135 – It’s dark under the lamp – 1
I hated taking hostages. Not like real criminals committing crimes against innocent citizens. Because that’s something you should hate.
The hostage play that appears in various media, be it novels or movies. The villains use cowardly measures to kidnap the protagonist’s precious person, and the protagonist does not dare to touch the villains even with overwhelming power. My heart is just stuffy, I just can’t look at it. What if the end of the hostage crisis was a tragedy? That’s even more terrifying.
I don’t specifically insist on having cider flowing in my veins or killing a female character before becoming a hostage, but anyway, I don’t like using characters as hostages and putting restrictions on the main character.
In that sense, I sneakily talked to Lira.
“What about just destroying everything one by one from here on out?”
“Of course not.”
As if she was saying something, she opened her axe eye. Her proposal, which she threw out just in case, was rejected like a knife. Well, not even what I was expecting. If you come and play a game now, it’s just a simple way to vent your anger. Regardless of my personal likes and dislikes, it seems that he has no intention of separating from me when it comes to taking hostages.
Once with Wilhelm and Lily, and once with Lyra and Hestia.
Isn’t it? Come to think of it, it seems that both of them were a little different from the usual hostage taking. It might be a little funny to say that hostage taking is standard, but I think this is the first time I’ve done a standard hostage taking.
I thought about the precise meaning of hostage taking for a while, then realized that there was a hostage master right next to me. There is an expert right next to you, so why bother alone? If Lyra felt my gaze, she asked me.
“What, why are you looking at me like that?”
“As a master of kidnapping and hostage taking, I wonder if there is anything I can say.”
“What is that title?”
As if the expression Lira was a criminal mastermind was very uncomfortable, she put on a dissatisfied expression.
“Aren’t you a master?”
“Well, if you look at whether you’re good or bad, you’re good at it, but….”
“Then you are a master. Do you have any secrets?”
She looked reluctant, but she didn’t deny the fact that she was used to that sort of thing. She thought about my words for a moment, then she began to explain the hostage situation in earnest.
“First of all, what is a hostage situation? In fact, it’s not a hostage yet as the other side hasn’t noticed our presence yet.”
“Can you get Cordelia out without getting caught?”
“No. Can’t do that The royal family’s golden jade leaves are in her hands, will she manage them so poorly? You probably value her more than her own life. In a way, it’s like a blank check.”
It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but hearing this affirmation made me lose my strength. True to her words, since Cordelia had already fallen into their hands, she was practically a hostage. Sneaking Cordelia out? Even if James Bond came, that would be difficult.
“Then what are you going to do? If I put a knife to Cordelia’s neck and run away from there, I honestly don’t think there will be an answer.”
“So, before you run away with a knife to her throat, you should give her a shot.”
She
Will she give Cordelia back unharmed? To be honest, she wasn’t even sure about that. Her lips dry up the more she examines them one by one. On the other hand, Lira seemed more relaxed than she thought. When she calmly said something like a blow, she felt a pain in her heart for no reason.
“Is there any way? You look more relaxed than I thought.”
“Originally, hostage taking is for the laggards.”
Lira gave an unexpected answer to my question. That’s right, there’s nothing to lose, so I wouldn’t bother taking hostages….
“What do you mean?”
“You’re saying that they wouldn’t bother taking hostages if they clearly thought they had a chance. You just have to think about how our handsome prince got beaten up by you.”
Sure…. It’s true that I did a surprise attack, but if Wilhelm had tried to do something with Seol-ah hostage, I would have been pretty embarrassed too. However, Wilhelm was confident in his own skills, and he did not bother taking hostages. He was beaten and beaten as much as he could for his arrogance, then took a leave of absence and started all sorts of shady schemes by himself.
She added an additional explanation.
“Originally, when we fight, we have to keep our advantages and hide our disadvantages. Our advantage over the other side is information and force. They don’t know about our existence, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to attack us anyway with the power of back alley thugs. And the downside is the existence of the sidekick and the hostage. No matter how much we fly and crawl, it must be a bit difficult to fight while caring about this many students and Cordelia.”
“Information and force….”
I touched my chin. A fight that preserves the advantages and hides the disadvantages. It was quick to come to a conclusion.
“Do you hide your identity and go into hiding?”
“Right. In the end, it means that the original plan and the work to be done are not very different.”
Lira gave off an air of knowing everything, as if praising a student who answered correctly.
“I was so frightened as if I would run out of breath at any moment.”
“To be honest, I was most afraid of running into you than anything else. I wondered if he would punch me in the face for questioning and answering.”
“Me? Wow, what do you see people as….”
Lira replied calmly. No, punching without question and answer, what the hell was he thinking of me? When I put on a face that I couldn’t understand, she said something to me.
“Are you sure? What if things were worse than they are now? Or what if I was flustered and didn’t explain it properly the first time?”
“No matter what, I won’t punch you!”
I’m not that deeply eroded by this medieval worldview. I was afraid that I would punch a person who still has the common sense of modern people. What kind of false accusation is this?
Lira naturally brought the conversation back to normal.
“Anyway, the best method that comes to mind right now is, of course, infiltration.”
“That’s right. The same goes for the fact that we make use of our strengths and hide our weaknesses. But, is there a way?”
