By the time his eyes had somewhat adjusted to the piercing bright light, the man on the floor below raised his head and their eyes met.
Those eyes, full of indifference, were black.
‘Thank goodness. He doesn’t seem to be the Demon King.’
Jake let out a sigh of relief internally.
The Demon King of this generation was known to have black hair and red eyes. Since those with black hair were extremely rare, he had made a rude misunderstanding.
‘I almost made a big mistake even though I know I shouldn’t distinguish the Demon King just by hair and eye color.’
They were only rare in the capital; people with black hair weren’t completely nonexistent. Just recently, Jake had met someone with black hair and red eyes.
If he suspected everyone with black hair, the number of enemies he’d have to deal with would be countless.
Besides, there was no way the Demon King would be imprisoned beneath the Duke’s castle.
“I told you it’s noisy.”
“I’ve prepared a precious gift for you.”
Jake tore the cloth that had become small scraps from constant tearing, tore it once more, and wrapped the medicinal herbs. Then he dropped it to the floor below.
The herbs wrapped in cloth fluttered down and fell at the man’s feet.
“Useless thing to do.”
The man on the floor below clicked his tongue. He didn’t seem to know that the gift was medicinal herbs.
Jake added an explanation, looking forward to the man’s surprised expression when he learned what the gift was.
“Those are medicinal herbs.”
“So?”
“If you’re injured, grind them and apply them, and if you have a fever, chew and swallow them. Instead of a thank you, you can repay me later by granting me one request.”
The man clicked his tongue as he picked up the herbs.
Seeing him take them despite grumbling, it seemed he quite liked the gift.
‘Good.’
While he was at it, Jake was about to pick up the bread and split it in half to completely win the other’s favor, but he hesitated for a moment.
‘No matter how precious herbs and food are, half a piece of bread is far too little as an advance payment for future requests.’
Half a piece or a whole piece of bread didn’t make much difference, but it was different if it wasn’t just bread but Hero Jake West’s daily meal. Jake arbitrarily decided that the other would be pleased with this gift and extended his hand holding the bread through the hole.
“I didn’t have enough cloth to wrap it, so you’d better catch it well if you don’t want to dirty the bread.”
Tap.
The resident below caught the falling bread while pretending to be indifferent. He seemed to prefer food that was immediately needed over herbs that were precious but not yet necessary.
“How did you come to be imprisoned here?”
“I’m not imprisoned here, I’m just staying temporarily.”
Whether the gift worked or not, a proper answer came back this time.
“I’ve never heard of such a space existing beneath the Duke’s castle. Did you get proper permission?”
“Just because you haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
“I see you didn’t get permission.”
“…….”
“Don’t worry, I have no intention of reporting that fact to anyone else. I’m not in a position to do so anyway.”
There was no way the Duke would have tolerated an uninvited guest settling in the underground at will. Then did the Duke not know about this space’s existence either? How did this person come to stay here? Did he dig a tunnel and create the space himself?
There were many things he was curious about, but what was more important to Jake was whether this person would be of help to him or not.
“If you’re just staying temporarily, do you know a way out?”
“Yes.”
“Can you take me with you?”
“Why should I?”
From his reaction, it seemed he didn’t have that capability. Well, even if there was a way out of the castle down there, it was useless to Jake if there was no way to get down.
‘But I can receive other help.’
Jake pressed his face close to the hole and spied on the floor below.
The black-haired man was in better condition than he had imagined. Seeing his neat appearance added credibility to his claim that he wasn’t imprisoned.
“I’d like to know your name.”
“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first when asking someone else’s name?”
“My name is Jake.”
Jake waited for the man’s introduction. But instead of answering, the man raised his head and looked at Jake.
His face was still expressionless, but Jake vaguely felt that the emotion in that gaze was not favorable.
“Blond hair and blue eyes, and the name Jake at that. Could your surname be ‘West’ by any chance?”
“How did you know?”
“Ha.”
At the man’s scoff, Jake realized his mistake. How did he know—even he thought it was a stupid question.
His face and name were widely known. He didn’t know how it was in frontier cities or small villages, but it wasn’t strange for someone living in the capital to know him.
