Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival [WN] - Chapter 171.5

“…Oh, hey?”

I suddenly stood up and started drinking pills from my [Shadow Storage] and water from my [Flowing Water], and Jessha across from me shouted in confusion.

“Why are your shackles off?”

“” took them off.”

“…What?”

I heard a voice that sounded even more puzzled.

“Why not try removing it on your own?”

“Haah?”

“Bothersome.”

I frowned at Jesha, whose voice was raised as I unlocked the locks on the bars of my cage with the lock-picking technique I learned from Viro as a scout.

As I was about to walk out of the door without making a sound, Jessha called out to me in an unusually panicked tone.

“Aria, take off my shackles too!”

“Not right now, Jesha don’t have the Concealment skill, right?”

“What are you– ah!”

I popped a pill into Jesha’s mouth as she was about to scream again.

“Nutritional pills. If you lick the drops of water dripping from the ceiling, your strength will be healed, so just wait and see. I’ll go check the surroundings.”

“He, hey!”

Even if we got out of the dungeon, if there were a thousand soldiers on the upper floor, it would be difficult to escape even if I freed Jesha. It was dangerous to make a major move without at least checking the strength of this fort and the surrounding situation.

There was also a nagging question. Why did they lock him up in such a simple way?

Were they simply treating us as prisoners of war? It was a terrible environment to hold ordinary prisoners of war, but it was too lenient to leave us without at least disabling us properly in a world where magic exists.

The walls of the dungeon should have at least some protection against earth magic, but if a magician was prepared to break their arms to escape, shackles wouldn’t mean much to them.

Currently, my leftover weapon was a set of pendulums I had stored in [Shadow Storage], several hidden weapons I borrowed from my master, and knives given to me by Feld and Sera.

I was bare-handed and barefoot without armor, but I had magic and poison, and a crossbow, although I only had a dozen arrows.

Even if my main weapon were taken away from me, that would not diminish my fighting ability. If the forces in this fort were so few, the reason for keeping me alive would be meaningless–

“I will assassinate them all.”

I used Concealment to make sure there were no other prisoners of war, and then moved straight upstairs.

I did not know if it was day or night outside, but since it is a fort, there are no windows and it remains dimly lit. It may be possible that we were at the bottom of the several floors of that dungeon, but it was a good place to hide.

Moving to the upper floor, I encountered soldiers several times. The familiar black armor seemed to be the Demon Army. Each time, I would stick to the ceiling and wait for the soldiers to pass by.

No rush. No need to panic. No need to kill them and cause a commotion.

From the looks of it, there were not many soldiers. Perhaps, there were many soldiers still stationed in Cutlass. For the same reason, there were few soldiers of high rank. If I was physically healthy and well-equipped, I would be able to escape.

As I was exploring the dimly lit fortress, I heard voices arguing from somewhere.

I could not understand the content, but to some extent I could guess the target by the tone of voice and the tone of the argument. They were arguing, but it didn’t sound like soldiers fighting with each other. From the feeling that both were suppressing their emotions, it was likely that they were of the commanding class in this fort.

Commanders did not have to be high-ranked to be in command, but high-ranked warriors and magicians could hold high positions if they were on the battlefield.

There was no need to approach where such an opponent might be, but after waiting for a while, one of those voices came towards my direction.

“…”

A few dozen seconds of waiting…. Just by the way he walks and the sound of his footsteps, I could tell that the person had some fighting ability.

There was no need to make a move. It was enough to confirm the enemy’s strength.

But the moment the person approached me, I took my hand off the ceiling beam to which it was attached and attacked from behind.

“What?!”

A man in military uniform who looked like a Demon Army officer reacted as quickly as he could in surprise, and I kicked the man in the chin with my knee while fighting off the swinging man’s elbow strike with my hand.

I pushed him down and thrust my crossbow into the man’s face while stomping on his throat with my bare foot to crush his voice.

“Since when did you become my enemy? Camille.”

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Also check out my other novels: Reincarnated into a Game as the Hero’s Friend, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, and A Girl Who Was Told “You Have No Talent” Turned Out To Be A Talented Monster