I can hear snippets of the conversation between Duke’s guards and the man who manages this room, and apparently, exiles are on the rise recently. Durkis used to send exiles to Roana, but the population has swelled to detrimental levels.
The criminals exiled to Laval surely must receive horrible treatment. I mean, it wouldn’t make sense for Laval to welcome exiled criminals with open arms. I suppose they would be enslaved…
“Good work, sir.”
I’m interrupted from my thoughts by the man bowing deeply to Duke’s guard.
Yes, guards who work at the palace are respected immediately, aren’t they?
The guard looks at me, as if he wants to say something. I shake my head minutely. Unfortunately, I can’t signal any message to him with my eyes covered.
Perhaps reading my mind, the guard hesitates for a moment before murmuring, “Take care,” and leaving the room. To me, his short parting words sound like a heartfelt prayer for my safety.
Old Man Will was right. The information one can attain from vocal color and intonation is incredibly valuable.
……At long last, I’ve matured. Being dumped in an environment without a soul on my side is a first for me. And to enjoy such a situation, I truly must be a baddie…
The corners of my mouth drift upward.
“Don’t move a muscle.”
This room’s supervisor displays his disgust brazenly. I do my best not to stand out.
Thank goodness I changed my clothes. I’m blending in beautifully. I wonder what these other people did. They were exiled, so I’m sure it was bad…… Perhaps they murdered aristocrats.
I eye them cautiously from behind my blindfold.
Everyone looks as though their hopes have been dashed. Since they’re so close to me, I can see their facial expressions well. The apparent married couple seem utterly despaired. Their eyes look dead as they lean against the wall. The complete opposite of me, whose heart is bursting with hopes and dreams. Oh man, now I really want to know what they did!
The information I can obtain simply from observation is limited. I must hear the story straight from their mouths. That will be much more efficient. What’s more…
“What did ya do, sonny? What happened to your eyes?” a large man with a gruff voice asks me.
On paper, I was exiled for erasing the prince’s memory and for abusing Liz. But I can’t reveal that, can I? So I go with a random lie.
“I was exiled… I’m sure you can imagine my crime wasn’t small. My eyes were injured in the process.”
I make my voice as deep as possible, turn my head, and put a hand to my eyes to imply I don’t want to touch on the subject. I think I impersonate a young man’s voice rather well, if I do say so myself.
“Huh. So you’re a murderer, too…”
The man smiles creepily. He looks…impressed.
Well, thanks for jumping to the wrong conclusion.
This seems to pique the interest of the other three.
I answered the man’s question. Now I get to ask some questions in return, right?
“So what are you all in here for?”
After a moment’s hesitation, the large man answers, “We’re all in here for about the same crime.”
The man in the married couple nods. The remaining bald man stays silent.
He’s tall, and his body is covered in what appear to be knife scars. I suppose this bald man is an assassin or something.
“You’re all murderers…”
The man smirks at my statement. “Sonny, what’s your name?”
“……Lia.”
I answer after a moment of thought. Unable to come up with a boy’s name off the top of my head, I reverse the syllables of my nickname, Ali.
“Lia, eh? I’m Phil.”
“I’m Mil, and that’s my wife, Ruby.”
Ruby gives little reaction to Mil’s introduction. She just remains propped up against the wall. The bald man is still silent.
“It’s time. Outside.”
Just after we finish sharing our names, the supervisor opens the door to the room. We are all shoved toward a horse-drawn carriage with bars.
Yes, this barred carriage makes me feel much more like a prisoner. Then again, that raises the risk of having rocks thrown at me…
Everyone quietly enters the cage without protest. It’s a big cage, with ample space for more than five of us.
“Don’t struggle.” The driver glares at me.
Wow, a death glare from somebody I’ve never met. Behold the power of a criminal.
“If only we had the strength to struggle.” Phil smiles cynically.
After a while, the carriage suddenly lurches to a start, pitching my body forward.
I’ve never been in such a roughly handled carriage… I guess drivers come in all types.
“So how old are ya, Lia?”
Unsurprisingly, it’s Phil who breaks the silence.
……I guess there’s no harm in giving them my real age.
“Fifteen…”
“Fifteen?!” he gasps in surprise. “You’re awful small.”
Well, I’m a girl. I can’t help being dainty.
“You’re younger than my daughter.”
“……You’ve got a daughter?”
“Yeah…” His face clouds over a little.
……Was I not supposed to go there? If he has a daughter, does that mean he’s married?
I ask a question I figure he won’t mind answering.
“Just a daughter?”
“Yeah. One beautiful daughter. I treasure her more than anything.”
“……Do you think you’ll ever see her again?”
“Guess not.” He looks down and smiles sadly.
He killed someone, knowing it would mean he would never see his treasured daughter ever again…and, on top of all that, that he would be exiled.
To be honest, it’s difficult for me to believe the king I know banished these people. Durkis is a wealthy kingdom, yet it has an impoverished village that’s closed off by magic, and the crown is doing nothing to improve conditions there. What’s more, for some reason, people are frequently being exiled.
……Something very big might be at work behind the scenes that I don’t know about.
I shouldn’t have wasted my time fretting over the heroine. Can I punch the game devs who created such harsh conditions? Otome games shouldn’t have dark underbellies like this!
“By the way, I heard some rich girl was exiled, too. Think that’s true?” one of the drivers asks his companion.
……My, how quickly rumors spread. Well, it’s surely the news of the nation.
“Oh, she’ll probably live a cushy life in a castle in Laval.”
“Yeah, probably. Most crimes committed by rich people get covered up. Oh, to be filthy rich.”
Ummm, if you ask me, I think the nobility are locked up in cells or sentenced to hard labor just like everyone else…
Naturally, I have no intention whatsoever of being enslaved. My mission is to learn every last thing about Laval. I have to sneak into the castle for that…but how?
“D’ya know where they’re taking us?” the husband in the couple asks.
“Beats me,” Phil sings back. “Someplace unpleasant, I reckon.”
“……I’d appreciate if it’s close to the castle.”
“Huh?”
“Er, never mind.”
Oops. I said that out loud.
Deciding to conserve my energy for the time being, I slowly close my eye.
“Hey, we’re here. Get up, kid.”
My eye slowly opens to a gruff voice.
“You were out cold,” Phil says with a smirk I can see through my blindfold.
Still half-asleep, I stand and leave the cage.
Where are we? I know we’re in Laval, but I don’t see any Laval flags or anyone who looks like they’re from here…
We are all unloaded into a dark place surrounded by bricks.
……What is this vile stench?
My face twists in disgust as the powerful smell stabs my nose.
It’s a different sort of stench from Roana’s… Well, one thing’s certain: This isn’t the kind of place nobility hangs around.
“Where are we?” Mil looks around, holding his wife, Ruby, close. He’s clearly terrified.
“Welcome to Laval,” a deep, sinister voice booms from the other end of the room. A tough young man wearing glasses is standing there.
……It looks like he’s wearing a suit. Hard to tell if it’s casual or formal. Come to think of it, the world-building in this game sure has everything, huh?
“Where are we?” Phil asks.
“Under an arena in Laval,” the man answers.
Why an arena…? I can tell his answer makes everyone just as nervous as it makes me.
Aha. Now I get it. We’ve been exiled. In other words, we’re as good as dead. And they’re going to exploit us for entertainment. Maybe that’s why Laval accepts exiled persons from Durkis…
The man points at Phil and with a faint sneer says, “We’re going to have you fight up there tomorrow. And as for your opponent… How does a starved lion sound?”