Chapter 15:

Takeo’s Escape (Part 1)

Blade: Belonging


Darkness, one of the few things which I fear, now surrounds me. I knew the night patrol was a bad idea… but how was I supposed to say no to an officer, specifically when Kato was there as well. Only ended up just digging myself into a hole. I don’t even know where I am nor what even happened. The back of my head feels like I'm constantly getting stabbed by pins. The ringing sound in my ears has been going on long before I even woke up.

My stomach was on the verge of flushing itself out, regardless of which way it decided to go it would be a horrible experience. I tried my best to find a light source but in any direction I went in, I ended up hitting a wall. I’m probably trapped in some small box cell with a door.

I laid down on the rock hard floor and waited. Nothing much I can do until someone opens the door. I hope that Kato is fine, knowing him he probably is looking for me or got himself into some kind of trouble.

Laying around in this darkness really removes the sense of time. I have no idea how long it has been. Luckily enough time has passed for the ringing in my ears to go away, I was starting to go insane from it.

I have been thinking about it, who the hell even decided to kidnap me. I hope it's not my brother trying to make a terrible joke.

Wonder what the officer is going to say about this… ‘You were slacking off weren’t you? No wonder you were kicked out of your family’, that sounds like something he would say, they all do after all.

Would I get kicked out of the military for this? I mean, it’s not entirely my fault. I would have to find a good way to word this when writing the report.

I hope that this doesn’t affect my standing in the military, I really can’t afford to get kicked out. Getting in was so much work to start with.

Kato is probably going to give me a nice talk when I get out of here. Can’t wait to have to deal with that.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity there was finally some sound near me. You could hear the footsteps approaching from behind the cell door.

The sound of the rattling keys came closer and closer. Sounds stopped and the door began to unlock. Light flashed straight at me without a second for my eyes to adjust to it.

“Get it up, it's time for you to get going.”

The large masked man grabbed me by my arm and dragged me out of the cell. My eyes were still attempting to adjust. I pulled myself up on my feet and began walking forwards. The corridor was filled with cells, side by side.

“Keep moving, I don’t have all day!” The guard yelled as she pushed me forwards.

My eyes finally managed to adjust to the light, I was able to actually pick up the pace without the guard trying to throw me across the corridor. At the end of it, there was a large room.

My heart stopped for a second as I heard some yelling from across the celler. The voice… the voice which I could recall so well, was yelling. I didn’t want to believe what I was hearing. I decided to overlook it, for the sake of my own mental stability, I don’t want to worry about anything else.

“So… Mr Togoshi, glad that you’re complying with us so nicely. We have a carriage waiting for you outside, hope that you can behave just as well as you have so far, unlike that one noisy fella we have out there.”

“I can’t promise anything, however, I will behave, for now, I don’t really stand a chance against you all here.”

“Glad you are smart enough to figure that out, must be used to being the weaker one since you’re the kicked out prince, hahaha!”

I felt like punching him. I hate when people say stuff like this. Everyone thinks the same about me, no matter where I go in this city people will recognise me as the kicked-out prince. I clenched my fists and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, exactly, ha.”

He stared at me for a moment. “Get him out to the carriage. I’ve had enough of looking at this filth.”

The guy from earlier put a bag over my head and tightened it. They really don’t want to reveal their location to me, which makes it harder to get back to them, however, I can’t do much about this. Finding my way to these guys won’t be too hard once I figure out how they operate.

Outside the building, I could hear people talking. There was one person in particular who sounded awfully familiar but I was struggling to figure out who it was. I tried to listen in more but they all stopped talking as soon as we got close to them.

I was thrown into the carriage and locked up. They never bothered taking the bag off my head either. The cell I was in was stuffy and cramped. I need to figure out a way to get out of this. I have no idea where I will be heading to. I can only assume that the cell on the carriage is magic resistant, otherwise, they would be pretty stupid to throw me in without my arms tied.

After struggling to take off the bag of my head, I finally managed to yank it off once I got into a good angle in the tiny carriage cell. I attempted to summon my sword but the tight space and magic resistant cell prevented it. Seems that I have become too reliant on mana. I should have kept a normal knife on me.

I tried to get an idea of where we are going by peeking through the little windows in the carriage cell but it was far too dark to see out. I wonder if I were to scream would I get anyone's attention… that could potentially work. Though, I would just dig myself a bigger hole; ‘The useless kicked-out prince cant defend himself against a few mear lowlives and screams for help of commoners’, yeah that sounds like something people would start saying.

