"Son, don't! Don't go! You'll die!" the old man cried out as he woke up.
"Sheryl, hide your face! You're covered in dust," Gray hissed, throwing himself toward the tunnel to shield it with his body.
The first glimmers of the rising sun were already breaking through the night sky. The darkness was slowly retreating, but the cage was still in disarray, left that way after the digging.
Gray glanced at Lily and saw her body trembling on the cold floor, but he didn't dare so much as move, let alone help her. Right now, he was praying to the damned gods that the old man would slip back into sleep and not notice their dirt-smeared faces.
"Damn it, damn it. Go to sleep, just sleep, don't pay attention to us! You've had a long day, your old bones need rest. Fall asleep already. There's still time before the new day begins," the boy whispered desperately to himself, covering the tunnel with his body.
Gray was extremely tense.
If the old man found out about their plan, all their efforts could be for nothing. Although their neighbor wasn't cruel by nature, he truly believed that the highest honor for a slave was to be an obedient tool for his master. He had lived that way his entire life.
Convincing the old man to take part in the escape plan seemed to Gray even more impossible than reaching an agreement with Gracchus. The overseer with the ugly scar might give in to persuasion if the reward matched the risks, but the old man...
To put it plainly, the old man was a broken man.
In his mind, there was nothing more important than survival. Having lost his son, and perhaps everyone else dear to him, he had convinced himself that unquestioning obedience was the highest good.
It was a strange philosophy, cowardly and submissive. And although Gray admitted that such a mindset might have allowed the old man to live to an advanced age, he couldn't accept it. His family was waiting for him, his loved ones. He couldn't spend his whole life in slavery.
He had to escape.
Gray found it deeply ironic that the success of his plan right now depended on a simple decision from that pitiful old man. He could sleep for a couple more hours, or fully wake up and notice the handfuls of dirt scattered across the cell.
"What's wrong with Lily? Please, let the old man just be mumbling in his sleep. He can't wake up when we're this close to finishing. But if he does notice us, what should I do? Pull out the dagger from my coat and send him into an eternal sleep? No, once the overseers discover his death, our plan is finished anyway. Ask him to stay quiet? But how do I convince him?"
While Gray was desperately thinking, the old man actually opened his eyes and rose from his cot.
Sheryl's and Gray's hearts skipped a beat.
The rabbit girl, who was beside Lily, saw her friend's body trembling. She didn't even notice that her own body was shaking from the fear of being exposed. She struggled to keep herself from screaming or dropping to her knees to beg for forgiveness.
"Son, Vigor, you shouldn't have ended up like this. Your father should have taken care of you. My foolish boy, I miss you so much," the old man mumbled incoherently, turning away.
"He's still not awake! His eyes were completely empty when he looked our way. He turned away, he turned away! Our plan is safe! He'll fall asleep now. He'll fall asleep, and we'll be able to hide any traces," Gray thought, lying perfectly still.
His heart pounded like a drum. Holding his breath, he listened to every sound as the old man shifted on the cot.
Time dragged on painfully slow.
Finally, a distinct snore could be heard. Even in his boldest imagination, Gray could not have thought that someone's snoring could sound so melodic and calming.
Raising his head silently in a cautious attempt to look around, Gray noticed the questioning gaze of the rabbit girl fixed on him.
Signaling her not to move, he carefully covered the opening in the cell and then tiptoed over to the girls.
"Sheryl is very scared. What happened to Lily? Why is she so hot? Did Gray's plan fail? Was the tunnel discovered?" the timid rabbit girl bombarded him with questions the moment he got close.
"Well, I should be grateful this little coward didn't give us away," Gray thought to himself, but quickly replied,
"Everything's fine, Sheryl. The old man didn't wake up, but we need to act fast. Can you hide the dirt while I take care of Lily? Just please, be as quiet as possible. Without Lily's magic, the old man might wake up from even the slightest noise."
"Okay. Sheryl is not stupid. Sheryl will hide all the dirt while Gray takes care of Lily," she agreed firmly.
At last, Gray could focus on the condition of the little succubus.
By now, Lily's body had stopped trembling, but she still hadn't regained consciousness. Placing a hand on her forehead, he felt just how hot she was.
