Chapter Two
A Death game for this princess!
Part One
After practicing with the [Shadow Puppetry] skill, senpai sent the soldiers back to their forth.
Meanwhile, we resumed our journey to the Demon King army cache site.
We went back to the uncomfortable carriage and headed to the area Sonia told me about.
While senpai was leading the horses, I practiced with the Crimson Demon puppet some more.
I had it do some dances and twirls on my lap. Rori-san watched the doll's movements with amusement.
"How delightful! Perhaps this can be used to entertain the young ones back in Axel?"
"While that might be true, I intend to use this skill in the infiltration mission, too…"
She made it sound like this skill was only good for amusing kids.
A blue haired girl who only knows useless party tricks… I don't want to become even more like Aqua-san.
After an hour or so in the carriage, senpai stopped the horses.
"...There's something up ahead. I think it's a military checkpoint."
Senpai pointed ahead to a group of soldiers stopping a carriage like ours… although the one ahead of us was of finer make.
We drew closer to the carriage and overheard the conversation the soldiers and those inside the carriage were having.
"What is the meaning of this?! I've been using this route for the longest time to get to my villa, and I've never encountered this mandatory security check!"
On closer look, the one inside the carriage was a nobleman I vaguely recognized, having seen him in court and at some parties a few times.
Like most middle aged noblemen, he was quite heavy set in build. She even had a stereotypical mustache that curled at the ends.
"...I'm sorry sir, but as you know, we can't disobey protocol."
"I suppose that's true… fine, whatever. Go ahead and check the carriage."
"Please follow this soldier while we attend to the people behind you…"
A soldier led the nobleman and the carriage out, while one of the remaining soldiers beckoned us over.
"...You over there. Do you have any identification?"
The soldier looked at senpai, who smiled back in return.
"Will adventurer cards suffice?"
"Yeah, that works… but what's an adventurer doing all the way out here? I don't remember there being any guilds around…"
"Oh, you know… we're in need of some money, so we thought we'd try our hand at killing some of the high level monsters around this area…"
"...Ah, so you're one of the dumb ones, huh? Let's see… Your name is Tasia, is that right? You're a rather low level priest…"
"I'm just a humble priest of the Eris order…"
Senpai must have given him a dummy card.
"Very well. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong here. Go ahead and follow the previous carriage for vehicle inspection…"
We followed the other carriage to a secluded part of the woods.
While I was thinking that the location was a bit suspicious, a soldier came up to us to inspect our cargo.
"Let's see… looks like there's nothing suspicious here… ah, whoops, I dropped something…"
The soldier dropped a vial that shattered inside the carriage. There was a pink fluid inside that instantly turned into a gas when it spilled out.
"W-Wah…?"
I felt myself getting lightheaded. I looked around and the others were also experiencing the same thing.
Is this some kind of… knockout gas?!
While I felt my vision slipping, I saw the soldier's face transform.
What was an ordinary human face morphed into that of a gray skinned demon with one eye and sharp fangs…
"Hehe… You humans are so easy to trick! Hey boss, we got more prisoners here!"
While my vision was fading, I saw the nobleman from earlier getting dragged out of his carriage. He also passed out.
The last thing I saw before completely losing consciousness was Rori-san and senpai passing out along with me. I thought I heard them mutter some words, but I couldn't understand them.
And then my vision faded to black.
…
…
When I woke up again, I found myself being shoved into a bleak room.
I saw Rori-san and senpai in the room with me, but there were twelve others in the room with us, fifteen in total.
"It's about time you finally woke up! The warden will address you in the courtyard, so put these on, prisoners!"
The demon was calling us prisoners.
We were already being treated like prisoners, huh?
The same gray skinned demon from before started tossing some coats to us. They were black colored and loose fitting. They looked like they could be worn over the clothes we were already wearing.
…These cheap bastards probably wanted to save money. Instead of making a whole prisoner uniform, they just made coats to wear over our clothes.
After putting on the uniform over the white travel tunic and leather pants I was wearing, more demons came in to bound us up in chains.
The demons then led us out to the aforementioned courtyard. I saw that we were inside the walls of a big fortress.
Since we didn't see this place earlier, it must have been hidden in the woods, maybe even with high-grade illusion magic.
