For the next two weeks, Henryk's days followed a strict routine.
For most of the time, he mostly sat there doing nothing in particular except talking with Someryn. From these conversations, he discovered that Count Korin held many people imprisoned here, and not only that.
"What?..." Henryk raised his eyebrows slightly at Someryn's words. "He also imprisons elves and demihumans here."
"Indeed, in the kingdom of Tharomund there are many people who do not have Safeguards and think they will not be caught. Elves and demi-humans are exactly like that. Unfortunately for them, they are caught by someone like Jarrett Korin."
"Elves, demi-humans..." Henryk frowned slightly as he uttered the names of races that had been used in far too many fantasy novels.
"Ah, elves and demi-humans." Someryn made a dreamy face. "The women of their races are truly beautiful. If I could have one last wish before I died, I would choose to make romantic love to one of their women."
"...."
Putting aside Someryn's strange, salivating expression, this whole thing wasn't funny from the start. Even Someryn told him the same kingdom as Count Korin. To top it all off, the Count used some kind of ring to knock him down, making it look like the wind had struck him, then gave him a mark on his forehead with a ring set with a red sapphire.
Finally, Henryk understood the truth. The powerful light that blinded him on the bus transported him to another world. A fantasy world where races like elves and demihumans were commonplace. During further conversations, Henryk asked Someryn if magic existed, to which he replied yes.
Henryk grimaced and covered his face with his hand.
"Oh fuck. I'm in a fucking Isekai." He thought in his head.
While this was a bit hard to swallow, Henry still didn't quite believe it, but it was the only explanation he could think of. Then, when Count Korin questioned him, he used the magic from the ring on him.
"Damn it. It's not enough for the universe to throw me into this nasty, cold dungeon, it also threw me into another world. How the hell am I supposed to get back home now?"
Even though he was familiar with anime culture, light novels, and so on, Henryk was more of a realist and didn't believe in such silly stories as those in Isekai stories, where the main character loses and is summoned or reborn into a world of swords and magic and becomes the most powerful hero by defeating warriors or mages who have trained hard their entire lives. This simply seemed nonsense to Henryk.
But he still enjoyed watching this nonsense.
Now he was most likely transported to another world, just like those anime characters. But unlike them, he had no cheating ability, no RPG system, and of course, no cheating smartphone. Although he had his phone, he doubted he'd ever see it with his belongings.
"Hi, how are my favorite prisoners holding up?!"
A black knight suddenly entered Someryn and Henryk's cell, bringing each prisoner a loaf of bread and a bowl of water. Count Korin's bodyguard had been coming here every other day for the past two weeks to prevent the prisoners from starving. Although the bread was disgusting and hard as a rock, Henryk didn't complain and ate it. Pouring a little water from the bowl over the bread helped it a bit.
While they ate the bread, the Knight watched them carefully, as if worried that if he didn't make sure the prisoners ate, they would use the bread to break their chains. Although this theory seemed a bit far-fetched to Henry, he agreed that it made some sense.
After finishing their meal, the black knight left their cell without a word. He seemed to be utterly disgusted by the place. It was no wonder the cell smelled of corpses. Henryk didn't even want to imagine the awful things that had happened here and how many people had died.
"The stench of corpses makes my nose itch." Henryk complained, coughing heavily.
Their cell was terribly cold, and the young man wore only his short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts. He found it hard to believe that Someryn could endure such conditions wearing only dirty slave rags.
"Hey Henryk," Someryn said suddenly, a faint smile appearing on his face. "You know how to recognize a good dungeon companion? They don't snore, they don't whine, and they have interesting stories. HA HA!"
Henryk's eyes widened slightly. His lips parted slightly in a silent question: "What...?"
"I'm just kidding. I see you don't know how to take a joke."
"That wasn't a joke, Someryn. It was black humor at best. And it wasn't funny at all," he said with a grim expression.
Someryn merely waved his hand, ignoring Henryk's remark. The young man looked a little worried as he looked at the man. Looking at him every day, he felt a pang in his heart. He felt sorry for him.
"Hey Someryn, do you still remember what the world outside looks like?"
"...."
Someryn was silent for a long moment, his expression thoughtful as if he was trying to remember.
"You know, when I was here, I never really tried to remember the outside world. There wasn't a single person in the entire world who cared about me. Not anymore. One day I ended up here. I met a lot of people here. Now they're in other cells or dead. I survived Count Korin's torture, but I'm still alive."
"How many people are here anyway?"
"Counting us together, there's probably about 25."
"That fat man is a psychopath! Why is he imprisoning so many people here?"
"To torment them and feel like he has some control," Someryn explained, a blank look in his white eyes. "He probably also likes to watch his torture toys lose their minds. I had a roommate one day who went so crazy he started talking to a dead rat. The poor guy bit his tongue because he couldn't take it anymore."
"Jesus..."
Listening to Someryn's story, Henryk felt an even greater hatred and disgust for Count Korin. Not out of a sense of heroic justice, but because he, too, might end up the same way. Committing suicide out of despair and hopelessness, just to please that fat fucking man who calls himself a count.
"No way." Henryk gritted his teeth, hatred in his eyes. "I can't end up like this. I'll survive by spite of that son of a bitch."
"You know, now that I think about it..." Someryn said. "It's been quite a while since he came here. It's been over two weeks, and he still hasn't returned to torture you and me further. Hmmm... I think something's coming."
"What do you mean?" the young man asked, raising his eyebrows in consternation.
"You see, Henryk... Usually, every few hours you hear the screams of men and women from other cells. But lately, there's been nothing, complete silence. It's a bit unsettling."
"Yes, you're right."
Someryn's words gave Henryk pause for thought. If there were truly so many prisoners here, and Count Korin was such a sadist, why had he stopped torturing them? Something didn't add up. He wondered what the bastard was playing at. Despite everything, Henryk felt in his bones that he would soon find out, and he also knew it wouldn't be good.
[[Reference art for Someryn in comment]]