After recounting the money two more times to make sure he was correct, he became a bit happy seeing the amount he possessed.

An errant thought came to his mind. How about a sumptuous mean in an inn nearby? A meal or two of such quality will barely cost one silver coin. Surely, it will not put any dent in my reserves.

But he quickly realised that these were the life earnings of his mother. These were the savings his mother had saved for him. He could not waste it on some good meals. He had to be careful with it. His future depended on it.

He didn't know that Rosa did not earn any salary from the clan due to her lifelong dedication and service to Rokas.

She was only able to save this much by micromanaging her grocery budget given by the clan. She had to haggle with shopkeepers on every single bronze coin and had saved that money bit by bit.

It was not like she could ask the clan for money for bringing up her son. They were already feeding and clothing him. They were also letting her son learn things for free.

That was a great favour shown to the children of the servants from the clan. So she could not push her luck in that regard.

In addition to that, she also found it a bit disrespectful to ask for money when the purpose of accumulating that money was to prepare it for her son when he would leave the clan.

Jacob quickly calculated his travel expenses if he travelled towards a nearby sect using the caravans. He found that he could easily reach it with this much money. And some of it would also be leftover.

But unfortunately, only those who were older than fifteen years of age were eligible to join a sect. And he still had a few years to go.

He had learned all these details about joining a sect when he had pestered his mother to ask the former clan lord or his son, Hammond. She acquiesced one day and learned all those details and then conveyed them to him.

After thinking about the leftover money, he thought that a sumptuous meal once or twice was not off the table.

But he quickly thought of something else and his smiling face slowly came back to normal. Those were the prices one year ago. And he still needed almost seven years to turn into an adult.

Who knew how the prices would fluctuate in the upcoming years? As a result of those conflicting thoughts, an extreme internal battle started between light versus dark, noble versus evil in his mind.

After a few minutes, the righteous side triumphed and he savagely squished his errant evil thoughts. He decided to save the money for the future.

......................

16th March, 3026 B.E.

A few days later, Jacob was ready. He did not have much regarding his possessions. He just had a few servant clothes, the learning materials and a money pouch to his grand total ownership. He tucked them into a small black cloth bag.

He didn't need the writing materials as he had already learned how to read and write perfectly. He just took a few paper pages of his mother's writings as memorabilia.

That bag was made up of spare clothes parts stitched together. Fortunately, there was not much difference in colour between the different clothing pieces.

He just had to slip out now. He was waiting for the next morning. He had already visited all his friends and the servants he liked in those days.

The next morning, he stood in his room. Tears were rolling down his little eyes as he was looking toward his mother's bed. He was thinking about her and all the moments he had shared with her in that room.

He thought about her smiling face and her loving eyes when she used to look at him. He thought about the times when she used to brush his hair in love.

He thought about the times when she used to teach him many things. He thought about the times when she had to buckle under his childish insistence and puppy eyes. A smile came on his face unconsciously as he thought about those days.

His memories of her were not that extensive. He could only remember things as far as three years back even after trying hard. He knew that he would forget many things many years later. So he wanted to cherish those fresh memories as best as he could.

After a few minutes of standing there, he quickly wiped away the tears from his cheeks. He could not show weakness now. His life was on the line.

Most probably James, the clan lord's son, was also opposing him now. He could not confront him. This room was not going anywhere. He would visit it when he would become strong enough.

He chose the morning time to slip out of the clan. There was a reason for that. Sometimes, he was sent out of the manor by his mother or other servants to buy groceries in the morning. So that was a perfect excuse for him.

The guards were already familiar with his excursions so they won't question him much. He also used the same cloth back then that he was using right now.

There was another loophole that he stumbled upon during his planning days. His shopping trips were not that long. Their maximum duration was one hour at most. And the guards worked in shifts.

There were four shifts of guards according to his observations. Two were at nighttime while the rest of the two were at daytime. After some thinking, he found that the morning time shift change was the best time.

The guards would not bother informing the next shift guards about his trip if he left just a few minutes before the shift change. The next shift would not notice his absence.

Perfect. You are a genius, Jacob. Jacob jumped from his bed in excitement after having found this loophole when he was in his planning phase a couple of days ago.

He wanted his escape plan to be perfect and free of any flaws. His near future was on the line after all. That was why he had given many days while thinking about his escape.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Now that everything was ready, Jacob gave a last glance at his mother's bed before exiting his room. He walked towards the clan gates nervously.

He was very nervous inside thinking that someone would stop him and ask what was he doing with the bag this early in the morning. He tried to act normal as much as he could and succeeded in his act.

Nobody stopped him for an inspection on his way. Any person he came along during his walk greeted him normally and asked about his health at most.

He forced himself to reciprocate normally without showing any signs of nervousness and anxiousness outside. While his heart beat like a drum whenever someone asked about his health. There was a high chance they would find out about his escapade.

Those few minutes of walk to the clan's gates passed agonizingly slow for him. Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to him after the initial greetings.

Soon, he reached the clan gates. He recognised the two guards guarding the clan's entrance today. They were the most familiar with his little shopping trips.

They stopped him a couple of times in the beginning when his mother had permitted him to go out of the clan manor for the first time. They never inspected him much after that.

He still remembered the day vividly when he pestered his mother for giving him the free pass. He wanted to see the outside world even for a short time once in a while.

His excuse for buying groceries was worth it. He was very happy that day and remembered every moment even today.

