly reassured her.
"No, Ella, it's not what you think. It's the opposite. I'm here to help these people. Tonight, it's Ellas life that's in danger. We have to go now."
I tried to look as desperate as possible, but the "Smiling Man" trait offered no compromise when it came to control over my facial muscles.
Without even looking in the mirror, I could sense it. There was a mischievous smile on my face.
Ella's face grew even more suspicious. Damn that Smiling Man!
She was becoming even more distrustful of me, and I hesitated for a moment.
However, I soon understood her feelings. Wondersteins "help" often involved horrific modifications, and if Ella had been by his side all this time, she must have seen many victims of his experiments. My words could easily be misunderstood.
Convincing her was hopeless, so I decided to take a different approach.
"Hehe, should I use force then? If it's better for some people to get hurt...?"
If Wonderstein deliberately attacked, then dealing with these bars would be no problem at all. I could easily crush the entire mansion.
Of course, I didn't have that kind of power...
Initially, it was more effective to threaten her with this kind of false intimidation than to persuade her honestly, considering that she saw me as an untrustworthy opponent.
"You devil..."
Ella glared at me with eyes filled with hatred. Her anger and contempt for Wonderstein were palpable.
She clenched her lips and took something out of her pocket.
Squeak.
It was a white mouse. Wasn't its name "Chick"?
Ella placed the mouse on her palm and whispered something to it, seemingly directed at me.
The mouse seemed to understand her words, listening attentively. As soon as she finished speaking, it immediately sprang into action, coming down from Ella's leg like a slide and quickly escaping through the bars.
Because of the angle of my prison cell, I couldn't see the mouse enter the guard's room.
Could the mouse really bring back the key?
Both Ella and I were silently waiting for the mouse's return.
Ding, dong.
The sound of keys dropping on the floor! Simultaneously, the snoring stopped abruptly. Ella and I made eye contact.
Had we been caught?
A few coughs from the guard followed a moment later.
Drung, drung.
The guard fell asleep once more.
It seemed like the mouse had been waiting for this.
Ella was anxiously patting her gloved hand.
The intelligent little creature, huh.
The sound of keys being dragged along the floor was heard again.
The sound was much quieter this time.
The mouse was placed down on Ella's open palm.
"Well done. Good boy. I'll give you some sunflower seeds when we get out."
We silently escaped from the cell.
Finding Anaiss room was relatively easy.
It was similar to tracing the traces of "Airdra" in the game.
Searching for the marks of wheels on the floor.
Unlike the game, which had become a ruin, the mansion was well-maintained. However, hiding the accumulated traces of over a dozen years was not easy.
The wheel marks were concentrated in one direction.
That must be Anais's bedroom.
The difficult part was avoiding the gaze of the guards and servants.
Fortunately, Ella's powers were useful here as well.
Using mice and birds for reconnaissance, we could track the movements of the mansion's occupants.
So, we waited, avoiding people's eyes.
The corridors where people rarely walked.
Both of us stood in the shadows.
There were no lights around, no light from the windows either.
It was so dark that even if someone passed right in front of us, it would be difficult for them to notice us.
Whooosh.
The corridor was quite cold. It was still early spring, and the temperature fluctuations were significant.
A chilly breeze continued to caress our feet.
Ella hugged herself, shivering.
"How many minutes are left now?"
"20 minutes."
"Only 5 minutes have passed?"
With every word Ella spoke, a white breath escaped her mouth.
Even I, a grown man, felt cold, let alone a teenage girl like Ella.
Hmm, should I try some goodwill?
I took off my suit jacket and put it over her.
"What...?"
Ella blinked her eyes in surprise, looking at me.
Her pupils were filled with astonishment and confusion.
She simply couldn't believe it.
"What are you doing with that jacket?"
Ella tried to take the jacket I was putting over her and throw it away.
"Shh, shh. Please be quiet."
"What...!"
I put my hand over her mouth to prevent her from yelling.
Her attempt to escape and my attempt to restrain her turned into a brief struggle.
Her resistance was quickly subdued.
Even though my body hadn't undergone any modifications, there was still a significant difference in size between an adult man and a teenage girl.
"Hey, what are you doing...!"
"Please be quiet."
"Hey...!"
