‘Peace?’
What peace could one possibly find in a place that had nothing but cold and darkness?
Jake couldn’t understand, but he decided to try. The world was vast and people were diverse, after all.
He accepted the situation with broad tolerance and picked up a stone, hoping the other person would understand him as well.
“I’m about to drop some stones down below. Would it be troublesome if they land near you?”
He wasn’t thinking of retaliation just because he received an odd reply after apologizing for dropping the dirt. He simply wanted to tidy up before the knight came down, since noticeably large chunks of stone rolling around inside the cell would be discovered immediately.
In a cell without a single piece of furniture, there was nowhere to hide or conceal the stones, so the only remaining option was to drop them to the floor below.
However, considering that the suspicious person below might be in the same situation as himself, he politely asked for permission before taking action.
“……”
No answer came.
Only then did Jake realize the grave mistake he had made.
‘Forcing a choice without explanation. That won’t do.’
Jake added an explanation out of consideration for the other party.
“For reference, there are three stones about the size of a goblin’s head and five about the size of a fist. Would that size and quantity be suitable for storage there?”
“……”
Still no answer came.
“A goblin is a monster with short stature and tough skin, and the head size is…”
“Stop. Do you think I’m not answering because I don’t know what a goblin is?”
“Is that not the case?”
He heard a scoff from downstairs.
“Rather than the size of the stones, you should explain why you’re dropping them first.”
Jake pondered for a moment at the other person’s words.
If one were in a situation of receiving several large stones, wouldn’t they need to know the exact size and quantity to decide whether to dispose of or store them?
But if they were more curious about the reason for dropping the stones, there was no reason he couldn’t explain.
“The knight who manages this place will be coming soon, and there’s nowhere to hide the stones here. Since there’s no light down there and no worry of being discovered, I judged it would be rational to drop them down below if I’m going to hide them.”
“Rational, you say.”
“So is it alright to drop the stones?”
“Do as you like.”
Having obtained consent, Jake dropped the stones down the hole without hesitation.
Thud, thud!
Jake estimated the distance to the floor below from the sound of the stones falling.
‘It’s farther than I thought.’
He had thought it was close since the voice of the resident below came through so clearly, but at this height, it would be difficult to jump down.
Not that he could jump down anyway since the hole was too narrow.
‘Could I dig the hole wider?’
He tried pushing the surrounding stones just in case, but they didn’t budge at all. Even striking them with a sword instead of his hands wouldn’t leave a scratch. Human strength could not defy the dragon’s magic.
What Jake had been given was exactly enough space to push one arm through. He had no more freedom than that.
It was truly regrettable.
‘Don’t be regretful. Even if I can’t escape, having someone to ask for help is fortunate.’
Jake steeled his resolve and dropped the last chunk of stone below.
Tap.
“Hm?”
That was a strange sound for a falling stone.
It sounded as if the stone hadn’t hit the ground but rather someone had caught it.
The resident below had clearly caught the falling stone.
‘A skilled person?’
Jake, who didn’t have the ability to easily catch a falling stone in the darkness, couldn’t judge what level the person below had reached. But in a situation where he needed to ask for help, it was welcome news that the other person was more skilled than himself.
“Could you explain the situation down there?”
“Stones have appeared where there were none.”
Jake couldn’t tell if that response was because the person didn’t understand his question or if it was a joke.
“I was asking how spacious that area is, whether there’s a way to escape, how often the knight or other guards visit, and what the living conditions are like.”
“What were you planning to do if you couldn’t drop these stones down here?”
“…?”
Answering a question with a question. Quite a unique conversational style.
Honestly, until just now he had suspected that the space below and its resident might be a trap prepared by the Duke, but it seemed he could set that thought aside.
If this person were someone sent by the Duke, instead of asking random questions, they would have tried to extract information more cunningly.
“I’m asking what you would have done if I hadn’t permitted you to drop the stones. Were you planning to force them down anyway?”
“I was planning to place the stones over the hole I was digging when the knight came down.”
“……”
The conversation broke off again.
Was his explanation insufficient?
“I judged that if I just cleared away the stones, I could cover the digging marks with cloth to hide the traces.”
“……”
“This room is dark enough that it’s hard to grasp the internal situation unless one examines it closely. Ah, of course a knight who is a Sword Master might be different. I’m not a Sword Master, so I don’t know much about them. However, I’ve heard that once one reaches that level, they can see clearly ahead even in dark places as if light were shining.”