Furthermore, we thought that this area was a simple supply cache, but they had a whole hidden fortress going on.
Already, I could tell that they were up to something big.
"Line up, prisoners! We haven't got all day!"
A red demon with one eye and four arms yelled at the fifteen of us bound up in chains.
Rori-san was two prisoners away from me, while senpai was at the far end of the line. Among us were a mix of men and women who probably got caught by the demons.
"I am your warden and you will obey me and the guards at all times! You will not be allowed to leave your cell unless you are working in the mines! All meals will be brought over to your cell! Oh, I'm sorry, I mean all meals, if you're lucky enough to get meals for the day, will be brought over to your cell! You do not have rights, you don't even have a name when you're in here! You will be assigned a number shortly! Do you understand, my cute little prisoners?!"
He stopped in front of me and yelled full volume at my face, spittle flying all over me.
I tried not to react or show weakness. Princess Iris Belzerg won't be intimidated by a lowly demon!
As for our mission, the initial goal was to infiltrate the base. We didn't mean to get caught, but we still successfully accomplished the first part of our mission. We made it inside the base without revealing our real identities as spies.
"We will assign your numbers to you shortly! These brands will be assigned to random parts of your body, so you better hope we don't brand your butt! Hahaha!"
While letting out a sadistic laugh, I heard the prisoners who were first in line yelp out in pain as a searing hot brand was pressed against their skin.
"The numbers will start from 200! That's because there have been a total of 200 prisoners in our lovely prison up to now! Most of them die after the first month or so. Try to live and stay healthy as long as you can, alright? Hahaha!"
When It was my turn, I saw the brand that was waiting for me. All the while I was thinking, not the face, not the face…
I felt the brand make contact with the area below my neck, around my chest. I gritted my teeth as the pain coursed through me.
I saw the scarred mark on my skin. I was prisoner number 206.
I wasn't worried about the scar, since it could be repaired with simple healing magic.
That is, if I had an opportunity to use it without giving myself away.
"Alright, prisoners 200 to 215! Follow your guards to your jail cells! And remember, let's have fun and enjoy our time together! If I like you, I'll even hold a funeral service for you when you die. Most of the time we just eat the corpses! Hahaha!"
The warden's sadistic cries rang out as the guards shoved us into our cells.
All the while, I was looking around, looking for vulnerabilities in this prison.
Unlike the powerless prisoners all around me who had already given up, I resolved to somehow, someway, escape this demonic prison…!
Part Two
After the orientation at the courtyard, if it could even be called that, the jailers led us to a different area.
As for why they were keeping prisoners in the first place, it was made clear to me when they shoved us into a mining area.
I saw other prisoners slaving away with pickaxes, working on chipping away at manatite ore deposits.
"...This is where you will work all day, prisoners! Be grateful that we let you get out to have some fresh air! Aren't we so nice?!"
I thought that they would have us work right away, but they were already shoving us off to a different area.
They led us to the actual prison. To think that this fortress even had a prison facility… They had a serious operation going on here.
The fact that Sonia told me that it was a simple supply cache might mean she tricked me, or perhaps she didn't even know about this operation.
Or perhaps the fortress was recently constructed… but how would they create something this big so fast?
They pushed me into a jail cell. It was a small cramped jail and there were only beddings inside and a bucket. I didn't want to know what the bucket would be used for.
There was only one prisoner for each cell, probably to limit collusion between the prisoners.
I sat on the bedroll and got to thinking about how I'd escape.
After an hour, I was getting bored when one of the guards came in and knocked on my cell.
"...I have a message… from my master…"
"...!"
Senpai already got to work controlling the guards.
"...What's the message?"
"She says that she might have a plan, but to wait until later to discuss it, when you are sent to the mines to work."
"...You're being controlled by senpai right now… is that right?"
"Yes, I obey my master…"
"Then can't you just let us out?"
When I said that, the zoned out look in his eyes disappeared.
"Eh? What…? What am I doing here? Oi, prisoner, what are you staring at me for, huh?!"
"..."
He glared at me again and walked away.
I unintentionally broke senpai's control over that guard.
Senpai's ability only works if the target feels like they owe her some kind of debt.
