F Rank Warrior and the Secret Room
Gerberga’s shaking only got worse when the woman looked our way.
“Clu-clu-cluc-clu…”
“Calm down. It does not appear to be a ghost.”
“Cluck?”
The reason she had appeared to be floating in the air, was because she had been tied by her feet.
Because of this, it had been hard to see her clearly, but I now saw that she was a small girl.
“He-help me! This hurts!”
“Yes… But what are you doing here?”
I cut the ropes with my sword to release her.
“Thank you, young man. You saved me.”
“Mister Locke. She must be a thief. We should arrest her.”
“I don’t know if she is a thief, but trespassing is a crime. That is certain.”
“Cluck!!”
Gerberga clucked with much force.
As the victim to such intense intimidation, he wanted a harsh punishment to be enforced.
“I’m so-sorry. I thought this house was empty…”
“It’s still a crime to enter an empty house without permission.”
“It-it is?”
“Cluck!”
Gerberga clucked and Luchila nodded.
“Even Lord Gerberga says it is unforgivable!”
“Oh, Lord Gerberga. I am so sorry!”
The girl fell to her knees and bowed.
“Cluck…”
Gerberga seemed to have calmed down.
He was a kind chicken, so perhaps he was feeling sorry for her now.
“So, what were you doing here? By the way, I am the lord of this house. Locke.”
“I am Luchila.”
Luchila said proudly.
“I-I am called Milka.”
Milka said with a bow.
“I’m sorry! I thought that this house was empty. And so I was going to sleep here…”
“You don’t have a house?”
“…I don’t.”
“What about your family?”
“My father and mother died a long time ago. I had a grandfather, but he died recently.”
“I see. What happened to the house you were living in?”
“My grandfather had made some debts in order to raise me…”
“I see. That must have been rough.”
It must have been sold to repay his debts. She was lucky that she hadn’t been sold into slavery.
“Did you run away in order to avoid being sold into slavery?”
“Oh, there is no problem there.”
Luchila said.
“King Eric put a stop to the slave trade. But 10 or 8 years ago, she would have become a slave for sure.”
“I see. So there is no more slave trade.”
“Yes.”
It seemed like Eric was a good king, after all.
He did more than make useless statues and change the currency.
I had a newfound respect for him.
“I was just looking for a place with a roof after my house was taken…”
“And so you found this place.”
“Yes. But there was a trap. And that’s why I was like that.”
The baron who lived here previously must have set that trap.
I wonder why he would do that? I wasn’t sure.
As I was thinking about this, Luchila muttered.
“The poor thing…”
“Cluck.”
Luchila was teary-eyed.
Gerberga was also cooing softly. He was feeling sympathetic towards her.
Luchila had also lost his tribe and was alone in the world.
It was no wonder that he was moved.
“Mister Locke. Please don’t throw Milka out to the authorities.”
“Cluck!”
“Of course, but…”
Luchila and Gerberga were kind.
But I thought it was best to learn a little more about her before coming to any conclusions on how to settle this.
Milka became emotional after hearing Luchila and Gerberga’s words.
“You are so very kind. Thank you. Thank you.”
She took Luchila’s hands and bowed repeatedly.
“I understand the circumstances now, Milka. But how did you get in?”
“Umm. From over there.”
Milka was pointing at a small and narrow tunnel.
“To think that there was a tunnel here.”
“I did not know. I didn’t even know that there was a basement.”
“I should have realized it. I am sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize!”
“Cluck!”
Luchila and Gerberga said kindly.
However, I had been too preoccupied with mundane things like the size of the rooms and sunlight.
I should not have been spending time checking the furniture.
All of that could have been done later.
The first thing to do after entering a new house is to search for hidden doors, passages, and traps. Perhaps fighting for 10 years had numbed by scouting skills. I had fought so many devils, that my attention to things other than combat was now lacking.
While this wasn’t a dungeon, I had still let my guard down too much. I needed to do better.
With that resolve, I asked Milka,
“So, where does this connect to?”
“Umm, a sewer.”
“I see. I suppose we should go and have a look then.”
“Yes. There may be a need to block it up…”
“Cluck.”
And so we decided to go down the narrow tunnel.
As we walked, Luchila said,
“I wonder what this tunnel is for?”
“The most likely purpose is an emergency escape exit… But I’m not sure why a baron, who isn’t royalty, would need it.”
“That’s true…”
After some walking, the stench of the sewer became stronger.
“It stinks…”
“Cluck.”
“We will have to block this passage either way, now.”
And then Milka stopped.
“I came in through here.”
“It really is a sewer…”
“But this looks like a hole that was created when the wall fell in.”
“Yes, you are right, Mister Locke.”
So it wasn’t the exit that had been planned for this secret passage.
Once the family had died, there was no one to manage this place.
And so the walls had crumbled and connected to the sewers. Something like that.
“I will have to carefully block this hole later… But that aside, there is another path which is the original.”
“There is?”
Milka tilted her head to the side.
I had Luchila shine a Magic Light in the area as I searched.
“Here it is.”
Beyond the debris near the wall, I found the place where the secret passage continued.