"Fever," the thought came to him.
While Sheryl began carrying out his request, Gray quietly took out an ampoule from his bottomless pocket. The vial was about the size of an adult's thumb, made of frosted glass and sealed with a wooden cork. Inside, a greenish liquid shimmered. If one looked closely, a faint glow could be seen within it.
It was one of the healing potions his mother had left him for emergencies, in case they were separated. There were at least thirty such ampoules in his pocket, since he couldn't develop and fell ill far more often than his sister.
"Mom really was always extremely foresighted… and overly caring," Gray thought with a trace of sadness, looking at the vial.
He understood that the medicine was meant for humans and wouldn't be as effective for other races, especially for demons, whose bodies worked differently.
But it was better than nothing.
Although Lily sometimes seemed like an unbearable troublemaker and a hypocrite, Gray genuinely worried about her. He was sure she wouldn't have ended up in this state if she hadn't overstrained herself using her magic.
Only now did he truly realize how much he valued Lily's company.
He hadn't even noticed when he got used to her constant teasing. Even the fact that she knew his greatest secret no longer seemed like something bad.
It felt good that someone besides his family was willing to accept him, knowing who he really was.
Moreover, he still remembered that it was Lily who helped him when he was at his lowest, struggling to survive against the Sky-dweller. Even Sheryl hadn't been brave enough to take care of a stranger who had just been punished, but Lily had.
Now that fragile girl lay in his arms, her small body occasionally trembling with faint convulsions.
Realizing that he was the one responsible for her condition, he was ready to sacrifice a valuable resource to heal her.
Clenching the wooden cork between his teeth, Gray uncorked the ampoule and brought it to Lily's lips. He gently supported the girl's head, making sure she drank every last drop.
Two minutes passed, and there were no changes in her condition.
"This still isn't enough. The potion is meant for a mortal human, not a developing succubus. I don't know what level Lily has reached, but it can't be above the Mortal stage. I'll give her five potions. If her condition doesn't change, I'll have to… No, absolutely not, five should be enough," Gray thought, gradually draining his supplies.
The boy sincerely hoped he could solve the problem with minimal cost, but with each potion she drank, the chances of that grew smaller and smaller.
After the eighth bottle, Lily's breathing calmed a little, but she still didn't open her eyes.
Gray looked at the eight empty ampoules and felt like crying. There had been five minor healing potions, two medium ones, and one major.
If Harmon found out that a slave worth one silver coin was so wasteful with potions worth several dozen gold coins, he would have a heart attack on the spot.
"This should be enough," Gray thought to himself, glaring indignantly at the purple-haired girl.
What irritated him the most was that this little troublemaker would never know how much he had helped her. He couldn't just reveal yet another one of his secrets for the sake of bragging a little, right? Right?!
Gray carefully laid the girl down on the cot, trying not to disturb her.
He hoped the potions would take effect and that she would get better. She was an important part of the plan and a friend. Without her, everything would become much harder.
"Hang in there, Lily," he whispered before turning to Sheryl.
"Come on, we need to work," Gray said, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible.
Sheryl nodded and continued carefully clearing away the dirt.
Without Lily's support, they had to act with extreme caution, and it was truly difficult. Every sound seemed deafening to them. Time dragged painfully slow, and Gray realized with a dull ache that they wouldn't get any sleep today.
After they cleared most of the dirt, Gray concealed the hole. Then he focused on restoring the magic circuit. Only after returning everything completely to its original state did he feel some of the tension ease.
"Now everything should be fine," he muttered, wiping the dirt off himself with a damp cloth.
Sheryl did the same.
Only now, casting an embarrassed glance at the rabbit girl as she wiped herself clean, her petite figure gradually regaining its appeal as the dirt disappeared from her skin, did Gray truly remember that today the tunnel they had been working on for the entire past month had finally reached the surface.
Their plan was closer to success than ever before. It was a joyful feeling, yet at the same time an anxious one.
"Will they really be able to escape? What else will go wrong? Will Lily recover in time?" all these questions surfaced in his exhausted mind as he tried to savor a fleeting moment of calm before they were taken away to work.