*CLACK* *CLACK* The sound of boots walking down stone steps echoed in the air, and the patrol put in charge of watching over the dungeon raised his face. With a torch in one hand, a ghostly young man was pulling a rope tied to a girl walking behind him with the other.
After being misunderstood for coming down here with strange intentions, the young man started shouting out orders.
“Are you the prison guard?”
“Hah, but this is……”
While the guard tilted his head to the side, confused at what could be going on here, Sykes removed the rope he had used to tie Rachel’s hands together and pushed her back forward.
“It’s an order straight from Prince Elliot. We’re throwing this woman into the dungeon. It’s undecided when she’ll be let out……it’s up to how well she reflects.”
“Hah…….”
Sykes furrowed his brow at the lackluster responses he was getting from the guard.
“What is it?”
“Hah……as a matter of fact, this is, the prison…..”
Sykes looked back past the guard, tired of his bumbling response…..and saw that the dungeon had been turned into a storehouse.
“What is this?”
The unexpected sight made Sykes cry out. A number of wooden boxes of various sizes were stacked up high, pushed into one corner of the cell. There were some stacks that reached all the way to the ceiling.
“Actually……a number of officials came down here earlier today, and they kept bringing down more and more of this stuff saying they were just going to keep it here temporarily.”
Sykes looked over each of the boxes from a distance, eyeing them over suspiciously.
“We haven’t used the palace’s dungeon in a long time, so it’s probably nothing. They probably never expected that it would need to be used that very night……”
The guard had no idea what was in all those boxes, but they were taking up over have the cell.
“Why was this place randomly chosen to act as a storage facility…………?”
“I don’t know. This is the first time something like this has happened……but since we never use this place, there was no reason for me to tell them no……”
A number of documents from civil servants had been given requiring that these boxes be safely stored away……Sykes clicked his tongue at the horrible timing, but when he looked again, he saw that the front part of the cell where the toilet and entrance were were open.
There was enough room for Rachel to lie down as well.
“We have no choice, just stay on this half of the cell. And not a word of complaint. Just be appreciative you don’t have a criminal partner in there with you as well.”
“Understood.”
Rachel quietly nodded, so Sykes motioned his chin over towards the cell door. A secret key make a soft *CLICK* as the door unlocked and then a long *SQUEEK* filled the whole basement as it swung open.
Knowing the circumstances of the men and women who had entered these walls before, a scornful smile finally broke through the knight captain’s scrutinizing demeanor.
“Heheheh, it’s probably a pretty creepy place for the daughter of a nobleman…….well, if you live in the capitol. After a week I’m sure you’ll get used to it and start thinking of it like an unusual inn. ……..Well, I suppose you have no idea how many years you’ll actually be in here?”
Rachel remained silent as she walked into her new home while the knight captain continued to fling threats and complaints at her back.
After entering, the cell doors immediately closed behind her, still rattling as her captors slid the key back inside and locked the door.
Looking down at this quiet girl who had taken a seat on the cold stone floor, a disgusting smile came across Sykes’s face.
“If you want to start crying or hating the great me, just remember that this is all because of your actions. Anyway we haven’t used this dungeon in a long time. The location is also bad, so sorry if we forget you’re here~”
Sykes once again began to laugh at his own prodding.
“Hahahaha, that’s right. His Highness will soon forget you while having fun with Miss Margaret. Before we forget that we put you in this prison, I suggest you lower your head.”
The Duke’s daughter watched Sykes and the prison guard go with a frown as the two of them turned their backs on her. They were to leave this noblewoman on her own……was how it was supposed to be.
Sykes and the prison guard began making their way back up the stairs, and at that time
*KACHANG* *KACHANG* *CRASH*
“Crash?”
The two men turned back around when they started hearing some funny noises.
What they saw was Rachel, twining a heavy iron chain around the bars of her cell and the door frame and using a heavy padlock to lock it up.
This was the moment Rachel’s counterattackharassment began.
“Huh?”
“Wh-what!?”
Seeing the unexpected actions of the young noblewoman, Sykes and the prison guard both ran back to the cell door.
But Rachel had already securely locked it shut.
“Hey, what is this!?”
The men tried yanking open the door with all their strength, *CHING* *CHING* but the door would only make a small noise as the edge of the door hit the chains fastening it shut. In the end, they couldn’t open it enough to slide in even a finger.
Rachel coolly watched them go from inside her cell.
“It’s nothing. I locked it shut for my own safety.”
“This, isn’t this is a prison!? Isn’t it strange that the prisoner would be locking their door!?”
Rachel spoke calmly and coolly as Sykes’s face turned red from his shouting.
“I am a beautiful, unmarried woman. It would be unbearable if the worst were to befall me. It is a plot point in many stories for guards to sneak their way into dungeons where their bosses can’t keep an eye on them.”
“You thought, that’s unheard of here!? And where did this chain and lock come from!?”
“That is a product for my own convenience.”
Rachel didn’t give an inch no matter what was being yelled at her while Sykes and the prison guard were both at a loss for words. She was supposed to be locked inside a prison, but it was starting to take the form of a basket instead.¹
“Wh-what do we do…..?”
The prison guard spoke dumbfounded, and after a moment, Sykes begrudgingly replied.
“We’ll report to His Highness for now……..and, and we’ll go with what he decides…….”
So the head of the knights in the entire castle left the dungeon and slowly began dragging his feet back to the party venue.
1. So time for a little Japanese lesson. The idiom ‘retaining a steady basket’ essentially means to barricade yourself in or to fortify your position. Also, basket and cage share the same kanji. So it’s a pun where the cage(籠) has become a basket(籠).