Dungeon

“Really?” I asked. “She’s here?”

While I myself had no interest in going back yet, unlike Kai, I was interested in Mana. If nothing else, the so-called witch probably knew some powerful spells I could learn.

Oh, and I guess I did want to save her if she really was being imprisoned by the evil Three. That was an important part of it too, yes.

“Y-yes,” confirmed the librarian. “She’s in the dungeon… the poor girl.” And she actually looked like she was taking pity on her.

Why would there be a library right next to a dungeon? This architecture was very odd. Not so great game design. Oh wait, this wasn’t a game.

Was it possible that even this woman was a prisoner of sort, if she was left to handle this underground library?

Apparently Kai thought of the same thing, for he said, “Wait, what’s up with this place anyway? Are you here all alone?”

“Oh.” She wore a somewhat sad smile. “It’s not that bad, and there’s a lot to read to pass the time. I used to be a maid upstairs, but then I made a mistake, and…”

“Alright, we have no time for your sob story,” I said coldly. Saga also looked quite impatient already. “Can you direct us to Mana?”

Kai gave me a glare after this interruption, but he knew I was right. “Don’t worry. We won’t tell anyone you helped us or anything. If there’s any need to, just tell them we threatened you… well, that’s not far from the truth, anyway.” This time he directed his glare to Saga.

“…Yes,” the woman said. “Thank you. Um, are you by any chance those from yesterday? They’re searching all over the city for you.” A single glance at our expressions told her she was right. She visibly gulped. “I-I won’t pry any further, sorry…”

“It’s fine. Just give us the directions and I promise we won’t bother you again,” said Kai, wearing a smile that to me looked rather tryhard but probably looked cool to women, because that was how Kai worked.

“If you go through the exit here,” she said, pointing to a nearby door, “you’ll find yourselves in a long corridor. Ignore the doors and continue ahead, turn to the right and the very first door you see leads down to Mana’s jail…”

“Are there any guards?” asked Saga calculatedly.

Surprisingly, the librarian shook her head. “Mana can’t escape anyway. No one really comes to this area of the castle…” she said. “Hmm, she does get delivered meals, though. I’ve been down there a few times myself. But that probably won’t be for some hours now.”

“Alright, thank you,” I said gruffly. We were wasting too much time here, and the mention of meals made my stomach rumble. “Let’s go, you guys.”

Saga immediately joined my side, but Kai lingered behind. “Keep safe, alright?” he told the woman.

“Yes! Thank you.”

I stopped myself from groaning.

Saga scouted ahead again; she was probably best for this job, so I let her be. While I was a little worried about a possible trap, the librarian seemed to have been telling us the truth thus far.

Outside was a dreary stone-made corridor lit by torches, just like I imagined it. Upon advancing carefully, we were indeed able to find the aforementioned door and stairs.

Moving stealthily and as silently as we could, we began making our way downstairs.

Was Mana actually there? And what kind of a person was she going to be? I admit I was rather curious. Although I wasn’t interested in returning to the real world for now, the witch might solve a few mysteries that still remained.

For example, the red screen and the horrible headache I never dared to tell my companions about…

After what seemed like forever going down, we finally reached another floor. The wide space was also lit by burning torches but only sparingly, leading to many patches of darkness and making the room feel even bigger than it actually was. There were large crates in one corner of the room, for some reason.

In the center of the room there was a single cell, although its construction was odd. It was basically like a room made of bars, but there were two layers.

The outside was made of what appeared to be simple bars made of metal, but the inner layer was much more cramped.

And it looked like it was made of… rock? This didn’t seem to make sense.

No, I had a feeling I knew the answer to this, but any further thoughts were replaced with those about the one occupying this cell.

Lying on a ruined mattress that must have served as a bed was a girl.

It was hard to make out the full details in the partial darkness, but she actually looked younger than us. The girl wore nothing more than dirty rags and had long, messy hair colored either a very light red or actual pink.

The cell was not only cramped but absolutely filthy as well… I cringed just from thinking about trying to live in a space like that.

For a few moments all of us stood there shocked at this sight, even as the girl began to stir.

“Ah…!”

This shocked voice came from a surprising source—Saga. Glancing at her, I saw her actually take a step back. She seemed to be shaking.

Was I imagining things? This might have been the most overt display of emotion I’d ever seen from this ice queen.

Saga’s lips quivered and she shook her head, but Kai spoke before I could question her about this display.

“Hello,” said Kai very gently, the first to speak up properly. “Are you Mana?”

My gaze was taken back to the cage. Was this really her—Mana the witch? I admit that even though I knew she was imprisoned, I never imagined her being in this sorry of a state… and I was also expecting someone older.

The immortal witch… Jarred had claimed this was one rumor about her, but was it related?

The girl’s eyes fluttered open; she might have been sleeping. Noticing us, she suddenly shrieked.

“Wh, w-w-who are you?” she asked. Her eyes, wide but bleary, drank us in and then widened further. “Y-you’re men?!”

She actually crawled back a bit inside her cage; not like there was a long way to go until she hit the bars on the other side.

Um, rude? Not to mention a bit sexist.

She looked like a frightened little animal, however, which caused my face to relax. Immortal witch or not, this poor, cute thing must have suffered a lot here if this was how she reacted to our appearance.

“Don’t worry, we’re here to help you,” I said. “Still, can you answer the question?”

“I… but you… but…” She stuttered as if she forgot how to talk. I sympathized with her situation and all that, but I was starting to get a bit impatient.

“Get a grip already! You’re the one who summoned us here, right?”

Hearing that, another change went through the girl’s body. She rose and grabbed the bars surrounding her with very thin fingers, looking desperate.

“E-eh? What? It’s you? From the prophecy?” she said. “I actually summoned you?”

Ah, we were finally getting somewhere. So all the rumors and the stories were true.

“Yes,” said Saga. “We came here from another world. Then all the way here.”

“So I did it… I actually did it!” the girl suddenly shrieked, wearing a smile. “I-I mean, I knew I could do it! I’m the great Mana, after all, ehehe!”

And here came our confirmation, at last.

“Can you take us back, then?” Kai prompted her.

The girl’s smile was gone at once. “What? Take you back?” she asked. “You mean, back to your world?”

“That’s fine, you don’t have to listen to him,” I interjected, earning me a glare from him. “That’s not so important right now. You summoned us into this world to help save the kingdom from evil or whatever, right?”

“Um, yes!”

“Where’s Three?” added Saga, getting straight into the crux of the matter. Whatever it was that happened to her shortly before, she now looked calm again.

“Three?” asked Mana, sounding genuinely confused. “What do you mean? He’s been gone for a century!”