Escape Plan~

"Honestly I wouldn't recommend adding the high priest to our escape plan," Noel spoke his mind, although I didn't want to complicate our current dynamics by adding an additional member to our group, there was no way I would leave the unknown guy behind when the system was requesting for his presence.

Frankly speaking, I wasn't aware of what kind of punishment I would have to endure if I refused to proceed with the full mission, and at this point, I wasn't ready to deal with the mysterious consequences.

However I did question the strange otter inside my head, about what would happen if I refuse to comply, yet only received a suspicious reply that I had to find out such details on my own accord, making me deem the creature to be useless at this point in time. I received some complaints about my snarky remark, but it's not like I forced it to read my mind, and it's not really like I could stop myself from not thinking anything.

"And why would you be against this idea?" I posed the question to our new ally, just to understand the gist of where he was coming from.

"He stems from the Sun Gods church and their lot doesn't have the greatest reputation. I can already tell dealing with such a man that takes the teaching of their god to heart would pose a problem in our journey." He gave me a knowing almost pitiful look. My guess was that since he understood how it was being looked down upon, whether it was racism or misogyny he wouldn't stand behind either of such practices.

"I do acknowledge your worries, but our survival is deemed more important than minor issues within the group because once a healer accompanies us our probability of making it out alive will become so much higher." I guess the high priest would find me being the leader of the group annoying, to say the least, but we could always force him to assist us if words alone wouldn't do the trick.

"My lady is right, in case a problem arrives we can just use sheer force on the newcomer to make him bend to our will." Cade wasn't messing around, he would do anything he deemed would keep Camilla safe. Noel nodded his head.

"I understand, after all, you don't look like someone that would be able to withstand the harsh conditions of the desert without proper support, I'm actually amazed not many aristocrats like to showcase their weaknesses so openly." His tongue suddenly became wicked, perhaps he still held a grudge about my previous actions. Mia was ready to get back at him, but I gave her a signal to let it all go, it's not like he was wrong. With such puny stats, it would become a challenge to traverse the desert, but it's not like my previous couch potato body would be able to perform any better for that matter. I saw it as being realistic in my expectations.

"Anyway our journey to the capital will be a tough and long one, we will need all the supplies we can find." We began to come up with a list of items we considered necessary for our journey.

"I think it's important to dress like commoners." Anything to get out of this stuffy dress, which would more likely just get in my way.

"But my lady, why would you suggest this?" Mia didn't seem too happy about my decision, my initial guess was that she was worried about all her work on Camilla's appearance being ruined. She assumably worked hard to make her lady look the most beautiful she could.

"Mia, the desert is a dangerous place, we will be tired enough by engaging in battles with various monsters that we may encounter on our way, not only will those heavy dresses slow us down, but we will also become targets of the various criminals that are settled in those lands, because of the wealth they will believe we possess."

"Your lady is right, there is a reason why it's called no mans land." Noel backed me up, thankfully he seemed reasonable enough.

"Right..." It looked like my maid started to look for something.

"Then I guess once we walk off the train these may deem reasonable to have." She pulled out a couple of rings. Noel the elf rose his brows, but it appeared as if he recognized them right away.

"Aren't those ancient elf artifacts?" Suddenly he looked jealous of the house Millingtons wealth, those accessories must have been a great deal to have around. I tried to see if there was any system window to understand what those items represented or were supposed to be used for, but I found no such luck, I guess one couldn't have all the perks and benefits of the system. I could see other people's stats but not the items, such a bummer, imagine buying something people deemed useless yet you knew better?

"And what kind of effect do they have?" The elf questioned, I just let Mia give a reply to avoid responsibility for not knowing it myself.

"My lady tends to sneak out frequently from both the mansion and academy. Both of them have the power of disguise. One can change your eye and hair color, meanwhile, the other forces people to not recognize the wearer's face." Wait those trinkets were awesome, one for me and one for the elf, I just ought to figure out what we were supposed to do with the high priest.

"I meant to ask, why can't we just leave at the next station? After all, you plan to jump out at the last minute." Noel pointed out.