However, her control over them will slip if the target is asked for an unreasonable request, or if they feel like the request will endanger their life in some way.
That must mean that we couldn't ask them to let us out, or their superior will kill them for their insubordination.
In the first place, there wasn't much senpai could do to make the jailors indebted to her.
After all, the power dynamic between prisoner and jailor was too wide. I shouldn't expect to rely on senpai's abilities here.
I waited for several more hours, trying to keep my mind occupied with thinking of ways to escape.
My internal clock was all messed up after passing out for so long, but I did notice that the sun was setting down when we were led to the courtyard and the mines.
Around what should be about dinner time, a jailor handed me a tray with a bowl of cold porridge through a horizontal slit in the jail bars.
I wordlessly accepted the meal and tried not to think about how bland it was, thinking only about getting in as much nutrients as I could.
With nothing else to do, I fell asleep.
Part Three
The next day, bright in the morning…
"Wake up, wake up, my cute little prisoners~!"
The same red-skinned, one eyed demon, the warden around here, started banging on our prison cells and yelling his head off.
"It's time to go to work! Unfortunately, your sector has the morning shift!"
A jailor opened my cell and had me join a line of prisoners from my cell block.
As they paraded us out, I caught a glimpse of Rori-san in the next cell block. I gave her a worried glance, but she gave me a small smile. She seemed healthy enough.
…She probably got a lot of 'food' from the ambient lust the lonely prisoners were letting out.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Rori-san and senpai were working different shifts from me.
…Also, I got stuck with the early morning shift, while they probably had the afternoon and evening shifts.
Since I became less and less of a morning person after I escaped the castle, this early morning shift took a lot out of me.
Why couldn't Rori-san, who didn't even need to sleep in the first place, have gotten stuck with the morning shift?!
The jailors led us bleary eyed prisoners out to the mines.
They handed each of us a pickaxe and watched us carefully while we worked.
They didn't even chit chat with one another, focusing on their task to observe us prisoners.
The warden… or perhaps the commanding officer in this base… must have kept a tight leash on them. Demons weren't exactly known for military discipline.
After a few hours of back breaking work, I was already missing the uncomfortable bed roll in my jail cell.
I wasn't a stranger to intense workouts, especially since I became a master swordsman at a young age, but a princess like me was never driven to this kind of endless, hard labor.
…Komekko-chan would probably fare better in this regard.
Thankfully, the jailors announced a thirty minute lunch break.
I didn't think that we'd get any breaks from the way the warden talked, but they probably cared more about keeping us alive and healthy to work than actually driving us to death.
The warden was probably just trying to intimidate us during the orientation, but they must value our slave labor quite a lot.
Of course, with the amount of strong looking demons around here, the commanding officer could just order them to dig up the precious manatite ore.
But that was not only bad for military morale, but it would also keep the soldiers from doing other, more important tasks, like scouting, gathering information, and training among each other.
It was much more efficient to capture slaves for the back breaking labor.
However, they couldn't just keep capturing Belzergian citizens without alerting the capital.
It was in their best interest to capture a few people here and there, keep them relatively healthy and sane with frequent breaks, and have them work in the mines for as long as they are able to.
I doubt that the warden was lying about having prisoners frequently dying, but those prisoners probably put in thousands of work hours before eventually dying.
While we were on break, I noticed several of the prisoners playing games of all kinds.
Some of them brought out a deck of cards to play among a group, and there were duos who split off to play chess among themselves.
I walked over to them and asked,
"Hey, can I play?"
"Hah?! You think you can just play with us, new girl?! You know how much I paid for this deck of cards, hah?!"
A woman with brown hair and thick eyebrows yelled at me, when I asked if I could join their group.
Since this was a prison, things like cards and games and other items were probably worth a lot of money.
"Ah, sorry… So I need to pay to play, is that what you're saying?"
"You can pay to win too, if you pay me enough!"
…Even this prison is p2w, huh?
"I don't have any money… the jailors took all my possessions…"
"How is that my problem? I gave the jailor's head to get my money back, you know? Go ahead and do that if you want! That demon over there has a pretty big you know what…"
I couldn't help but look at the demon she pointed to. He gave me a wink when he saw me looking over.
