Capítulo 59: Arrow Marks
Chapter 59: Arrow Marks
Bare keep town's Market Street appeared too quiet before the dawn. From time to time, one would hear the whizzing noises of wind and the howling noise of wolves outside the town, making the surroundings eerier.
Suddenly, a snorting sound of a drunken man came from the roadside and alerted the two human figures who were stealthily walking towards the north.
Both of them carried someone on their backs and appeared sneaky.
After Abium and Huggin escaped from the fortress, they entered the commoners' residential area and went further towards the northern part of the town. After that, they walked past many streets and alleys and finally reached the market street.
Huggin glanced at the surroundings, moved towards the right side street alley road, and asked.
"You seem to know much about this town, my friend. Who are you?"
There was a trace of suspicion that appeared in his tone.
Meanwhile, Abium also closely followed after him and spoke in whispers.
"I have been here before, Your Highness. I'm Abium. As for my origin, it's secret." Abium smiled as he said those words.
On the other hand, Huggin shook his head and asked further.
"Why did you save us? Although Elves have some deep ties with the Royal Family and the Academic Mages, I don't think any sane elf would put his life on the line to save a human Prince."
'Oh? He isn't a naive Prince as I thought.'
"I'm not a pure elf, Your Highness. I'm a half-human and a half-elf." Abium's response made the Crown Prince shut his mouth.
In annoyance, Huggin raised his hand, smacked Nicolaus's nape, and continued to walk.
Meanwhile, Abium looked at his friend's sorry state and said with a helpless sigh.
"Don't kill him, Your Highness. He is just a fool who doesn't care anything about politics."
"If so, why is this fool colluding with those guys?" Huggin asked in a cold tone. In truth, he was quite pissed inside. If not for Abium's presence, he would've long taken out his sword and killed Nicolaus!
At that moment, Abium also frowned and then spoke.
"There is something else troubling me for a while, Your Highness. How do you think your younger brother managed to sneak into the fortress without an insider's help? Although Prince Raollet is powerful, I don't think he has the skill to fool thousands of elite guards."
'Insider's help?'
Prince Huggin suddenly stopped his footsteps as he heard those words, turned his gaze towards Abium, and asked in surprise.
"Are you saying that someone else helped him enter the Fortress?"
"It's Baron Tibbott, Your Highness. If I'm not wrong, this fool's father might be the one who informed Prince Raollet about the secret gathering. But what he didn't expect was the Holy Maiden's arrival."
'In the past, Baron Tibbott sacrificed his life to save Prince Raollet's life during the Grand Nobles' Gathering plot and earned the title of Hero. But why did he do that? It's simple. Baron Tibbott hadn't betrayed the Royal Family like other nobles at all. If I hadn't interfered earlier, he might've chosen to reveal his identity and saved Prince's life instead. If that happened, things would've gone in an unpredictable direction, which would've led to Crown Prince losing his arm. Although I don't know who succeeded in the past, this Bare Keep Town incident became the starting point for the Peral Kingdom's fall.' A deep sigh leaked out of his mouth as he thought about the future. Thankfully, he managed to alter the kingdom's future a bit.
At that moment, Huggin showed a dumbfounded look and asked in shock.
"Are you serious?!" He recalled earlier incidents and soon realized that it might be possible!
'Raollet! Why didn't he mention any of this?! If I had arrived a little late, things might have gone in an unpredictable direction! I would've faced the wrath of Mage Alius and Grandfather. Tsk, I need to have a long chat with this moron.' He gashed his teeth in anger.
"I'll ask Raollet about it later." He muttered as he calmed down his anger, continued walking, and asked another question.
"Do you know anyone in this town who might help us?"
"It's a rural town, Your Highness. We are on our own."
Abium responded calmly and soon noticed that they had reached the end of the hallway.
But just as he moved towards the exit, he suddenly halted his footsteps, turned his gaze towards the right side wall, and soon saw a strange word written on it along with an arrow mark.
They appeared reddish color and gave off a feeling of omen to Abium's heart.
A palm-sized humanoid wooden sculpture was also hung next to the arrow mark and appeared creepy in the night.
'Imp sculpture? Who in the right mind would sculpt such a thing? Evil Cult members?' Abium raised his eyebrows, moved closer to the arrow mark, and looked deeply at the sculpture.
It resembled a demonic imp's sculpture with irregular long ears, a sharp nose, long hair, and reddish eyes.
