The Heart of Harungel (1)
The Heart of Harungel (1)
The night sky darkened.
A brightly lit lantern illuminated Burning Hell.
Whoosh
A cool breeze blew across the ground. Redin could hear the waves crashing and smell the salty ocean.
An island surrounded by water on all sides.
It would be impossible to escape from here. Even if he did manage to get out, he'd have to swim for quite some time to reach any land.
Worst of all.
Even jumping into the ocean isn't easy, as the giant towers which surround around the island keep watch over Burning Hell Prison.
"How about seeing the clock towers for myself?"
Twelve watchtowers surround the Burning Hell Prison.
In this world, they're called clock towers.
They aren't.
More like a developer's setup.
"Awesome."
"Yeah, Everyone thinks so at first."
Flash!
A bright beam of light from the top of the tower swept past him. He turned his head quickly, and Vergo frowned.
"Look at that, they know we're here and they're doing that kind of shit, assholes."
He glanced back at the towers.
Each clock tower was painted with numbers and symbols. The symbols represented the six kingdoms that were permanent members of the Council, each in charge of two towers.
Hence.
The towers are also manned by knights from each kingdom, not prison guards. Just then, I see knights walking out of the tower.
Silver swords on armor.
The kingdom that wears that symbol is the Kingdom of Ad, the land of knights.
"Don't stare, You'll only provoke them."
"Yes."
Jab!
The sound of footsteps drew nearer, and two knights swept past, smiling mockingly.
"When he said it might provoke them, he didn't know about this enmity betweem the different group."
"Don't look at us. Our faces will rot."
The guards and knights didn't get along well here.
There are many reasons for this.
For one thing, the knights prided themselves on their skills, and they saw the Burning Hell guards as losers who weren't good enough to be in their order.
Also.
Those who become Warden of Burning Hell must declare their neutrality and swear an oath to belong to no kingdom.
They have no nationality.
Because of this, patriotic knights tend to look down on wardens as traitors and stateless.
"Bastards."
After they were gone, Vergo clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Do they do that often?"
"Don't talk. They'll kill you if you make eye contact with them. You be careful, too. Just because you're friends with the warden doesn't change their attitude."
He guess the relationship is worse than he imagined.
"I'll be careful."
"Whatever, I'm going to have to break their noses in a hellfight."
The Infernal War.
Some sort of dueling tournament involving knights and guards from the six kingdoms.
"Haaaa..."
Vergo sighed.
"Eh, Talking about it will only make me feel worse. Let's get back to our quarters."
He followed Vergo to their quarters outside the prison.
It didn't take long to get there.
"There's our quarters."
A huge mansion appeared where Vergo pointed. There were lights everywhere, and uniformed men at the entrance.
"Salute!"
Redin Saluted to Vergo after arriving at the prison guard quarters.
"Yes. Take care."
With a cursory salute, Vergo led the way up the stairs, and they reached the top floor, the fifth.
Everywhere he looked, he saw familiar faces cleaning up.
Teammates she'd seen on the ship.
They passed them and reached a room at the end of the hallway.
"This is where you'll be staying from now on. Introduce yourself to the others, After the roll call, the reporting ceremony begins, so go out last after. I'll take care of getting you out."
"Okay."
As he turned to leave, Vergo came back and whispered in his ear.
"What happened today is..."
"Did anything happen?"
"Nothing."
Satisfied with the answer he got from Redin, Vergo's lips twitched upwards and disappeared down the stairs.
What an easy character to deal with.
Thanks to the misunderstanding, Redin think he will be ablt to move comfortably in the future. He's going to have to make the most of the situation.
He smirked and turned around.
He turned the knob in front of him and opened the door.
The interior of the quarters was visible.
Two bunk beds and a desk for each person to use and then he saw three men huddled in a corner.
"kkeueueug!"
One was doing a handstand and was shivering from the effort to stay in place, and the other two were looking at Redin.
"W-what?! I thought you said you had this place all to yourself."
"Your face seems familiar... huh, the spy caught on the ship?"
Redin sense the awkward atmosphere inside the room between the four of them.
It seems the two of them were bullying the occupant of the room.
'Sigh'
The inside of his mouth is fuzzy.
"Five minutes to go before roll call!"
At the shouts that resonated in the hallway outside, one of them patted the man who was the first who stood up on his cheeks and said,
"See you later, pig."
The two bullies stood up and left the room, looking back at him and raising their eyebrows.
"You stay a while too, and we'll talk later."
One of them winked at Redin and laughed, and he grinned back.
"I think I can do that."
"What?"
"I'll see you later."
"Let's see if you can still laugh later."
He caught the look on their faces as they walked out of the room.
"Huff... Uuuu"
Blue hair and blonde hair.
I'll have to tell him to kill those two close to death after the declaration ceremony later.
"Ugh..."
