Chapter 96
Things went smoothly.
The bandits brought horses and a cart from somewhere, loaded us, tightly bound, onto the cart, then mounted the horses and started pulling the cart somewhere.
What was unexpected was that the stronghold wasn’t actually that far away.
No wonder they had all come rushing over in one go. It seemed we had been much closer to the stronghold than we’d thought.
‘Would it have been better to just find it myself…?’
Still, since they were taking me inside the stronghold on their own, I could simply lean back against the cart and relax.
Before long, we arrived at the stronghold. A tall wooden palisade surrounded it, and when one of the bandits got off his horse and said something, one side of the palisade opened, allowing the cart to enter.
Even after entering the stronghold, the cart continued on for quite a while.
I pretended to lower my head while sneaking glances at my surroundings. After a while, the cart stopped.
Soon, a bandit’s rough shout rang out.
“Drag them down!”
The bandits held swords to our necks, grabbed us by the backs of our necks, and dragged us out of the cart. Then they dragged us along the ground and took us forward.
There was a stone cell there. Unlike the wooden houses around it, the prison was built of sturdy stone. Seeing how the thick bricks had been stacked together without any gaps, it looked like it wouldn’t budge from an ordinary blow.
Once we entered through the iron door, there was a hallway. There were several more iron doors on both sides of the hallway, and the bandits took us to the iron door at the very end.
A bandit opened the iron door and threw us inside. As he did, he threatened us.
“Behave yourselves, and I’ll bring you something to eat. If you cause a ruckus and make this old man trouble, you’d better know you’ll go hungry!”
Bang!
At the same time, the iron door shut with a click.
They had firmly locked the door from outside. Soon, I heard the bandit walking down the hallway, followed by the sound of the outer iron door opening.
Thud.
The outer door closed as well.
Darkness descended.
We were completely trapped.
“……”
I silently looked around. Then I heard someone’s long sigh.
“Our weapons have been taken, we’re tied up with rope… and that iron door doesn’t look like something we can easily open. I suppose all we can do is hope our reinforcements arrive soon…”
“Reinforcements? Do you mean the companions you mentioned earlier?”
At my question, Zhuge Ye nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. Before coming here, I sent a messenger hawk just in case. I told them that we’d go to Yongcheok Stronghold first, so they should hurry and come…”
“Tch. What a pointless thing to do.”
“Oh, Brother Paeng! How is that pointless? What would have happened if I hadn’t sent the messenger hawk? We wouldn’t know when they’d release us, and we’d have had to sit here anxiously waiting!”
“……”
Normally, Paeng Ga would have shouted back angrily, but surprisingly, he kept his mouth shut. Perhaps even he realized how serious the situation was.
Only Zhuge Ye continued sighing repeatedly in frustration. Soon, Zhuge Ye spoke to me.
“I’m sorry, Brother Jin. We came here prepared for a situation like this, but for Brother Jin, this must have been like a bolt from the blue. I wish we could at least get you safely released…”
“I’m fine. Thanks to you, I’ve gotten a good opportunity.”
“What?”
Zhuge Ye blinked, as if wondering what I meant. I merely smiled brightly.
Then I suddenly took off the shoes I was wearing. I leaned my body toward the shoe and felt around inside. My fingers found the small dagger I had hidden in the sole. When I pulled out the dagger, Zhuge Ye’s already round eyes grew even wider.
“N-No, Brother Jin. How did you…?”
“It’s fortunate the bandits didn’t search my body properly, isn’t it?”
I muttered lightly as I turned the dagger around and began cutting the rope binding my body. It would have been troublesome if we’d been bound in chains, but thankfully, they had only used rope.
‘I suppose they trusted the stone cell.’
Before long, I was free. I went ahead and cut the ropes binding the other two as well, causing both of them to stare at me in surprise.
But Paeng Ga quickly turned a suspicious gaze on me and asked coldly,
“What are you, exactly?”
I smiled without answering. Instead, I brought up another matter.
“Gentlemen, now that our limbs are free, shouldn’t we be able to get out?”
“That’s true, but…”
Zhuge Ye answered, still flustered.
“Only our limbs are free. We still won’t be able to leave the stone cell. We can’t even fit our heads through the small opening, and although there’s a window beside us, it’s blocked by iron bars, so there’s nothing we can do.”
“Ah, so you’re saying that if we deal with the iron bars, we’ll be able to get out?”
“That’s right… Yes, yes?”
I said nothing more and approached the iron bars.
