Chapter 57 – Yet Another Escape

THE PATH THAT THE TEAM went through was basically connected to an old sewer system of the kingdom. The team had to go through it in order to reach their unknown destination.

“Oh, come on!! Why do we have to always end up in the sewers?!” Riku complained.

“But this sewer seems to be no longer used,” said Fergal.

Soon, as the group followed the path of the conveyor belt, they soon reached a place that looked like a tunnel that was built intentionally. The tunnel was lit up by naturally illuminating crystals. And after a few minutes of descending, they finally reached a straight path.

“End of the line. This is probably where they load the ores back to where we came from,” said Raghnall.

“Do you feel that?” asked Drancei.

“Yeah. Wind,” Robin confirmed.

“Let’s go in that direction then,” said Lancea.

The team continued walking until they reached an intersection where the perpendicular path has rail tracks. They followed the rail tracks until they could hear sounds of clanking metals. As they went deeper into the tunnel, they reached an opening that led to a wide area. Down below were hundreds of people that were wielding pickax, striking large boulders, and mining for ores.

Robin was shaken to be in that place again. It was that place, where all the people that Rafflesia ordered to be hunted were being taken. The people who went missing. The people who were "arrested". They all ended up there, forced to become miners.

She saw a group of soldiers patrolling the area. When one miner fell to the ground due to exhaustion, a soldier immediately whipped that person.

Without a second thought, Robin nocked an arrow and shot the soldier, barely missing a fatal shot.

The soldiers were alarmed and looked at where the arrow came from. The miners panicked and dropped to the ground.

Robin jumped down to the area and continuously shot more soldiers.

“Robin!!” Drancei shouted.

More soldiers came charging in. Riku used her magic to wrap the soldiers in rose briars to stop them from advancing. The Rogue Archers and the knights went below as well and guarded the area in case more soldiers came out.

When the people saw Robin and the Rogue Archers, some cheered while others were astonished. Some were even crying and overjoyed. Regardless, all of them were asking for help.

When most of the soldiers were already taken care of, Robin told everyone to calm down. She told them about what happened, and about their mission.

“Robin, we can’t just leave them here,” said Raghnall.

“I know. And I want you to lead them to safety.”

“H-How?” asked Riku. “We’ve basically already alerted the whole kingdom. We’re surrounded and we still haven’t found your princess.”

“We’ll help,” Lancea offered.

“We’ll take the people back to the sewers. It could lead us back outside on a different path,” said Drancei.

“Okay. Then I will continue with Percy and Riku,” said Robin. She then addressed the Rogue Archers. “Keep everyone safe.”

“Just the three of you?” asked Fergal.

“Don’t worry about us, Fergal. Just keep everyone safe and lead them to Shiropolis.”

Raghnall and Fergal led the Rogue Archers and the rescued people with Lancea and Drancei while Robin, Percethal, and Riku continued inside the mine hoping to find the princess.

* * * * *

The trio went through the path where the soldiers came running out until they reached another area with what seemed to be several storage spaces, left and right, for the ores that the forced laborers mined.

“They have been very busy overworking those people,” commented Riku.

“They’re gonna pay for what they’ve done,” said Robin.

“But they cannot be all of them,” said Percethal. “There’s got to be more miners down here.”

Dozens of soldiers suddenly poured in led by Rourke.

“You people are so persistent. And what do we have here? It really is you! The Robin Bodkin!”

“I can’t wait to punch that face of yours, Rourke.”

Rourke laughed. “You’re welcome to try,” he said as he unsheathed his sword, the Cleaver.

“We gotta watch for that sword. It can slash multiple people in one strike!” Percethal warned.

“And you, Percy, I expected more from you!”

“Sir Rourke, whatever this is, you’ve got to stop now!” said Percethal.

“Sorry, Percy, but as far as the kingdom is concerned, you are now a traitor as well. And I do not listen to traitors!”

Rourke charged toward them and slashed his sword sideways. Percethal blocked Rourke's attack with a burst of gust using his Irithium.

But Riku could see it.

