The warden's office was spacious and as a result the candlelights barely were able to present the murder scene in its full glory. Despite that, the cut neck was the very first thing that drew the attention of anyone who barged in, me included. I was not a stranger to such a sight, in the end, this was the same method I used in murder while on my vengeance spree around the Schöltum region, yet it looked somehow even more grotesque. Was it because of the dim lighting in the room or the pose of the warden, who looked like he died in a struggle? I could not tell for sure, but we were not really in a position to conjecture.
Nila understood it better than me, and her eyes shifted elsewhere in the room after just a second of analysing the warden's unfortunate fate. She glanced at the massive cupboard that stood in the corner of the room and dashed towards it. Meanwhile, I glanced over the warden's corpse for the last time and joined her in the search of our belongings.
As I opened the first drawer, I saw an amulet, a ring and a flute, two of these items immediately went into my pocket. Other than that, the rest of the items were some kind of garbage such as papers and pens. I closed it immediately and went onto the second drawer, then the third and forth. While I was observing the insides of them all, I tried to initiate a talk with Nila.
"Who could have killed the warden?"
Her ears twitched upon hearing my question, but she did not answer it, instead Nila said, "Focus on the search for our items, we should leave as soon as possible."
Her lips shifted into a light smile as the familiar staff was taken out of the tall drawer. I huffed at her refusal to discuss the murder that had happened in this very room, but did not protest as I was perfectly aware that she was right, it was no time for chit-chat, thus I searched the drawers with more vigour. I managed to find a few more jewellery, garments and even a dagger that looked similar to the one I left in the forest per Nila's request. It was a far more preferable weapon to her utility knife, thus I took this one instead without bothering to find my weapon that happened to be useless.
I readily glanced at Nila as she took out her trusted suitcase, but before she was ready, she skimmed through it's inside and narrowed her brows, "I am quite sure there was more money inside."
I gasped at her suspicion and tried to drive her attention elsewhere, "A-anyway, we can't afford to waste any more time, let's hurry out of here!"
Nila slowly nodded and closed her suitcase, afterwards she stood up and shifted towards the window. I raised my brow at her, wondering if her inner navigation malfunctioned completely, then I asked, "The door is this way."
"I would not want to slither through the guards that infest the lower floors. Some might already be on our tails, so a window is the most logical escape from this building."
"But we are on the third floor!"
"And I have magic." she smirked and turned away, continuing her imposing walk towards the window. I narrowed my brows and followed her lead, disliking the fact that she made a lot of sense. I could not help but notice how much more straightforward she was in this situation compared to our treacherous path through the forest. I surely did not expect for someone like her to be this… trustworthy, same went for the battle we had against a monster, it surely was not just a fluke.
Before we actually committed to our grand escape, Nila stopped at the warden's desk and finally acknowledged his presence. She glanced over his motionless body and her eye suddenly twitched. I had a closer look and noticed the tip of the warden's ear being cut. It was a fresh wound and did not look accidental. I was aware that Nila herself had one of her ears damaged, but I never asked about the accident that led to such injury.
"Why would the killer do such a thing?" I wondered in a whisper, but made sure that Nila would hear me. She rubbed the silver jewellery that hid her wound and shook her head, then turned to me, "No clue. Anyway, hold tight onto me, as I will not be able to break our fall if we are apart."
I was taken aback by her sudden suggestion and hesitated for a moment, but as soon as I heard the door behind us opening with a hoarse voice calling to us, "Stop right there!" I embraced Nila tightly from behind, enveloping my arms around her neck. She pushed the suitcase into my hands and squeezed the staff with both of her arms. Then, there were 2 powerful gusts of wind, one smashed the window and another propelled us forward. It happened so fast, that my head pulled backwards and the last thing I saw before our fall was the guard's hand that was reaching us.
Once we were in a free fall, my arms squeezed her so tight, I could feel her pulse through her carotid artery. I closed my eyes, but through the air heard how she gagged due to my weight, but soon enough we finally reached the ground. Before hitting it at full speed, I saw light forming nearby through my closed eyelids, and we slowed down nearly instantly. This feeling was probably comparable to bungee jumping, with the only difference being our landing on two feet. It was the case for Nila at least, as soon as I released her from my grip, my legs gave in and I fell to the ground.
"Good grief, did you try to strangle me?" she complained about my excessive force, to which I bitterly replied, "What else should I have done while in free fall?"
I extended her suitcase, but she refused to take it, instead she pointed in the direction of the entrance door that was full of people. The fugitives managed to crush the guards inside the prison and were on their way to freedom, however, there were far more guards outside which resulted in a bloodshed. Screams along with swears and metal clang formed the serenade of the battlefield, which sent shivers down my spine.
"Would be quite a hustle to escape through the main entrance, huh." she said and turned away from the group and instead faced the castle that stood further away from us. It would be our second attempt in crossing it to reach the monster realm, however, this time I felt we would skip over the legal check-ups and final interview or whatever they had reserved for those wishing to escape the Schöltum region.
"Let's go, Dusk, while they are busy there, the security won't be as tight in the registration centre. This is our best opportunity to escape."