TEB Ch 101

If it was deception magic. Liev finally remembered the memories he had long forgotten. Count Vasil, who had learned the fact that Renard had imprinted on him, had searched for ways to transfer the dragon’s imprint from Liev to himself. The conclusion at the time was that it was impossible. So Count Vasil had no choice but to let Liev live. But that was already 10 years ago. 10 years is enough time for mountains and rivers to change. Someone may have developed a new method during that time. 

“…..” 

Leiv felt like his heart was tightening as he was worried about the situation. If Renard had not imprinted on him… He wouldn’t have depended on me too much, and he wouldn’t have said that he would wait for me after I die. When the vague fear had become a reality, Liev’s mind was blank, and he couldn’t think of anything. 

He should have been more rational and tried to find a way out of this shock and figure out how to return Renard to his original state, but his mind was just turning into a white daze. 

In the worst-case scenario, what was precious to Renard may not have been “Liev” but the object of his imprinting. 

What should I do now? As someone who is not the object of his imprint, Liev was no different from any other ordinary human being to Renard. Annoying, irritable, weak, and sometimes making burdensome requests… Suddenly, he felt unfair. I was the one who let myself fall for him. Liev wanted to cry, but then he snapped out of it. 

The most important thing right now was knowing what he could do. He didn’t have many things he could do on his own, but there was someone he could ask for help. 

“We need to join Sigrid’s group as soon as possible. Since he is the main character, he also has the power to fight against the Empire.” 

In the worst-case scenario, Renard turns out to have the same fate as the one he was trying to prevent, Sigrid was the only one who could stop Renard. 

This is not the time for this. 

He couldn’t just sit here and expect things to work out. He didn’t want to wait and see if someone would come to rescue him. He needed to escape and inform Sigrid as soon as possible. It seems that Renard may have fallen to the other side through some kind of magical manipulation. 

Whether he stayed here or escaped from prison,he didn’t want to just sit there and do nothing like an extra, even if he got out of prison. 

He had learned from the people he met here that even if he was an extra who didn’t give a single line in the narrative, his own life was meaningful. Liev suddenly cleared his throat and caught the attention of the guards. 

“Cough, cough, hack, wheeze…” 

“What!? …What’s going on?” 

The guards were surprised and ran to Liev when he rolled around on the floor, coughing and suffering pain while holding his stomach. The guard, who had been watching from behind the bars, was taken back when Liev made strange sounds with a pale face, as if he were about to suffocate at any moment, and he opened the door. The other guard had said he would be back soon, so he was the only one left. 

It seems that they did not have a lot of surveillance personnel following him because they were convinced that without the dragon’s imprint, he was just a useless and weak researcher. Liev was grateful that these people had underestimated him, and he grabbed the guard with his strength. 

“What the… you’re not letting go!? This guy’s crazy.” 

However, the guard didn’t finish his sentence. The chain was heavy, but it wasn’t short, allowing Liev to easily shift his weight and climb on top of the guard as he pulled him down to the ground with the chain wrapped around his neck. 

The guard struggled to remove the chain with a bewildered expression, but Liev had dealt with beasts that weighed up to a ton before. He could easily handle someone who seemed to weigh less than 100kg. 

“What the…what the hell…!” 

If it were his other companions, they could use their specialized skills to extract information or even resort to torture, but unfortunately, that was not Liev’s area of expertise. Negotiating or threatening someone who was suffering was not in line with his nature. Instead, he knew how to handle situations like this. 

“Sorry. I can’t just stay still after being kidnapped!” 

It didn’t matter if the guard understood or not. Liev muttered his regret and then grabbed the guard’s neck with both hands, finding and pressing down on the carotid artery. He never would have thought that the common anatomy class he took as a freshman would come in handy in a situation like this. One, two, three…fifteen. Before Liev could even finish counting to thirty, the man’s body went limp. 

Liev quickly checked to see if the prisoner was breathing by placing his fingers on his nose. He was faintly exhaling, just as he had intended. 

Done. 

He quickly searched through the man’s waist and found a bundle of keys. It took him a while to figure out which key would fit the shackles on his ankles, but he eventually managed to unlock them. Even though Liev was stronger than the average person due to his training with horses and hay piles, he didn’t have the strength to break the metal chains with his bare hands. He quickly removed the man’s clothes and threw them at his feet. 

There was no time to waste. Since it was a light stun, the man would wake up soon. Feeling a sense of crisis that he could die if he failed. Liev quickly changed into the man’s clothes and put the shackles back on the guard’s ankles. He was sweating profusely by the time he finished. 

“Now, how do I smoothly escape from here?” 

In a little while, the other guard who just left would return soon, and he couldn’t afford to hesitate and risk getting caught again. He looked around for something he could use as a weapon. There were tools and spears lined up against the wall, most likely used for torturing prisoners. 

Those are too specialized and sharp.

The pointed end of the spear could easily cause serious harm, even with just a slight graze. It may be a bit funny that he was hesitating after just having successfully knocked someone unconscious. But there was a difference between temporary unconsciousness and permanent injury. The former case, in the worst-case scenario, could potentially have lasting effects, but most people would eventually wake up without any major issues. The latter, on the other hand, could lead to death in this time period due to the poor sanitary conditions of this era, and a cut of that magnitude could result in death. 

Liev raised his head at the creepy thought. So, what would be good, better… In the moment when he was considering whether to take off the blade of the spear, He noticed an iron pan that the guards probably used for cooking. 

“If I use this…” 

It might hurt a little, but he wouldn’t die. Liev untied the strap that was attached to the guard’s waist and fixed the handle of the pan to the handle of the spear. Now everything was ready. The rest was either all or nothing. If he were a hostage that couldn’t kill, he would do this to let them live, but if not, he would have killed them even if they had stayed still. The dice had already been thrown. Liev took a big step out of the prison corridor. 

*** 

Meanwhile, in a large laboratory located a little away from the prison, two men were observing Renard, who was sleeping in human form, through the window of a giant observation laboratory made of thick magic glass. 

“Wow, that’s really him. What a skill… I can’t believe our soldiers succeeded in safely capturing a dragon that was so helpless he collapsed!” 

A white-haired old man with a body almost like a pine tree exclaimed while leaning on a cane. The man supporting him with thick glasses smiled and answered. 

“I will do anything for his Majesty. Just give me the command.” 

Meanwhile, Renard, behind the glass continued to remain unconscious.