Why was I born into a royal family… all it has ever caused me is pain. Everyone thinks that being born a royal would make their lives easier, if only it was as they said. Maybe I should have just died… I would have fewer issues and less pain. Father might have been right about that one thing. I shouldn’t have been born.

The carriage came to a sudden stop. I peeked out the little window to see where we were. This was the capital gates. The gate guards stopped us to check the cargo, this will be a chance for them to get caught, didn’t think they were stupid enough to try going through a guarded gate.

Despite my assumption of getting the cargo checked, we moved on through the gate…

Did the guards get bribed? Are they part of the same group? How did we go through the gates without any cargo checks? This doesn’t make any sense. This is literally illegal…

How the country has fallen, never thought that it would get to this state. If only father cared more about what happens in it, instead of about himself. It’s always about him, never anyone else.

The carriage went on and on, I still had no idea how to get out of the carriage. Trying to kick it open would be far too stupid and they would notice. I really have no options. Maybe everyone is right, maybe I am just a worthless kicked-out prince.

Peeking out of the carriage the capital was no longer even visible, the barren empty lands was all there was. The sun was starting to rise slowly, Kato is probably going to have a hard time explaining it. As always I'm a hinderance to others. Kato is one of the few people who don’t see me as a lesser being and ends up suffering because of me… if I wasn’t here he wouldn’t have to deal with the issues which surround me.

The carriage came to a stop once again. I lost myself in my own thoughts, I looked out of the carriage to see where we were. The land was empty, a few trees stood out in the long stretches of the plains.

I tried to listen to the two kidnapper's conversation but the strong winds make it hard to hear anything. Catching the occasional word from what they were saying but trying to connect it to make sense was near impossible.

One of the kidnappers got off and came to the back.

“Time for a break, we still have a long way ahead of ourselves.”

I dragged myself out of the tiny cell and landed on the floor. It felt nice being able to stretch my entire body out.

“Stay still, I need to put this on you.” said one of the kidnappers as he attached stuff onto my wrists.

“What’s this for?”

“Nothing to worry about. Just for safety.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to just lock my hands away as a whole? These bracelets seem rather, well, pointless.”

“They are more effective than you may think.”

I don’t understand, what are they talking about, has the education level fallen this low? This country is nothing but a mess. I walked around for a bit to give my body some natural movement, it really feels nice being able to freely walk around like this.

I wonder if I ran would I get away but which way did we come from… I really wish I had some kind of idea of where we are.

“Oi, get back into the carriage, we need to get going!”

I climbed back into the carriage, they didn’t bother taking the bracelets of my arms at all, the discomfort in this tiny cell only gets worse. As the door for the cell was getting closed I sneaked a stick in to keep it looser than it would normally be. I might be able to make better progress this way.

Once again the carriage was moving. As the sun rose higher and higher over the horizon the cell began to become insufferable. Small tight space, not much breathing space, hot sun; really is a dreadful combination.

From what seemed to be not long before noon, we once again came to a halt. This time we arrived at a small village. We have been travelling for hours, we could be anywhere in the country now. If only I had a better sense of orientation and navigation. My attempt to escape the cell was flawed. I forgot that the hot weather makes it impossible to do anything in, specifically when locked inside a tiny space.

They yanked me out of the cell and dragged me over into a building. The villagers didn’t seem to pay attention to what was happening, most likely just another day for them. The village might even just belong to this organisation, I really hate this… if only the country was organised better and actually protected its people. Why can’t father do this? Why?

They tied me onto a chair in the middle of an empty room, left and locked the door behind them. There are no windows in the room nor no lights. Once again I have been left in the darkness.

I attempted to summon my sword in order to get out but I couldn’t get it to work, no matter how hard I tried. Is the rope made out of some anti-mana material like the cell? Is it even possible to make such a thing? Wobbling the chair around, attempting to loosen the rope around me. They definitely know how to tie people down to chairs, this is too tight. How am I supposed to get out of this?

I carried on wiggling around in hope that maybe I will progress. While I was doing that I heard some rattling behind the door. I stopped moving just in case the kidnappers returned. The rattling got more and more intensive but the door still didn’t open.

“Who’s there?” I shouted at the door.

The rattling stopped.

“Hello?” I shouted once again.

The rattling returned, more intensive than before. The door seemed as if it was about to lose its handle. A moment later the door finally opened up…

Oshitami
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