Chapter 18
I was lost in the mysterious scene for only a moment.
“This is no time for that.”
Shaking my head briskly, I began to examine the map carefully.
Since the section showing the underground prison—what I’d been looking at during the day—was spread open right in front of me, my eyes were naturally drawn there first.
There weren’t many areas marked in gold, so it didn’t take long to spot something strange.
Pointing at one side of the map, I muttered,
“Huh? There’s a passage here that connects to the outside? In the underground prison? That’s seriously dangerous, isn’t it?”
This hole was almost certainly the “gap” Kin had been trying to find.
But there was one more place I wanted to know about.
I began flipping through the map, searching for another escape route.
“…Huh?”
Just as something caught my eye and I was about to bury my nose in the map—
Click.
The sound of a door opening rang out.
At a noise that absolutely should not have existed, the hair on the back of my neck practically stood on end.
“W-who is it…?”
The answer was already obvious.
Slash!
The instant I turned my head, a sharp blade grazed my cheek. I didn’t even have time to feel the pain, because my throat was seized immediately afterward.
“Ghk!”
Kin gripped my neck as if he might snap it at any moment, staring down at me imperiously.
“You are… an astrologer.”
A bluish killing aura seemed to rise from his eyes. I swallowed hard and forced a smile. After all, smiling when things are toughest is what the pros do.
“H-hello?”
“At this late hour, why have you trespassed into my office without permission?”
“I—I heard the voice of the stars in my dream!”
Panicking, I pointed at the fortress map I was holding.
Because I was standing with my back to the window, the ink that had been shining in the starlight was no longer visible, so I ended up pointing at a blocked section of the map instead.
“H-here. This, this is the gap.”
I acted like someone slightly out of their mind.
“I heard it in a dream, so I had to come immediately. I had no choice. The stars whispered that there was no time. They said there was no time!”
Faced with my inspired performance at the edge of life and death, Kin fell into thought.
“What? Has my ability ever been wrong? I even lifted the lord’s curse, didn’t I? This time too, it’s a revelation from the heavens! Please believe me! Please!”
As I half-begged, desperately hiding my trembling hands beneath my sleeves, Kin brusquely released my neck.
“…If there’s nothing where you say there is, be prepared for the consequences.”
Somehow, it sounded even more frightening than simply saying he’d kill me.
It was my second time going down, but the underground prison was still eerie beyond words.
And with Kin in a foul mood as my companion, the journey felt even more brutal.
“I’m going to die. Seriously.”
Kin was a man of swift action. As if he had no intention of allowing me to escape, he took me straight to the underground prison.
Down and down we walked, for nearly an hour.
At the very bottom level of the prison, the first inmate, Bernard, yawned widely and waved a hand.
“Oh? My lord? Miss Astrologer? I heard you collapsed. But you look perfectly fine—both arms still attached and everything?”
At Bernard’s voice, another prisoner began shouting again.
“Kiiiiin! You cursed bastard! Even chewing you up wouldn’t be enough! Receive the imperial iron punishment! Vengeance will be taken for me!”
“Even bound to the wall, he’s got some spirit. What kind of person was he, anyway? …Huh?”
I glanced over to check the prisoner’s information and froze in shock.
“H-he has no eyes?”
The prisoner’s face was horribly mutilated.
Where his eyes should have been was nothing but emptiness.
Instead of eyeballs, only deeply sunken eyelids remained.
The sight made my scalp prickle.
“If I get on Kin’s bad side, that could be me.”
I’d known it in theory, but seeing it with my own eyes felt very different.
“So you can’t read someone’s information unless you can somehow make eye contact with them.”
Realizing a flaw in my ability at a time like this—maybe it was better for my mental health to think of it as a silver lining.
“Just ignore that one. He spouts nonsense every day. Completely lost it. Says he’s something to do with the imperial family… pfft, if that were true, why would he be here?”
Leaning against the bars, Bernard twirled a finger above his head.