The wide blade of the Cleaver could slash through space within a certain proximity and it used mana to do it. Using her magic, she created several briars between her and the soldiers. She also created a thorn-less rose whip and used it to entangle Robin and Percethal and quickly pulled them back to her.

If not for her quick reaction, the two would have been cut in half already.

Rourke didn't let them move freely and quickly charged toward them again.

“You two go on! I'll handle this one!” shouted Robin.

Rourke slashed his Cleaver once again.

“Jump!” Riku shouted.

As Rourke completed his strike, the trio managed to evade the cleaving effect from the Cleaver.

Riku and Percethal landed behind Rourke and quickly went ahead. The soldiers tried to stop them, but both Riku and Percethal managed to knock them away and just went through them with ease.

“Just you and me, Rourke.”

“And what are you planning to do without a sacred weapon? A knight is nothing without a weapon! And you are no longer even a knight! You are nothing!”

Rourke slashed diagonally, but Robin now knew exactly how the Cleaver works thanks to Riku; she saw the overall distance that the Cleaver can cut thanks to the briars and that the cleaver only works in a straight line when they jumped. With that information, Robin could easily use her skills in maneuvering to evade Rourke's strikes.

Rourke continued to release a barrage of cleave-imbued slashes, but Robin dodged them all with ease.

A few more minutes and Robin noticed that Rourke was starting to slow down. After all, the sacred weapons consume the wielders' mana. And in addition, Cleaver's wide blade made it heavy, and does require a lot of stamina.

With one final slash, Robin didn't even bother to dodge and let a weak cleave reach her, putting a small cut on her left cheek.

“Bet you didn't expect to use the Cleaver for this long.”

Rourke wanted to make a comeback, but he was out of breath.

“That's your mistake, Rourke. The weapons do not make us knights. It is our purpose, our goal. And you...you are only a knight in title, and you give the knights a bad name.”

Rourke was enraged. He tried to strike Robin with the Cleaver, but Robin got to him first. Robin nocked an arrow, pulled the string of her bow, and released the arrow point-blank at Rourke's armor.

The arrow splintered as it pierced through Rourke's armor.

* * * * *

For a few hours during Princess Retrieval Team’s operation inside the kingdom, the auction in the Emergent Kingdom’s castle was still going on smoothly.

The attendees were clueless about what was going on outside and only cared about getting their hands on the valuable treasures.

Some of the most popular items were artworks from overseas, antiques, unearthed treasures from fallen kingdoms, and pieces of jewelry.

There are also contemporary items that were being sold that used to be owned by well-known treasure hunters that were already caught by the United Alliance.

And some of the most expensive items were those that came from other races of Laniagea.

But the kingdom could only keep the commotion from the citizens and guests for so long. Some concerned nobles started arriving at the castle, asking for answers about whether they were under attack. The people in Emergania and Cannoppia Arc were raising their concerns regarding the buildup of soldiers in Cannoppia and the news of wounded soldiers coming back from patrolling the borders near Shiromori.

Then, many guests started to become suspicious when the auction was stalled for a few minutes.

Inevitably, after a few hours, since the Princess Retrieval Team entered the kingdom, the kingdom could no longer keep the commotion from the attendees of the auction. Many voiced their concern but were assured that everyone was safe as long as they are inside the castle.

“Father, I think it would be wise to tell them the truth,” said Dionaea.

King Daffodil sighed. He still had reservations about asking the signatories for their support regarding the invasion of Shiropolis. However, the life of her daughter was on the line.

King Daffodil soon addressed the attendees and asked for the presence of the signatories to the castle’s throne room.

There, King Daffodil finally asked the signatories. “My daughter has been kidnapped by the Rogue Archers. And they are on the loose, deliberately attacking our kingdom, even taking down several of our soldiers. It is with a heavy heart that I ask you all for your support. Let us enter the forest and end this skirmish once and for all.”

The signatories simultaneously muttered. Many of them favored Cattleya as she was easy to speak with. Others had their sons interested in marrying Cattleya. The other nations do not consider the Rouge Archers as a threat enough for them to support Emergent Kingdom’s wish to enter the forest. But with Cattleya involved, King Daffodil somehow received enough support.

