Chapter 16:

Takeo’s Escape (Part 2)

Blade: Belonging


After rattling for a while, the door had finally opened. I tried moving to the side in case someone was planning to attack, directly facing the door wouldn’t be ideal. However, I ended up falling over. Why doesn’t anything go my way?

“Sir are you alright?” suddenly the man called out with a pinch of empathy in his voice.

In the darkroom it was hard to see who it was, maybe they will be able to help me get out of here.

“Yeah, I’m okay, can you help me out?” I replied.

“Yes, sir.”

The man came closer. The poorly lit room made it impossible to identify who it was, until the very last moment.

“G-gennai?” I called out.

The man froze for a second.

“You remember me?”

“We took the enrolment exam together, yeah I do remember.”

“I didn’t think Sir Takeo would remember such a low life as me.”

Gennai untied me, my hand was finally free. Being restrained like that was really a pain.

“How have you been? What have you been doing since the enrolment?”

“Since I failed the enrolment, my family threw me out, I had nowhere to go and ended up homeless. Yeah, pathetic of me I know. I ended up joining some gangs to prevent myself from starving to death. Though it may not sound like a good thing, I was able to get back on my feet. I have been able to eat properly and sleep in a bed once again.”

“Why did your family kick you out? Aren’t they supposed to look after you?”

“I disgraced my family's name. You should know how it feels, not being able to meet your parent’s standards. But even though you got kicked out of your family you were able to still stay strong. I fell into darkness, surprised you remembered my name, the name of a pathetic being.”

“I know what you mean, I just…” How stupid of me. What made me think that normal citizens have it easier. Opportunities for work are just as bad for them as for me.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. The other guys are here too, we all ended up in the same hell hole. Seems like you are here too.”

“Did you get kidnapped as well?”

“Oh, no, not at all. We work with them.”

They what? They work with who? Surely not the kidnappers. Is that what he meant by falling into darkness?

“Working with who?” I asked him.

“Well, hate to say it, but with the people who kidnapped you. I thought that was obvious though.”

He’s right, it was obvious, I just didn’t want to believe it.

“Why are you here?”

“Because this is a village we made, a place for people like us, who want to live normally, can escape to. Although, it is built on stolen goods. Not like we can help it. We have nothing, to begin with.”

“Then why did you help me out?”

“Well. I wasn’t intending to. It’s the opposite of what I was told to do.

“What do you mean?”

“I was ordered to kill you.”

Oh… So that’s how it was meant to go… It makes sense. Driving me out to a remote village which is under their control of them. A Prince no one cares for. The exiled Prince that no one would remember.

“Why didn’t you then?”

“Because you aren’t a bad person, although we spent so little time together you still bothered to remember my name. This may sound like a stupid reason but believe me, it meant a lot to me.”

“I’m grateful for this.”

Really glad that he didn’t kill me. Now, I am even more curious about who it was that order for this to happen. All this adds up to my already existing stress, I feel like I’m on the verge of exploding.

“I don’t know how the others would react if I let you go free so we will make a little scene to make it seem that you escaped.”

“How will we do that?”

“I’ll cut those bracelets off so you can use magic and just attack me.”

“What do you mean take off the bracelets to use magic?”

“Those bracelets they put on your hands prevent you from using any magic, at least any known magic that is. It’s recent underground technology so I wouldn’t expect you to know that.”

I attempted to use my magic with those bracelets on and just as he said, it did nothing. This explains why I felt even more powerless after they put them on. So, the rope wasn’t what was preventing me from using magic, it was the bracelets. This should have been obvious…

“Oh…”

“Anyways, let me take them off for you.”

He grabbed a saw and began to cut the bracelets. They seemed to be made from durable materials mixed with mana draining stones. Quite smart, surprised we haven’t come up with this earlier.

“Which way is it back to the capital?”

“Follow the road heading east after exiting the village. Just make sure to keep off the road itself, they will probably send people after you.”

“Is it just at the end of that road?”

“All the roads lead to the capital. So, if you’re heading in the right direction, you will reach it.”

“Great. Thank you! You’re a great help. I’ll repay this debt when I can.”

“Haha, yeah. Let’s get going with this.”

“Alright. Let's do it.”

I summoned my sword and swung at Gennai a few times, left him with a few cuts and ran out of the building. Soon after he ran out and began yelling that I escaped.

A few people from the village began to chase after me but soon gave up. I kept running to make sure that I had made a good distance away from them. Finally, I was free. Now, all that I need to do is get back.

Gennai was a big help back there. Glad that it was him who was there and not anyone else. It would have ended completely different if that was the case. I moved away from the street and just laid out on the empty grass plains. This has been a long day, I got to make it back as soon as possible but how far am I from the capital? There was so much more that I needed to ask but there was no time.

I wonder if he rushed me away because he wasn’t sure if what he did was the right choice. Maybe he was considering killing me after all. I will repay my debt to him as soon as I can, I will help him get out of this mess. I must help him, all of them. This has been bothering me since I heard Gennai’s story.

This country is really a mess. I need to get going now. The longer I cry about it here the less time I’ll have to make any progress on sorting out this mess of a country. This is what I need to do. This is something That only I can do, as the prince of the country, I will be the one who saves them all, no one should ever fall into such a life.

After travelling for half a day, I finally arrived back in the capital. I quickly rushed over to the training camp, but everyone seemed to be gone. What is going on? The past two days have been the weirdest days I have had in a long time. Nothing makes sense anymore. I looked around all over the place, but no one was to be seen. The place was deserted.

Entering the city people seemed to be living as normal, no one paid no attention to me, as if I had never existed. I tried talking to some of the local citizens, but all ignored me, walked past or ran away. It feels exactly like the day I was kicked out of the royal family. I was publicly shamed, no one would even come close to me. I was isolated from the world.

This feeling, the urge to just give up…

“Takeo”

A voice called out my name. I looked around but there was no one. The entire world had stopped moving.

“Takeo!”

The voice got louder but there was no one around. Everyone had vanished. The people of the city all vanished in a blink of an eye.

What’s going on…

“Takeo! You’re finally awake.”

I couldn’t see a thing; everything was blurry and all that I could hear is a voice… a familiar voice… a voice of someone important to me. I just can't remember a thing. My memories are fuzzy. 

Oshitami
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