"You can stop now, No... I don't think I'll have to tell this to you again in the future."
Plop
The guy who was doing a handstand in the corner fell on the floor, while gasping for breath.
"Thanks."
"Do you know those two?"
The guys shook his head.
"I am from the... Crane Kingdom, those two earlier are from the Ravino Kingdom."
'I see'
It is a relationship between hostile countries.
Even now, those two kingdoms are still at war, and their animosity toward each other is through the roof.
They're still new prison guards.
This happened because they still have a sense of belonging to the kingdom. But this will be sorted out soon. That's what initiation ceremonies are for.
It's about getting lingering attachment to ones kingdom removed.
"Get up, it's almost time for the roll call."
Redin walked over to the fallen man from Crane Kingdom and offered a hand. The person hesitated for awhile, before grunting and grabbing his hand, and stood up, while annoucing his name.
"M-my name is Heather."
While still holding Heather's hand, Redin used the Copy skill to check Heather's status.
[Heather]
Strength: E
Agility: F
Stamina: E
Mana: S
Luck: D
Talent: S
-Possessed Skills: Cowardice (A), Gluttony (A), Hatred of Magic (B), Swordsmanship (F), Genius Wizard (S), Fast Casting (S), Great Attributes (S).
An incompetent swordsman who has an aversion with magic.
However, as long as he learns magic, he has tremendous talent who can rise to the pinnacle of wizardy if he were to master it.
And.
At the same time as he admired Heather, he thought to himself.
'I wonder if there are any Talents like this guy who have survived and are comparable to the three main NPCs?'
It wouldn't hurt to look for them.
"I'm Redin. Let's get along well in the future."
"Uh... yeah."
Heather's expression didn't look good.
Why?
Redin thinked he was smiling quite broadly.
'Like a cat seeing a canary.'
"One minute to go!"
* * *
"Everyone, gather in the hallway!"
He moved his body following the instructor's voice, As he stepped through the open door, a line of uniformed trainees begin to stand facing forward.
The instructor at the head of the line.
A face he recognized from the ship.
Rohan Havir.
The owner of the skill Cold Heart (A) which he copied on the ship, which allowed him to have a peaceful state of mind amidst the havoc to calmly and logically think things through.
"Start."
His icy voice.
At Rohan's command, the instructors behind Redin moved. We began to enter the first room.
Something was thrown into the hallway.
As they passed the room, a lot of things piled up in the hallway. Clothes that weren't prison guard uniforms, symbolic crosses and jugs of holy water, sigils and objects symbolizing each kingdom.
"Burn it."
One of the instructors burned the items using magic. Rohan's cold gaze scanned the new trainees.
"For the next month, you will be trained to be Burning Hell's prison guards. And during the training period, all those who are lacking the necessary qualification will be discharged."
"Yes!"
"Wake-up time is six in the morning. Lights out is ten o'clock. Training begins tomorrow."
"I have a question."
The redheaded woman in the front raised her hand. A strong leader who led the new prison guards on the ship.
Rebecca, one of the main NPCs.
Rohan nodded, and Rebecca spoke up.
"May I get up and do some personal training before then?"
"It doesn't matter, as long as you stay on schedule."
"Understood."
Rebecca lowered her hand, and the instructor continued talking.
"And before training begins tomorrow. You will select your own representative trainees."
Representative trainees.
When the training period is over, he can choose the department he want, and he know that it has a lot of influence on one's promotion.
But that's how hard it is.
It's a position where he have to take reponsibility for everything from managing the new trainees motivations to the things they can't do
"That's it for the day. Take some time for personal maintenance and get to bed at 10:00."
Rohan was about to go down the stairs.
He paused for a moment and turned around.
His eyes locked with mine.
"Redin."
"Yes!"
"If you want anything, come to me. I will do everything I can to listen to your request."
A reward for being unjustly imprisoned in solitary confinement.
Not bad.
"Understood."
"Dismissed."
Then he disappeared along with the other instructors.
There was silence for a moment, then Rebecca turned, and as she stood where Rohan had been, her form came into view.
Red hair and a beautiful appearance as if a goddess of beauty had descended. Her cuteness overflows.
It is exactly as described in the game.
"Representative trainee. I'd like to do it, but is there anyone who wants to do it here?"
He wonder if it's because of the leadership she showed on the ship earlier.
The others seemed to accept, and didn't complain too much.
Neither did I.
"I think you should do it."
"Me too."
"Just do it."
It's better to move freely and collect hidden pieces than to have to clean up after every little incident that happens.
Even if he's not a representative student.
There were plenty of ways to get where he wanted to go.
"Looks like none. Good luck in the future."
Rebecca smiled.
And then.
An unfamiliar voice came from below, accompanied by the sound of many steps.
"Bring the new guys."
"Assemble in the yard. You have ten seconds."
A time-honored Burning Hell tradition.
The initiation ceremony had begun.