Raising the Princess to Overcome Death-Chapter 14: Childhood Friends - The Rules of the Back Alleys**
14. Childhood Friends - The Rules of the Back Alleys**
Leo woke up in a dark warehouse. Straw was scattered on the floor, and he could hear the sounds of horses snorting nearby. There were several of them.
As he tried to get up, he realized his arms were restrained.
He couldn’t see in the darkness, but he felt that his arms were tied behind his back and secured to a pillar.
He twisted and struggled, but his bound arms didn’t budge.
With his arms tied near the base of the pillar, pushing off the ground only made his back slam against the pillar.
“Lena! Lena!”
He shouted, knowing it was useless. If he didn’t do something, his chest felt like it would burst.
His voice grew hoarse from yelling. Someone opened the warehouse door and peeked inside, then shut it again. For a brief moment, he saw that it was night outside.
“You bastard! Come back here! You son of a bitch!”
He threw out every curse he could think of. But the door remained closed, and Leo panted in the darkness, exhausted.
Lena had been taken. He heard them say she would be auctioned off tomorrow.
He was desperate, but his body couldn’t move.
Where did it all go wrong?
‘The innkeeper knew I’d been hunting. He said he heard it from some merchant.’
The caravan leader who introduced the inn had sold them out.
‘But how did he know I’d been hunting? I never mentioned it.’
Maybe Lena had said something. That polite caravan leader had often chatted with her.
But that didn’t matter now.
Lena was in more danger.
He had to escape somehow, but there was no way to free his arms. It was too dark to see any possibilities. Could he do anything with the straw on the floor?
The cold from the ground chilled his body as he lay there until morning.
When daylight came, thin rays of sunlight filtered through the wooden walls, brightening his surroundings.
He could finally see the warehouse. As expected, it was filled with piles of straw, and he was tied to a large central pillar. It looked like a stable warehouse.
But there was still nothing he could do.
The floor was bare except for straw, and he couldn’t see any tools. He couldn’t even reach the piled straw.
He was simply abandoned.
Other than the brief moment when the door opened last night, no one had come by.
He tried digging at the ground and pushing off with his feet, but the pillar was deeply embedded and didn’t budge.
He tried shaking his arms free, but it was futile. Turning his head, he saw that the thugs had tied not just his wrists but his entire arms to the pillar.
And with his arms fixed near the base of the pillar, he couldn’t apply force or even wiggle his fingers to do anything.
He felt utterly helpless.
As evening approached, the thug leader who had taken Lena arrived. Leo glared at him, biting his lip.
“...Where is Lena?”
“Well, you’re still feisty, aren’t you?”
Leo had endured a day of pain, hunger, and thirst. It had been an excruciatingly long day of nothing but waiting.
Most people would have broken, but Leo held on.
He consciously thought of the modern world. Without that mental anchor, he would have broken.
The thug leader didn’t seem interested in answering his question and just nodded.
The thugs who had followed him gagged Leo and blindfolded him. Then he was thrown into a leather sack and loaded onto a wagon like a piece of luggage.
- Clip-clop, clip-clop
The wagon started moving.
“What’s going on?”
Leo heard voices chatting in the front.
“The prince bought her. But for some reason, he wants the guy too.”
“Wouldn’t it be a problem if he gets loose? He was pretty good with a sword... Should we break an arm?”
“I’d like to, but... We have to follow orders.”
After a long ride, the wagon stopped, and Leo was dumped onto the ground.
“Leo! Let him go.”
Lena’s voice called out from somewhere, but that was all.
Leo twisted and yelled, but only muffled sounds came out. Someone roughly pulled him up. He felt himself being dragged somewhere, then his bonds were removed.
[ Lena’s final job has been decided. ]
No, it wasn’t.
It wasn’t that his bonds were removed; it was that the world around him and his body disappeared. The ending came with a disorienting feeling of floating.
