Leaving the Safehouse

2nd of Letzernat, 300 M.K.E (27 days later…) 

Howard was found lying down on his bed, surrounded by the darkness of the night. His blanket was put aside, folded, and placed on the seat of a wooden chair nearby. He did not need a blanket to make himself warm. The unusual attire, consisting of long sleeves, long pants, tight gloves, a mask, leather boots, and a large cloak, did a good job at that.

Now was usually the time when he would have a lamp running on animal fat by his side, taking advantage of a dim light to read up on a book he wanted to read and finish, just before going to sleep. Today, however, he rather felt not doing it. Instead, he prefers to think about the events that unfolded today, that forced him to depart the safehouse a little earlier than expected.

It all started earlier this morning, around 5'o clock. A strange man wearing ordinary clothes approached the safehouse and knocked on the door. Knight Adam, following procedure as always, looked through the peephole and asked him what his business there was.

It was a man Knight Adam himself knew personally. The two had been working together in this operation, at least, that was what he told the prince. Anyways, this strange man offered Adam a warning, informing him that the safehouse was at risk of being compromised.

Although Knight Adam did not specify how the safehouse was at risk of being compromised, he stretched the need to get out of the safehouse as quickly as they could. Luckily for Howard, they already had a contingency plan in place, just in case something like this ever happened.

The contingency plan involved the use of tunnels that Adam showed Howard about a month ago. They would take the tunnels to exit the safehouse and join up with a few accomplices. From there, they would take a few horses and ride out of the city, down near the Maria river, and catch up with the boat Howard was "supposed" to be on.

They would signal the boat to stop, and have a crew come down to take Howard, alongside Adam, away. They would have him act as if he had been on the boat all this time. He arrives back at the city of Parados in the morning, where the plan would continue as normal. All Howard had to do, was wait for Adam's cue to move.

While Howard waits for his signal, he thinks about everything he has learned thus far. He had spent the 27 days here either reading the books Suzan had given him to read, talking and socializing with Adam to learn about the Legion of Knights, or reading through Kant's memories depicting his past.

He did this partly to expand his knowledge of this alien world, party to help him choose a knight to become his permanent bodyguard, and partly to confirm some information he heard from various sources.

As a reward for his efforts, Kant's brain spoon-fed Howard's mind with more memories previously hidden behind the veil of amnesia. These new memories contained a lot of insight into Kant's relationship with other nobles and members of the Legion of knights. It gave him something to chew on, something to keep him busy while he waited.

*Knock Knock Knock*

Howard picks up a heavy knocking, coming from the other end of his door. With just two words, he permitted whoever was on the other side to enter the room.

"Come in."

The door creeks open, revealing a man whose face was covered with a mask, and his cloak covered with a lot of dust and dirt. On his left hand, he carried a big lamp, emitting a shiny yellow glow that cast the darkness away.

"Is it time, Knight Adam?" Knight Adam nods.

"It's time, your highness. We should go," he replied. Howard gets off his bed and follows Adam to the basement. Hidden behind Kant's closet shelves, the place where all his clothes were kept, was a short, narrow tunnel carved out of the earth, supported by a few wooden frames.

"Follow me, your highness. I will lead you out of here. Just make sure to close the closet. We don't want anyone to find this tunnel."

Howard complied with his request. Once Howard kneeled and slid into the tunnel, he extended his hand to grab the little handle on the back of the shelf and closed the entrance to the tunnel. With the entrance closed, the only way to go was ahead.

As they moved through this narrow passageway, Howard began to understand why he was provided with his strange clothes. It was intended to shield his skin and his face from the dust and dirt the tunnel had an abundance of. Assuming that there were no baths on the ship, they wanted to keep him as clean as they could so as to not arouse any suspicions.

"Excuse me, Knight Adam. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Howard began. His voice echoes throughout the entire narrow structure, making it slightly easier for the two to understand each other.

"Go on, your highness."

"How long is this tunnel? It feels like we have been here forever…" Howard asked Knight Adam, feeling as if time was moving at a snail's pace.

