Chapter 51 : The Fugitive(2)

Flinn Piteos understood what was happening fairly quickly and accurately.

What order Tollin had given Jack, what was happening in the capital right now, that Jack had started searching for the street children to carry out that order, and even that the child he had just managed to bring here had escaped Jack's watch and was wandering around the mansion.

“Still, if it’s inside the mansion, we should be able to find it quickly.”

When the Little Duke spoke with a deliberately bright face to encourage Jack, he lowered his head with a troubled expression.

“Well…… it’s a creature much closer to a wild animal than the Little Duke might imagine. It’s embarrassing, but even capturing it and bringing it here wasn't easy.”

“So, a monkey is wandering around the mansion.”

Startled by the cynical tone that had slipped out unaware, Tollin glanced at the Little Duke's expression and cleared his throat.

“First, tell the servants to block all holes that might be able to exit through.”

“Yes, I’ve already ordered that. However, it’s just so fast and strangely strong. To be honest, I can't guarantee the servants will be able to catch it.”

“It’s not like you to look away when you know that well, Jack.”

Tollin carefully reprimanded Jack, this time conscious of being in front of the Little Duke.

Shame was added to the look of despair on Jack’s face.

“I thought it was fine since its hands and feet were tied, but it seems it had something like a sharp twig in its hand. Where on earth did it……get…….”

In the middle of speaking, Jack trailed off as he realized the source of the sharp twig said to be in the child’s hand.

Jack, realizing he himself had handed over the chance to escape, let out an agonized groan and covered his forehead with one hand.

“Tollin, please punish me. This is all my fault.”

Tollin sighed at his helpless appearance.

“We’ll postpone assigning blame. The mansion is large, so it probably hasn't gotten outside yet.”

The mansion would surely feel like a maze to a commoner child.

If being chased, it would be even harder to find the right direction.

“Where did you say you lost the child?”

The Little Duke, who had been silently watching Tollin and Jack’s conversation, finally spoke.

“The 3rd floor. It was so filthy, it wasn't in any state to be shown to Tollin, so I ordered them to change its clothes, but it took that chance to attack the servants and escape.”

“How many servants were there that lost one child?”

“There were…… three.”

Jack answered quietly.

At that answer, Tollin silently absolved Jack of his sin.

Because he, too, found it hard to believe that three grown men had lost one child.

While everyone was focused on the child's hard-to-believe physical abilities, the Little Duke was mulling over one fact that came to mind, without saying it aloud.

The 3rd floor is where my room is.

***

“Damn it.”

Seya cursed repeatedly while checking outside the door.

The sound of urgent running footsteps, the urging to find the child quickly, and the certainty that since all the outside exits were locked, they just had to corner and catch it.

Even though Seya lived a life far removed from the existence of nobles, it was impossible not to know whose mansion this was.

Seya stopped checking outside the door and scanned the room he had entered.

There was something that caught his eye more than all the strange ornaments he’d never even heard of and couldn't name, the bookshelf packed so full of books that Mir wouldn't be able to tear his eyes away, and the chandelier sparkling so brightly it made his eyes turn.

Two swords, encircling a moon.

Was there anyone in the Empire who didn’t know the Piteos family?

Coincidentally, the owner of the clothes he had stolen with Mir a while ago was also a young master of this Piteos family.

Seya swallowed dryly.

“This time, I might really die.”

He didn't know why they had brought a mere beggar kid all the way here, but the fact that he had also stolen the Piteos family’s young master’s clothes didn't seem like it would work in his favor in this situation.

Seya ignored his pounding heart, which was running wild, and crossed the room toward the large window that took up half the wall.

His intention was to jump and escape if it came down to it.

However, looking down out the window, Seya felt his resolve falter significantly.

The distance to the ground was too far.

It was high, just too high.

No matter how many walls he had climbed, he had no idea what kind of building had ceilings this high; it was incomparably higher than any wall Seya had ever climbed before.

If he jumped, somewhere would definitely break.

If his legs broke, even if he got out of the mansion, he wouldn't be able to cross the long, long garden.

If not his legs, then his arms.

Preferably, the left arm.

Seya fiddled with the area below his scrawny left elbow.

A left arm was a cheap price compared to his life.

He’d suffer for a while, but if he could just get to Mir, wouldn't he figure something out?

He had all sorts of weird knowledge, after all.

He widened his eyes, thinking things Mir would faint if he heard.

And it was the moment he stuck one foot out the window.

“Stop right there!”

***

The Little Duke had no time to be happy about the familiar face hanging from his room’s window.

To do that, Seya's left foot, which was stepping on the windowsill, looked too precarious.

“Don’t come! Don’t come!!!“

Seya let out a scream-like threat toward Jack, who was taking a step toward him.

“Damn it, I get it, so back off a bit. Even for you, if you fall from that height, you won't be unharmed.”

Jack stepped back again to calm Seya down.

Seya knew it too.

One arm, or if he was unlucky, his neck could break.

But he didn't want to go to that bearded man, either.

His chances of survival would be higher if he jumped down before that young master, standing next to him with wide eyes, opened his mouth.

If the fact that he stole that young master's coat and ran away was revealed, it was obvious he wouldn't just die, but die painfully.