I shuddered in disgust.
"N-No thanks…"
"Then get lost! I paid a lot of money for these cards, so I'm not letting anyone play for free! I gotta make my investment back somehow!"
She shooed me away with a flick of her hand.
I was starting to make sense of the politics in this prison a bit more.
If a prisoner wanted to get their possessions back, they needed to give certain favors to the jailors, whatever that might be.
Then, in order to get certain items or products that would be considered a luxury in a prison, they needed to pay these jailors back with the money they received from the jailors.
…Whoever was running this place had a twisted sense of humor.
After the group that was playing cards kicked me out, a girl around my age, who had light brown hair, green eyes and was wearing a bandana, gestured for me to come over.
"...I saw what happened. Ouch. Sorry about that, they can be quite rude to newcomers."
She gave me a friendly smile. She had a chess board in front of her, but no one was playing with her.
"I'm Kayla, nice to meet you."
She introduced herself and offered a handshake. I took it.
"Hi, I'm Alice."
I gave her the alias I used around Axel.
"Care to join me for a game of chess?"
She gestured to the board in front of her.
"Yeah, sure. Wait, I don't need to pay, right?"
"Oh, no, I don't ask people to pay. I just ask them if they want to make a bet."
"What kind of bet?"
"If you lose, you'll have to die!"
She giggled in a cute manner as she said it.
She looked to me like a farmer's girl that got abducted by the demons.
…I didn't take her words seriously at the time.
"Haha… That's funny."
I laughed along with her.
"Alright, so let's play."
"Sure!"
Happy to make a friend in my own cell block, I started playing with Kayla.
We were about even in skill, but I noticed that she wasn't taking me that seriously.
She was telling me all kinds of stories about her life before she became a prisoner. Sometimes she didn't even look at the board.
I was reminded of how Revi could play chess with me without even looking at the board.
After several minutes, the jailors announced that our break time was over.
"Time's up! Clean up your games or we'll confiscate them!"
I sighed and stood up, dusting off my clothes. They didn't provide seats for us, so we had to sit and play on the ground.
"Sorry, Kayla-chan, guess we'll have to play again next time."
"Hm? Who said the game's over?"
"Eh?"
I blinked in confusion, as she kept smiling at me.
"The game's not over, unless you're planning to surrender?"
"...No, I'm not planning to surrender, but our break's already over."
She kept smiling and moved her Crusader piece to challenge my Arch-Priest.
"...Hey, Kayla-chan, if you don't put that away, the guards will come take it."
"Then you better hurry up and make your move, unless you can memorize the board like me!"
Before I could do anything, one of the guards noticed us still playing.
"Oi, I told you to pack up!"
He snatched the board away, sending all the pieces spilling out.
"Oh, no! But Alice-chan and I here agreed on a death game!"
"A death game…? Heh, well it doesn't matter, does it? You need to go back to work now!"
I gave Kayla a pat on her shoulder.
"Look, we can just keep playing another time."
"...Your Arch-Priest is in danger. Why don't you move it aside?"
"...I guess I'll retreat with it, then. Arch-Priest to c6."
"Ah… That's a bad move. You forgot that my own Arch-Priest is around there, too, huh? Arch Priest to g5! I got your king checked!"
"...Look, we can play some other time… Eh? What the hell is this?!"
I felt a sense of danger, then I looked down and, pointing directly over my heart was a scary looking red arrow that appeared out of nowhere.
The arrowhead had a skull and bones on it and the arrow was floating in the air, seemingly ready to fire at my heart.
The guard laughed at my reaction.
"Oh, I guess you don't know, new girl! You see, there's a popular game among us demons called 'The Death Game'. Separate parties make a bet, and whoever loses will die! Simple as that."
"...What kind of magic is this?"
I looked at Kayla, she didn't seem to be a mage, much less a demon user like Komekko-chan.
She told me that she was a simple farm girl before she was abducted.
"That bandana she's wearing, the red bandana, it has demonic runes that allow humans like you to play the Death Game. She paid a lot of money for it, so I guess she enjoys the Death Game a lot!"
"Yeah, it gets so boring around here, so it's really fun to play the Death Game!"
This girl is freaking crazy?!