Meanwhile, while the commotion under the kingdom was ongoing, Rafflesia was already talking to their client somewhere in the kingdom’s harbor, away from the United Alliance’s eyes.

“At this rate, we’ll have to look for another source of ink ores, Prince Rafflesia,” said their client as the ink ores were being loaded to their ship. “We’ve been receiving fewer and fewer ores from your mine.”

“These are nothing but minor setbacks. Before the ink ores beneath our kingdom run out, we’d be already expanding beneath the Shiromori where the ores are abundant. Tell your boss that our current supply is more than enough.”

“Be that as it may, we are still receiving less from what we asked last time. We will be back in two weeks. We are hoping that you will provide more ores as we are behind schedule.”

* * * * *

Riku and Percethal reached another mining area. The area has a more circular, open space that has a high rocky ceiling, wooden walls, and even glass windows in a somewhat higher orientation where people from the inside could observe what was going on down the mining area.

Several tunnels with rail tracks were all around the area, making it look like the center of the mining ground.

The soldiers have already anticipated the arrival of the Rogue Archers and quickly reacted when they spotted Riku and Percethal. The miners quickly hid in the tunnels, not wanting to be involved in the battle.

The sheer number of the soldiers overwhelmed the two and the only thing that was keeping them away was the raging wind that Percethal was blasting them.

Robin arrived just in time and tried to help them, but there were way too many soldiers.

“We're sitting ducks here!” shouted Robin, trying to communicate over the loud, roaring wind.

“There's too many of them! And Riku's almost out of mana!” said Percethal.

Judging by the briars that Robin saw earlier along the way, it seemed that she really did a number on some unlucky soldiers.

Robin glanced above. “Percy, can you make one strong blast of air?”

“If I do that, I'll no longer be able to use Irithium's wind manipulation!”

“Don't worry! After that, there's no one left to use it anyway!”

Robin instructed Percethal on what to do, and on the count of three, Percethal released a blast of air to the ceiling. The soldiers scrambled, afraid that the rocks will fall down and crush them.

But nothing happened.

Percethal stared at Robin who was still looking at the ceiling. “Uhhh...What now?”

Robin sighed, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands. “Let's pray to the three goddesses.”

“Robin!!”

The soldiers charged toward them shouting their lungs out. Percethal and Riku braced themselves. But as if a divine intervention, an explosion occurred and shook the area, completely destroying the rocky ceiling.

It was already too late when the soldiers tried to run back and most of them got buried in soil and rocks.

The forced laborers then attacked the remaining soldiers with their gears while the soldiers were still scrambling and panicking.

As they all looked up, a part of a wooden wall was completely destroyed and the glass windows were shattered. A person can be seen stepping back and was at risk of falling.

“Cattleya? Cattleya!” Robin shouted.

Cattleya heard someone calling her and she peered below. “Robin? Robin!!”

Cattleya was surrounded by soldiers. Her right leg was bleeding after being hit by debris and she could barely move, even more, difficult so as she was carrying the sacred weapons of Thoras, Lancea, and Drancei.

“Come here, princess! We don't want to hurt you!” shouted one of the soldiers.

Robin has a hint of what's going on. There's no need for Cattleya to stand at the edge unless she's in trouble. “Cattleya! Jump!”

The height made Cattleya nauseous. Or maybe it was the lingering smoke from the explosion. Could be the pain and blood loss as well. But one thing was for sure—she could no longer think straight.

Cattleya trusted Robin and jumped.

As she plunged down, Robin maneuvered and scaled the debris and the wall. When she was within her range, Robin caught her in midair and they both landed safely.

“H-Hi,” Robin said.

“Hi,” Cattleya replied.

Percethal was assisting Riku to walk and went ahead of them. “Okay, lovebirds! Time to go!”

Cattleya and Robin jolted.

The forced laborer cheered as they saw Percethal, Robin, and Cattleya safe and gathered around them. They all have different reactions when they saw a Royal Knight, a former Royal Knight who was supposed to be dead, and a princess.

“Princess, you're wounded!” said a concerned forced laborer.

“Please, do not worry about me,” insisted Cattleya. “We need to take you all to safety.”

