Where am I? What is this? A cage? I really hate cages. “Breaking Blade!” Alright, the cage is no more. But what the heck is this place? It looks like a noble’s basement, and those are definitely spirit beasts trapped in cages. Was that magical circle a teleportation array? Someone was capturing beasts that way, huh? How despicable. At least fight them honorably with poison.

A beast growled at me, it’s eyes glowing red in the dimly lit area. “What? I wasn’t the one who trapped you here, stupid mutt.” It clawed at the cage, but its paw bounced off the bars. Whoa, those bars are awfully sturdy. They could take a bear-sized shadow panther’s attack without breaking. I guess that makes me amazing, right? Too bad Durandal isn’t around to praise me.

Will this work? “Mini-map!” Sweet, it does. It looks like there’s an exit that way. This place is circular and the only way out is through that suspicious-looking spiral staircase. It’s also covered by a trapdoor. This is definitely some perverted noble’s basement. I wish I didn’t kill Puppers though. He could’ve acted as a scout for me. Oh wells, with any luck, I’ll have been teleported somewhere closer to the desolate mountains. I hope I don’t run into anyone on the way out. It’s been too long since I’ve talked to actual people. I’m nervous.

“Who’s there!?”

Welp, there goes that wish. Why did the trapdoor have to be so loud? I guess it had to be since I broke through it with a breaking blade. “Just a talking squirrel. Don’t mind me.”

The gruff voice from before called from another room. “Oh. That’s fine then. Carry on.”

It worked?

“Teacher! Squirrels can’t talk!” It was a younger voice this time. “That sound came from our fishing room. I think you accidentally caught a person again.” No! Stupid voice of reason, don’t convince the scary sounding man to take action! “Please, put the bottle down, teacher! You’re drunk.”

“Drunk? I’m not drunk! I’m fishing for ideas! My best work comes after I black out!” the gruff voice shouted back as I tiptoed towards the sound because it was the only way out of the room I was in. An old man and young lady came into view. They were both tugging on a half-filled bottle of alcohol, and the old man was winning. The strange part about them was their skin color: purple. Were they demons?

“Ah! Teacher, I told you it was a person!” The young lady’s eyes widened when she saw me, and she scrambled behind the old man. Was I that scary?

“Person? That’s a squirrel, you blithering idiot,” the old man said and took a swig from his bottle. “Look, round furry ears, large fluffy tail, and a cute pair of socks. It’s evident she’s a squirrel.”

“My socks are cute too, but I’m not a squirrel!” the young lady said. She grabbed a nearby stick and pointed it at me. “She’s a beastkin. Your stupid bait caught a beastkin.”

“Is the bait stupid if it worked?” the old man asked and rolled his eyes. “Hey, talking squirrel, which trap did you fall for? It was the acorn, wasn’t it?”

…Should I kill them? Demons aren’t people, right? Actually, they probably fall under the demi-human category like beastkin. Well, I’m not going to admit I fell for the stupid acorn; that’d be confirming his stereotype! “It was the helpless child.”

The old man stared at me. Then he burst out into laughter and slapped his cushioned armrest. “What an idiot! You thought a child could make it to the center of the southern pass by himself?” His laughter shook my ears as he nudged his student with his bottle. “Get a load of that. I told you the helpless child could catch something! I never thought a person would be stupid enough to fall for it though! Ha ha!”

I’m going to kill them.

“Don’t make fun of someone who broke out of your cage!” the young lady said and used the opportunity to snatch the bottle away from the old man.

“Huh.” The old man’s expression changed in an instant as he looked at me with narrowed eyes. “How did you break out of my cage? Did my mana dampening runes run out of juice?”

“She’s a warrior, teacher,” the young lady said. “Look at her sword. And there’s no way a mage would have muscles like those.”

That was a compliment, right?

“But that doesn’t explain how she escaped the cage. I’m sure—with the materials it was made out of—the cage could’ve kept even the Godking inside of it. You know it can store a divine beast without problems.” The old man scratched his chin. “That sword. Durandal?”

What? He’s the first person to identify Durandal on sight! Just who is this guy? I should really kill him. I have a feeling I’ll seriously regret it if I don’t. But I’m not a bad person…. “Who are you?”

“I am Rogath Winemark, an eighth circle magician.” The old man leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “This is my pupil, Ilya… Ilya something.”

“Pentorn! Ilya Pentorn! Teacher, please, you’re not old enough to be this forgetful.” The young lady glanced at me. “Is that really Durandal? So you’re the wanted criminal. You’re, uh, fluffier than I thought you’d be.”

“Wait. I’m a wanted criminal? And how did you know this sword was Durandal?” So word really has spread about me killing Bryant. Darn.

“The Godking kidnapped me when I was younger,” Rogath said and snorted. “I burned everything about him into my memory to enact vengeance one day. But he died before that.”

“Wow. You’re ancient.” He must be really old—at least 80. “So, uh, now that we’ve become acquainted, I’ll be taking my leave…? Is that okay?”

“No. That’s not okay,” Rogath said. Great. He wants to fight. I don’t know how well I’d do against an eighth circle mage. They’re supposed to be on par with divine warriors, right? “Take Ilya with you before you go. Thanks.”

“You asked for it! Breaking Bla—wait, what?” I lowered my sword. I imagine the look on my face was similar to the one on Ilya’s.

“Right. Take her off my hands.” Rogath nodded. “Unless you want to fight.”

“No, no fights. I’ll take her.” Of course, the first thing I’ll do is abandon her once I get out of here. No way am I going to accompany another person.

“Teacher! Don’t throw me away like this!” There were tears in Ilya’s eyes. Poor girl. “She’s clearly going to throw me away once she gets out of here!”

Don’t read my mind!