She must have lost her mind while she was in jail, since she was still giving me an innocent smile while saying that she likes games to the death.
"Well, the break's over, so we can't play anymore! Oi, guard, tell her to cancel the game!"
"The Death Game won't stop for any reason, unless someone concedes defeat."
"But I can't memorize the board like she can! I barely remember where my pieces are!"
"That sucks for you! If you make an illegal move or lose the game, then that arrow, [Shot Through The Heart] will pierce your heart and kill you! Hahaha!"
Kayla chuckled along with the guard's laughter.
"..."
I desperately tried to think of options while those two laughed at my predicament.
I could still somewhat remember the board before the pieces were scattered.
But if I made the wrong move, then it was over, right then and there.
"...For now, I'll castle my king."
Since I wasn't taking the game seriously and thought we were just having fun, I still hadn't castled my king.
I exchanged the king and the Crusader's positions, walling the king in between a wall of Adventurer pieces and the Crusader.
Onii-sama… Lalatina… protect me…!
"Aww… I almost had you there. Then, I'll move my knight to d5!"
She was already developing her pieces in the middle of the board, trying to corner me.
"T-Then I'll…"
"Oi, who said you two can just play imaginary chess?! The others are already working! Get your pick axes!"
"Alright, sir!"
Kayla happily took a pickaxe and followed me into the mines.
"I'm waiting for your move, Alice!"
I glanced down at the arrowhead floating over my heart.
"...Hey, Kayla, how much of this area have you mined so far?"
"...Hm… I'm not a very fast worker, so I'm still a bit behind…"
"Well, I'll just have to outwork you and go on ahead!"
I started slamming my pickaxe down.
We were given separate sections and were given a quota to pick out different grades of manatite ore.
In the first section of the mine were the low grade manatite ores. You can treat them however you want, since they weren't the best quality.
However, in the area ahead, you had to go a bit slower digging them out, since giving too much trauma to the ores could damage the high grade quality.
We needed to reach a certain quota of both low quality and high quality ores. If I finished my quota with the low quality ores, then I could move over to the high quality ore area, which was a good distance ahead.
If I distanced myself from Kayla, then we can't continue the game, since we won't be able to know each other's moves.
"I'll move my adventurer to e6!"
I made a move meant to stall for time and keep her centralized knight in check.
Before I could hear Kayla's next move, I secretly casted a strength buff on myself and gathered a lot of low quality ores.
"Ohhhh!"
I let out a victory scream after I finished the task.
"Guard! I'm moving ahead to the high quality area now!"
"What a hard working prisoner! Alright, go ahead!"
"Ah, that's not fair~!"
Kayla whined when I sprinted away to the area ahead, sticking my tongue out at her.
I'm not going to lose my life over some chess game!
I gasped for breath as the exhaustion took over.
Thankfully, since high quality ores took some time to dig out, I didn't need to work as hard in this area.
I worked at a leisurely pace, while I thought of a way to get out of this Death Game.
Just when I thought the coast was clear, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
It was the rude, thick eyebrowed woman who didn't let me play cards with her.
"...I have a message from Kayla. Knight retreats to e3."
"...?!"
Kayla sent one of the prisoners to relay this message to me.
"W-Wha…? Why are you sending messages from her?!"
"Hah? She paid me, why else? Unless you can pay me more than her, then I'll listen to whatever she wants me to do, even if she asks me to lick her butthole!"
…How desperate is she for money?!
"I don't have any money right now, but I'll pay with interest!"
"...You think I can believe that? I'll never trust a prisoner who says shit like that! If you want to pay with interest, then pay me interest now!"
"That's not how interest works, dumbass."
"What'd you call me?! Now, just tell me your next move, or Kayla says that you forfeit!"
We didn't agree on a time limit, but refusing to answer essentially means a forfeit.
"...I'll advance my adventurer to d5."
"I'll be back with another message, then."
"Wait, how come you can walk around without working?"
She smirked at me, then placed a hand on a guard's chest as she walked past him.
"I told you, just give the guards any kind of favors if you want anything in this place!"
…I don't think I can do that, even if my life is depending on it.
I'd rather die?!
I went back to work while trying to think about my next move.