‘Should I not have told him my name?’
Having his identity as the Hero discovered wasn’t exactly welcome news in this situation. The power of the West surname and the title of Hero was immense, but Jake now was merely a criminal.
A terrible death row prisoner who had deceived the empire’s citizens and plunged the world into fear.
From the gaze the resident below was sending, it wasn’t hard to guess that the man had harbored great dissatisfaction with him.
Sure enough, the man picked up a stone from the floor with an irritated attitude. He was clearly planning to throw it and block the hole like before.
“Wait a moment!”
“Annoying.”
“The annoyance will only last a few more days, so can’t you bear with me for a little while?”
“…….”
When no answer came, Jake grew desperate.
“I have less than a week until the day I die. When that time comes, you may claim my space as your own too.”
The other sent a look of disbelief. Whether it was because of Jake’s nonchalant attitude treating his death as casually as scheduling an appointment for the next day, or because he was being given ownership of a useless dungeon without the owner’s permission, was unclear.
Since their eyes had met, Jake smiled brightly at the other.
Smiling would earn more favor than crying, after all.
“You have only a week left until your death?”
“I’m scheduled to be executed in one week.”
“…….”
The resident below stared at Jake with an unreadable expression.
“Klad.”
“Hm?”
And then the light on the floor below went out.
Darkness returned once again.
***
Klad enjoyed the time spent chewing on solitude in the darkness.
Actually, rather than enjoying that time, everything else felt meaningless.
“Klad. Klad?”
Having that time alone disturbed was quite unpleasant.
Even more so when the one disturbing him was someone with West blood flowing through their veins.
“Can you hear me?”
Maybe he shouldn’t have told him his name.
He couldn’t understand his own actions, wondering what had possessed him to do so.
‘How annoying.’
He had already disliked the rustling sounds from some time ago, and after the hole was made in the ceiling, the noise had doubled, making it twice as unpleasant.
Klad counted, planning to throw a fireball at the upper floor if it was still noisy by the time he counted to three.
One… two……
Rustle—
He heard the sound of the West brat covering the hole in the ceiling with cloth.
‘Lucky bastard.’
It seemed he was preparing to sleep now. Klad also closed his eyes to enjoy the peace that had come after so long.
“……Cough,”
However, Klad’s peace was shattered in less than five seconds by the faint sounds of groaning.
“Mmph… cough….”
Ah, how annoying.
“Achoo—! ……Sniff.”
Following the coughing and sneezing came the sound of sniffling.
Klad, who never thought the day would come when the living noise from upstairs would get on his nerves, found it so absurd that he got up from his seat.
And with a deep frown, he extended his hand toward the ceiling.
Hummm—
Along with the sound of air vibrating, a red sphere extended from Klad’s hand and hit the ceiling.
The warm energy that burst from the sphere instantly enveloped the upper floor.
“…Cough…….”
The sound of the West brat gasping gradually grew quieter and soon fell silent.
‘Now I can finally live in peace.’
Klad closed his eyes in the silence he had finally regained.
That silence continued for several hours until the West brat woke from his sleep.
Rustle—
“Klad, are you awake?”
As expected, he shouldn’t have told him his name.
‘Forget about peace for a while.’
Klad clicked his tongue and raised a blindingly bright sphere of light from his hand.
The empty room instantly brightened.
Whether the light had seeped through the hole in the ceiling to the upper floor, Jake poked his face through as if he had been waiting.
“Klad.”
“Haah….”
Klad raised his head with an indifferent face. It wasn’t that he particularly wanted to see the intruder’s face. He was just paying the price for carelessly revealing his name.
With Jake pressing his face close to the hole, all Klad could see was one blue eye looking down at him.
Unlike the previous days when he should have been shivering from the cold, Jake seemed much more energetic, perhaps having spent a comfortable night. The eye sparkling with Klad’s reflected light was full of joy, which made him feel bad.
‘What is he scheming?’
Despite Klad’s displeased gaze, Jake’s one visible eye curved. Since only his eye was visible, it was impossible to tell whether he was mocking him or simply smiling.
He had planned to completely ignore him, but he changed his mind.
Klad decided to find out the true intention behind that smile.
