Assassins?

"Urgh... How rude. I can't believe they literally threw me here even though I'm the Third Prince. Well, this isn't surprising. For as long as I could remember, the King has always acted like that. Although, this is the first time he has thrown me in prison. This place stinks!" Leonard said, clearly unpleased.

"Deal with it." Rem said sternly.

Rem and Leonard were thrown to the cells under the palace. They were thrown inside the same cell with just the two of them. In this prison, humans, half-humans, beast-men, and elves were kept there. All of them were beaten and looked like they were there for ages. Some had lifeless eyes while others were curled up at the corner of their cell.

'With these shackles on, I can't use my magic... Not being able to use any magic is troublesome. However, I'm confident in my martial arts. 003, show me the map of the entire palace.'

{Done.}

A blue screen appeared in front of Rem.

"Hey, did you find a way to escape yet?" Leonard asked.

"Be patient." Rem replied, looking at the map.

'The knights aren't that hard to beat. I can take care of them easily. The problem is the mages... They can somehow cause people to be unable to move. Hmm... Taking on these mages is definitely a bad idea. If we want to escape, we would have to avoid them at all costs. All right. I'll break these shackles first then I'll knock out the guards. I've found a route where there aren't any mages.' Rem thought, breaking the shackles using her martial arts.

After breaking the shackles on her, she broke the shackles on Leonard.

"Wow! You can do martial arts??? As expected of the winner of the Arena's tournament this year!" Leonard was amazed.

"Follow me and be quiet if you want to escape. Don't use any magic." Rem said quietly, breaking the bars apart effortlessly.

A few guards saw what happened and ran to the two prisoners. They tried to stop them from escaping but failed to do so because they were knocked out by Rem before they could do anything. When the prisoners saw Rem and Leonard escape from their cell, they grabbed the bars, reaching their hand towards Rem and Leonard.

"They seem eager to leave. Should we help them?" Leonard asked, feeling pity for the prisoners.

"You can help them if you want. I'll be escaping while you do that." Rem told Leonard, using the escape route she found on the map.

Rem's priority, for now, was to escape successfully without getting captured. She couldn't afford to waste any time on helping the prisoners escape. Even if she did help them out of their cells, they would have been caught or killed by the guards.

"...Sorry." Leonard apologized to the prisoners and followed Rem, running beside her.

Meanwhile, men wearing black and red robes were following the twins. Yukio immediately sensed people following him and his sister. A few seconds later, Yukino sensed them too.

"Some suspicious people have been following us for a while now," Yukino whispered, not turning back.

"They might be assassins," Yukio whispered back.

"Let's act normally and go back to the dorms. If they attack us, we'll have no choice but to fight back. Do you think we can beat them?" Yukino asked.

"We might be unless they're stronger than us. I don't think they're that strong since we could sense them pretty quickly." Yukio stated.

Suddenly, there was white smoke everywhere. Everyone who breathed it in was put to sleep.

"Don't breathe in the gas!" Yukio told Yukino.

"I-I think I breathed in some of it..! I'm fine though. I can still keep myself awake..." Yukino replied.

"Where are you?" Yukio asked.

Yukio realized that he couldn't sense anyone anymore. His senses weren't working properly.

'Is this the cause of the gas? Where's Yukino??? I have to find her!' Yukio thought, searching for his twin.

"Help―MMPH??!"

Yukio ran towards the direction he heard his sister's call for help. When he did, he saw his sister unconscious. A man in black and red clothes was holding onto Yukino. The man looked at Yukio for a second then turned his back at him. He ran off somewhere with Yukino, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Yukio tried to follow the man but the other men also wearing the same clothes the man wore, prevented him from doing so.

"Get out of my way!!!" Yukio yelled, enraged.

Ice formed around Yukio. Yukio created an ice blade and attacked the men. Before Yukio could land a hit, the men threw some kind of gadget on the floor. Even more gas appeared. Not being able to sense or see anything due to the gas, Yukio felt hopeless. He used his ice magic and froze the floor and everything near Yukio. Unfortunately, the men already escaped right after they threw the gadget on the floor. Slowly, the gas disappeared.

'No, Yukino..!' Yukio was feeling sleepy.

Unable to hold on any longer, he collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

...

"Wooo! We're out!!!" Leonard celebrated, climbing out from the sewers.

"The sewers were so stinky!!! If I was there any longer, I would have vomited for real!" Leonard unpinched his nose.

"You better be careful. There are knights everywhere. For now, don't use any magic. The mages can instantly sense your magic and track you down." Rem said seriously.

"I got it! Oh, wait. If I was captured, were my brothers captured too? Urgh, that old man! I really hate him. How is he still the King???" Leonard asked in a frustrated tone.

"Anyways, bye. I'll get going now." Rem said indifferently, walking towards a small, dark, alleyway.

"Where are you going?" Leonard asked, following Rem.

"Stop following me. I have other things to do." Rem told Leonard without turning her head back to look at him.

"Alright, fine. We'll meet again, good friend! See you!!!" Leonard waved at Rem and walked towards the opposite direction Rem went.