Regardless, one forced laborer returned with a first aid kit. She managed to cleanly remove protruding shrapnel on Cattleya's leg. She also didn't forget to disinfect it before wrapping the wound with a bandage.

“I know this might not make sense, but does anyone know the nearest exit?” asked Percethal.

One of the forced laborers moved forward. “It ain't much of an exit, but we could follow the conveyor belts that might lead to the surface?”

“Conveyor belt?”

“It's the machine that they installed a few years ago to replace the mining carts. We just dump the ores on the conveyor belt and the machine will take it to the surface on its own.”

“Where would it lead though?” asked Robin.

“We don't know. But there are at least ten conveyor belts that lead to the surface.”

“Are they connected to the sewers as well?” asked Riku.

“Well, yes. The conveyor belts were built on the old mining tracks, which went through the old and current sewers, some even through the Old Emergent Kingdom.”

“We cannot follow these conveyor belts directly to the surface. Soldiers will be waiting for us there surely. So, once we reached the sewers, we must take a different path.”

Everyone agreed.

The group then went to the nearest conveyor belt. One of the forced laborers activated the conveyor belt, making the belt move in an ascending fashion. Everyone rode the conveyor belt and waited until they reached the sewers.

* * * * *

Robin was sitting near Cattleya. She noticed that Cattleya's complexion was still paler than usual, making her worried. They already removed the shrapnel and cleaned the wound, but Cattleya must have already lost a lot of blood and had been stressed for quite some time now.

In front and behind them were the forced laborers who armed themselves with whatever weapons they could salvage from the room where the explosion occurred. Some of them also took the weapons of the soldiers that were buried by the falling soil and rocks, others armed themselves with their pickax.

There were less than a hundred of them, far less than the first group that was saved. It was great news when Robin was told that there are no more forced laborers left at the mining grounds, but they were all saddened to learn that not many survived the harsh condition the forced laborers had to undergo.

“By the way, how did you escape, exactly?” asked Robin to Cattleya.

“I just got lucky, I guess,” said Cattleya weakly. “Got my hands on a lit cigarette, flicked it towards the barrels of gunpowder, and hoped for the best. It was a success, in a way, but I didn't know that I was way up above.”

“I never knew you to be the reckless one,” teased Robin.

“Well, certain circumstances force us to do things we don't usually do.”

Robin and Cattleya continued their conversation until they reached an old sewer system. However, corrupt soldiers were already waiting for them

Percethal, Riku, and the forced laborers did most of the fighting. Riku could not risk using her magic again or she’ll completely deplete her mana pool, so she used the Dragonspear instead. Luckily, the weapon has to be activated manually, so the weapon didn’t drain her mana.

While the battle in the sewers continued, Cattleya started to lose consciousness.

“Cattleya, stay with me!” said Robin.

The forced laborers, having their morale boosted by their escape, managed to fend off the soldiers. They would run straight to the soldiers without any care, scaring the soldiers. But soon, more soldiers arrived, from the sewers and even from the conveyor belt they’d just gone through.

Everyone was already exhausted. Even though everyone was determined to fight for their freedom, their body couldn't just keep up. Even though they had the number, the soldiers were better equipped and more experienced in fighting. Robin wanted to help but she could not leave Cattleya. She was ready to give up at the sight of the soldiers. It's hopeless as they were totally surrounded.

Suddenly, it got freezing cold in front of her, and felt scorching hot behind.

In a blink of an eye, every soldier in front of them was frozen solid, encased in murky ice, while everyone behind them was knocked away by an eerie flame.

“M-Mirana? Siegfried!!” said Riku.

“Lancea, Drancei, and the others managed to cross the lake safely. They told us that you three were left behind,” said Mirana.

“This place is like a maze,” said Siegfried. “Mirana and I got separated, actually. Looks like we both heard the commotion though and went in this direction.”

“What happened to the princess?” asked Mirana.

“She just fainted. But she still needs medical attention.”

“Come on. Let's go this way,” said Mirana.

Just as when they were about to leave, more soldiers arrived from where Mirana came from. Mirana used her magic one last time to block the sewer with a wall of murky ice.

“Dang it! I’m out,” said Mirana. “I can’t deplete my mana reserve any further or I’ll risk passing out. And that’s supposed to be our escape route.”

