“…Ugh,”
Jake, who had been collapsed for a long time, woke up with a groan.
‘How long have I been like this?’
In the underground dungeon without a single window, there was no way to gauge the passage of time. Jake tried to force his aching body up.
Rustle—
Jake, who was trying to get up, froze in that position.
There was someone beyond the iron bars.
“…….”
He raised his head with a tense face.
In front of the bars, a knight stood still, looking down at Jake.
‘Gasp,’
Jake forcibly suppressed the breath that was about to burst out.
If the other person had been an enemy, his head might have already fallen. Jake surveyed the darkness while holding his breath.
‘Did I cover the hole?’
It was a huge mistake to not prepare, even though he knew the knight managing the dungeon came down once a day to give food and water.
He regretted making an irreversible mistake, but now was not the time for self-reproach.
‘It’s fine. If I don’t do anything suspicious, there’s no reason to be suspected.’
Jake suppressed the urge to turn around and check inside the room.
The knight knew well that this place was protected by a dragon and that Jake had no strength to struggle. If he didn’t show any strange movements, the knight would leave immediately without looking inside.
Gulp— Jake swallowed dryly.
He couldn’t tell if the cold sweat was from nervousness or because his fever was starting again.
Clang.
‘……!’
Contrary to expectations, the knight opened the iron bars. Jake couldn’t hide his emotions and opened his eyes wide.
The knight had never come inside before.
But why, of all days, today!
Creeeak—
Startled by the sound of the iron door opening, Jake forcibly held back his gaze that wanted to turn to the corner of the cell. The knight took a step toward Jake, who was sprawled on the floor, unable to do anything.
As the knight stood with his back to the magic lantern in the corridor that dimly lit the dark dungeon, a thick shadow fell over Jake.
‘I wasn’t caught… it seems.’
If the knight had discovered traces of digging in the corner of the cell, he would have been interested in that direction. But the knight didn’t take his eyes off Jake for even a moment.
‘Could it be that Father gave orders to dispose of me?’
If so, it was over. Jake had no strength to fight the knight, nor the energy to dodge an attack and escape.
The knight slowly bent his body toward Jake. Jake, watching the knight’s form—which looked like a mass of shadow—approach him, squeezed his eyes shut.
Clink, scrape—
A spine-chilling sound like glass scraping stone grazed his ears.
……Glass?
‘Ah, damn.’
In the hand of the knight who had straightened up was a blood-covered glass shard. He had been so focused on the traces of digging that he had forgotten about the glass shard.
“If you engage in any more reckless behavior, your hands and feet will be bound.”
Creeeak, thud—!
With those words, the knight left without looking back.
Jake held his breath until the heavy footsteps could no longer be heard, then let it all out at once.
“Haaa.”
It seemed the knight hadn’t noticed the traces of digging because his attention had been captured by the glass shard.
The hole was dug in the deepest corner of the cell where not a bit of light reached, so the darkness hiding all traces also helped.
‘Did he think I was going to kill myself?’
Well, anyone who saw a bloody hand and sharp glass shards would think that.
‘This actually worked out better.’
Jake hoped the knight would report that thought as it was to the Duke. If they believed he had lost the will to live, they would never think he might be digging through the floor. It wouldn’t be hard to guess where he got the glass shard since Elijah had visited the day before.
There was nothing for Jake to lose.
Perhaps it would become difficult for Elijah to visit this place from now on? But that was what Jake wanted anyway. It was dangerous for Elijah to be involved with him any further.
‘Was I collapsed for more than a full day?’
Two days’ worth of bread and water were prepared beyond the iron bars. It seemed the knight had come down with today’s food and, seeing that Jake hadn’t touched the bread left the day before, found it suspicious and checked inside.
Grumble.
Now that the tension was released, he was hungry.
Making his stomach growl because he couldn’t maintain his dignity was quite shameful, but it was fine.
There was no one here anyway.
Jake ate the two pieces of bread meant for two days and took a sip of water. Then he used about half of the remaining water to wipe his face and body.
If someone saw this, they might ask why he was wasting water that was precious even to drink, but for Jake, maintaining cleanliness was more important than hydration.
He might be on the execution platform as early as tomorrow, and he couldn’t show a dirty appearance to the citizens of the empire. The Duke would probably give him time to wash before death, but one never knew.
