This is a prison?

Mina wasn’t sure if the tunnel was cleaner or dirtier than she expected. It was certainly dusty, and awkward with all the water pipes and support beams, but it really wasn’t all that bad. She also didn’t have long to figure out what she thought about the place as she and Iro reached their destination after only a short few minutes.

“Alright. If this map is correct, the main cell block should be right behind this wall.” Iro said as she came to a stop.

“Ok, so NOW do I get to use the bombs?” Mina asked, and Iro rolled her eyes.

“Yes, now you get to use the bombs.” Iro replied.

Permission given, Mina quickly got to work setting up the bombs on the wall, placing just 3 on the wall. Once they were placed, she stepped back and looked to Iro.

“Alright, should I set them off?” She asked, but Iro shook her head.

“Not quite. Give me a moment to check and make sure no one is on the other side.”

She then went over and pressed her ear to the wall. Then she began to frown.

“That’s odd.”

“What? Is something wrong?” Mina asked.

“I can’t hear anything behind the wall.” Iro said. “I should be hearing something, some chatter or the sounds of people moving, but there’s nothing.”

Mina gave her a questioning look, but she shook her head. It didn’t matter; they had a job to do. She backed off, and allowed Mina to shoot an arrow at the bombs.

*BOOM*

The wall exploded, and Mina and Iro rushed through, weapons primed and ready for a fight.

“Don’t worry everyone, we’re here to rescue-Huh?” Mina exclaimed as they charged into the room, only to stop short when they got to the other side.

As Iro assumed, there was no one. No guards, no prisoners, not even a janitor. There was not a single soul in the cell block besides them.

And it was hard to call this a ‘cell block’ inside a prison. Yes, each cell had bars on the front, and they didn’t have any windows, but that was where the similarities to jail cells ended. Each cell had a private bathroom, a nice bed with a fluffy looking blanket and pillows, and even a desk.

“Wha? Is this really a prison? It looks more like some kind of prison themed novelty hotel.” Mina asked.

“Elias did say that things would look deceiving.” Iro replied. “We should take a look around just in case, make sure you’re not missing anything.”

And so they did, they wandered around and tried to see if they could find something, anything that could explain why this place was empty, but they found nothing. No matter where they looked, they found absolutely nothing but a few rumpled beds. So, having found absolutely nothing, the pair reconvened by the regular entrance to the cell block to discuss what now, only to be interrupted by a surprise new person.

“What in the world? Halt! What are you two doing here!?”

Iro and Mina turned to the voice to see a single guard looking at them. He was on guard, clearly worry of them, but more than that he looked genuinely confused at the fact that they were there.

“We’re asking the question here!” Mina replied, pulling out her bow and aiming it at him. “Where are all the prisoners, what have you done with them?!”

“Wait, are you two here to try a prisonbreak?” the guard questioned, sounding genuinely baffled. “Everyone was released this morning; there is no one left in here.”

“Do you honestly expect us to believe that every single person that has ever been arrested has been released just this morning?” Iro questioned in response.

“No, just the people that were arrested as a result of the law the king passed yesterday and rescinded this morning.” The guard explained. “Seriously, are you not aware of where you are? Did you not think to question why this prison seemed so comforting and un prison like?”

Iro and Mina shared a glance. Of course they wondered that, they’d spent the last few minutes trying to find the answer to that question, they were just more worried about the prisoners than the prison itself. Luckily for them, the guard seemed more than willing to explain.

“Look, the king realized he kept accidentally getting people that didn’t deserve to be arrested thrown in prison, so he decided to set up a nice ‘pre-jail’ so the people that shouldn’t be thrown in jail don’t get traumatized by it before they get released.”

“Wait, so then all the people that got arrested yesterday for jumping over puddles…?” Mina asked,

“Have all been released because the king realized that the law was foolish.” The guard answered. “However, willingly breaking into a government building with the intention of releasing criminals, whether the criminals are still there or not, is a serious crime. As such, I-GA!”

Having gotten enough information out of the guard, Iro decided it was time to deal with him. While he was talking, she quickly slipped behind him and bashed him in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword, knocking him out instantly.

“Well, he was surprisingly informative.” She remarked as the guard fell to the ground.

“So, what now? If there isn’t anyone here to save, then what are we supposed to do?” Mina asked.

“Well, before we left, Elias pulled me aside and gave me a secondary mission to try to do if I had time. I guess we might as well do that.” Iro said with a shrug

Mina nodded in agreement, so Iro pulled out the map once again.

“The mission is to take down the warden of the prison.” Iro started. “He was posted as the warden of this prison right from the beginning, so Elias suspects he might be one of the higher ups of the hidden group running the strings in the palace. He also suspects that he’s the one actually in charge of setting up the fake laws to get certain people arrested.”

“That makes sense. He calls for people to be brought to him, and the rest make it happen.” Mina remarked. “How are we supposed to get to him though?”

“Well, either he’ll be joining the fight against Athan and Lefteris, or he’ll be staying up in his office here.” Iro said, pointing to a spot in the north part of the building, one that luckily didn’t seem too far. “Hopefully he’ll be fighting them so we can just go back them up, but we need to check his office just in case.”

“Alright, lets go.”