Seeing how tired Robin looked, one of the strong-looking forced laborers volunteered to carry the princess.

Robin thanked the forced laborer and grabbed the Twinstar instead, Drancei’s sacred weapon, in order to fight when soldiers came out again.

“No worries, let's just follow this belt and we'll soon reach the surface,” said Robin.

“Are you sure, Sir Robin?”

“Wouldn't the soldiers be waiting for us up there?”

“Then we will greet them appropriately.”

Putting their trust in Robin, the group eventually reached the end of the conveyor belt that led them somewhere in the castle’s basement where crates full of ink ores were stacked and loaded onto several wagons by the kingdom’s soldiers.

A chaotic battle immediately ensued as the group fought dozens of soldiers as they pressed onward. Soon, the group reached the harbor where even more castle guards were stationed. The commotion grabbed the attention of Prince Rafflesia who was monitoring the loading of the crates on the boat of the prince’s client.

“That doesn’t look like a minor setback to me, Prince Rafflesia.”

Angered, Rafflesia ordered all the soldiers to stop the escapees.

Even the United Alliance stationed at the harbor saw the commotion, though Captain Nat ordered his men not to intervene, for now.

With so many escapees from the secret mining ground, more castle guards were immediately dispatched and the group had to fight their way through even more soldiers.

Robin and Siegfried led the escapees and served as the group's vanguard while Riku, Mirana, and Percethal protected the escapees from behind.

To avoid being surrounded in all directions, Robin led the group inside the castle. As she searched for the exit though, they had to fight their way through castle guards stationed inside. And as they continued to move forward, they eventually reached the castle hall where the auction was being held.

The guests and organizers saw them and panicked while King Daffodil was quickly protected by the guards. The king was astonished to see so many people in the castle and thought that they were the Rogue Archers.

As the guests tried to leave, believing that their lives were in danger, the castle guards were overwhelmed and couldn’t keep order inside, and had to move away as a stampede ensued from the panicking guests and Robin’s group of escapees.

Robin led everyone outside the castle as they used the commotion to their advantage and they were greeted by more people who arrived at the castle to complain and seek answers. The people complaining outside saw the rushing people coming out of the castle, causing them to run themselves.

Once Robin and the escapees were out, they took control of any carriages available and quickly left the castle grounds. Around fifteen carriages were forcefully commandeered to accommodate all the escapees, much to the owners’ dismay when they found out that their carriages were missing. However, soldiers rode horses and still tried to go after Robin and the escapees.

The carriages traveled fast through the paved road of Emergania Arc. They saw many nobles outside their houses, wondering what the ruckus was all about.

The soldiers riding the horses managed to catch up, but Riku, Mirana, and Siegfried managed to fend them off, making most of them fall off their horses.

When the carriages finally exited the Emergania Arc and entered the Cannoppia Arc, they saw more people littered all over the place, wondering about the amount of soldiers present. Soon, the carriages entered the Sandersonia Arc and the people were not just littered outside, they were also cheering for the Rogue Archers.

The people of Sandersonia Arc were rallying outside and were very hostile to the kingdom’s soldiers.

Riku, Robin, Siegfried, Mirana, and Percethal were on the roof of the carriages and braced their selves as they reached the kingdom’s gate. They noticed that the gate was wide open as mobile towers were being moved to the border.

When the kingdom’s archers noticed the speeding carriages, they started to open fire, but Riku, using the Dragonspear, Robin, using the Twinstar, and Siegfried, using his swords, was able to deflect most of the arrows.

Mirana used her magic, leaving her with a critically low level of mana, making her feel extremely exhausted. Percethal did the same as he used his sword despite having a very low remaining mana. With their combined effort though, all the carriages carrying the forced laborer were safe.

Infantry soldiers attempted to block the road by making a wall of shield, but the speeding carriages instilled fear in them and they all move out of the way.

As a last-ditch effort, the soldiers guarding the gate attempted to close the gate and raise the drawbridge, but the mobile towers were on the way, making it impossible to do so.

The carriages inevitably made it out of the kingdom and soon reached the forest.