“Phew. I feel a bit more alive now.”
Having finished his meal, it was time to think. Since his only tool had been taken, digging would be harder. Digging through ground packed with large rocks and dense soil with bare hands wasn’t something that could be solved with mere perseverance.
‘But there was never an answer to this from the beginning.’
Logically speaking, unless he was a mole, escaping by digging underground was something he shouldn’t even imagine.
‘If I were thinking about efficiency, I shouldn’t have started in the first place.’
Jake didn’t give up. If there were no tools, he could dig with his bare hands. At least he had removed the flat stones, so underneath should be possible to dig out by hand.
Jake wrapped the cloth left over from wrapping the glass shard around his fingers. The blanket, which was more like a thin scrap of cloth, didn’t serve its purpose well, but it was perfect for this use.
Thunk—
Jake pushed his fingers into the gap he had dug deep with the glass shard and dug through the soil. The soil that had been scraped once with the glass shard was soft enough that even Jake, who hadn’t eaten or drunk properly, could easily dig it out.
But that was only up to that point.
Jake’s working speed noticeably slowed. At this rate, even if he dug non-stop until the day his head fell, he wouldn’t be able to dig even a trap to catch a rabbit.
“Huff, gasp….”
A cold like being trapped in a frozen lake in midwinter enveloped his body. He had only moved his hands a few times, yet he was as out of breath as if he had run at full speed for ten minutes.
“…….”
Even though someone watching this might mock him as foolish, Jake didn’t stop.
If he gave up now, he could spend his last few days before death in peace.
He knew, but what could he do? He had no intention of stopping here.
Jake repeatedly lifted rocks while dripping with cold sweat. How much time passed like that?
Scrape.
“…Huh?”
Under the last rock he picked up was not another rock but soil.
Even when he scratched and dug through that soil, no other rocks came out.
“Yes, it’s soil!”
Jake rejoiced as if he had succeeded in digging a passage to the outside.
Even if he had dug out all the thickly layered stones, he couldn’t tunnel through the ground to make a path outside the Duke’s castle.
But who knew?
If he finished digging through this earth, a hidden passage might appear below.
Thunk, thunk—
Jake, who had been dying, felt strength surge as he regained his energy and dug. However, digging out the soil that had clumped and hardened over long years was harder than removing stones.
‘Can’t be helped.’
After brief consideration, Jake poured the remaining water into the hole he had dug. When the hard-packed soil became muddy, Jake used both hands to scoop out the mud.
The stone floor was covered with squelching mud and Jake’s living conditions grew worse, but what could he do? The cool stone floor and squelching mud were much the same anyway.
Excited that the method of wetting the soil worked, Jake poured in the very last of the water without leaving a drop. The soil, heavy with water, sank down deeply.
As if there was space beneath it.
“No way.”
Had his wish come true because he hadn’t given up on empty hope?
It was absurd, but Jake reached toward the sunken part as if possessed by something.
He had dug so hard that he had to push in almost his entire arm to reach the inside. When his fingertips touched the damp ground, Jake pressed down hard.
Pop.
“It broke through!”
The floor actually broke through—was he dreaming?
The hole he had painstakingly dug was a narrow gap that would be filled just by pushing in one arm, so he couldn’t hope for escape, but the thought that all his effort wasn’t completely in vain made him simply happy.
Jake withdrew his arm with a bright face and looked down below.
It was so dark that not a single ray of light leaked out, but it was clear there was an open space below.
And….
“What is this?”
A curt voice pierced his ears.
‘A person!’
It was surprising that someone other than himself was here.
Jake shouted loudly toward the person who, based on the circumstances, seemed to have been hit by the mud he dropped.
“Are you alright?!”
No answer came.
Was it too far to hear well? Yet the other person’s muttering had been heard as vividly as if whispered right next to him.
Perhaps they were about to reproach him for not apologizing after dropping mud.
Jake added with sincerity.
“It was my grave error to drop mud without expecting someone to be below, but it was not intentional, so I hope you understand.”
“Ha.”
Finally, a response came.
It was a different answer than expected, but Jake was so happy with just this that he felt like crying. Even though he couldn’t see, he felt like someone on the floor below was looking his way.
The person spoke again.
“Was it you who disturbed my peace?”
