The Lich of Glory Knight Spirit: Moving towards Krimasha!-Chapter 662 - 23: Escape (Part 2)

The wind blew gently, and the slender leaves swayed slightly in the breeze.

Clear water flowed along the stream, passing in front of the mountain cabin.

Inside the cabin, with its tightly closed doors and windows, it was pitch black, as if no one lived there. Various miscellaneous items were scattered around, and a thick layer of dust covered the table.

The Hunter’s Cottage was originally meant for hunters to temporarily lodge while hunting. Especially in winter, without such a shelter, hunters venturing deep into the mountains could easily freeze to death on the way.

An ordinary sight in the Hunting Area.

However, this one was not so ordinary.

The floorboard below the cabinet to the left of the entrance quietly lifted up slightly, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes.

"Is anyone there?" a voice asked.

"No, no one," the owner of the eyes replied.

"Then hurry back," said another voice.

The floorboard was carefully lifted completely. A narrow pit appeared. A young man dressed as a common civilian, wearing a thick cotton coat and holding a bucket, crawled out of the pit. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Cautiously opening the door, he walked to the creek to fetch a bucket of water, then hurried back into the room nervously.

After a while, he came out again to fetch more water, repeating the process about eight times, until he was gasping for breath. Yet his eyes nervously scanned the surroundings.

Perhaps due to his nervousness, when fetching the last bucket of water, he was a bit out of breath. The bucket even dropped into the creek for a moment, but fortunately, he quickly grabbed it back.

Carrying the bucket, he swiftly returned to the Hunter’s Cottage and carefully closed the door again. He even pulled a rope tied to the door latch, pretending it was locked from the outside.

Carrying the bucket, he quickly went back into the pit from which he had emerged, then walked step by step deeper.

The pit was pitch black, so he had to walk cautiously; otherwise, a slip might send him tumbling down the pit with the bucket.

After much difficulty, he finally reached the end of the pit. A space of about fifty square meters appeared before him.

It was a dimly lit room, where, in the faint light of an oil lamp, he could barely make out that it was filled with items and crowded with people.

Erwin was in the innermost corner, leaning against the wall, covered with a blanket.

The outer area, except for a large water tank, was piled with bread, vegetables, and all kinds of living supplies.

In the center were Sean and his men.

The fifty-square-meter space was crammed with nearly twenty people, plus heaps of provisions, creating an extremely harsh environment.

Well, not just creating the appearance of a harsh environment; in fact, it was extremely harsh. Although ventilation was installed here, the air remained very stuffy. Due to design reasons, there was even a bit of leakage, and a moldy smell hung in the air. No one knew how long the mountains of food would last. As for the smell of feces and urine, it was unavoidable.

Pouring the last bucket of water into the tank, the soldier disguised as a civilian stood breathlessly beside Sean.

"I’ve fetched all the water," he said.

"Got it," Sean replied without turning his head, still focused on the chessboard. His opponent was a rather skinny-looking cavalryman.

Sean was playing chess, with several cavalrymen observing. Miller was dozing off beside them. The disheveled prison guard squatted in the corner, daydreaming.

Erwin sat quietly, leaning back with his eyes closed. The dim light made it hard to see his complexion, but his expression seemed painful, his brow occasionally furrowing.

The entire underground space was silent.

About ten minutes later, Sean suddenly moved a chess piece forward three steps: "Checkmate!"

In an instant, everyone’s eyes widened, and their necks craned.

Moments later, the cavalryman playing against him sighed, "I lost."

"Hahaha! I knew I’d surely win!" Sean chuckled happily. "But I didn’t expect you were quite good at chess; no one in the whole team could beat you! Even I lost to you five times in a row!"

The skinny cavalryman scratched his head and smiled, slightly embarrassed by Sean’s praise.

The surrounding soldiers laughed along with them.

As the laughter faded, Sean’s smile suddenly vanished, and his originally bright eyes turned into a lifeless, depressed gaze.

He turned to look at Erwin, leaning against the corner of the wall.

Erwin still had his eyes closed, but it was the prison guard brother not far from him who spoke: "When can we get out?"

"Wait a few more days," Sean replied, "the longer we wait, the safer it will be."

"Are we going to stay here forever? How many days have we been here? No, staying here, we don’t even know how many days have passed."

"We still have to wait," Sean said, lowering his head to clean his nails.

