After locking subordinate G in the basement and drawing the curtains, we gathered in the dark living room to freely exchange opinions.

“...The situation isn’t good,” Versil was the first to speak.

“Soon the patrol that discovered us will notice we’re gone. Then a full-scale search will begin. It’s only a matter of time before our presence here is exposed.”

Indeed, staying here any longer is dangerous.

Even for us, being surrounded by them would mean no chance of escape.

I had felt that during the Ice Rock expedition as well; the high-ranking plunderers of Noirak, including Orculus, were not to be underestimated.

‘Since we continued to assault the 8th floor afterward, they must have become even more elite.’

I nodded at Versil’s opinion and said,

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of hiding here either. We must find a way to escape as soon as possible.”

“That’s a relief.”

We must escape the 7th district occupied by the Noirak forces.

With that clear goal, the conversation naturally focused on that.

“Not only the 7th, but the 13th district is occupied at the same time, right? It would be difficult for them to fully cover such a vast city wall alone.”

“Meaning we should find gaps and break through.”

“Yes! Once we get over the wall, our allies will be beyond it.”

Elwen insisted on a forced breakthrough.

“How about using the sewers...? The passages are narrow, so even if we get caught, it seems doable...”

Misha suggested a detour.

“...Why bother with all that? Why not just hide? The royal troops might come to rescue us in a few days...”

Ainard’s wait-it-out strategy, lacking fighting spirit.

Then...

“Auyen, what about you? Don’t just stay quiet.”

“Huh? Me?”

“I’m not asking for the perfect answer. Just say freely what you would want to do. No pressure.”

“If I had the strength... I think I would try to rescue the people.”

“People...?”

“Yes... Most of the explorers in the 7th district are being held hostage by them...”

Auyen’s opinion was surprisingly thoughtful.

“Of course, I’m far from being a hero...! Just saying, don’t mind me!”

Flustered by all eyes on him, Auyen added hurriedly.

But...

“Not bad.”

Amelia, apparently impressed by Auyen’s opinion, looked at me and said,

“Yandel, this might be our chance. They don’t know we exist. They’re only wary of the royal troops beyond the city walls.”

“So you mean we should strike from inside during this moment.”

“Exactly. If successful, it will be a tremendous achievement. Two cities of Ravigion are under external enemy control now. We might be recognized with as much honor as the nobles who stopped the Duke of Yeokcheon during the Cheolbyeok Rebellion.”

Amelia’s words made sense.

Such a large incident in Lapdonia’s long history can be counted on one hand.

Success would mean numerous rewards and even noble rank advancement.

My status in the Melbes coalition of other-race nobles would rise accordingly.

“...We should listen more. Auyen, bring the guy from the basement.”

Our worries deepened.

Subordinate G, briefly imprisoned in the basement and then freed, answered our questions as if he had truly joined our side.

Thanks to him, we learned much more detailed information about the 7th district’s situation...

“The explorers are imprisoned in several locations.”

By profession, explorers greatly surpass ordinary people in combat ability and usually act as the city’s standing army.

The places they were imprisoned could be roughly divided into three:

The underground prison of the explorers’ branch, where I had been once trapped.

The underground prison beneath the Sanseonggyo temples.

And the underground prison of the 7th district police.

Of course, these three are broad divisions; subdivided further, there are dozens of places.

There are several temples and explorer branches in the 7th district, and the police have multiple sub-branches.

“Because so many explorers were taken hostage, they had no choice but to split them up like this...”

Whether this is good or bad is ambiguous.

‘Their forces are dispersed, which might make rescue easier...’

On the other hand, stopping by even a few places would surely expose our existence. Even moving quickly, there is distance between prisons.

“But it’s positive that their strength increases with every place we visit.”

“Eh...? Are you planning to rescue them...?”

“Why do you care?”

“......”

Anyway, we then heard about the patrols’ territories and the size of troops stationed along the city walls.

Well, this low-ranking lackey couldn’t explain everything precisely...

“Oh, and civilians are gathered near the walls. As the royal pressure grows, they gradually release some and face off.”