[ Thank you for playing Raising Lena. ]
[ Lena ]
[ Final Job: Prince’s Concubine ]
[ Marriage Partner: Athon de Lognum ]
[ Leo ]
[ Final Job: Assassin ]
[ Marriage Partner: Single ]
[ Childhood Friends Ending: Playthings of Princes ]
- Lena, born in Demos Village, had a happy childhood. Though poor, she was surrounded by her parents' warm attention... (summary) ...They arrived in Nevis but were captured by thugs. Lena was sold to the princes of the Lognum royal family. To save Leo, Lena became a concubine and secretly helped him escape before committing suicide. -
- Leo, born in Demos Village, had a happy childhood. He lost his mother early... (summary) ...They arrived in Nevis but were captured by thugs. Leo was imprisoned in the mansion of Prince Athon de Lognum. With Lena’s help, Leo escaped and lived his life seeking revenge. He managed to wipe out the thugs but failed to assassinate the prince and was executed. -
A picture of Lena, beautifully but lewdly dressed, appeared. Her eyes were dead, wearing clothes that could easily be removed.
Leo was too overcome with despair to think clearly as his consciousness shattered.
Minseo’s mind emerged from the fragmented Leo.
‘I really want to give up...’
He had failed miserably again.
He couldn’t make Lena a princess or even protect her. He had brought her to the capital only for her to suffer.
His plan was heading straight for disaster.
He didn’t know why the thugs targeted Lena and Leo, but the nearby kingdom’s princes were garbage.
There could never be a happy ending where a commoner like Lena met and fell in love with one of those princes. Even if they hadn’t been captured by thugs, the result would have been the same.
Minseo wanted to quit.
He had been in this game for over a year now.
He missed Chaeha desperately.
He wanted to go back to his parents.
But Minseo’s hopes were dashed by the cold text announcing a restart.
[ You did not clear Raising Lena. ]
[ Leo, you were too naive. Leo later wiped out a ‘family’ in revenge for Lena. Here is information about {The Rules of the Back Alleys}. ]
[ Restarting. ]
As he watched the intro video again, a cold wind brushed his cheek.
Minseo found himself once again as Leo Dexter, holding a sword foolishly.
“Leo! What’s wrong?”
Lena Ainar stood before him, holding a sword.
Leo had desperately longed to see her again, especially after she had fallen in battle, but now he felt no motivation.
The information he received as a scenario reward harshly highlighted how naive and foolish he had been.
"...I'm heading back in for now."
Ignoring Lena, who was scratching her head, Leo returned to his room.
He threw himself onto the bed in the familiar room where they had spent several months before Lena’s death.
Burying his face in the cold blankets, he slowly recalled every detail of {The Rules of the Back Alleys}.
The previous scenario had gone wrong from the moment Hans introduced them to the caravan.
In the large village, Hans had sold them out.
To be precise, he hadn’t sold them out; he had merely informed the right people that they were easy targets, heading willingly to the largest slave market in the world, paying for their own transportation and providing a commission upon being handed over.
Leo clutched the pillow tightly, nearly tearing it apart.
In the last scenario, they hadn’t received any kindness. They were led by malicious intentions disguised as kindness.
Slaves were very difficult to transport.
During transportation, the value of slaves could decrease significantly, and depending on the distance, usually one out of three died on the way.
So, how delighted must they have been to see us happily paying our way to the slave market!
And he had naively gone to the inn introduced by the caravan leader. The leader had looked around for a marker.
The deeply carved marks on the door frame weren’t from rot but a sign indicating that the inn received people meant to be sold off.
The caravan leader and the innkeeper likely didn’t know each other at all.
Leo punched the pillow repeatedly.
Not only was he naive, but he was also incredibly stupid.
*
“You’ve changed a bit, haven’t you?”
The next morning, Leo sparred with Lena. She immediately noticed the change in him.
“Why did you enter like that just now?”
“If I enter this way, I can follow up with this move next.”
Leo slowly demonstrated the move he had just made, rewinding and explaining it to Lena, who looked at him incredulously.
“What? It’s creative, but do you think I’m just going to stand still?”
“Shall we try again?”
Unlike before, he adapted quickly this time.
Previously, he had been beaten by his father from the first day, but the {Swordsmanship} he had gained before and the training with Lena until her death seemed to make a difference.
Lena found Leo’s swordsmanship interesting, and although his father was displeased, he understood his son’s curiosity and new attempts.
In just one day, Leo’s mood improved significantly.
The strong body of Leo Dexter not only allowed him to swing his sword powerfully but also restored his confidence.