I was happy that I had found a way, but when I thought about it calmly and calmly like an orangutan who had her head sewn up, only the methodology of infiltration came out. As for how the heck to infiltrate, there were not a single wall to overcome.
First of all, the problem is that I need to establish my identity to make them take me there with the intention of extorting a ransom from the other side like Cordelia. In this case, the superiority of information that Hestia had emphasized would disappear, and if they knew that I was here at the point they had already secured Cordelia, there was a high possibility that they would notice something strange.
If they feel suspicious and begin to shy away, they may have to face a more troublesome situation than they do now.
Although there are other ways to sneak in, quite literally… , If you were alone, it would be almost impossible to hide in the middle of enemy lines carrying a lump of luggage without being noticed.
In the end, if you don’t find the right way, it means that this too is impossible for an empty cry. Even if there are dozens or hundreds of plans that cannot be put into practice, they are useless.
“Maybe I should think about that from now on….”
“What exactly do you think infiltration means?”
“What a riddle all of a sudden.”
Lira lit up her eyes. She raised her finger, and in a confident voice she recited the dictionary meaning of infiltration.
“To sneak in without anyone noticing.”
“Yes. So you’re asking how to sneak in.”
“The important thing here is not ‘secretly’. ‘Don’t let others notice’ is important. Even if we walk proudly through the front door, if the other party doesn’t notice, it’s an infiltration, right?”
This is an assassination without witnesses, so is this the level of sophistry to kill all witnesses? You walk confidently through the front door, but how can that be stealth? No more than that, how are you going to do that?
“Let’s go out for a minute.”
“Let’s go out? Here?”
“Because I need to be prepared. I don’t think anyone will come for a while anyway, and it’s better to get into chaos. It’s okay to leave now.”
Leila grabbed my wrist, which I still can’t get a feel for, and in an instant, she headed out of her basement. As she climbed the stairs, she suddenly thought of the owner who was staring at me as if she were going to kill me, and a secret passage that was tightly closed so that not a single light could leak out.
“Wait a minute, how do I get this out?”
“Like this!”
She kicked her as hard as she could against her wall. The wall looked solid on the outside, but in the end, it broke too easily, probably because it was a secret door that could be opened and closed. We were welcomed by the dim orange light that we saw at first, along with the sound of glass breaking. Even though it was quite late, the bar was still full of thugs and bullies.
“What, what!”
“Hello, see you again?”
Lira greeted in a bright tone that did not fit the situation. After a wide-area stun of about 0.5 Seconds, the bullies who were still sitting and drinking, rolling dice, or flipping cards stood up as a group. I was also embarrassed by this sudden situation. Among them, a few hot-tempered people rose from their seats, pouring out harsh words.
“You crazy b*tch!”
“Uh, uh. Would you like to sit down for a minute? Yes you there Did you hear all about us talking about drug addicts and sluts earlier? If you sit down now, I’ll give you a few cuts, so sit down.”
But she calmed down her bullies with her calm and weak attitude, as if she were still talking to her friend. I’m not sure if that’s really soothing or provoking…. In any case, that was the attitude.
In the meantime, I quietly whispered to Lira. To be honest, it’s not too intimidating.
“By the way, did you really say that?”
“Did you make up words without me?”
I’m a little upset to hear that someone I know said that. Just then, one of Cordelia’s friends with a rag in her mouth, whom Cordelia had pointed out, came up to us. Now that I look at it, it seems that my personality is not usually in a hurry, but if I do that, I can’t die in my name. I guess I need a bit of education.
“Because these kites really want to see you!”
f*ck!
I gave ‘education’ to that impatient gangster friend while adjusting my strength moderately. If something goes wrong after hitting it with full power, isn’t the dream spot fierce? With the sound of a gourd cracking, the first student in Mikhail’s etiquette lecture collapsed. You’ll probably have to remain stunned for a while. My head is so hard, my palm hurts even more.
And at the same time as he collapsed, the buzzing bar became quiet as if he had stabbed a beehive. I didn’t say anything, just gave a small glance at Lyra. She cleared her throat and took a step in front of her.
“It’s finally quieted down a bit. Does anyone have anything more to say?”
“….”
No one answered as if they felt the overwhelming difference in power. Well, I don’t think I would want to get close to someone who knocks out a stout adult man with a single blow to the back of the head.
“No, according to common sense, if you came up from below, you are not an ordinary person. I’m afraid who isn’t a gangster bastard, I only understand words when someone collapses.”
“Sheesh. So, why is this form… Oops.”
“Who wants to cut in suddenly?”
At that time, someone fearlessly intervened. It took less than a second for Lira to pull her coin out of her pocket and drive it into her fearless friend’s throat. Before he could finish what he was about to say, he collapsed with an unidentifiable moan.
It is no wonder that the already bloody atmosphere has become even more bloody. The shop owner, who was watching all this, raised his hand with his face wrinkled. It sounds obvious, but it seems that he doesn’t like this situation. Seeing her hand raised, Lira dared to ask him permission.
“Oh, there you are. It’s definitely worth being an executive. Just don’t ask, watch me raise my hand. I’m better at learning than they are. So, is there anything you want to say?”
“What do you want from us?”
“Ugh, you look pretty disrespectful. Well, I’ll forgive you for that much. I don’t have anything I want Do you know how many times students are lying down here after being caught by crazy drug lords?”
The owner’s expression, which was not good at all, became more distorted in an instant.