“His routine changes a little every day—it’s exhausting to even listen. Hah! If that’s the case, then I’m the emperor and the holy pope!”
Kin frowned, clearly irritated by the slander.
“Shut up and lie quietly in the straw.”
“Yes, sir. But when will you let me out—”
“I said I’d let you out if you gave me a useful lead. Not for nothing. Think carefully about whether you’ve said anything of value.”
“My testimony isn’t finished yet, you know?”
“I’ll hear the rest later. Now shut up.”
“Tch.”
Grumbling, Bernard curled up on the pile of straw.
“Is this the place you mentioned?”
Kin knocked on the large stone pillar right next to Bernard’s cell.
“There’s nothing here.”
Just as he said, it was nothing more and nothing less than a stone pillar.
But I knew its secret.
“No. There is.”
I slipped my arm through the bars and felt along the wall. My fingers found a small stone.
I rubbed it three times to the right, three times to the left, then let go.
“…Now it’ll be different.”
“Hm.”
Still suspicious, Kin placed his hand on the pillar.
Then—
Whoosh.
Kin’s arm slid straight into the stone pillar and vanished. It passed right through the wall.
“Thank goodness it actually opened.”
I let out a breath of relief and lifted my chin proudly.
“It’s a secret passage. A hole connected to the outside. That ‘ghost,’ whoever he is, definitely used this to come and go.”
“I see.”
Pulling his arm back from the pillar, Kin looked me up and down. A strange light flickered in his eyes.
I should be glad I’d proven my ability and earned his trust, but…
“Then why does this feel so chilling?”
I had a bad feeling that something unpleasant was about to happen.
Of course, I wasn’t a real fortune-teller, so there was no reason to trust my instincts—but still.
“Can I go now—?!”
Suddenly, Kin slightly furrowed his brow and violently thrust his hand toward me.
“He’s finally going to hit a woman!”
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for pain.
But it never came. Instead, a chilling sound brushed past me.
Slice.
Something had been cut.
“Damn it, it’s torn!”
At the same moment—
Flap!
A large piece of cloth flew in from somewhere and wrapped around my body like a snake.
“Aah! What is this?!”
I struggled against the suffocating grip, but I couldn’t move a single finger.
When I finally managed to steady myself and open my eyes, a sharp blade was already pressed against my neck.
A rough voice rang out above my head.
“If you want this woman to live, you’d better drop your weapon.”
I looked up and met the speaker’s eyes.
The moment I saw those bright yellow irises, an information window appeared.
[Name: Don
Race: Human
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Hometown: Bitrician
Traits: Fanatical, imperial rat, ghost of the underground prison, obtained a key, enchanted]
“…So you’re yesterday’s ghost.”
We’d already met before.
Kin, too, seemed to realize who Don was and spoke.
“So you’re the rat bastard who ran around pretending to be a ghost in the underground prison.”
“It’s a shame you only figured it out now.”
Despite his bravado, Don’s arms holding me were trembling. I could feel his heart pounding. He was clearly tense.
“Can’t blame him.”
With icy blue eyes gleaming, Kin drew his sword, looking terrifying beyond words.
Was this what it felt like to be a tiny mouse facing a giant venomous snake?
Even I, who wasn’t directly in the line of his killing intent, felt my limbs go numb and my skin prickle. For Don…
“He must feel like he’s about to die.”
Don backed away hesitantly, clearly wanting to flee somewhere.
The only escape was the secret passage hidden in the stone pillar.
But that route was already firmly blocked by Kin.
“I-if you don’t move, this woman dies!”
“Are you certain she’s important to me?”
“Tch—so the rumors about you valuing your close aides like gold were all lies?”
“No, actually, I’m not one of those aides—I’m more like someone who survives by reading the room…”
My mind raced wildly.
“What should I do here?”
It was the moment I panted for breath, resolving to survive somehow, just as I always had.
“All right. As you say, I am generous to those who render service. So, astrologer—what would you like me to do for you?”