The last thing I expected to do while imprisoned was play a long-distance chess game to the death with some farm girl.
I took out some pieces of debris and scratched out a crude drawing of a chess board on the ground. Then I arranged the debris to what I remember the current board state looking like.
Once I was confident that I knew what my next move was, the prisoner who was working beside me yelped out in alarm.
"Ah! Sorry! This bucket of water is too heavy!"
He spilled it over me and the chess board drawing I made.
Just when I thought it was an accident, he started kicking the debris around.
"Whoops?! My foot seems to have a mind of its own! Forgive me!"
He laughed as he took out an Eris coin from his pocket and bit it, then went back to work.
…For a farmgirl, Kayla seemed to have a lot of money on her.
She seemed to run this cell block, from what I could see.
I was tricked by that innocent face!
My mind was scattered after that run in with the prisoner who ruined my plan.
While I tried to think about what to do, I saw a minecart rolling towards me.
I thought it was another diversion set up by Kayla, but I saw a familiar head sticking out of the minecart.
"Are you alright, Iris-san?"
"...!"
I almost wept when I saw Rori-san's face.
"Rori-san! What are you doing here?! It's not your shift!"
She put a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet.
"I can use illusion magic, remember? During the lunch break, I just created an illusory copy of me to return to my jail cell, then I went to check up on Serena-san, then you."
"...How is senpai doing?"
"She's doing fine. She's mostly trying to collect as many minions as she can, but it's hard to control these guards, she says."
Just as I suspected, it was hard to put a person in your debt when they held a considerable amount of power and control over you.
"Rori-san, I need your help right now!"
After making sure senpai was alright, I went ahead and explained my situation to Rori-san.
"...T-That's horrible! Are you going to be alright?!"
She shook me around, creating a bit of noise as she did.
"S-Shh! You're the one who told me to be quiet!"
"S-Sorry… So, how can I help?"
"Remember how you used your illusion magic while we were in the carriage? Just recreate the chessboard according to my instructions!"
"Sure, I can do that!"
With Rori-san's help, I was able to recreate the board state.
I sighed in relief. Now that I knew what the board looked like, my chances of winning were better than before.
In fact, I had an advantage over Kayla.
She still thought that I didn't know what the board looked like.
If I could make it seem like I didn't know what I was doing, I could bait her into playing aggressively into a trap.
When the eyebrow lady came back again, I put on my best worried look.
After telling me what Kayla's next move was, she said,
"What's your move, girlie?"
"...K-Knight to h4…"
She nodded, then went back to Kayla.
She returned several more times after that. Everytime she came, I asked Rori-san to update the illusory board.
Then, I made my move.
After making Kayla come in for the finishing kill, I suddenly tightened up my defenses, cornering her in.
After I sent the eyebrow lady back, she didn't come back again.
That was because my move set me up for a potential checkmate.
I patted Rori-san's head while she was hiding in the minecart.
"Good job, Rori-san! Now, I'll go check up on my opponent."
"I'm just glad you're alright, Iris-san! Now, can you push me to that place over there? I should go back to my cell…"
I pushed the minecart to the place she wanted, then watched her fly off back to her cell.
…With her illusion magic and flight, Rori-san was probably our best bet to get out of this prison.
I walked back to where Kayla was, with a confident smirk on my face.
She saw me and flinched. I put my hand on my hips and winked at her.
"So, Kayla-chan~! What's your next move?"
I imitated her speech patterns to add salt to injury.
She started sweating, then looked at the arrow pointed at her heart.
"P-Please don't make me surrender…"
"...I don't want to kill anyone, but I want to make sure that no one here messes with me. You understand that, right?"
"U-Uuu… I do…"
"Then, grit your teeth…"
"E-Eh…?!"
I pulled her in with [Shadow Thread] and gave her a good beatdown on the face with my fists.
"Gahhcck! I'm sowwy!"
After seeing her cute face all messed up and healed her a bit to make sure that there wasn't any permanent damage.
The other prisoners saw the display and seemed to give me looks or respect before going back to work.
After work, the eyebrow lady approached me with a deck of cards and a smiling face.
"H-Hey! Alice-sama, right?! Wanna play some cards with me?"
I gave her my best smile.
