CH 3

Within the next moment, the guard hunched his neck like a turtle and trembled, clenching his eyes tightly.

…I’m dying!

However, unexpectedly, there was no cool sensation hitting his neck, and with that the guard opened his eyes that were closed previously.

Rexid, who he thought would have pulled out a knife from his waist right away, looked unexpectedly calm.

While glancing inside the empty prison, Rexid slowly blinked his golden eyes and gave Owen a gesture with his chin.

“Find out how she got out.”

Owen entered inside prison with an insignificant expression.

He looked at the shackles stuck at one corner, the locks to the drains, and the fork that displayed signs of being melted and hardened, and returned back to Rexid.

“After removing the shackles, she escaped to the drainage.”

“Hey, cut it out. Even I can see that. I mean, how did she unlock the shackles and locks? Did the stupid guard got his keys stolen?”

Suddenly, Rexid turned around to face the guard who was trembling behind him, and grinned.

He may be smiling, but if she had really stolen his keys, he was ready to behead him instantly.

The guard, who had been silent, shook his head and swiftly lifted the keys in his waist.

“Let’s not victimize the wrong person. Perhaps… she had melted it to make the key. That’s how she unlocked the shackles and used the same method to access the sewers.”

Owen who returned, while carrying the fork, burst out laughing.

It was just when he didn’t think she would really escape from the prison.

“But even if the keys weren’t stolen, I would have to hear how Viper got ahold of this tableware here.”

Owen said, waving a fork in front of the guard’s eyes.

“I-I’ll call the cafeteria entrance managers right now!”

Indeed, it was ‘easy’ to escape, but the defense of the Drax camp was not so lax.

Especially since Viper, like other first-class criminals, was prone to cause problems, so dozens of guards were always closely on watch.

In addition to managing the temperature and sleep hours, the guards in charge took turns every two hours to examine every move.

The fork which became a source of issue was probably taken from the cafeteria, but it was practically impossible to get the tableware out of the cafeteria.

“There’s no way it couldn’t have been activated. I checked it all, but there’s nothing wrong with the detectors.”

It was a huge issue to have sharp utensils such as knives and forks stolen. Thus, criminals in the prison camp were searched with metal detectors installed at each building entrances and exists.

It may be called a metal detector, but it was the latest magical tool made to react sensitively to even tools made of alloy materials that mostly consisted of non-metals.

Even if one may trick the human eyes, one could never bypass safely while standing before the detector.

But the Viper did it.

How the hell?

“Well… I’m the manager who guarded the exit of the cafeteria last night.”

A skinny guard was called to Rexid and Owen.

“Did viper go through the metal detector safely yesterday?”

The cafeteria guard reacted with a look of surprise and contemplation from Rexid’s question. There seemed to be something.

“Tell me every single thing.”

The cafeteria’s guard trembled at Rexid’s frosty tone of voice as he recalled yesterday’s incident.

It was last night.

It was after Viper had finished eating.

She stood in front of the detector with a look of indifference, and the large circular detector immediately sent a red signal warning, beeping.

The restaurant guard was surprised, and Viper looked even more surprised.

Her gaze said why the hell it was ringing.

「 What is it? What did you carry out? 」

「 What are you talking about? I’m sure I would’ve got caught here. What sort of nerve would I have? 」

Viper, who had a look of injustice on her face as if she was about to cry, was startled and hurriedly pulled something out of her head. It was a spoon.

「 Ahhh! What is wrong with me? Sorry. I’m really sorry. While I was eating, my hair was drooping, and it was getting in my way. I forgot that I had it stuck in for a while and just came out. 」

As she returned the spoon to the restaurant guard, Viper put her palm on his hand and begged.

Indeed, her hair was messy and she had seemed uncomfortable eating.

If she tried to steal something else, it would have been a knife or fork rather than a spoon.

Crucially, wasn’t Viper a genius swindler who was known to be smart?

She knew about the existences of the metal detector. How could she overlook that fact and pass by so carelessly?

The restaurant guard was suspicious and sent Viper away with a short warning to be more cautious next time.

That was all he had…

“We’ve definitely recovered the spoon! She couldn’t have taken it with her.”

While looking at the cafeteria guard who shouted as if he was falsely accused, Rexid stroked his jaw and gulped.

“Aha….!”

As he was thinking, Owen who was next to him, then laughed.

“She must have hidden the stolen utensil somewhere else. The one she had in her hair was a facade to hide it.”

“What?”

When metal utensils were carried out, they would have been caught by the detector no matter what.

No matter how poisonous the Viper was, she does not have the ability to make a normal detector not work.

So the fork that would have been taken away was hidden somewhere in her body, and she put a spoon in her head to trick the cafeteria guard’s eyes in response to the detector.