Knowing a little is much better than knowing nothing.

“Good. Then go back home.”

“...Home?”

“Auyen will guide you.”

After locking subordinate G back in the basement, we held one final meeting.

“You look like you’ve made a decision.”

“Can you tell?”

“To some extent. So, what now?”

It wasn’t a tone asking because they really didn’t know, so I answered without hesitation.

“We free the hostages and escape this city together.”

“How?”

Amelia asked briefly, and I answered immediately without hesitation.

“We figure it out from now.”

“...”

“All together.”

We judged it feasible and decided, but hadn’t made detailed plans yet.

It’s better to brainstorm with everyone rather than me deciding ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ alone.

“Good. Let’s start.”

So the planning meeting went on.

Which prison to target first, which route to take.

Whether to climb the city wall or move through the sewers.

If we choose the wall, which point is best.

We debated these long and slowly formed a rough outline.

“But...”

During a quiet lull in the meeting, Misha cautiously spoke.

“Isn’t it... a bit strange?”

A muttering without subject.

Elwen frowned and asked sharply.

“Strange?”

“It’s just... What exactly do the Noirak want? There are parts we don’t understand.”

“It’s obvious what they want, isn’t it? To steal what’s ours and become masters of the world.”

“That’s true but... this is too reckless.”

Misha quickly continued.

“They must know from the start that holding out with hostages only buys time. So why did they invade like this?”

Elwen didn’t object.

Honestly, this doubt Misha voiced was something we all shared to some degree.

In this scenario, Noirak can never win.

Even if they had tens of times more hostages, the royal family isn’t afraid to shed blood.

And...

‘Noirak must know that too.’

A doomed invasion.

So why did the Noirak do something so foolish?

Were they just unable to think that far?

No way.

“Targeting two districts simultaneously is suspicious. They could barely hold out against one.”

“Moreover, Bifron lies between the 7th and 13th districts, making defense even harder.”

“Yeah. Why did they do that? Does Bifron have some purpose?”

“I don’t know exactly, but it’s clear there’s some hidden motive.”

At this point, it’s reasonable to think there’s a secret plan.

“What about the hostage situation?”

“They need time to carry out their next plan.”

“Then we have to move quickly. If they have enough time, who knows how things will change.”

Two heads are better than one.

Gathered here exchanging opinions, we realized we had a time limit.

We don’t know how much time remains, but everyone was impressed that we must act quickly.

“Alright, is everyone clear on the plan?”

“Ah, I’m not—”

“It’s okay, Ainard. You just stay next to Versil.”

“Oh! Really?”

Yes. I didn’t expect him to memorize all this.

It’s best to stick the smart guy with the smart guy.

“Then preparations are done. Let’s go.”

We finished all the preparations and were about to leave.

Is there some DNA that never forgets oaths, even if everything else is forgotten?

“Bjorn! Hey! What are you going to do with the guy locked in the basement? Didn’t you swear to spare him?”

Ugh, why do I remember useless things like this?

I couldn’t easily break my oath in front of Ainard, who doesn’t know I’m a player, but it didn’t cause big problems.

“What’s the issue? We spared him, right?”

“...”

“So I have to prepare his food and take care of him?”

“Uh... no...”

“Good. Leave him be. If he starves, that’s his fate.”

“Oh... I see?”

“Ainard! Stop the useless talk and go stand next to Versil! That’s your spot!”

“Got it!!”

Okay, Ainard is convinced.

Creak, boom!

Let’s go.

We left the ruined old house and moved as stealthily as possible, avoiding patrols.

From the patrols’ movements, it seemed our presence was still unknown.

“This way.”

By the way, I assigned Amelia as our guide.

She’s practically an expert in stealth and infiltration.

Following her instructions, we stopped and moved on cue, arriving exactly when expected during the planning.

“As I heard, there aren’t many guards.”

The old temple of the Reatlas faith we often visited.

Also the starting point of today’s escape plan.

From the second floor of the building across, we secretly observed and began the plan.

