"Are you really sure about this, Shou?" Jellal Fernandes looked at the young boy, Shou, who had his head lowered, speaking with surprise. He couldn't imagine that Shou, who was usually quiet and timid, would suddenly propose such a daring plan! Thinking this, Jellal looked at Erza Scarlet with a questioning gaze, clearly asking if this was her idea.
Erza gently shook her head at him, looking equally confused. Clearly, she didn't know why Shou had suddenly spoken up. After a moment of thought, Erza looked back at Shou, saying earnestly: "Is this truly a decision you made after careful consideration?!"
"Yes! This is absolutely what I decided after thinking it over seriously!" Hearing this, Shou immediately raised his head, looking at his Sister Erza, whom he deeply respected and loved. He shouted at her, unusually loud: "I've had enough! I don't want to stay in this place anymore! I must leave here!!!" He finished, gasping for breath, as if those few shouts had drained a lot of his energy.
"…" Erza stared at Shou, momentarily stunned. Is this still the obedient, quiet Shou who always listened to her? She felt a surge of confusion.
"I'm sorry, Sister Erza—" After catching his breath, he seemed to realize his tone had been impolite. He quickly lowered his head again, speaking softly with a voice full of remorse, "I… I just…"
Although Shou's tone became much softer, lacking the rigid insistence from before, everyone could still hear a sense of determination and resolve in his voice.
"It's alright, Shou." Erza smiled slightly and gently stroked his lowered head, saying softly, "I understand how you feel." This is Shou's true nature. This is the Shou I know! It seems he's been suppressed for too long.
Ha, perhaps everyone, including myself, feels the same way! Thinking this, Erza gently shook her head, a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes.
It was the desperate longing for freedom.
"Big Brother Calvin, what do you think?" Seeing that Erza hadn't spoken, but her expression clearly showed that Shou's proposal had moved her, Jellal turned his attention to Calvin Unknown, who had been silent since Shou first suggested the plan. Jellal asked him seriously.
At this, Erza, Shou, Wally, Simon, and Millianna all looked at Calvin. After all, he was the most mature, level-headed, and authoritative person among them! For something as big as escaping the Tower of Heaven, they naturally had to seek his opinion! All eyes were fixed on Calvin, filled with an unwavering eagerness, as if they wanted a definite, affirmative answer from him! The answer they feared the most, yet also longed for the most!
"Ha, well, since you've already made up your minds, why bother consulting me now…" Calvin's gaze swept over each of them, focusing particularly on their eyes. Seeing the determined resolve mingled with eagerness in everyone's gaze, Calvin gave a wry smile, shook his head slightly, and sighed helplessly, "Then—"
"Let's do it!"
The moment the words fell, everyone, who had been anxiously waiting, breathed a collective sigh of relief and burst into excited cheers.
It may not be the best timing. It may not be the most appropriate moment. The success rate of this plan might be less than fifty percent. But so what? For the sake of freedom, even a one percent chance of success is worth risking everything for!!!
A frightening intensity flashed in Calvin's eyes.
Even if this is a fifty-fifty gamble, I'm willing to bet everything on it! Haven't I gambled enough times in my life already? What does it matter if I bet everything I have this one time? Especially when everything is for freedom…
More than a month had passed since Calvin befriended Erza and helped her find a surname. During this month, Calvin and the others continued their routine. Every morning, they were forced to get up and work by those cursed Dark Mages. They were relentlessly exploited as living sacrifices, providing nearly endless free labor, and were constantly subjected to beatings from those thugs!
While everyone, including Calvin, had basically adapted to this grueling life, that didn't mean they liked it! This monotonous, dull, and extremely arduous labor made everyone feel physically and mentally exhausted and miserable. This was compounded by the fact that the end was nowhere in sight, crushing any trace of hope. Who could endure this hellish existence for long? It put suffocating pressure on them, both physically and psychologically!
Under this dual pressure, this suffocating environment would eventually drive anyone insane! Aside from the masters of the Tower of Heaven—those unknown evil Mages—no one could stand this utterly hopeless setting! Even people with the strongest mental fortitude would eventually find their minds on the brink of collapse after staying here for too long!
Today, the blonde boy Shou suddenly proposed the plan to escape this cursed place. Calvin wasn't surprised at all. He had long guessed this result. After all, even though the chance of escape was incredibly small, it was better than having no hope at all! Infinitely better!
