“Get in. You’ll be spending your days in here until Crowell decides otherwise.”

The guard pushed me into an empty cell before locking the gate behind me. With my sword taken away, I had no way of retaliating.

The prison cells were located under the governor’s land. There was a hatch on the ground in the governor’s garden that led straight to the prison cells.

There were more than a dozen cells here, but from what I saw, this wasn’t the only area there were cells at. A long hallway led to multiple areas designed similarly to this room.

Thankfully, this was a room with only one other inmate in sight, but unfortunately, that other inmate was Callum Wolvenna.

He had a big smile on his face the entire time I saw him in here.

Not wanting to look at his cocky face, I turned to the cell I was in. There was one hay bed on one corner and a bucket in another.

I gave out a long sigh before sitting down on the hay bed.

“I’m sorry, Din. I should’ve been keeping an eye out for people approaching us,” Lorelei apologized.

I shook my head, “It’s fine. I wasn’t expecting anything like that to happen either.”

“Who’re you talking to over there, Din?” Callum called out. He still wore a proud smile on his face.

I wanted to ignore him, but Lorelei suggested, “I think you should tell him about Crowell.”

“Huh? Why would I do that?” I said under my breath.

“He’s an Ace knight. He might be able to stop Crowell.”

She was right. Callum was a wreck of a man, but he’s an Ace knight, it’s his duty to defeat people like Crowell.

“Callum.”

“Hm?” Noticing my tone, the smile wore off his face.

“Crowell is controlling the people of Lanport. You have to help them break free from it.”

There was a moment of pause.

“And why would I do that?” He finally asked.

I was taken aback, “What do you mean by that? You’re an Ace knight, right?”

“Yeah, I am, but that doesn’t mean I can go about doing whatever the fuck I want. It’s peaceful here, Din. Isn’t that all that matters in the end?”

I was foolish to expect anything from Callum.

“He’s already under control… I think,” Lorelei pointed out.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“One thing I noticed from what you told me and from how Callum is acting is that in all cases, they talk about being peaceful. I might be wrong, I’m only guessing here,” Lorelei said as she went to inspect Callum closer.

I couldn’t help but to agree with her. Not only did Callum mention the peacefulness of this town, but the way he was acting was strange. He was a lazy and carefree man, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him act so limited before. The Callum I knew and had heard so much about didn’t care about rules or peace, all he wanted to do was fight.

“You know, Din,” Callum suddenly began talking. “That night, during the ceremony. We fought Katherine after finding out that she was a demon. It was Grayson and I versus her.”

“Yeah, I remember that clearly. What are you bringing that up now for?”

“Even thought it was two against one, she still stood her ground. She was able to counter all of my attacks while also looking out for Grayson’s attacks as well. Watching her fight, I think I fell in love,” Callum confessed.

What? Did I hear him right?

I got up from the bed and held onto the cell bars.

“What?! You fell in love with Kat?”

He suddenly looked pissed.

“Not Katherine, you idiot! Her fighting style!”

Oh.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

While scratching his head, he answered, “I’ve always liked fighting recklessly. I hated traditional movements because it was too easy to read. Unpredictability was my biggest strength, but Katherine’s fighting style. Her movement was elegant and even though I knew what kind of attack was coming, by the time I realized it, she would already be finished doing it.”

I understood what he meant. It was like I would get mesmerized by her movements and by the time I would realize it, she would already have hit me.

It was still unusual of someone like Callum to admit something like this though. Was it because of Crowell’s mind control?

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

He thought for a moment, “I don’t know.”

“What?”

“Seeing you just reminded me of that night, that’s all,” he replied with a sigh.

“I see. So what happened after your fight?”

I hadn’t been able to see how everything had ended or whether Katherine even made it out alive. I had to worry about Lorelei and myself at the time.

“Don’t worry, she made it out safe.”

He seemed to have noticed my worried expression.

“She was fast. Faster than any of the other Ace knights that night,” Callum continued. “Even after having faced two Ace knights, she still had the stamina to run away. We lost her soon after and so far, I have no idea where she might be.”

I sat back down on the bed. It felt as if I had just dropped large weights off my shoulders. I was able to lay back on the wall with no worries.

“Where are the other Ace knights right now?”

“Grayson and Lenetio were heading to Zante. Ray, he’s missing. Even though he protected Katherine during the ceremony, he was pardoned after a week and then he left Ravenwalt the very next day. My guess is that he went looking for Katherine.”

It was relieving hearing that Ray was out there searching for Kat. If Ray was the man I thought him to be, then he will do anything in his power to protect Kat.

“And why are you here in Lanport?”

His face suddenly brightened up, “For the booze, of course!”

Then he lifted a mug full of what seemed to be beer and drank what was left over with one big gulp.

“They allowed him to bring drinks in?” Lorelei seemed baffled.

Looking over to the corner of his cell, there were barrels all lined up on the side.

Is he really being treated as a prisoner here?