The Book Of Flowers

Escape Line

"... You're kidding..."

"No. I was serious when I said that. Do I need to repeat?"

"No. No need"

He's serious

I turned away from him for a moment to organize my head. When I was ready, I looked at him again

"In that case, we need a guide to get out of this castle" I said

Claudia nodded in agreement, on her face implied a happy face. That's because he knew I had accepted his offer

I wonder why he feels happy when he wants to be killed. Humans have strange thoughts...

Without further ado, I took him away from that place

However, I realized his limp body was shaking. Maybe because I'm tired. I had to pick it up to make sure we could get out

......................

"Wah, wah~"

I crouched down next to Darwin who was lying stiff on the floor. To be exact, next to his head

I plucked my finger many times in front of Darwin's face. His eyes were clearly open, but he felt unconscious right now

"Please don't kill him now" Claudia said

"I always keep my word, madam. Although I actually wanted to tear this guy apart" I replied

"Haha...! Being called madam by an older person feels very strange"

He said he died over 250 years ago. Although his body looks younger, he is chronologically older than me

Almost 2 times my age

250 Years ago hm...?

At that time, Aestas who became Oberon, met Darwin who was still human

Darwin asked for at least a fragment of the Great Tree for something unknown, and ended up trying to steal it, but failed

Is this woman named Claudia the cause of Darwin's craving for fragments from the Great Tree?

I understand why Aestas didn't want to give up even a little bit of the tree core. That's because, when that core is broken even a little bit, we Oberons won't be able to talk to Father

The cause is easy to understand. It was because his spirit was not whole at all

An incomplete spirit will not give life to a body. Just like a shell with a dead snail

The father already had no physical body, so he had to rely on his intact spirit to remain in this world with the thoughts of his life. The memory of a person is stored in their soul and brain

And one more thing...

Without the strength of the spirit core of Father, we Elves would not be able to live long

When Claudia and Ivor managed to open the cell door, I got closer to them. Looking at me who was approaching, Ivor and Claudia stepped aside to my side, opening my way into the cell

I looked at my weakly sprawled friends on the cold cell floor. My heart was furious at the treatment they were getting

With a swing of my hand, I used healing magic on my friends. Their clearly visible wounds were slowly disappearing without a trace

Along with that, they also woke up and opened their eyes

The newly awakened Ordelia then looked at me. Her tears flowed as I gave her a smile

He got up and hugged me for a moment. Then, he lowered my veil and looked at the flower that was on top of my head

"Not hurt one bit, is it?" Ask while looking at the entire piece carefully

He's worried a lot... I became overwhelmed...

After all, I wouldn't be able to die if the flowers on my head weren't destroyed. So, Ordelia's worry makes me happy, because it's proof that she cares about me

"Hey, Never mind. I'm it's okay. Remina is awake"

Hearing my words, Ordelia turned towards Remina who was trying to get up

But, her still weak body staggered and nearly fell, but her body was captured by the old woman before slamming onto the floor

I and Ordelia who had wanted to catch him immediately felt relieved when they saw it was safe

"Be careful. You are still limp" The old woman said

The man beside her had also started to mutter. He woke up with my friends still sitting on the floor

"Then? What are our plans to get out of this place?" Asked Zaphir who was still trying to control the dizziness in his head

"... He's gonna be our guide"

I showed Claudia who was standing beside me to all of them. Claudia slowly lowered her head to greet them all

Zaphir simply nodded slowly as he told him to raise his head

Claudia immediately broke out in cold sweat when she saw Zaphir's sharp gaze

...

"We-We just plan our escape route first" I interrupted

All my friends instantly agreed to break the tense atmosphere between Zaphir and Claudia

Well... He had not met many humans for several centuries

He only had bad thoughts about humans, especially because of the thousand-year war. The interracial massacre was very imprinted on his head, making him always rude to all humans

When Oberon Aestas had died, Zaphir was the only Elf still alive from the time of war thousands of years until now. Only he had the trauma of that war, and his hatred made perfect sense to me

He really hates humans. But, that hatred of her also led to all races other than Elves

But it was a mistake for him too. He never opened his eyes and heart to the humans after that. If only he would...

"... By the way, tell us all the routes in this castle"

Claudia nodded her head in understanding as we sat in a circle against Darwin

"There's always a patrol guard every night. But, usually only 4-5 guards go around. Most of them guard the rooms belonging to the royal family. Even though we can deal with them, Yael has placed a marker on each guard to ensure their condition. If we hurt them even a little, Rosalia and Jael will know right away

There are only 2 routes that we can take and the safest if we want to escape out of this castle. First, the path leads to the western corridor of the castle"

"Rear door hm? I still know some places in this castle

The castle faces east because the royal family loves to see the sunrise, as is a kind of tradition. So, the back door is clearly in the west" I explained

"That's exactly Vainzel. There's not a single room belonging to the royal family that's nearby, that's deciphering"

"- There are hardly any guards there" Luxor said. "If we escape through that place with the right momentum, we can avoid the patrol guards" he added

Claudia nodded in agreement. "But, the problem of this route was to exit the royal area efficiently. With the number of soldiers patrolling outside, plus the many people who are here, I'm sure we'll all be hard-pressed to escape even outside the castle"

Well... Danger too. And considering that every soldier has a Jael marker, this way is clearly quite dangerous

'The 'safest way' that Claudia said turned out to remain at a dangerous level

He went on to explain the second route we could take

"The second one is through my room"

"... Meanin?" Lyralia asked

I was even confused by Claudia's words

"Every room in this castle has a secret door in every room. The door leads to a secret underground tunnel. The purpose of the tunnel was a secret escape for the royal family, should there be an impromptu attack on the castle"

"But, are you sure there's no one on patrol in the tunnel? Who knows if there are, right?" Ask Ordelia

"No. Darwin told me that only certain people knew of the tunnel's existence, excluding the 'low-breed' soldiers'. He told me this so I could escape 'if you come attacking'"

"so... At least he's useful" I said as I looked towards Darwin behind me

"The secret door in my room lies behind a large painting in front of my bed" Claudia said. "But, to go to my own room, we must pass through Darius Hortensia's room. There must be guards there. And another way to get to my room is through the garden in the middle of the castle and then to the southeast from the middle of the garden, while avoiding the attention of the guards"

"... Both options have a bad side and good hm...?"

I try to process all of those things carefully

Our choice is only 2. We escaped through the back door of the castle, risking having to evade all the guards outside the castle

Or we could go to Claudia's room to go through that secret tunnel, at the risk of the possibility that we would have to face the guards in this castle first

...

There are fewer guards inside this castle than outside, I'm sure. But, we were in the closest area of their detection range, causing us to fail quickly if caught here

Not forgetting Yael's extremely fast teleportation ability. If we get caught in the slightest by him, I'm sure our plan will fall apart immediately

And also...

"We should also try to save the Elves trapped here. They were located in Thyme castle and locked up there, based on the talk of 3 people who took me to the secret room earlier" I said

I'm not really sure they're all just there. My guess is, there may be some who are separated to make it harder for us to save them

All my friends were shocked. They agree, but...

"... Although I do agree with you, it will most likely kill them, if not us who die first" Zaphir said

"I have a plan, so...

We'll take the first line"

Everyone there looked at each other in confusion over my decision

I then took out a seed from my palm. The little seed I then stuck to my lips

And with a breath, I began to speak to the seed

"cool? Are you there?"