The messenger's words struck like a stone hurled into a still lake.
On the viewing platform, the smiles on everyone's faces froze.
"She escaped?" Jerren's eyes widened, and he even forgot to crack the sunflower seeds in his hand. "Wait, she managed to get out of there?"
The messenger looked aggrieved. "The Hornsent Kachacha helped her. He slipped in during the changing of the guard and secretly pried open the cell door..."
"The Hornsent Kachacha?" Morgott frowned. "The Hornsent you captured?"
The Tarnished nodded. "We kept him as a subject for studying Miquella's power of charm. He'd already turned into an idiot, but now it looks like he was pretending."
Everyone frowned.
"Now that's trouble." Jerren scratched his head, though his voice held a strange hint of admiration. "Still, I have to say, this Leda really knows how to run."
Everyone looked at him.
Jerren counted on his fingers. "Back in Liurnia, we chased her down and cut off every escape route, but she sacrificed her companions one after another and forced her way out of the encirclement. Then we caught her and threw her in prison, and now she's escaped again. Is she a follower of Miquella or the god of running away?"
The Tarnished blinked, then asked curiously, "There's a god of running away in the Lands Between?"
"Of course not." Morgott interrupted the pointless joke with a grim expression. "This is no time to discuss that. Once Leda escapes back to the Land of Shadow, she will certainly tell Miquella that the Five-Party Alliance is about to invade. We must recapture her immediately. Otherwise, when our army arrives, the enemy will already be prepared. The consequences would be disastrous."
As he spoke, the lord of Leyndell rose to his feet, ready to issue an immediate order to