Rexid, who slowly understood Owen’s words, sighed in acceptance, and soon looked into the air and laughed his head off…

“Hahahaha! Hahahaha…..!”

Even with the escape of the first-degree criminal, he was just having pleasant laugh without any worries.

Rexid, who looked like a wild beast with something delicious in front of him, muttered as his eyes shined once again.

“This is really the real deal.”

“Didn’t I tell you, she wasn’t someone who would obediently let herself be executed?”

“I know.”

For now, all that was confirmed was the trick she had pulled to escape from prison, but it was enough to satisfy Rexid.

For some reason, it seemed that there would be no failures if the swindler with that bold appeal stand beside him.

“But there is one thing I’m curious about.”

Rexid said, stroking his chin with thoughtful eyes.

“Isn’t she the Viper who’s been moving around acting so meticulously for four years that you couldn’t even find out her identity? Why was such a person caught in vain in my estate?”

Only that remained a question.

“Who’s the one who caught that fellow? Since he had caught that amazing Viper, wouldn’t he be useful investigator too?”

“Well, let’s find out right away.”

It was then Owen nodded in agreement with Rexid’s question.

A group of pale-faced guards rushed forward from a distance.

“Y- Yo- Your highness!”

“What?”

“K-kill me please!”

“Please, kill us!”

With tears in their eyes, the guards suddenly knelt down, placing their foreheads at Rexid’s feet.

“What is it?”

As the frustrated Rexid frowned and asked, the guard at the front said, trembling.

“T-The treasure of h-his highness, that were in the un-underground vault has disappeared.”

Rexid blinked for a moment to understand the guard’s words, and soon burst into laughter.

“My… ring?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Ah, damn it!”

Owen, who was listening, held his forehead and clicked his tongue.

The treasure of Rexid van Hessen, which can be seen in the underground vault of the Drax prison, was a ring which symbolizes the imperial family.

In the House of Hessen, there was a blue mineral called ‘Elphier’, which had been handed down from generation to generation, symbolizing the noble blood of the imperial family.

When the royal family was born, it was customary to attach a ring, bracelet and coffin made with this Elphier as a symbol.

As a matter of course, if one was to lose this royal treasure, it becomes a huge problem.

Thus, the royal family cherished their treasures as much as their lives, and used to hide them in unexpected places with given various magic to prevent theft or loss.

It’s gone now.

“Crazy…”

When a curse word popped out of Rexid’s mouth, the guard planked his forehead back on the ground, trembling.

But unlike the horrible murmur, Rexid was smiling.

“Turns out she was deliberately caught.”

“Yeah. Now it makes sense. From the beginning, she came to our estate aiming for the treasure of the imperial family. The reason she identified herself as the Viper is because…”

“She would have had to be imprisoned in the Drax prison camp.”

Unless if you were a notorious criminal, you would have never been imprisoned in a Drax prison camp.

Viper was caught deliberately in attempt to steal the ring and had identified herself in order to be escorted here.

She spent about a month in the Drax prison camp.

Within that month, Viper had located the treasure of the imperial family and released numerous magic formulas that had been hung to prevent it from being stolen, eventually stealing it and escaping leisurely.

“Hahahaha…”

He had never imagined this…

As Owen watched Rexid smiling as if he was surprised, he shrugged his shoulder.

“Isn’t it a good thing, that you listened to what I said?”

“Yes, we would have been in trouble if such a defense policy hadn’t been planted.”

Rexid, clicked his tongue and raised his left wrist.

On his wrist was a dark red, intricate pattern. This was a magic that required poison, an ancient magic.

In ancient times, this magic was made to prevent slaves from escaping. The principle was to form a connection between master and slave through the use of poison made using the blood of the caster. The runaway slave would be forced to return instinctively to the place of the master, suffering severe pain all over the body as soon as the master invokes the spell.

When he had decided to get his hands on the Viper, Owen recommended it as a minimum measure to hold her. In fact, at first, Rexid had no intention of doing this.

He had decided that he would not use the spell even if he it placed.

「There has to be trust between two people in order to gain help or not. When I attempt to use a spell to make her a slave to be shoved around, at what rate do you believe the Viper will give me her allegiance?」

「Unlike someone who drops about 100 heads every time a war breaks out, she is sensitive to human rights.」

「That’s not the point.」

「Yes, I know what you mean. But we can’t help it. Viper is an outstanding person. If it isn’t for this forced injection, you wouldn’t be able to tie her to your side. I assure you.」

Owen, a smart and cool butler, was right about everything he said.

Rexid had thought she might not accept the offer, but he didn’t think she’d run away right in front of him…

If she was able to escape like this, they may be lucky enough to catch her few times, but will miss her again.

Rexid sighed as he slightly glanced at Owen, who was showing his humble pride asking him to reconsider, and slowly clenched his left fist.

There was a small light on the pattern above his wrist, and soon the spell activated.