"Can you let me go first?" the prison guard brother said with bright eyes, "She is sure to prioritize chasing you. Besides... being with you makes me feel less safe."

Sean looked up, not looking at the prison guard brother, and said flatly, "First, we brought you along not for your safety, but to prevent you from being caught by her and betraying us. Second, staying here or killing you, you can only choose one. Letting you go is not an option."

"Can I go out to take a bath? I haven’t bathed in a long time, I feel like I’m covered in lice."

"Bathing is not an option either. Even I can’t bathe, and you want to?"

The prison guard brother was helpless, continually scratching his shaggy hair, turning to Erwin and said, "What about him? I think he might need a doctor. His wound is getting infected, if left unattended, he might die here."

"He won’t die. If there really is a Lich following him, the Lich surely wouldn’t allow him to die. Anyway, besides fetching water, no one is allowed to leave here before our food runs out."

In the dim corner, Erwin slightly furrowed his brows again. The sweat on his forehead was visible even in such dim light.

Time quietly passed away.

This place had no day or night; it felt as if everything was frozen in time. Boredom, monotony, and dullness became the main theme. Everyone kept repeating some tedious actions.

At first, they could play some games, chat, but later on, everyone was just left staring blankly. Even the chessboard everyone initially competed for was tossed aside, with even some pieces seemingly missing.

The water in the pool had cycled several times, and the food was slowly dwindling.

During this time, Erwin was almost always unconscious, only waking up on the fourteenth day.

How did they know it was the fourteenth day?

Because someone secretly went up every day to look at the light and record the time.

"I prepared this place over a month ago. Hiding here, as long as we don’t go out, she cannot find us. The food here is enough to sustain us for two months, and after two months, we can leave, she’ll surely have let her guard down. Kapu isn’t densely populated, but it’s a vast area full of mountains. We can secretly cross the mountains towards White City, she won’t be able to discover us."

"Did you know you were going to escape long ago?" Erwin asked weakly.

"Sort of. I always felt she might take my life at any moment, so I prepared in advance."

"I feel she isn’t smart."

"She can’t be smart. A girl locked up in prison since childhood, how smart can she get?"

"Since she isn’t smart, why did the demon choose her as a Demon Envoy?"

"You’d have to ask the demon," Sean thought, then added, "Maybe her personality is bad enough? I think that might be one reason. Moody, short-tempered, capricious. When she holds your life in her hands, you feel the whole world is dark. Perhaps this time, chasing your two partners... what are their names?"

"George and Matthew."

"Yes, them. Maybe she won’t take my life for failing to catch them, but someday she will for some other reason. Every day, I live on the edge of death. The terror far exceeds what the former lord imposed. The hypocrisy of Heaven I’ve witnessed during the time of church rule. But the true evil of demons, honestly, I’m seeing for the first time. Between the two, hypocrisy is slightly more likable."

"Why only choose between two? Isn’t there a third party?"

"You mean you guys? Ha ha ha ha," Sean suddenly laughed, "You first need to be able to reach us. The Silver Moon Knight Order has never been to Kapu, so people living in Kapu don’t consider the Silver Moon Knight Order. Besides... can you protect those who believe in you?"

"Who can protect those who trust in them? Demon? Or Angel?" Sean retorted.

"Well, neither can," Sean said helplessly, spreading his hands, "I have too much to say here. At first, I believed in the church, then found they always lied, so I grew disgusted. Then I believed in demons, almost losing my life. Now I believe in you, huddling in this damned place unsure when we can leave. Clearly, it’s useless regretting returning to the new Heaven now, because the entire continent is chaotic, nowhere is safe. It’s truly a terrible time, absolutely dreadful."

Sean and Erwin silently stared at each other.

After a while, Sean continued, "Sometimes I think, if among you someone willingly concedes, it would be nice. If two of the three parties are willing to concede, the situation could at least return to before. Everyone could lead peaceful, comfortable lives."

"But there wouldn’t be justice."

"Yes, but at least one can survive. Maybe you should let people choose, justice or survival. At the beginning, when Lich King Gray defeated the Angel Army in Salted Fish Port, everyone supported him. But that’s because people believed he could truly win. Now he’s gone, and his son Richie seems unable to quickly end the war."

Erwin said no more.

They continued to wait, just waiting on. After three more days, a "Hunter" opened the wooden plank at the tunnel entrance.