Staying here, I’d just be waiting for death…
Leorino forced his trembling legs to move and opened the door.
He glanced left and right before silently slipping into the corridor. After confirming his approximate location, he began moving toward the room he had in mind.
In the outer fortress of Zweilink, numbers were engraved on stone pillars at regular intervals. Leorino was lucky to have learned the structure of Zweilink during his research in the Palace of Defense.
He didn’t know how the battle was progressing. If he was to believe Smirnov’s words, not much time had passed since the invasion of the outer fortress. If that was the case, he should be able to reunite with the Royal Army once he reached the inner fortress.
The issue was the area in between. The Royal Army likely still had the upper hand, but he had no way to confirm it contained no enemy soldiers.
Traversing the buffer zone on foot would take a grown man over an hour—would Leorino manage to reach his allies in the inner fort? Would his legs, once broken and stitched back together, be able to hold up until then?
He was not Ionia anymore. Leorino did not have a strong, fit body like him.
But the situation was the same as eighteen years ago. Even if he was alone, Leorino had no choice but to try.
With the help of the moonlight, Leorino carefully sneaked down the corridor. Eventually, he arrived at his destination without being spotted. It was truly a miracle he hadn’t encountered any enemy soldiers on the way.
He slowly placed his hand on the door, praying that it would open. It was unlocked.
“Thank God…”
He slipped into the dim room.
The room was small. It wasn’t furnished except for the shelves lining the wall, and it was hard to tell its purpose at first glance.
However, this was one of the most important rooms in the fortress. It contained a hidden staircase that led to the ground floor. This was the secret Ionia had learned when he was assigned to Zweilink.
It was the escape route he had used when he and his men escaped from the enemy-filled outer fortress that night.
He suspected that the enemy was likely unaware of the existence of the room, and it appeared he was right.
But he couldn’t be certain about Smirnov. Edgar also knew about this hidden staircase. It was possible he had told him about this room.
He had to hurry.
Leorino peeled the rug off the floor, then he crouched down and carefully studied the patterns on the wooden grain in the moonlight.
“Should be…here.”
He inserted his dagger into a gap in the exquisite woodwork. He held the dagger by the hilt like a lever, and when he pushed the tip of the blade up, he heard a creak, and a section of the floor opened.
Beneath was the hidden staircase. When he gazed inside, he found it covered in dust. There seemed to be no new footprints.
Before heading down, Leorino rolled up the rug and propped it against the wall, as if it had always been there. Otherwise, it would show traces of his escape.
This task alone was quite hard work for Leorino, who was unaccustomed to physical labor and had just exhausted his stamina wrestling a man.
But there was no time to rest. At any given moment, someone could notice the dead body in his room. Once they learned a soldier had been killed, the search for the murderer would quickly begin.
Leorino inserted his body into the hidden staircase.
When only his head remained above the floor, he closed the wooden frame over him with great effort. The staircase immediately turned pitch-black.
He had no light source. He called on Ionia’s memories. Leorino imagined a spiral staircase leading down. Yes, it was just a staircase. There should be no obstacles in his path.
Be brave…!
There should be an occasional ventilation hole in the staircase, the size of a stone.
Leorino descended the stairs little by little, checking the steps with his toes and fingers.
The occasional ray of moonlight through the ventilation holes soothed his frightened, tired heart.
Once he was on the ground, there would be more than just the moon.
In the clear winter night skies of Brungwurt, he would be able to see a sky filled with stars.
…I miss you, Vi.
His body felt heavy from the cold and stress. His cheeks felt strangely cool. When he touched them, he found that they were wet with tears. He wiped them away with his dirty sleeves.
But as soon as he noticed them, the tears just kept coming, and he was helpless to stop them.
“…hic…”
He was afraid.
He was too frail to fight, and he had to survive alone in Zweilink now that it was a battleground.
“Ionia… Lend me your courage, your resolve to fight.”
He descended the slippery stairs, one step at a time, practically crawling. Leorino was alone in the darkness, heading for the ground floor.
He was beginning to think he would never make it, but finally he arrived at the exit on the ground floor. There was no sign of pursuers. Leorino was already exhausted, but still breathed a sigh of relief.
He already felt a dull ache in his legs from the three flights of spiral stairs, which his tense body had to grope around to descend.
The exit was half buried to keep it concealed and was fitted with an iron grate. From the outside, it must have looked like a water drain.
Through the grate, he could see what was going on outside. The air flowing in was cold. The area beyond the grating was dark, but the fortress itself was faintly lit by braziers placed at regular intervals.
Leorino made sure that no one was around and firmly pushed the grate.
“Ngh…”
It was heavy. The exit of the passageway was difficult to open, having laid unused for years. Leorino pushed with all the strength he could muster. His weakness made him feel pathetic. He clenched his teeth, an anguished groan spilling from his lips.
He continued to push with all his might when finally he heard a creak, and the bars began to move little by little. Leorino pushed even harder. His legs were sore and he could not dig them into the ground, so he struggled to lift it.
“…Hng, come on, up…”
With a clang, the bars finally shifted. Leorino lifted himself up with his weakened arms and finally crawled out onto the ground.
He was out. He had escaped the fort.
He slowly crumpled to the ground. He knew he must escape immediately, but he couldn’t bring his exhausted body to move.
In the distance, he heard a throaty voice. It spoke a language he did not recognize. It was an enemy soldier.
Leorino stood up slowly, scolding his trembling body, and returned the bars to their original position with some effort.
Finally, he was able to look up at the night sky.
The stars were so abundant, they filled his vision to the periphery.
This alone soothed Leorino’s heart and gave him a little more energy.
He raised his heavy body and stood up. It was even colder outside. It wasn’t snowing, but it was cold enough that if he stood around, he would freeze in no time at all.
Ah, the air of Zweilink.
Leorino took a deep breath to rouse his heart.
Then he took a step forward. His whole body felt heavy. More than anything, his left leg was already beginning to ache.
He wondered if he would be able to move under the cover of night.
Still…I must go as far as I can.
He would return to the man he loved, no matter what it took.
Dragging his feet, Leorino began walking through the night toward the inner fortress.