As soon as the lady left the room, Moriarty rushed to the balcony and scanned the height and the surroundings. He wondered if he could escape through there. He saw that the balcony was on the fourth floor.
He then searched the whole room, turning things over, looking for clues or anything useful. He stumbled upon something he did not expect to find in a innocent girl's room, a device that seemed to be for pleasure. He thought, 'I have only seen these things in brothels and inns…'
He ignored the irrelevant thought as he realized he was running out of time and continued to check every corner of the room, even under the bed. He was looking for anything that could help him get out of this place, such as a hidden passage, a secret door, or a useful tool. He did not want to waste any more time on trivial matters, such as the lady's perverted hobbies.
When he got to the wide couch where the lady had sat, he noticed the title of the book she had read, "Growing Plants: Vegetables, Fruit and Herbs". He found it odd that a noble would read a book for farmers. He wondered what her motive was for studying such a topic.
He thought, 'A noble reading a book for farmers? Well, I doubt farmers even read this kind of book, few of them could not even read complicated words. Maybe she is just curious and not really interested in applying it.' Moriarty thought that the lady was weird for reading a book that was meant for aristocrats who oversee land.
'Are they planning to grow crops here in their fortress? Trying to be self-sufficient?' His thoughts jumped from one possibility to another, even considering a scenario of some internal dispute among the nobles. He did not care much about their politics, as long as he could escape, 'There's no way I will ever involve myself in such hypocrisy.'
After he had turned over the whole place, he did not find anything useful for his escape plan, except for the balcony. He decided that it was enough to put his plan into motion. He had already calculated the risks and benefits. He was confident that he could pull it off.
Looking at the mess he had made in the room, he did not bother to put the things back into their original place. He even packed a few valuables like some jewelry and some object that he could not quite grasp what it was in a box.
*Knock* *Knock*
The door opened after two knocks, and a soldier came in with a tray of food in his hands. He stopped in his tracks and his mouth dropped open when he saw the state of the room. He could not believe what his eyes were seeing. The room was in complete disarray, with furniture overturned, books scattered, curtains torn, and valuables missing. He saw Moriarty standing near the couch, holding a box in his hands.
Without wasting any time, Moriarty snatched the tray of food from the soldier's hand, and pushed him back. He closed the door behind him and locked it.
"Meat?"
He looked at the food on the tray and his eyes widened. 'Is this steak? Heh, it looks delicious.' He had planned to eat his breakfast quickly and escape as soon as possible, but seeing how appetizing the food looked, he changed his mind. He decided to take his time and enjoy the meal, hoping that the lady would not come back to cause a commotion too soon.
'Tsk, I should have ruined the place after the meal.' He regretted making the room a mess, as the guard would alert the lady. He knew that she would be furious when she saw what he had done to her room. Anyone would.
Moriarty savored his breakfast, 'How can something like this be so tasty!!!'
Moriarty ate while half crying, lamenting why he only tasted this food now. He did not know that he had a very limited diet in his life, and that there were many other delicious foods in the world. He had never tasted such a delicacy before.
After a while, he put the fork down and wiped his mouth. He said to himself, "Time to execute the plan." with a smirk on his face.
Let's rewind time a bit, to when the lady had just left the room. The warden was waiting for her outside.
She asked him as they walked along the hallway, "Do we have visual on the room?"
The warden scratched his head, "That is, it's Lady Senn's room… Madam, we didn't dare." He explained that they did not install any managraph or mana sensors in Lady Senn's room, out of respect for her privacy.
'Ah, I forgot it's Sen-sen's room!' The lady's face grimaced as she realized she had let a man be alone in her sister's room. 'He wouldn't do something weird, would he?'
"Tsk", The lady clicked her tongue. If Moriarty decided to do something inappropriate in the room, she would torture him until he felt numb and chop off his groin. 'I doubt he has the courage to do so, but if he did and somehow manages to escape from here, he would already be suitable to be the main actor of her scheme.'
Meanwhile, inside the prison, located just underneath the main building of the fortress, an officer was walking towards the cell where the captive spies were being held.
A soldier who was guarding the first layer gate saw him and saluted him, "Hah! Sir!"
The officer said to the soldier in a respectful tone, "Captain, you were right, it was much easier to act when it was real than during the rehearsal. I couldn't believe I said 'You see, we have some questions for you. And we are not going to take no for an answer.' in such a cool way."
"See, I told you that you had it in you. Anyway, is the act done? It's not even halfway through.", asked the captain who was clearly acting as a low-ranking soldier.