"The artist who created this sculpture has a horrible sculpting experience. This sculpture's eyes, nose, ears, and mouth are in an irregular shape." Abium said while sighing, shifted his attention towards the strange word, and soon furrowed.
"Rune word?" He showed a surprised look on his face and tried to read it.
"E-H-L-P... Ehlp? It isn't even a word!" He suddenly thought of something and soon facepalmed.
"Wait. The person trying to write the word 'Help'? It appears more like a fool's work."
Meanwhile, Prince Huggin also looked at the wall and raised his eyebrows.
"Apprentice Mage? Someone is trying to help us?"
Abium went silent for a moment and soon spoke.
"It might be a trap, Your Highness."
"But we don't have any other better option, right? Why not follow this arrow mark direction?" Prince Huggin suggested.
'Something feels off. Who in the right mind would draw an arrow mark on the wall to help someone? Won't the soldiers also notice this and follow after us? It looks more like a children's prank than an apprentice mage's work. It's better to leave this town through the underground passage.' Unfortunately, he had to give some respect to the Crown Prince's words. Otherwise, who knew what would happen in the future? Although he was a good man in the past, he didn't dare to be on bad terms with him.
While he was in deep thoughts, he heard a clattering noise from the market street and soon squinted his eyes.
"Enemies!"
He hurriedly hid next to the garbage bin and slowly placed Prince Raollet on the ground.
Meanwhile, Prince Huggin followed his action, placed Nicolaus on the ground, and hid under the wall's shadow.
Simultaneously, he unsheathed his sword and gripped it tighter to get ready for battle.
But Abium stopped him and spoke in a low voice.
"Stop making noises, Your Highness. We don't have any time to fight now. They will leave in a minute or two."
As he had stated, the soldiers woke up the drunken men and beggars, asked them if they had seen someone, and left the street in five minutes.
"They left."
Abium quietly picked up Raollet, put him on his shoulder, and walked towards the alley's exit.
At that moment, he thought of moving away from here and entering Slum Street first!
'It will take some time for the soldiers to shift their attention to slum areas. But they would never expect that we will escape this town through the slum's underground passage.' He thought to himself, entered the next street's road, and soon froze as he saw another arrow mark on the opposite side.
'T-This...'
He hurriedly took out an ink bottle and walked towards the arrow mark drawn on the opposite building wall.
Then, he opened the Ink tab, sprayed it on the arrow mark, and made it unrecognizable.
"Watch out for any similar arrow marks, Your Highness. If you find one, notify me. It seems some kid is playing a prank on us."
His face turned solemn as he said those words.
Once again, they entered the nearby dark alley and moved towards the slum street.
After taking a few turns, they arrived at the end of the Commoners' residential area and saw a small wooden fence separating the commoner's residential area and the slum street.
'Here we are.'
Abium quietly observed the surroundings and soon zeroed his gaze on his right side.
At that moment, two leather-armored guards sat next to the wooden entrance gate and seemed to be in the middle of deep sleep.
"We are going to Slum Street?" Huggin's face turned ugly as he realized Abium's plan. Although he only went to slum areas three times in the past, he had deep memory of those places.
"You can't expect a hygienic environment everywhere, Your Highness," Abium spoke as he stealthily walked closer to the wooden fence and checked it.
Let's jump over this fence," Huggin suggested.
"Nope. The wooden blocks might break if we try to climb up. Even if it didn't, the fence will create creaking noise and alert the guards." He spoke solemnly and turned his gaze towards the sleeping guards.
If Nicolaus and Raollet were not in an unconscious state, they could have had an easy time crossing the fence.
'Unfortunately, both are still in an unconscious state.'
Muttering inwardly, Abium placed the Prince Raollet on the ground, took out his sword from his space ring, and walked toward the guards.
He soon arrived near the sleeping guards and slashed his sword at their necks.
A second later, both of their heads rolled down and fell while spraying blood in all directions.
Without even minding the blood, he stored the sword back into his space ring and turned around.
He hurriedly moved back, picked up Raollet, and moved towards the wooden entrance door.
"We've to move faster." He spoke as he unlocked the door and pushed it with his right hand.
The wooden door made a creaky noise a second later and opened slowly.
But soon, a stretch of excretory smell came from the other side and assailed their nostrils.
Abium quickly covered his nose and stepped into Slum Street.
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