"The tunnel is not that long, your highness. We are just moving slowly so that it won't collapse in on us," Adam replies.

"Oh? Does that mean it's not safe to talk then?" Howard questioned. Though he kept calm, his heart started to be beat faster.

"I don't think our voices are powerful enough to break the foundation, your highness," he replies. Howard lets out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, that is good. I was beginning to worry there…" he mutters.

"Anyways, considering that the tunnel isn't that long, when was it constructed? From the looks of it, it seems to have been built in a rush…"

"That is because, your highness, it was."

"Oh? So, it was not built into the original building?"

"Nope. The safehouse used to be abandoned till we showed up. We used the renovations upstairs as a distraction to dig up this tunnel with the little time we had," he explains.

"Nobody ever really expected your birthday to unfold the way that it did. From what I have heard, this whole operation was conceived in just a few days, and executed after you woke up," Adam adds.

"Really?"

"Yes. Things had to move quickly especially after you woke up. His highness personally sent out a message to a lot of knights he selected to be a part of the operation. Most of them were stationed at the palace. Others were stationed somewhere else."

"Were you a part of these knights?"

"Yes. Though, I wonder why he didn't contact the Head Chief of the Legion of Knights. Would have made things a lot easier," he commented.

The Head Chief of the Legion of Knights is, as the name suggests, the head of the organization. The ones below him were the Heads Chiefs of each region, and one below that, were the individual commanders of the Legion, like Herrold Wingman himself.

Considering the heads of these organization is filled with his allies, people that he trusts, for Danial to not request his help for this operation confused him. Maybe he wasn't confident in them after one of them fucked up protecting his son from that attack? Howard does not know.

"Why do you think he did that?" Howard asks Adam for his opinion.

"My best guess is that the king was disappointed in Knight Commander Herrold's performance. But that doesn't explain why he didn't get the others involved. Seems strange to me," he answers.

"Hmm… Well regardless, you must have felt pretty honored when you learned that the king chose you for this mission. Or, did you feel something else?" Howard questions him.

Adam is taken slightly off-guard by that last question. What did Prince Kant mean by "Something else?"

"What do you mean by that, your highness?" Adam asks Kant back, seeking clarification.

"Well, people normally didn't have a very high opinion of me. They see me as not worthy of the royal title. Someone who should have perished at birth. Like a… stain on the royal family," Howard was referencing some childhood memories he unlocked; Memories that depicted how the rest of the nobility and knights viewed him.

"So, I am asking you if you felt the same when you first got briefed…"

"Well, truth be told, I think a lot of people felt that way at first. Including myself. However, after hearing about your heroic actions in Alderney, most of us changed our minds."

"That quickly? That was all it took?"

"Well, you sacrificed yourself to save something important to you, despite your weakness. You fulfilled your duty as a prince and protected the honor of the crown. For a knight, that is more than enough."

"Hm… that's good to know. What about the nobility?"

"What about them?"

"Do you think their opinions would have changed, like yours did?"

"That, I do not know your highness. However, considering the differences between us knights and nobles, I doubt it," Adam responds.

"Oh look! We are here!" Adam proclaimed.

The two had finally reached the end of the tunnel, some kind of wooden wall with a handle. With a little push, Adam was able to open up the other side, allowing both of them to crawl out of the claustrophobic tunnel.

Their entire bodies were covered in dirt and dust, accumulated over the short amount of time they crawled through. Thankfully, their strange attire had protected their skin from getting dirty, meaning they wouldn't need to take a bath to look clean.

Howard looks around to place to see where they are. It appeared to be the back of some brewery, with a dozen large barrels filled to the brim with alcohol for the people to drink.

Adam lights up another lantern and hands it over to Howard. Just before they left the room, the two men changed clothes, removing their dirty cloaks which had accumulated a lot of dirt and dust, to new, clean cloaks to help them travel in the dark. Once the two have finally switched clothes, they pick up their lanterns and head outside the building.