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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: A Leap of Faith
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Mint found herself staring intently at his face.
In fact, it was inevitable that her hand would reach out.
This prison was a place where it was all too easy to give in to impulse.
All day long, there were prisoners steeped in madness, guards who despised them, and prison administrators busy abusing or exploiting them.
It was the kind of place where you'd go insane if you didn't let it all out.
Mint herself had adapted to this space and survived.
“You're sweating quite a lot. Was it that hard?”
Helios was dumbfounded by Mint's hand, which had come to rest on his cheek, rubbing it gently as she spoke.
Her expression was one of pure bewilderment, as if asking, 'Why on earth was it hard?'
“I went as easy on you as I could, but you still seem terribly weak. You have a long way to go.”
“……What are you talking about? Are you completely insane?”
Even the training instructor his father had sent when he was a child, hoping he would awaken his Kia, hadn't been this ruthless.
Besides, they hadn't attacked him as if they truly meant to kill him.
“Say something that makes sense……”
But as he was about to pull her hand away, a strange feeling made him hold it there instead.
*This man… why is every part of him so slender?*
It was frustrating to think he'd been beaten so badly by these thin arms.
But to be honest, he didn't dislike the warmth. At least, not right now.
*I don't know who you are.*
*But I will accept this suspicious favor you've given me.*
“It's not sweat. It's tears.”
Helios leaned slightly into Mint's hand and let out a languid breath.
Honestly, his pride had kept him going, but he was exhausted.
“Congratulations, Sir Garet.”
Helios's lips curled into a lazy smile.
Then, the sharp corners of his eyes softened mysteriously.
“You're the first person to bring tears to my eyes since I became an adult.”
It was a defiant voice.
One that sounded quite provocative to Mint.
“Why don't you take responsibility?”
* * *
Floor 96.
“Hwaaaahm.”
A woman sat languidly, yawning.
Beneath her, a man of enormous build lay unconscious, his eyes rolled back and foam bubbling at his mouth.
The woman's name was Ramona.
And she was perched casually on the large man's body.
This man was the master of the 96th floor.
Correction.
He *was* the master, until just three minutes ago.
In the Tower, above the 90th floor, if you defeated the floor's master, you became the new master.
Ramona had been steadily climbing the ranks from her previous position in the high 80s.
Before, she'd had no need to, but now it seemed she felt a reason to ascend.
“The boss is late.”
Her scarred face was framed by disheveled hair.
Two months had passed since Mint—the king of the prisoners, master of the 100th floor, the one who had so much—had disappeared.
Ramona had no doubt that Mint would return.
But she had to admit, this time it was taking quite a while.
Having been with Mint for so long, a certain 'cycle' came to her mind.
“Two months.”
Ramona raised her hand, and a drop of dark green liquid dripped from her fingertip.
As it hit the floor, it sizzled, melting the ground on contact.
It was poison.
Ramona paid it no mind and tilted her head.
Her voice, relaxed yet tinged with faint amusement, drifted out.
“Didn't our boss always do something crazy every two months?”
*The cycle should be about due.*
* * *
“Jump.”
At that, Helios looked down at me as if I were a madman.
It was a look I was so used to by now that it barely registered.
“This instructor is patient enough to repeat himself. Trust your master and jump.”
“……You're insane. If you really want to claim you're my master, why don't you get rid of what's down there first?”
Another three weeks passed. Helios had since climbed to the 7th floor.
It was break time, as usual, and we were in the rest area.
“Hey, rookie. They said you're to stay on as a dedicated guard for a while longer.”
“Did you piss off the higher-ups? Or maybe you did horribly on your exams? Why else would an order like this come down?”
The order from above was for me to continue as a dedicated guard.
It was only natural. I was the personnel assigned to pull Helios up the ranks.
My superior, Sergeant Steven, found it strange, but the other guards seemed to think it was a matter of course.
In fact, their reaction was as if it were expected.
