Having decided on his short-term goals, Atlas did not waste a single moment and immediately got to work. Every second he spent inside this monster den was a second spent away from the luxuries of his royal, kingdom life.

He was also approaching dangerously close to his mental tolerance limits. The damp dungeon, the stale air, the pool of vomit beside him…for a neat-freak like Atlas, this situation was his worst nightmare.

Firstly, he properly investigated the condition of his own body. The only asset that he currently had was his own body.

No matter how malnourished or sickly it seemed to be.

‘Was this kid even fed as a child? Wow! There is nothing but bones and skin making up this body.’

To clarify, Atlas was no muscle-obsessed junkie that hit the gym three times a day for ‘dem gains’. In fact, he disdained to have large body-builder-like muscles since he found it ungentlemanly and barbaric.

He also found it to be a waste considering that he wasn’t any fighter or physically active person. He was a politician. The only muscle he needed was his tongue.

That being said, it’s not like he wanted to lose all his muscles either. Walking, running, climbing…any physical action required adequate muscles to perform them.

And seeing as to how his current body possessed none of the ‘adequate’ amount of muscles, Atlas found it very worrying.

‘Well, heroically fighting my way out of this place is out of consideration.’

He jokingly thought.

‘At least, I don’t seem to have any major injuries or open wounds. A lot of bad bruises, sure. But nothing that requires immediate action.’

He then slowly tried moving each and every one of his fingers, toes (to his best ability), tongue, eyelids, facial muscles, etc.

‘Everything seems to be in order. There’s no problem here, Captain!’

He then lightly pulled on the rusty, metal chains and quickly found their point of origin. Tied to the other end of his chains were two heavy balls of iron.

He then exerted force and tried to pull on them, to no avail.

‘Fantastic.’

Atlas sarcastically remarked.

Abandoning that line of thought, he then proceeded to scour his surroundings. Due to the inherent darkness present within the dungeon, Atlas wasn’t able to see all that much.

However, his captors didn’t seem to be entirely heartless as they hung a flame torch just outside his cell. The flickering flame illuminated his cell to some extent whilst casting numerous long shadows.

‘Is it my imagination or has my eyesight improved by a lot?’

Atlas narrowed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. He found himself adapting better to the low-lit area and was able to make out a greater amount of details in his surroundings.

Unfortunately, these ‘details’ were nothing more than floor cracks, crawling insects, and more filth. Perhaps, the only item worth mentioning was a bone that quietly rotted on the opposite left corner.

‘Great. No conveniently forgotten key, broken link on my chains, or some sort of starter cheat-item that will help me get out of this cell.’

In other words, he was back to square one.

Well, not exactly. All this thinking and doing had awakened the slumbering hunger within his body causing his stomach to grumble

Atlas was now in square negative one. He was dirty, trapped, and was now hungry as an added bonus.

This truly was a very fantastical way to start his fantasy journey.

‘Now I want to personally thank whichever sadist God that placed me in my current situation. Truly, you are the voice of the people.’

Sighing out aloud, Atlas closed his eyes and curled up his body. With the current hand he was dealt, there was nothing he could do to overcome this situation.

All that he could do now was wait and see if fate deals him with new cards. Worst case scenario, his man-eating captors get to him first and he has to work from there.

‘They were capable of speech, so maybe, negotiation is possible.’

While he told himself this, Atlas inwardly knew how hopeful his words were. Having worked as a politician, he deeply understood that negotiations only occurred when there were benefits to be exchanged.

In his current state, what benefits did he possess to exchange?

‘I really hope something completely unexpected happens. Something that can aid me in my escape.’

Time quietly passed on as Atlas patiently waited.

---

‘Well, I’ll be damned.’

Atlas resentfully thought to himself.

Hours had passed and literally nothing, expected or unexpected, had happened. Everything was exactly the same as it had been a few hours ago.

The reason Atlas had opened his eyes and had cursed within his mind was because he heard the heavy, familiar footsteps return.

Their weighty legs thudded against the damp floor and caused audible sounds alongside vibration.

Curling up like a snail, Atlas retreated to the far corner of his cell and held his breath. All he could do now was hide and pray that his captors were not here for him.

Click!

‘Right. I never prayed before because it has never once worked.’

The lock to his cell was opened and the large, wooden bars were shoved aside. With his eyes wide-open, Atlas unflinchingly stared as he watched two, ‘enormous’ creatures enter his cell.

Red eyes, small nose, slightly stooped back, needle-like teeth which extended out of their closed mouths, bulging belly, and rippling muscles.

Seeing two creatures possessing the above-mentioned characteristics, Atlas outwardly yelled.

“Hobgoblins!”

Or at least, that’s what he knew them as, owing to his vast knowledge of novels and video games.

[Tiny human hiding. Come out!]

[No hiding!]

The two creatures simultaneously yelled their respective lines.

One of them, who was slightly in front of the other, walked forth and extended its hand to grab Atlas.

[Ah!~ Please don’t eat me! I’ll do anything!]

Atlas cowered and cried out.

The hand approaching his figure suddenly stopped. The hobgoblin turned around and looked at its partner with confusion plastered on its monstrous face.

After staring at its equally confused partner for a while, it then turned around and stared at Atlas once again.

[You talk?]

Hearing that question, Atlas slightly peered open his eyes and dubiously stared at his captor.

Seeing the expression of impatience growing on its green, warty face, he hurriedly replied.

[Yes!]

The hobgoblin immediately retracted its hands and stepped back. Arriving next to its partner, it spoke with hushed whispers.

[This creature human?]

[It talk.]

[What do now?]

[I no know.]

Atlas intently listened in on their basic, grammatically-lacking conversation. With his sharp eyes, he quickly noticed something.

‘The way their mouths move does not match the words that they’re talking.’

Being a polyglot and a master of linguistics, Atlas immediately figured out the answer.

‘For some reason, their speech is being automatically translated inside my head when I hear it!’

While watching a translated dubbing, the viewer can almost certainly spot the dissonance between the movement of the speaker’s lips and the word that they are hearing.

Atlas was currently experiencing such a thing.

However, before he could investigate further on this topic, one of the hobgoblins spoke.

[Human, come. Meet chief.]

It then stepped forth, fished out a key from within its beast hide pants, and unlocked the restraints on Atlas. Without giving Atlas a moment to rejoice at his release, the two hobgoblins caught either of his hands and raised him into the air.

[Wai-Wait! I can walk!]

Uncaring of his statement, the two monsters efficiently carried Atlas and brought him to meet their chief.