"You really think nobody will notice if their two biggest targets will suddenly disappear?" I asked.

"But wouldn't that prevent the organization from blowing up the train?" I shook my head.

"Although we are the main targets of this plan, this mission of theirs is mainly to send a message to the emperor. Once we escape in such a way not only will the train be blown up to pieces, but we will have some hunters to worry about."

"Is that why you recklessly want to jump out of the train in the middle of the night?"

"Yeah no one will hunt us down if they believe we were caught in the blast... of course, I won't blame you if you will try to make other people leave the train at the next station, but whatever you do, don't make it obvious." After this heavy talk, we concluded that we needed to pack the following items, water, food, and small coins to be able to pay for meals in the small towns we would come across. Also additional things like blankets, tents, and other camping gear. Mia said she would take care of gathering the more trivial things, Cade promised to gather as much food as possible while I simply allowed him to use my authority if case any difficulties arrived, no matter if it made me look like a spoiled brat or not.

"I have a request however... guide me to one of the bombs...despite your effort to make me believe your words, nothing at the moment seems to be real." I could understand why Noek needed solid evidence for my claims, but could I truly find some of the compartments that I was looking for? I guess in his mind I must have already found such proof. I needed time to recall the book's lore and knowledge, and then it dawned upon me. There was one wagon the first one, right next to the locomotive that was mostly used as a storage compartment because some nobles couldn't move an inch without their trinkets. If we could manage to sneak past the workers of the train, perhaps I could locate what we were searching for. Not only was it out of sight from other passengers, but the chance of there being an eavesdropping spell was also small.

"Follow my lead." I had no idea where this confidence came from, but it was easier to persuade him this way. And off on an adventure we went. It was hard to not gather some gazes at our dysfunctional duo dynamics, but once we arrived at our destination we could breathe easier.

"Let's see." This magic spell wasn't hard to find, since it was placed out of everyone's sight but still in such a tactical place that the center of the spell could be accessed easily in case, the organization required it.

"See?" I looked at him smugly, thankfully I was able to prove my theory. But now when we stood here I couldn't do but wonder.

"I understand the spell is engraved into the train wagon... but couldn't we cut it out somehow?" Noel considered my idea but concluded in the end.

"Seems unlikely, the spell is engraved into the whole wagon, mirroring the roots of a powerful tree, we would need to get rid of the whole wagon to get rid of it." He noted, thankfully he was well versed in such stuff, although he wasn't a full-fledged magician himself.

"Thank god you're here to stop me, I was ready to pick a saw to try out my theory." He used a scanning device.

"You were right, you need a high-circle magician to get rid of this thing." I nodded my head, taking it all in, but then we heard some steps approaching.

"Quick close it!" I whispered urgently. And that's when a mission arrived from the system to mess with me.

'Would you rather slap Noel the elf or trip and fall?' I took into consideration which was the worse option, sure I could slap Noel to make it look to the outside party that he did something immoral, but I was wondering what I could accomplish by falling. And so I concluded to choose the second option, just to ease the atmosphere perhaps? So I made my foot stumble on literal air, my ally didn't see it coming, so I toppled on top of him by mistake pulling his shirt, despite me doing this on purpose I panicked when trying to embrace the fall.

"Sorry," I whispered and hovered over him, looking down at his face and that's when someone walked in on us. By my companion's expression I could tell he recognized the guy, so suddenly I was pulled closer by my waist.

"Do you mind?" Was he possibly wanting to make it seem like he was honey-trapped?

"Sure, sure, I saw nothing." But then he added a few words that were too quiet for me to catch, though it seemed like the elf below me got the gist of it.

"What did he say?" I whispered once the door closed.

"Have fun until you still can." I guess this was a valid indication that even the lower subordinates knew of this plan.

"...Was falling your plan to escape suspicion?" He questioned me. I wasn't sure what was worse, that my first idea was to make it seem like I was making out with the opposite sex or falling on air.

"Think what you want." I was not going to admit to either of those choices.