My callous knuckles smeared the tears across my face when I wiped them. My abs were finally relaxing after they were eternally tensed from my hearty bout of laughter. Olivia’s glare of rage and pouted lips were even funnier as time went by, so I couldn’t help myself. The lass was so determined and desperate enough to send a stranger into the darkness of a dungeon – not one with monsters and bosses but one where prisoners were basically sentenced to death via time. It was pure hilarity to leave something so serious to someone who trembled at the thought of killing goblins and gnolls.

Afterwards though, I sighed. I sighed because I knew Olivia’s situation was a messy pile of shit. Her speech, mannerisms, and bits of pieces of luxurious accessories, jewelry, and clothing made it obvious she was of aristocratic lineage. I felt like this was Tina all over again. “I’m not helping you jailbreak someone for nothing. I already have my own issues to deal with.”

The plump lass tittered, sighed, and parted her hair from her forehead. “Who said it’s for nothing? You will be paid fairly in coin. Gold, warrior. And I reckon you’d need someone to guide you around, hmm? Correct me if I’m wrong but,” she gave a pleasant smile, “you don’t seem to know these parts very well. Are you from Reuland?”

I felt bad vibes. Sure, it made more sense for her to ask if I’m from the neighboring country rather than the farthest one, but it still irked me that she guessed correctly. “Maybe, maybe not. How much coin are we talking?”

“Five gold coins,” she raised an opened palm up with a contented smile.

“Double it,” I said.

Her brow raised. “I appreciate your saving my life, but I’m already paying you more than thrice the job’s value.”

“Then I guess we don’t have a deal.” I picked up my belongings, stood up, turned my attention to the cave’s exit. “Farewell, Olivia.”

“Ugh, you shitty peasants always think your labor is more than its worth.” The sound of her ruffling clothes gripped my attention like a prick jutting from a piece of furniture would catch your clothes as you walked by, so I looked back. “The plan was to rob you when we got to a good place, but it doesn’t look like you have anything worth the time and effort, so I suppose I’ll just finish you off here and loot whatever meager scraps your corpse has.”

Well, fuck! Her hands went up and electricity shot out of it and roasted my nerves until it was about medium-well. I collapsed and convulsed periodically. The screeching sound cursed my ears with white noise and my retinas were blasted to high heavens; my eyes squinched and I laid on the ground helplessly. Like a fool I trusted and was attacked, tied up, and robbed.

I went in and out of consciousness, and even when I was awake, my mind felt muddy. The mere act of adding one plus one gave me a tearing headache, with waves of pain like tsunamis smashing against flood walls. Time, distance, space, any sort of sense of myself was a blur, until I finally awoke in a cruddy cell with another inmate.

The putrid scent was disgusting, to the point where I felt holding my breath might be better. There was even fecal matter halfway covered by hay in the cell, and it was definitely human feces. The tanned fellow next to me noticed my dazed state. He stood up, grabbed my jaw and forced me to face him. “Well, well, well, the new blood woke up. Oho,” his disgusting breath swarmed around my nostrils, adding further to the farrago of, rather unwelcoming scents, “been a long time since I had myself some fun, lad.” His hand swerved down like a viper and bit down on my crown jewels, enough to wake me up properly.

Just as I was about to scream, the graying man slammed his disgusting palm against my mouth. “Shh, shh, I promise I’ll be gentle.”

What the fuck. At that time, the squeaking sounds of a gate opening echoed through the dim underground cells. I opened my eyes and looked past the man, making muffled noises. Thankfully, he fell for my bluff, unclutched my balls just a little and looked around to make sure no guards would see what he was doing. A light touched the front of him from my shining forehead, and the second he looked back, I rammed that shinning forehead into his nose with all my might and the explosive power from a skill.

His face was smashed in, horrendously. The air parted ways for his siren-like scream to rattle my ear drums with intent to kill. I blocked my ears in reflex and stepped away from him. After moans of pain and incessant tears mixing with the blood oozing out of his ruptured nose, bashed-in skull, and destroyed teeth, a couple guardsmen came by and took him out of the cave.

Their armors and weapons weren’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst either. They were properly maintained, but still showed signs of wear and tear, which meant they were no strangers to battle. In my current state, unarmed, exhausted, spell-less, and not to mention ignorant, I thought it best to lay low and not upset the guys who could probably behead me then nonchalantly wonder what they would eat for dinner. I needed information first.

For days, I was kept in that disgusting dungeon, fed stale bread, water, and if I was lucky, beans and rotted meat to stay alive. There were two good things though. For some reason, my grimoire was still with me. It just, floated along next to my waist, seeing that the rags I wore didn’t have anything to hold it with. They probably can’t take it from me. Who are they? I pondered. Choler ransacked me whenever I thought of this dumb situation. All I had to do was let Olivia – if that was even her real name – die.

The bars that held me captive were rusted and thin. I could escape with a simple skill. And that bothered me immensely. I figured it meant that they were confident in their skill to stop prisoners, and I didn’t want to chance it. So, my idea was to see the bright side of things and make use of the conditions given to me. I had a roof over my head, horrible food, but food nonetheless, and, well, my toilet facilities wasn’t the best, but the ground was soft enough to dig up and bury the mess I made, along with the hay I used to wipe my butt. This predicament meant I had a lot of free time on my hand, so I spent most of that time meditating, reading, and sleeping.

The fruits of my labor showed that my journey would be difficult, but it was possible. My HP went up to 50/50, and my MP was now 120/120. I smiled and buried my head in the sands at the same time; who knew what they were planning to do to me? Yet, I didn’t think I could fight nor sneak my way through to freedom.

In the middle of my fifth set of pushups in my morning routine, the cell gate opened and in tumbled a young girl in her adolescence.