"Sure, but I only play Death Games!"
"E-Eh?! U-Um…"
"Just joking~! Sure, I'll play~!"
"R-Right…"
It seemed that my reputation improved a bit after I beat up the cell block boss.
Part Four
After work, they sent us back to our cells.
Dinner was served through the opening slit again. It was slightly better than the cold porridge before, since they served warm beef stew, but only the broth was beef flavored, there wasn't any actual beef in it, only some mushy potatoes.
Still, it was a hot meal, so I scarfed it down to regain the calories I lost from working.
"Alright, prisoners of cell block 1! It's time for your curfew! You need to rise bright and early tomorrow for more work! Haha! Oi, prisoner 206, why are you looking at me like that, huh?!"
He started shouting at me for some reason. He was probably trying to intimidate the newcomer who somehow became the top dog of the cell block on her first day.
"..."
I didn't answer, just looking him in the eyes.
"Che… Whatever. Go to sleep!"
Happy that I won the staring contest, I went to the bedrolls and laid down.
While I was trying to sleep, I noticed a light knocking sound on my cell.
When I looked up, I saw Rori-san smiling at me beyond the bars.
"...How'd you get out this time, Rori-san?"
"I never came back. I'm hiding inside trash cans for now."
"...Why are you hiding inside trash cans?!"
I felt bad for Rori-san that she had to crawl around dirty places for us.
"I talked to Serena-san. She said that we have three options while we're in this prison."
"I'm listening…"
"The first option is escape. She says that with my illusion powers, it should be easy to escape by tricking the guards. It will require some execution, but it should be easy enough if we play our part."
I nodded, since I was basically thinking the same thing.
After a few more nights of inspecting the security, Rori-san should be able to find the best escape route for us.
"The second option is to wait to get rescued. If you don't want to take any risks, Claire-sama should send a rescue team since they know where we went. It might take them some time to find the fortress, but they should eventually find it if they send a large enough rescue force."
That was also an option. I told Claire that If I didn't make it back after one or two weeks, then she could send the whole army in to look for me if she really wanted.
"What's the third option?"
"Well, the third option is to resume the mission. We came here to spy on the Demon King army, after all, and we are in the best position to do so."
That was true. We were inside the fortress, and even though we were prisoners, we had all kinds of ways to move around.
"Serena-san said that there's also a way to increase her power to control people."
"Oh? Then how come she hasn't done this yet?"
"That's because it's a ritual magic that needs certain components to use. Among the components, she needs a high grade manatite ore, a common alchemical ingredient that can be found in health potions, and also the religious crest she wears that's associated with Regina-sama…"
If we could sneak the manatite ore from the mines, then that was a relatively easy ingredient to get.
The alchemical ingredient was a bit harder.
The hardest part was the religious crest, since our belongings were taken away and locked up in a secure place we didn't know about.
…Of course, there was a way for prisoners to get their possessions back, but I didn't want to think about that.
"So, out of those options, which one appeals to you the most, Iris-san?"
It felt like it would be a waste to escape right away, or wait for Claire to rescue us. There was a lot of information we could take while being inside the fortress. We couldn't just waste this opportunity while we had it.
"...I like option 3."
"Alright! I'll go ahead and tell Serena-san! Our next task will be to retrieve those components, then…"
I nodded, while thinking about how we could get all those materials.
After our quick debriefing, Rori-san went away.
I hoped that she wasn't planning to hide away inside a trash can for the rest of the night.
Part Five
"...H-Here's some water for you, Alice-sama…"
Kayla said, while handing me a cup of water during our lunch break.
Her face was all bandaged up, but her injuries had mostly begun to heal, since I discreetly used healing magic on her.
"Why thank you, Kayla-chan…"
I was playing cards with eyebrow lady and her friends, while Kayla attended to my needs.
My social status had increased after I beat Kayla up. Even the guards seemed to not yell at me so much once they recognized me as the boss of the cell block.
I noticed that the warden seemed to dislike me quite a bit, though, since I was getting the respect of the prisoners and even the guards.
…He must be the type to be obsessed with receiving people's attention and respect, even if those things were only caused by their fear for him.
After my second day of work, I returned to my cell…
Or at least, I pretended to go to my cell. Rori-san placed an illusory copy of me in the cell.