Sure enough, the window was large enough for an adult to pass through, but thick iron bars were embedded in it, making it seem impossible to do anything.
But if I bent those iron bars, it would be possible.
I firmly grabbed the iron bars with both hands. I took a deep breath and raised my internal energy. As my energy circulated throughout my body, the muscles in my arms swelled tautly. I slowly pushed against the iron bars.
Griiik, griiik.
The sound of scraping metal rang out as the iron bars gradually began to bend. A startled exclamation came from behind me.
“W-Whoa…!”
Before long, the iron bars had been bent wide open. They were now wide enough for a person to pass through.
I turned toward the two men, who were standing there with their mouths hanging open, and said,
“Honestly, I could bring down a stone wall this sturdy if I struck it with enough force, but that would make a loud noise and might bring every bandit in the area running, so let’s leave it at this.”
“……”
“Now, let’s climb through the window. The outer iron door is a problem, but the bandit said earlier that he’d come to bring us food, so we can take advantage of the opportunity and ambush him.”
“……”
The two couldn’t say a word. Eventually, Zhuge Ye opened his mouth.
“W-W-Who… who are you…”
Clank.
We simultaneously fell silent.
Creak–Thud.
A bandit had entered the stone cell.
I’d thought he’d come much later since he’d said he’d bring us food, but an opportunity had arrived sooner than expected. In the distance, I could see the bandit holding bowls.
I exchanged glances with Zhuge Ye and nodded. In an instant, Zhuge Ye shouted,
“Hey, you there! Who is it?!”
“What? You’re still lively?”
“There is something I wish to say! Please listen to me for a moment!”
The bandit stopped in his tracks. Perhaps because of the distance or the darkness, he didn’t seem to have noticed the state of the iron bars yet.
This was our chance.
“You intend to take us hostage and negotiate with our families, don’t you? Then send word to our families at once! My family is the Zhuge Clan. Surely you’ve heard of us!”
“What? The Zhuge Clan?”
“That’s right. Our Zhuge Clan is famous for being wealthy and prosperous. We can pay you as much as you want. I refuse to remain in this filthy prison any longer!”
“Huh. I knew you were some young master from a wealthy family, but I didn’t realize you were from such a powerful clan. Wait here. I’ll discuss it with my brothers first… Huh?”
Only then did the bandit, who had approached the prison, widen his eyes. The chains attached to the iron bars beside the iron door had been pulled wide open.
Just as the bandit opened his mouth in shock…
“W-What? Why is that… Urk!”
Bam!
While the bandit was distracted, I had already come through the iron bars and struck him on the back of the head. I quickly struck his acupoints and said,
“Good, good. Young Master Zhuge, I’ve thought this for a while, but you’re pretty good at handling people, aren’t you?”
“Thank you for the compliment… Brother Jin, why are you suddenly speaking informally?”
“Because I don’t need to anymore? And call me Brother Dan from now on.”
“Pardon?”
Even while talking idly, I searched the bandit’s clothes and pulled out a key. Then I inserted the key into the iron door’s lock and turned it.
Click.
The key turned, and the iron door opened.
The two men stepped outside with dazed expressions. Zhuge Ye in particular, who had spoken quite amicably with me, looked utterly confused.
I pretended not to notice his expression and continued speaking.
“Now, let’s get out through that iron door over there. For your information, there should be bandits guarding the front too, so we’ll need to deal with them quickly. I took a quick look when we came in, and there were about two of them, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“……”
“I’m not saying we should just start fighting outside. As soon as we open the iron door, let’s grab the two of them, drag them inside the stone cell, and deal with them there.”
“……”
“Afterward, it would be best to switch clothes with the ones we capture and pretend to be bandits. You saw it earlier, right? There are bandits crawling all over the place. In a situation like this, rather than breaking through head-on, infiltrating is…”
“The bandits.”
I had been personally explaining every little thing for the sake of these pampered young masters when a voice suddenly came from somewhere. A rough, low voice.
It was Paeng Ga, his face scrunched up.
“You said something about Flower-Glutton. That the lecherous Flower-Glutton would soon come to Yongcheok Stronghold. That he’d surely covet the Leader’s woman, so we should prepare thoroughly and make sure he couldn’t even come near her.”
“……”
“I wondered who you were talking about, and yet we didn’t realize even though he was right in front of us. Did you come here to steal a beauty?”
Paeng Ga said,
“Flower-Glutton.”
I grinned.
“You only figured that out now?”
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