It was better to fall and break his neck all at once.

It was the moment Seya, having finished the not-difficult calculation, decided to fall.

“Flinn!”

Faster than Tollin’s horrified scream, faster than Jack’s belatedly outstretched hand, surprisingly, the Little Duke’s legs were faster.

The child had run toward Seya.

“Huh? Huh? D-don’t come! I told you not to come!”

Seya’s leg, which had been resting on the windowsill, retreated in surprise at the Little Duke’s unhesitating sprint.

Seya felt a strong force pulling his body downward.

It was the worst fall.

The moment the thought that if he fell like this, never mind his legs, his neck would break, flashed through his head, a strong force grabbed Seya’s arm.

“Kk…….”

An unsettling cracking sound finally came from the Little Duke’s arm.

Until Jack and Tollin pulled Seya up, Flinn Piteos held tightly onto Seya's arm just like that.

Seya didn't struggle.

It was brief, but Seya quietly did not refuse the helping hand.

Because there was no fool who would save an opponent they intended to kill, even at the cost of tearing out their own arm.

Seya, thus safely pulled up, let Jack's voice, which had started a lecture on how stupid and dangerous a thing he had done, flow in one ear and out the other, blankly staring at the Little Duke, who, just like him, was getting an earful from Tollin.

“Little Duke, please swear to me right now that you will never do such a reckless thing again! Right now!”

“Tollin, calm down. It looks like the veins on your forehead are about to burst.”

“Are my veins the problem right now! Your arm almost burst, Little Duke!”

The Little Duke, who had finally drawn a roar from the frustrated Tollin, nodded with a flinching expression.

“Alright, I won't do such a thing again.”

Tollin, knowing his nature to always keep a promise, also finally regained his composure.

The Little Duke, who was patting the shoulder of Tollin who was breathing raggedly, finally turned his head and met the eyes of Seya, who couldn't look away from him.

“It's been a while.”

As it became clear he distinctly remembered his theft, Seya’s shoulders flinched.

“I, I have committed a crime worthy of death. Please spare my life, please, please…….”

The Little Duke, looking down at Seya who was bowing his head and only muttering pleas to be spared, slowly opened his mouth.

“……Do you still think we’re going to kill you?”

At the slow, calm question, Seya stopped the broken, reflexive apology he was chanting and looked at the Little Duke’s face.

They were clear and unwavering gray eyes.

Seya thought for the first time in his life that a gray like an ashen, clouded sky was beautiful.

“……No.”

At the enchanted-like answer, the eyes holding the gray pupils curved.

For the first time in his life, a smile of pure joy, not ridicule or cynicism, was directed at him.

In that moment, Seya felt something move greatly within him.

A strong impulse arose, wanting to make the noble before his eyes even happier.

“I’m sorry. I know you won't kill me. I mean it this time.”

A sincere apology, not one to escape the situation, popped out without him realizing.

Seya could immediately tell his action was the right answer.

The Little Duke’s eyes curved even more.

Seya bit the inside of his cheek with the strong premonition that he had lost his chance to escape forever.

I’m dead meat to Mir now.

***

“Sob, sniff.”

Mir felt his consciousness faintly return at the sound of sobbing ringing in his ears.

He remembered getting in the food line, being guided by some man in the middle, and being led to another room.

He also seemed to remember being hit on the head from behind right after that.

As proof of that, Mir wrapped his hand around his throbbing occiput and raised his body.

Seeing as his elbows and ankles were also aching a bit, it seemed they had tossed him around quite a bit.

“Is it because they’re going to kill us anyway? They’re really rough.”

Ignoring his aching limbs, Mir looked around his surroundings.

It was as expected.

Dozens of children were locked in a small room with him.

Tattered clothes, worn for who knows how long, and grimy faces from not being able to wash.

It seemed certain they were all in the same situation.

Above all, there seemed to be no child among them who looked over 12 years old.

Convinced he had been captured correctly, Mir slowly scrutinized the faces of the children in the room.

The problem was that Seya was nowhere to be seen.

Mir approached a child among them who looked relatively old, wasn't crying, and thus seemed to have completely given up.

It was because they had the highest probability of having been held here the longest.

As Mir approached and his shadow faintly fell, the child looked up at Mir with an annoyed face.

“What are you looking at?”

Did I pick wrong?

At the abrasive tone, Mir shrugged and settled down next to the child.

“How long have you been caught?”

“Why are you asking that?”

Mir tilted his head at the cynical reply.

“What's the big deal about answering?”

“Because if you waste energy, you die quickly.”

“If you had just answered in the first place, I don't think any energy would have been wasted.”

At Mir’s answer, the child who was already sitting there looked at Mir as if thinking ‘what kind of weirdo is this’ and sighed.

“……It’s been about a week.”

“Then you must have seen all the other kids being brought in during that time?”

At the expression that seemed to say ‘so what if I did?’, Mir quickly stood up and spoke again.

“You haven’t seen a kid? This is much taller than me. My name is Seya. Has a fiery temper, so if they were caught, they would have immediately started kicking the walls and raising hell. And……”

Mir, who was indicating the height with his hand, wasn’t sure if saying this would help, so he grimaced for a moment before continuing.

“……It’s a girl.”

Though it's hard to tell.