"I think the copy is a bit flat."
I told Rori-san, when I observed my copy.
"Ah, sorry, does the illusion look low quality?"
"No, it's not that… The illusion looks real enough… It's just that…"
I looked at the copy's chest.
"...Can't you make the copy have bigger breasts?"
"Well, we don't want to make the guards suspicious…"
Is it really that unbelievable for me to have big breasts?
I followed Rori-san to the place where I agreed to meet senpai.
She had the afternoon shift at the mines, which meant that we could visit her during the time I was set to return to my cell, then return to my cell for real when it was time for dinner.
Rori-san and I were hiding in the minecart as we chatted with senpai while she worked.
She made sure to work fast and be reassigned to the high-quality manatite ore area, since there were less workers there to eavesdrop on our secret conversation.
"...You two should sneak out some ores while you're here."
She said, keeping her voice a low whisper as she talked to us.
"Yeah, I think we can do that easily enough. What do we do about the rest of the items, though?"
"...I think I can get my crest and even one of my puppets if I… do a favor with the guard…"
I blushed when senpai suggested this.
"Um… Are you sure about doing that, senpai? Isn't that kind of…"
"I'm used to this kind of thing. I was a courtesan before I became a follower of Regina-sama, remember? Not to mention, I did these kinds of things before as a spy of the Demon King army…"
"Speaking of which, why is it that they don't recognize senpai around here? You used to be a Demon King general, right?"
"I was a spy, remember? Only the actual Demon King really knew what I looked like. I didn't even associate myself that much with my fellow generals."
So she was a loner, huh?
"But still… To think senpai will do those things…"
"Nevermind me. How about you? It will help our reconnaissance a lot if you get your doll back as well. Not to mention that you should have some health potions with you that Claire put in…"
"Eh? She gave me health potions? But I told her that we were supposed to be disguised as poor travelers!"
"I noticed her sneaking it in. She said that she wouldn't let you go if I didn't give it a secret… so I had no choice."
I wanted to get mad that Claire went behind my back like that, but it was also a really sweet gesture, so I couldn't get totally mad at her.
Plus, it ended up helping us out a lot, in the end.
"So, it seems like I have one of the components we need in my belongings. Not to mention, we'll need my doll to do recon work."
"Indeed. You'll have to give a favor to one of the guards as well."
"Oh, hell, no!"
I shook my head, instantly shooting down the idea.
"Um… If it comes down to it, we can use an illusion…"
Rori-sama suggested, while I vehemently refused senpai's suggestion.
"...How would we go about doing that? You can trick their sight, smell and some senses to an extent, but I'm sure they'll know that they're thrusting into empty air soon enough…"
The guards looked stupid, but they didn't seem completely brain dead.
"Well, I could disguise Serena-san to look like you… Ah, but the bodies don't really match…"
"Oi, where are you looking at when you say that. Wait, you're looking at several parts of my body?!"
Not only the chest, but she looked at my thighs and butt as well.
"...If you're not up to the task, then we can just escape."
"..."
I sighed and rubbed my temples.
The whole mission relied on my doing all kinds of naughty things with some demon jailor.
Maybe it's better to just escape?!
"...Give it some time to think about it. I'll need your answer by tomorrow's meeting, though."
"You can't give me some more time to think about it?"
"Think about it. I'll need several hours to complete my ritual, which should take up a day of progress. After that, we only have a few days to gather as much information as we can, then we'll need to dedicate some time to breaking out of the prison. If we take too much time, your paranoid guardian, Claire, will just send the entire army to rescue you, which will prevent us from spying, since the demons will likely rather burn this place to the ground than let the enemy have any information. So, we're actually on a tight deadline here."
She had a good point, no matter how much I tried to think about it.
After our meeting was over, Rori-san and I spent some time hiding in trash cans. It was surprisingly comfortable, even if the cans stunk a bit.
It was surprisingly warm inside the trash cans, and I actually dozed off. Rori-san had to wake me up.
When dinner time came around, we had our dinner, then I went back to my cell, replacing my illusory copy.
I spent a few hours tossing around in the uncomfortable bed, then fell asleep, spending my second night in prison.