Chapter 321
Then, one Guide raised their hand tentatively.
“…I know where the Espers keep the keys.”
“What? Where is it?”
“It’s in the room at the very end of the hallway on the left. I’ve seen Espers go in with keys and come out empty-handed several times.”
Please keep it a secret that I eavesdropped on this…
The Guide, suddenly frightened after revealing this information, cautiously lowered her hand.
With the location of the keys discovered, the Guides started to discuss even more fervently.
“Though I’ve never been inside, they probably don’t have any guards there. Once the Espers close the door, the Guides can’t escape the room anyway. They would never expect one of us to crawl through the ventilation ducts and steal the keys.”
After a round of intense discussion, excluding me, the Guides reached a conclusion.
“Rose, you need to go into the room at the end of the hallway on the left and steal the keys.”
“……”
Just do as we say and don’t worry about anything else!
Their excited expressions were almost comical.
Anyway, I couldn’t take back what I had already said. So, I stood under the ventilation duct, looking up.
Of course, the duct was positioned high on the ceiling, out of my reach. So, how did I manage it? I decided to stand on the shoulders of the tallest Guide on the bed.
And it just so happened that the tallest person was the same male Guide who had a bad history with me from the first day.
Though he looked like he was chewing something bitter, he reluctantly lowered his body for me.
Naturally. All he had to do was lend me his shoulder and wait without doing anything, while I had to endure the hardship alone.
“Ow…!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
After stepping on his head, I finally managed to get my head into the entrance of the duct.
The entrance was indeed narrow, but by half-tucking my shoulders and curling up, I could just about fit. After some struggling, I succeeded in getting entirely into the duct, and the Guides applauded.
“See, I knew Rose could fit in there!”
It was fortunate, but…
Thinking they naturally expected me to fit into such a small entrance when others wouldn’t even dare made me feel a bit resentful, but I shook it off.
One of the things I disliked most about being Rose Valentine was my small frame, but it seemed to be helpful at times.
The inside of the duct was so narrow that even I had to crouch as much as possible. I felt like I was developing claustrophobia.
Luckily, I had lost weight from all the suffering I’d endured since coming here. If not, I might have gotten stuck.
Besides the lack of space, the environment inside the duct was far from pleasant. It was sticky with some unknown substance, and though it was too dark to see clearly, I could hear the rustling of what seemed like bugs crawling.
Though it made my hair stand on end, I couldn’t turn back. With hell behind me, I had no choice but to move forward, no matter what lay ahead.
***
Not much time had passed.
“…Is everything clear?”
Suddenly, I poked my head out from the duct and asked. The Guides, who had been anxiously waiting, let out sighs of relief.
In an instant, the Guides gathered densely below the duct.
Regardless of whether they were happy to see me or not, my immediate priority was to get down safely.
There was only one way to get down.
“Jump down. We’ll catch you.”
“…Really?”
When I squinted and asked, the male Guide raised his eyebrows. He looked at me as if I was talking nonsense.
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