“……”
“Are you a Sword Master? If you can accurately catch falling stones without any light, your skill must be no ordinary thing.”
“……”
“If you’re worried about being punished alongside me if my digging is discovered, you don’t need to worry. I…”
“Shut up.”
Jake felt as if the other person was looking at him through the darkness.
Though he couldn’t see their expression, their gaze seemed to hold no emotion whatsoever.
He couldn’t sense irritation, annoyance, or anger.
“You are,”
He tried to continue the conversation somehow, but he couldn’t.
Whoosh—
He felt something heavy cutting through the air, flying toward him.
“Huk!”
Jake was startled and pulled his body back.
Thwack—!
What the resident below had thrown flew straight up and lodged itself at the end of the hole Jake had dug.
It wasn’t hard to realize that the object that had precisely blocked the hole was the chunk of stone he had dropped.
‘How did they do that?’
Even though a faint light leaked from the upper floor, to be able to throw a stone and hit the exact position of the hole without a single margin of error.
Truly a talent worth coveting.
‘But what now.’
He had thought that if the person’s situation was similar to his own, they would welcome a conversation partner after so long. Did they prefer solitude?
Still, he couldn’t let go of his only hope. He didn’t even wish for help with his escape. If they would just grant him one single request, that would be enough.
Of course, before making the request, he should first confirm whether the person had the disposition to be trusted with a secret, but if they had fallen out of the Duke’s favor and been imprisoned in the underground dungeon, they probably weren’t a bad person.
Thump, thump,
‘Oh no. Has it already become this late?’
He heard the sound of the knight coming down the stone stairs. If he had continued conversing with the floor below, he would certainly have been caught.
He was lucky.
The encounter with the floor below was clearly working positively in his life.
‘As I thought, I must recruit that person to my side.’
Perhaps that person was an aide sent by the Lord for him.
If so, it made sense why an unexpected space had suddenly appeared beneath the underground where nothing should exist.
‘If the Lord is watching over me, I must work even harder.’
Before the knight came down, Jake covered the dirt-covered pit he had dug with a scrap of cloth, lay down on top of it, and held his breath pretending to sleep.
Step, step.
“……”
He heard the knight set down bread and water behind his back and leave. Jake waited until the knight had completely left the underground dungeon and closed the door.
Thud—
Only after hearing the door close did Jake get up again.
“What’s this?”
Beside the usual bread and water, there was some unfamiliar vegetation he had never seen before. Jake picked it up and smelled it.
‘It’s medicinal herbs.’
There was no way they would give him a few strands of foul-smelling grass as a side dish, so it must have been provided to apply to the wounds on his hands.
Normally when giving medicinal herbs, wouldn’t they also provide a tool to grind them? At the very least, it would have been nice to have bandages to wrap around them after applying the herbs.
Then again, there was no way the Duke would provide anything that could be used as a tool.
He couldn’t expect such consideration from someone who delivered water magically shaped into spheres because even water containers weren’t permitted.
Jake was about to grind the herbs with his fingers when he stopped.
‘I can use this to make a deal!’
He knew nothing about the person below except that they disliked noise, but it was natural for someone imprisoned underground to lack resources.
If he gave them medicinal herbs he didn’t immediately need, they would surely be grateful. Then subsequent conversations would go more smoothly.
Jake pushed hard against the stone that had blocked the hole he had painstakingly made. Considering that the stone chunk had been dropped through this gap, it should definitely be smaller than the hole, yet somehow it was stuck there seamlessly as if it had found its perfect match.
‘If there’s no gap, I just need to make one.’
Jake gently scraped away the dirt around the stone to create a gap. But for some reason, the stone wouldn’t budge at all.
Scrape, scrape, scrape,
The sound of cloth wrapped around his fingers scraping against dirt and stone was heard well over a hundred times, yet the stone remained completely immovable.
Scrape, scrape,
Jake tried knocking on the stone as if it were a door, and warned the resident below that the stone would soon fall and to be careful.
No answer came.
Scrape, scrape, scrape,
Jake continuously…
Plop,
“Done!”
Just then, the firmly lodged stone popped out and fell to the floor below.
Once the stone disappeared, bright light poured in through the gap in the hole.
…Light?
“…Ngh,”
Jake squinted at the bright light he hadn’t seen in so long. Even through his blurry vision, he could see a man lightly twist his body to avoid the falling stone.
Thud—!
Only then did Jake notice that the man below had black hair.
‘If he has black hair…’
If it was a living being with black hair, only one thing came to mind immediately.
‘…The Demon King?’