Someone who has never experienced true despair cannot understand the meaning of this hope, nor can they empathize with the sliver of dawn that this illusory hope brings to people in desperation. To give a simple example: a person who has never experienced true thirst will not understand the significance of a single drop of water. But if you suddenly found one day that there was no water left in the world, you might begin to grasp it. If that situation persisted for a long time and you hadn't died of thirst yet, then you would truly understand the meaning of that single drop of water. How precious that small amount of water is, because its existence grants you a tiny spark of hope that wasn't there before…
Calvin and the others were feeling exactly that way. Calvin knew clearly that even if Shou hadn't proposed the escape plan today, someone else would have proposed it soon enough! It could have been Simon, Wally, perhaps Millianna, Erza, or Jellal, or even himself—Calvin Unknown! Or perhaps some other unfamiliar person…
In short, for this one line of dawn, even if they knew it might only be a mirage, countless people would still rush forward to grasp this—final hope.
It was night. The sky had long since turned completely dark (obviously!). Across the entire sprawling island, apart from the necessary guards on duty, most people were sound asleep. This undoubtedly provided relatively favorable conditions for Calvin and the others preparing to escape.
In a dark corner, several small figures were peering around cautiously. Seeing that the surroundings were completely quiet and there were no unusual circumstances, one of them quietly waved a hand backward, signaling that no guards were here and everything was normal!
"Sister! Over here, over here, hurry up!" Crouching down next to a waist-high small pit, Shou urgently urged Erza, his voice containing barely suppressed excitement!
"Shush! Keep your voice down, Shou!" Hearing this, Wally was startled and quickly made a silencing gesture towards the excited Shou, complaining, "What if someone hears us and finds out, you idiot?!!" He didn't forget to glare fiercely at Shou.
"Please~" Before Shou could say anything, Millianna immediately complained, "Wally, your voice is louder, meow…" She finished with a cute eye roll.
"Uh… heh-heh-heh." Wally scratched his head awkwardly.
"Erza, if we don't hurry, if those guys catch us, then…" Simon frowned, urging her with a hint of worry.
"I know, I know what happens to those who get caught." Unexpectedly, at this crucial moment, Erza was the most nervous of all. Clenching her worn clothes tightly, Erza stammered fearfully, trembling slightly as she spoke. Clearly, she was extremely afraid.
"Hey! I said…" Simon was about to say something more to reassure her, but Calvin, who had just returned from checking the safety of other areas, spoke first. Frowning at Erza, who seemed to be wavering and retreating at the last minute, he waved his hand, saying somewhat impatiently, "What good is being afraid now? We've already made it this far! Do you really want to go back? Fine, if you truly want to stay in this cursed place for the rest of your life, I won't stop you. Go back then!"
He wasn't deliberately bullying Erza—ridiculous! His soul was a genuine adult! How could he argue with a little kid? Furthermore, in his opinion, there was nothing strange about Erza being nervous and afraid right now. Who wouldn't be nervous and afraid in this situation? Even he couldn't guarantee that he wasn't feeling a hint of nervousness or fear! It was just that his mental maturity far exceeded everyone present, and he had deliberately suppressed all his negative emotions like nervousness and fear. That's why the others couldn't tell. Of course, he also couldn't let them see it! Because at this moment, Calvin Unknown was the emotional pillar for everyone present!
Therefore, Erza's extreme nervousness was within his understandable scope. The reason he spoke to her that way was purely to intentionally provoke her courage…
"Don't be afraid, Erza." Jellal naturally understood Calvin's intention and appreciated it. Since they were still in danger, they had to eliminate Erza's fear quickly. Thinking this, Jellal spoke to comfort Erza with a smile, "Because we are going for freedom, our dreams, and our future…" Clearly, his strategy was the same as Calvin's, but compared to Calvin's deliberately stern demeanor, Jellal's approach was undeniably gentler and more palatable.
"Mhm!" Hearing this, Erza stopped hesitating. She nodded heavily to Jellal, then cast a slightly grateful look at Calvin. Clearly, she now understood the true intent behind Calvin's words.
"Let's go…" Calvin said flatly, then took the lead and climbed into the small pit ahead.
Behind him, Jellal, Erza, and the others followed close behind!