“This is weird.”
“What's weird about it? Seems perfectly normal to me.”
Sergeant Steven kindly explained that the other guards' reactions were along the lines of, 'He must be so incompetent that instead of getting a proper assignment, he's stuck doing the simplest dedicated guard duty.'
*Why?*
*I haven't really caused any trouble, have I?*
It had been almost two months since I became a guard, and I was becoming a very excellent one.
As befitting a prison with a strict hierarchy, I was very polite to my senior guards.
“Aaaargh! It's hot!”
“Agh, my tongue!”
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Who told you to bring tea this boiling hot!”
“This tea is best brewed at 100 degrees Celsius.”
“Cool it down before you bring it! Cool it down!”
I made tea just as they asked.
“Hey, rookie. This is an important armory, so don't let anyone in. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Alright. I'm gonna go catch a few winks. I'll be back in five minutes, so don't slack off.”
Since he told me not to let anyone in, I really did block everyone who came by.
“You crazy bastard! What were you thinking, stopping the Sergeant First Class from entering!”
“You said not to let anyone in.”
“……You!”
It seemed this also didn't please my senior guard, so when I properly handled all the other tasks they gave me, like organizing documents…
“Ah, damn it, this is so annoying. You need to understand what I'm saying! Hey, rookie, if you're going to do it like this, just throw it all away!”
“Yes, sir.”
A very enthusiastic reaction erupted.
“Are you insane? What kind of crazy bastard actually throws it away just because I told him to!”
Hmm, right.
No matter how I thought about it, I didn't seem to have done anything wrong.
Therefore, my continuing as a dedicated guard was practically the same as receiving enthusiastic support from my seniors. It seemed I just needed to keep working as diligently as I had been.
I guess there's really no downside to being diligent.
I even confided in the male lead, with whom I'd grown a little closer over the past two months of talking about this and that.
“I didn't realize social skills weren't part of the guard exam.”
He said, wearing a dubious expression.
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up. Helios was standing on a tree branch.
It wasn't strange, since I was the one who told him to climb up there.
“So…… you've placed this horrifying thing down below and you're telling me to jump?”
At his words, I looked in front of me.
Beneath Helios's feet, a pit had been dug, and sharp white spikes jutted out from below.
They were spikes I had materialized using my 'Materialization' type ability.
Like the traps of old hunters, they would actually draw blood and hurt if you were impaled on them.
“I guarantee your safety.”
“The same person who threw punches that could kill in the name of training? I have no desire to believe you.”
“Tsk, tsk… you lack faith in your master.”
Helios furrowed his brow, his lips twisting into a faint sneer.
“This seems like the perfect distance between a guard and a prisoner.”
I tilted my head.
“This is excellent training. You're a Materialization type, and you wanted to materialize objects with precision. That's an ability that usually develops under extreme circumstances.”
“But that doesn't mean you should create a situation where I could actually die!”
*That's odd.*
“It's better than dying in the Tower, isn't it?”
“……”
His face paled slightly, but he also looked somewhat convinced.
I saw an expression flicker across his face that seemed to say, *'He has a point...'*, even if he didn't say it aloud.
“As you fall, think of and create any tool that will save your life.”
“Even so, this is just cruel and barbaric…! Hey!”
With a clean stroke, I cut down the tree branch Helios was standing on.
All sorts of curses flashed across Helios's clean, handsome face.
Ah, that brings back memories. I think Ms. Deril used to look at me like that a lot.
Helios's fall was instantaneous.
“Good luck.”
“Ugh, I'm going to kill youuuu!”
I smiled brightly.
Walking over to peer into the pit, the faint smile I'd been wearing deepened.
“See? You can do it if you try.”
“……”
Inside the pit, a net-like object had been precariously created.
It looked just like a safety net placed under a circus tightrope.
*Oh, has he seen a circus before?*
On the net made of light, Helios sat dejectedly, covering his face with his hands.