In the inn fight with the thugs, the previous Leo had only managed to kill one. But this Leo Dexter could have taken down most of them, even if he ultimately lost.
Leo and Lena, sweating from their sparring, lay down on the frosty ground. Lena, too exhausted, lay beside him.
‘What about the war?’
The major event of the betrothal scenario, {The War}, would erupt at the end of this winter.
He had pondered it all night, but there seemed to be no way to avoid it.
Lena and Leo would come of age in a few days. Once Lena became an adult, she would go hunting with her father, become a warrior, and then be sent to war in place of her father, the Great Warrior.
He could prevent her from going hunting, but that would be difficult.
Lena wanted to become a warrior, and she was stubborn about it.
Even if he warned her that a war would break out in a few months, she wouldn’t care. Last time, she had confidently gone to war, claiming she would return as a knight.
‘And she never returned...’
Leo gently held Lena’s hand, who flinched but remained still.
He had even considered pushing her down the stairs.
He wanted to injure her enough to prevent her from going hunting, but such a method wouldn’t work.
Winter was the best season for hunting.
Animals had limited range due to the cold, left tracks easily, and had fewer hiding spots due to the lack of leaves. Blood trails were easy to follow, and prey could be transported easily by sled.
Most importantly, the village warriors had nothing else to do in winter, so they took turns going on hunts. He might be able to prevent Lena from going hunting a few times, but beyond that, it was impossible.
Lena would inevitably become a warrior before the war started.
He had considered the {Event} of capturing the 'Noguhwaho'.
If Lena could achieve the feat of capturing a monster and return slightly injured, her father, Dehorn, might use that as an excuse to keep her from the battlefield.
But capturing the Noguhwaho with just the two of them was impossible. At least not yet. He didn’t want to become monster food while trying to avoid the war.
Lena fidgeted with his hand. Turning his head, he saw her playing with his fingers.
Lovely Lena.
Leo resolved to protect her this time.
He stood up, still holding her hand, and pulled her along to continue their training.
Grabbing his sword again, he thought.
As for making her a princess... I don’t know.
In this betrothal scenario, it seemed nearly impossible. He hadn’t found any leads yet.
Maybe something would come up in the war.
So, he decided to go to war with Lena.
*
“It must be cold. Take this and drink it with Leo.”
Lena took the flask her mother handed her.
It was filled with warm Oduro tea.
This tea, made by lightly fermenting Oduro leaves, warmed you right up when heated.
With two cups, she went to the backyard and found Leo still swinging his sword.
Not wanting to interrupt his focus, she sat on a chair, sipping tea, and watched him train.
The sight of him practicing with the snow falling around him was impressive.
‘Why is Leo acting like this?’
His training had increased noticeably.
He was always diligent, but for the past few days, he seemed desperate, as if being chased.
She first met Leo three years ago when her father invited a retired knight to their home. Her first impression of the boy her age was that he was gentle.
Compared to the other kids in the tribe, he seemed a bit bookish. Seeing a polite and well-spoken boy was a novelty for her.
‘I never imagined I’d be engaged to him back then.’
She had been one of the better fighters among her peers but had lost to him in a duel.
After that, she trained in swordsmanship under Uncle Noel, and they developed a bond, leading to their engagement a year ago. Lena felt proud that the man practicing out there would be her husband.
Lena’s dream was to become a knight. Being a warrior of the tribe was great, but she wanted to be a knight like Uncle Noel, protecting her tribe and castle.
After getting engaged, her dream changed a bit. She wanted to become a knight with Leo.
“Leo! Come drink this and then continue!”
Seeing he was done practicing, she called out to him. He waved and walked over.
He looked impressive in his armor. Steam rose from his body as he approached, and when he took off his helmet, sweat poured down.
“Thanks. I was really thirsty.”
“Hey! Don’t drink it all like that.”
Leo grabbed the flask and drank deeply.
He set down the empty flask with a clank, patted Lena’s head, and walked off.
Staring dumbfounded after him, Lena bowed her head.
“Ugh... Why is he acting like this...”
Her face turned red.
She must have drunk too much Oduro tea.
.
!
Chapter 14: Childhood Friends - The Rules of the Back Alleys**
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