I covered her mouth with my hand, holding her arms and waist with one arm each. Our bodies struggled back and forth.
Then, she used her remaining two legs to kick my groin.
I wanted to cry tears of pain and scream in agony, but the smiling man wouldn't allow it.
"Hehe, this really hurts."
His laughter seemed to mock her, making him appear like a heartless villain, even to himself.
She glared at me with fury in her eyes, her determination to shout evident in her gritted teeth.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh!"
"If you stay quiet, I might let you go," he said.
"Ugh, ugh!"
It seemed persuasion was futile.
I lowered my voice and whispered, "Ella Yang, if anyone comes here, we'll have no choice but to eliminate the witnesses."
"Ugh"
She shot me a resentful look, and gradually, her struggling subsided.
Threats were indeed effective.
I released my grip on her arm. "Do you agree?"
"Ugh..."
Ella, now freed from her restraints, moved away from me.
She took a handkerchief from her pocket and began wiping the part of her face that my hand had touched.
"What kind of stunt is this?" she asked.
"You were being too noisy. I had no choice," I replied with a smirk.
Ella glared at me, clearly not pleased.
After she finished wiping my face, she suddenly extended her hand to me.
"Come here," she said.
"What for?"
Without a word, she grabbed my wrist, the hand that had been covering her mouth.
His hand was damp from her breath and saliva.
"It's unpleasant," she said.
Ella wrapped my hand with the handkerchief and meticulously wiped away the moisture, focusing on each finger joint.
Then, she confidently tossed the damp handkerchief out the window.
It was a clear expression of not wanting to use what my hands had touched again.
I chuckled inwardly.
"I didn't expect to be so disliked for just lending you a jacket."
"You're not the kind of person who would do this out of kindness. What do you want?"
She shot me a sharp look.
Do you think I am doing this to gain some favour? Why!
I bit back the words I wanted to say and replied with a brazen smile.
"There was no other intention. I just thought Ella looked cold."
"You're joking, right? It's not that... it's just a little chilly. I don't need it. Take it back."
When Ella tried to take off the jacket again, I calmly pushed her shoulder.
"You're keeping it on."
"It's not cold, so why... What's your game?"
"There's no game."
"Don't mess with me."
"Or are you going to make a big fuss again? I can use a little more force if needed."
I whispered threateningly while looking at her face.
I knew that at times like this, Wonderstein's smile looked very wicked.
Ella bit her lip as she glanced at me.
"You devil."
"I heard your thanks loud and clear."
Ella shrugged off the jacket again and turned away from me.
The suit jacket was long enough to reach her thighs.
She looked much warmer than before.
The trembling had stopped.
However, she seemed more wary than grateful for some reason.
When I checked the status window, the affinity gauge was still stuck at zero.
Is this the result of Wonderstein's reputation?
I rolled my tongue at her hostile attitude.
If even someone like her is acting this way, how should I deal with the other members of this mansion?
I'll have to think about it.
Then, something white came running down the hallway towards us.
Squeak, squeak.
It was Dub, the scout I had sent.
"Someone's coming."
Ella quickly caught the bird and put it in her pocket.
We heard footsteps approaching from the other end of the hallway.
"I didn't hear anything."
"No, that was definitely a human voice."
It must be the patrolling soldiers.
They probably heard our scuffle.
They shone their flashlights all over the corridor and came towards our location.
"What should we do?"
"For now, let's avoid them."
"Okay."
Ella seemed relieved that my decision wasn't to fight the soldiers.
We cautiously walked to the opposite corridor, avoiding any exposure to the light.
Unfortunately, we ran into another patrol on the way.
In our efforts to evade the guards' searches, we ended up circling the mansion almost entirely.
We arrived at the chamber of secrets past midnight.
I checked the time on the status window.
It was 12:14 AM.
Fortunately, the quest was still active.
I opened the door.
Creak.
Inside the room, there were three people: Anais, Pierre, and the maid.
The maid had fallen asleep on the couch, and Pierre, who seemed to be leaving the room, hastily stepped back when he saw me.
Anais had collapsed on the floor, looking pale, and she gazed up at me with a distressed expression.
She seemed to be alive.
Thank goodness.
"It's not too late, is it?"
I smiled at her.
"Lady Anais?"
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