He smiled. Those were good days. His smiling expression became normal immediately after that. He could not show any abnormality now. Now was the time. It was now or never.

He was approaching the final barrier and this moment would decide his near future. It was possible that he would be barred from going outside for the next seven years or so if he was caught here. It was also possible that he would pass safely without much scrutiny and would become a free bird.

The possibility of the second outcome was great but even then, he remained cautious. Thankfully, they were on the night shift today and it was about to end in ten minutes. He stepped forward smoothly and started moving towards the gate.

He crossed the clan threshold and passed by the guards. He turned his head towards the right guard first before turning it to the left one and greeted them as usual,

"Hello, guard uncles. Good day."

"Well hello, young man. Going outside already?"

The left guard replied with a greeting and asked a question while the right one only nodded towards him with a slight smile. The eyes of both the guards were drooping. It was as if they could fall asleep at any time.

The question made Jacob stop in his steps. He had to answer normally without showing any abnormality.

"Yes." Jacob turned towards the left guard while replying to his query with a single word.

Just as Jacob was turning back to continue on his way, he caught the guard raising his right eyebrows slightly in response.

Upon seeing it, his little heart almost burst out of his chest. His senses were screaming at him to run but he barely controlled himself. This was the moment of truth.

If he made a blunder here, all of his hard work would be for nought. Thankfully his possessions were not that much. As a result, his bag looked empty from the outside.

He just got out of his bed a few days ago and someone is already sending him out to buy groceries.

They could not even wait for a few more days. What kind of cruel behaviour is this? I will have to ask him about the servant who sent him today the next time we meet. I need to put some sense into that cruel bastard.

The guard thought with his raised eyebrows. He kept watching the backside of Jacob while in deep thought until Jacob turned left after some distance away.

As Jacob turned to the left street at a street crossroads, he calmed his rapidly beating heart and a sense of relief washed over him. The past few moments were very exhausting on his little mind.

With every passing second, he was in constant fear that the guard would call him back for further questioning.

It was also possible that he had found out about his plan and would come to him personally to catch him. Fortunately, none of the two scenarios played out and he thanked whatever supernatural entity was out there.

Jacob did not know that his delaying his escape for a few days had saved his skin. If he had decided to leave immediately after the removal of bandages from his left arm, he would be caught at the gates immediately.

No sane person would let a freshly healed eight years old go out shopping and he would have surely asked him about the one who gave him the shopping task. Jacob's lie would have been exposed in a matter of minutes.

Jacob had not thought about it even after a few days of planning. He was not aware that one of his lightly thought-out decisions was able to solve a major loophole in his plans.

Instead, he had found out about another loophole. He would not even have found out about that flaw if he had tried to escape without planning.

It was about the shifts of guards. If he had tried to escape without much thought about correct timing, he would have been caught after two hours had passed.

If he had chosen the wrong timing, the guards would have surely noticed something amiss if he had been gone out for more than two hours and would have reported that to the clan.

Only by planning for a few days, he was able to think about many things. Even then, his plan was not foolproof.

Ok. Escape plan successful. What now? After turning to the left, he kept walking straight. It was still early in the morning so the streets were not that crowded.

This was also not a bazaar. So the number of people present in early mornings in such streets further decreased. As he kept walking, he was a bit happy at his success and started thinking about his plans.

He was a free bird now. He had freed himself from the confines of the clan after great planning and greater execution of his plan.

Now, he could go wherever he want and do endless adventures. He could also learn many new things. Everything was in his reach now.

In addition to that, there was also no longer any danger of suddenly being beaten out of nowhere by mad people. Now was the time to think about the future.

He had thought upon some basic planning before his escape. He had thought about finding a job and a cheap residence. Now was the time to think about the details.

I should not find work near the clan. They will quickly find that way. How about the market near the manor of Leo's clan? Hmmmm. Yes, that would be perfect.

Jacob knew that the Rokasians never approached the shops or other facilities surrounding the other clans. They used the market near the clan grounds only and did not approach the market near the Leo clan.

Neither of the clans owned the markets in the city. It was just pure luck that their manors were built near them. They just owned some businesses in them.

I can also leave for another city. That would be safer than working here. Jacob started thinking about the alternatives.

Leaving the city was the best alternative he had. So he started thinking about the pros and cons of leaving the city. The most obvious pros were safety and anonymity. But he quickly thought of something and abruptly stopped. He started inspecting his body and found it lacking relative to an adult one. A glaring con of leaving the city revealed itself in his mind.

Dang. Here goes my change of city plan. Jacob thought inwardly as he made a helpless expression.

He was a child no more than ten years old. His body was still in a growth spurt. If he went to a caravan and told him to bring him to another city with them, would not the merchant become suspicious of a ten-year-old child trying to hitch a ride to another city without any parents and guardians?

They would ask for his parents first. If he failed to give them a satisfactory reply, they would hand him over to the guards to search for his parents. Without getting approval from his guardians, they would not let him go with them.

Even if he managed to lie to them about his parents, they would take him to another city with them but they would not forget his appearance. He would be easily tracked to another city when the clan would start searching for them

Even if he bribed them to take him to another city and keep their mouth shut, there was a great chance they would easily open their mouths when Rokas clan guards came to ask about his whereabouts. Moreover, there would also be many witnesses who would see him leaving the city.

In addition to that, who knew what was the condition of the other cities? He was at least familiar with his city.