Well, for me, it was just waiting.

“Be back soon.”

The special team of Amelia with stealth device, Misha, and long-range assassin Elwen left the building together.

After a moment, the signal came.

When I went down and headed to the front gate, all the guards standing there were already knocked out.

Ssshh!

After Amelia’s exploration tools erased all traces, we entered the temple.

And...

Thunk! Crash! Ssssh!

Following Amelia, we repeated the process.

But a long tail is bound to get caught.

“I think... we’ve been detected.”

Elwen murmured, and Amelia frowned, nodding.

“Seems so. With all this noise.”

She says noise, but I hear nothing.

...Not that I don’t believe her.

“But how did we get caught?”

“Well, there are many ways. There are always mysterious ones with special abilities everywhere. We’ll ask later; for now, we need to speed up.”

“Do it.”

Tsk, I hoped this would be quiet and quick.

“The royal family! The royal family is invading!”

As we reached the stairs leading down to the underground prison, troops stationed in the temple appeared and attacked.

Killing them all before going down would be an option, but not time-efficient.

“Yandel, we’ll handle this here; you go down.”

“Got it.”

Leaving surface cleanup to comrades, I hurried down.

The underground prison was much larger than the surface area.

Only one guard was on duty at a time; the rest were nowhere to be seen.

“D-Don’t come!”

The guard, hearing the noise above, greeted me weapon drawn...

Crash!

I smashed his head with the hammer, and the imprisoned explorers realized what was happening.

“Rescue team...?”

“Why only one?”

“Wait... this seems familiar...”

“Baron Yandel! It’s Baron Yandel!”

“The giant is here...!!!”

The cheers echoing in the underground chamber were deafening, but I chose to think positively.

Yeah, it’s good they have the energy to shout.

Better to use this chance to build goodwill.

“Wait! I am Bjorn, Yandel’s son, here to save you!!”

“Waaaaaaah!!”

After the goodwill ritual ended, I searched the fallen guard’s waist for keys—

‘...No keys?’

Unexpected, but I wasn’t flustered.

There’s no problem in this world that can’t be solved.

If you have enough strength.

Creak!

With some force, the iron bars bent like spoons.

“Th-Thank you! Thank you!”

“Did the royal family send the baron?”

“I heard he was missing...”

The explorers came out, asking all sorts of questions.

Goodwill building is nice, but I didn’t have time to answer kindly.

“Come on, no time for explanations. Hold out your hands.”

“Ah...! Yes!”

First, I removed the shackles explorers wore like cracking walnuts with bare hands.

Since they’re magic tools sealing the essence, their physical durability was low.

“Now get upstairs quickly and help. Don’t block the way.”

“Uh... do you know where my equipment is?”

“Ask upstairs. I don’t know either.”

“Yes!”

No need to tediously find keys one by one; brute force freed them faster than expected.

But...

“Below! On the second basement floor, there are priests and mages!”

Oh, there’s a second basement floor too.

No wonder only regular explorers were here.

“I am Bjorn, Yandel’s son, here to rescue you!!”

We continued goodwill and rescue operations even on the second basement floor.

When all was done and we came back upstairs, the place was cleaned up.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“You all worked hard. Enough. Now, priests! Are there any high-ranking priests like bishops? The more, the better!”

I singled out priests among the freed explorers.

Fortunately, there were more than ten bishops or higher...

“...Any injuries?”

“No, but we need your help for the next plan.”

“Oh, of course! We will help with all our might. But... what should we do?”

“Pray for us.”

“Pray...?”

The priests looked at each other confused, but I smiled.

“I want to remove the essence.”

“...”

“Immediately.”

Yeah, to do something big, first we strengthen ourselves.

「[Essence of Orc Hero] embedded in character’s soul has been removed.」

「Strength decreased by 70.」

「Agility decreased by 35.」

「Fighting spirit decreased by 40.」

「Physical resistance decreased by 20...」

「······.」

「······.」

.

.

.

「[Essence of ????] is now embedding in the character’s soul.」