Chapter 213: Escape Game
In some ways, Rachel was really a strong and healthy girl. Though, to be honest, she couldn't really be called a child anymore.
She climbed out of the trash bin with difficulty, her body covered in scratches from when she had been struggling inside.
Although there wasn’t much bleeding, the wounds stung badly, probably because she’d stayed in that bin too long. If she didn’t treat them soon, they might get infected.
After being reborn, Rachel originally just wanted to live like a normal person who stayed out of trouble.
She planned to act like a good girl for a while and then sneak out of the manor.
After that, she might still continue studying alchemy, but she wasn’t going to work with anyone anymore. She wanted to go back to her original way, using alchemy only for herself, not helping others, and not letting anyone get involved.
She even decided to be a selfish person. She had made up her mind long ago. This time, she would live only for herself. After all, she had already died once.
To make sure she could live properly this time, she had been extremely careful. Because if she died now, she had no backup body. Alchemy hadn’t advanced to the point where she could steal another person’s body to live in.
So this time, she wanted to live just for herself. And even if she had to use dirty tricks to survive, she would.
She was already over 100 years old. At that age, you'd think she would have moved past all those emotional feelings. She thought this time she could focus only on personal gain, doing everything for herself.
But she still couldn’t do it.
When she saw little Salana so scared that she even forgot how to scream, Rachel still chose to stand up and protect her.
She could’ve used the chance to run away on her own. But instead, she chose to help Salana escape.
No matter what, she was still an adult. Even if she was using a child’s body now, deep down she was still an old woman who should protect real children like Salana.
So she picked up the wooden spring-knife that Armand had given her for self-defense and stabbed it hard into the hand of the man who tried to grab them. Then she quickly pulled the knife back out.
Maybe it was because she’d run away so many times, but Rachel could immediately tell from the man’s expression. They were coming for her. Salana was just a random kid who got caught up in this.
So she handed the blood-stained knife to Salana, who was crying in fear.
She didn’t need Salana to know how to use a knife properly. Just swinging it wildly would be enough.
Even a little girl, when pushed to the edge, would fight back as hard as she could. The sharp knife in her hand might be enough to scare those big men, at least a little.
Rachel had to admit at that moment, Salana really was the daughter of the vice-captain.
This little girl had a kind of courage that other kids her age couldn’t compare to. Even though she was scared, even though she was still just a child, she still held that blood-stained knife tightly and bravely swung it at men way bigger than her dad.
“—Run!”
Since those people weren’t after Salana, Rachel wouldn’t let her get caught in this mess.
Dragging an innocent child into something like this was the worst thing you could do. No matter what the reason was.
“But Rachel—”
“Listen to me, Salana.”
At that moment, while Salana hesitated, Rachel grabbed her wrist and let the blood from the wound on her palm soak into Salana’s sleeve.
"You leave this place first, then go find your dad. Isn't he a really strong knight? Let the adults come and find me. You're still a kid, so you need to go find the grown-ups, understand?"
Salana’s tears trembled as they fell. Even though she didn’t want to leave Rachel, didn’t want to abandon her here, and didn’t want to see her best friend get hurt, deep down she knew Rachel was right.
In this kind of situation, the two of them, just kids, couldn’t fix anything. They had to go get someone strong, like her dad.
“Rachel, y-you have to be okay…”
Salana sounded like a little grown-up, telling her best friend to take care of herself.
“Of course! I’m way more mature and awesome than you think!”
After saying that, Rachel ran out to get the attention of the bad guys, so Salana could sneak away down another alley with the knife. The knife could help her protect herself, and also act as a sign to tell Armand what happened, he should hurry and come find her.
To be honest, Rachel didn’t even know if Salana could really escape. She guessed those people weren’t after Salana, so in theory, they shouldn’t hurt her.
After all, Rachel was just a secret adopted daughter, someone Armand never even admitted publicly. She had no real identity or background. But Salana was different. She was the daughter of the richest man in the kingdom, and even noble families would bow and greet her politely.
If someone kidnapped or hurt that girl, her dad Carle, who was totally obsessed with his daughter, might tear up the whole capital to find her. He was rich enough to smash every apartment building in town and then pay to build them all again from scratch.
