Birthday Escape

Emma had no memory of how she finished lunch. Her mind was filled with the way Kerry had looked at her during the meal. What a sinister, malicious look.

No, I have to stay strong. Once today is over, I'll be fourteen. I'll be an adult. Teacher Gandalf is incredibly powerful, so he must have been held up by something. I can't let myself get caught before he arrives to rescue me. That's right. I have to escape from here first.

I met a bad person just by looking into his eyes.

Emma thought she had understood the meaning behind Kerry's gaze. This was her last chance to escape. By the afternoon, the sky over this island might already be filled with Faglan's Griffon Knights.

Emma hurried out of the dining room, while Kerry was left somewhat confused. Was there something wrong with my expression? Why did it seem like I scared her? Could she already know that we were planning a birthday surprise for her?

Of course, Kerry had no idea that Emma was nervous to the point of paranoia all day. Everyone's gaze automatically came with the effect of a villain.

That afternoon, Emma paced restlessly around her room, thinking of every possible way to escape the island. Unfortunately, she had never planned an escape before.

All her previous escapes had been planned by Gandalf, while she had merely carried them out passively. Now that she had to escape on her own, she couldn't think of a good plan for the moment.

Whatever. I'll have a chance once I'm outside the castle. At the very least, I have to leave the castle first.

In the end, Emma still couldn't come up with a practical plan. However, after deciding to escape ahead of time, she chose to complete the first step: escaping the castle.

While the servants in the castle spent the afternoon preparing the party decorations for that evening, a maid delivering afternoon tea suddenly found Kerry. After a flustered, incoherent explanation, Kerry was extremely surprised.

Miss Emma is missing. In her room, we found a rope made from bedsheets. It stretched from the room out the window and all the way to the lawn in the backyard.

Was this an escape from an arranged marriage, or some sort of pre-birthday entertainment? Did the people of Faglan have this kind of birthday tradition?

Kerry couldn't understand why Emma had run away from home at a time like this. Big sis, you're the star of tonight's party, all right? What kind of stunt are you pulling?

"Arrange for everyone to search for Miss Emma. We can't lose the star of tonight's party." Kerry gave the order and left first. Perhaps she could find some clues in Emma's room.

Half an hour earlier, Emma had finally tied the bedsheets into a rope of sufficient length, then successfully escaped from her room on the second floor. At that moment, Emma deeply regretted not having practiced magic properly in the past. Many of her classmates had already become Level 3 Mages, while she still hadn't reached Level 3 after more than half a year of escaping. A Level 3 Mage could learn a wind-element spell. Although it couldn't make one fly fast, it was still a flying spell. If she had learned it, she wouldn't have needed to tie a rope to escape.

The window faced the backyard, where few people usually went. On top of that, the new home Kerry had arranged for the Queen was located in the backyard, so even fewer people came here. It was perfect for Emma's escape.

After painstakingly escaping from her room, Emma raised her head to survey the backyard. For a moment, she had no idea what to do next.

Should I climb over the castle wall and leave? The wall's a little high.

The castle doesn't seem to have a back entrance, but City Guards are stationed at the front gate, right? What should I do?

I've already made it this far. Should I just fight my way out through the front gate?

No. Emma suddenly realized miserably that even though she was about to advance to Level 3 Mage, she was terrible at every spell except Minor Fireball.

Her other spells either lacked offensive power or took too long to chant for actual combat. Even Minor Fireball wouldn't do. A Level 2 Mage's Minor Fireball could seriously injure someone, but she could only cast one shot at a time.

The problem was that there were two City Guards on duty. Emma wasn't confident that after ambushing one of them, she could safely cast a second spell.

"Miss Emma, I've noticed that your complexion isn't very good, and your breathing is irregular as well. Would you like me to perform a detailed examination?"

The sudden voice nearly made Emma scream.

She had been distracted for a moment and hadn't noticed when Medical Unit 1 appeared beside her.

"I'm fine. There's no need for an examination. Goodbye." Emma knew this was one of Kerry's puppets. She had never seen it before; it had only appeared for the first time that morning. Could it have been specifically stationed downstairs to stop her from escaping?

Emma's expression stiffened, but she pretended to remain calm as she lifted her leg and stepped forward. Her left hand and left foot moved together in slow motion, then her right hand and right foot repeated the motion. One, two, one...

Phew. Fortunately, this was a low-level puppet. It was unbelievably stupid. Emma finally walked out of Medical Unit 1's field of vision and let out a huge sigh of relief.

Hahaha! You didn't expect this, you despicable Kerry! Your puppet only knows how to stand guard, but doesn't know how to capture someone directly. What an oversight! No matter how many guards you arrange, you'll still end up washing my feet!

After leaving the backyard, the next place was the stable. Once she passed through it, she could reach the front courtyard. The main gate was right there.

But Emma hadn't been pleased for even three seconds after leaving the backyard when her expression stiffened again. Frank, already drunk enough for his eyes to blur, was harnessing his beloved horse, Maria. It looked like he was about to drive the carriage out.

Frank didn't seem to notice Emma, perhaps because he was drunk. Emma felt that she was truly lucky this time. She hurriedly hid behind some clutter nearby, and a bold idea suddenly popped into her head.

Heaven never bars every path. With a habitual drunk driver like this, perhaps he wouldn't notice even if someone were in his carriage. In a moment, she could quietly climb inside and leave the castle without anyone knowing.

When Frank drove the carriage out of the castle, Emma felt that she was practically a genius at escaping. Everything was going exactly as the script described.

Emma boarded Frank's carriage without a hitch and left the castle just as smoothly. This was her first independent escape, and it seemed to be going perfectly.

That was, until Frank arrived at their destination: the dock on the northern side of South Australia Island.

"Miss Emma, I've arrived at the destination. If you have other business, please get off." Frank was very drunk, but he felt that he had only completed the first half of his drinking. After all, there would be unlimited fine wine at tonight's birthday party. For now, this only counted as a warm-up.

Although he could no longer walk in a straight line, Frank kept warning himself inwardly, "I'm not drunk yet!"

Thus, when Emma silently climbed into his carriage, Frank assumed that she was a noble mage who disliked speaking because of the smell of alcohol on him. Frank didn't make things awkward by taking the initiative to speak to her either. He didn't say anything until they reached the dock.

"You... What do you want? How did you know I was in the carriage? Why did you bring me to the dock?" Could she have delivered herself right into his hands by coincidence? Was Frank planning to send her onto a ship and bundle her off to Faglan?

Emma felt like crying. She hadn't expected Frank to be a hidden expert. When had he noticed her? She didn't even know herself.

She had actually thought she was sneaking into his carriage, but Frank was quite devious too. He hadn't said a word and only revealed his true colors after they reached their destination.

Could I get a few comments? Starting today, I should be able to keep the update schedule stable.