Thinking about it now, Rachel kind of wished she’d made Armand officially recognize her, too. That way, maybe people wouldn’t dare mess with her either.
But then again… being famous would probably lead to even scarier kidnappings.
Good thing she knew the real "Red Crow" personally. If not, maybe that powerful person might’ve come to catch her already.
“Huff…”
When Rachel climbed out of the trash bin, she fell and hit the ground again.
Back when she was running away, she was running like her life depended on it. She didn’t even know where she was going. Just turned at every corner she saw. Eventually, she hit a dead end. In a burst of desperation, she climbed over some boxes full of old clothes and jumped over the wall.
But she was running too fast and didn’t realize there was nothing on the other side. She fell straight down.
Because of her strong survival instinct, she didn’t even stop to feel the pain. She quickly got up and hid inside a trash bin, staying there with all the flies and cockroaches. Even after it got quiet and she couldn’t hear anyone chasing her, she still didn’t dare come out. She stayed hidden for over ten minutes before slowly crawling out.
When she climbed out, she even brought a bunch of bugs with her. There were rotten food scraps in the bin too, and a few maggots had stuck to her clothes.
Luckily, Rachel was used to this. She had caught and studied flies and maggots before for her alchemy work. So instead of screaming like most people would, she just frowned and brushed the bugs off. If it had been anyone else, they probably would’ve screamed like crazy.
But what now?
Rachel sat down beside the trash bin, looking around at the endless darkness.
She had probably run into the slums while trying to escape. The alleys here twisted and turned everywhere, even people with a map would get lost. She had never been here before and had no idea how to get out.
Getting lost was bad enough, but if she accidentally ran into those bad guys again… that would really be a joke nobody would laugh at.
She had to find a way to get out of here.
Rachel was so anxious that she scratched her head over and over. Even though she had already used the knife to send a signal to Armand to come find her quickly, how was he supposed to know where she was?
She had thought about grabbing some kind of unique item from those bad guys, something Salana could bring out to help. But after running around and observing them, she couldn’t find anything that clearly showed who they were.
...Could it be... them again?
Just like the people she ran into at the book fair back then, these people wore normal clothes, looked like a bunch of random people, and didn’t stand out. But their actions were very organized and clearly had a goal.
Who are they? Why won’t they stop chasing me?
Could they be people working for the Second Prince?
Did they already find out who she really is?
No... that doesn’t seem likely. After all, this body had been hidden very well.
If it hadn’t been for the emergency “soul stone” she always wore lighting up, she would’ve completely forgotten that she had even kept this “custom-grown puppet body” hidden away, stuffed in a corner of the lab just because it was the shortest.
Then, are they trying to threaten Armand? That didn’t make sense either. If that were true, why would they let the deputy commander’s daughter escape?
Ughhh—this makes no sense!
The old lady who was always good at figuring things out had finally run into something she couldn’t logically explain.
Unless it was something crazy like, “Wow, this kid looks so cute, I wanna kidnap her and raise her myself!” Rachel just couldn’t think of any good reason why someone would want to capture a kid like her who seemed to have no value at all.
But it probably wasn’t something that ridiculous, right?
“...So annoying…”
Without noticing, Rachel had started using Armand’s favorite phrase when frustrated.
Anyway, she should just try to find a way out little by little.
She decided to use the "right-hand rule", keep her hand on the wall and walk to the right. At least that way she wouldn’t get even more lost.
Thinking that, Rachel stood up, leaned to her right side, and, despite the pain from falling earlier, started walking step by step into the unknown.
Meanwhile, not far from her and high up above, a girl with the code name “Grey Dove” had been watching Rachel ever since the attack began.
“Hehe...” Grey Dove held her bow and watched the girl's “escape game” with great interest.
“Hehehe… No wonder I chose her, she has amazing willpower~” She smiled and licked her lips.
Only a child like that... can become my true ‘family.’ So strong, so determined even in the face of danger. She would definitely become a powerful assassin one day.
When her idol, Red Crow, finally returned, she would proudly show him that their “family” had welcomed a new, strong member~~~
Hehe... Red Crow...
Where are you now...?
I’m already finding you a new family member, so please come back soon~
Just like before, with your pride and coldness, lead me once more~