= Unnamed POV =

  Ughh my head

  It hurts so much… my head jolted awake all of a sudden, but what greeted me was rusted iron that felt as if it were wrapping around my body. Of course, that unexpected blow earlier made my head ring without end. Oh damn, this pain could easily send me back into the world of dreams once again.

  But why is it so dark in here… and why does it feel like being inside a coffin? I tried to move my hands, but these damn chains are still binding both of them so tightly!

  And my legs! I can only move them within a very limited range! It is… it is suffocating in here too! Ughh I have to calm myself down. I must not panic, panic will only make things worse. If things get any worse, then I will be in serious trouble. Okay, breathe in… then out…

  “Ahhh!! This is pathetic! Useless! Loser! What changing fate when in the end I get caught like this?! I should have just stayed loyal to Silthroat and—”

  “YOU IN THERE, SHUT UP!”

  A sudden loud shout came from someone who sounded extremely angry at my voice. Oh no, the footsteps are getting closer—

  BANG BANG BANG

  “I swear, if Sir Rondo hears that whining of yours, he will split this iron box into two pieces,” said the mysterious person after striking the ‘iron box’ he was referring to.

  So my suspicion was right, I am inside some kind of coffin made of iron. I guess it is more comfortable here since I am lying on my back, rather than having to curl up inside a narrow wooden box like during my days on the run.

  But wait, what are they trying to do to me?! This does not even resemble imprisonment, I am being treated like a dead person here. Damn it, I am starting to feel uneasy….

  “ARGHH—”

  Huh? What was that? Whose voice was that just now? It came from outside this coffin, could it be from the guard who scolded me earlier? Oh please, do not make me ugh. There is no way someone would come to save me, Albert already ran away when I was captured. Besides, there are no heroes in this world. And if there were, they probably already—

  CRACK!

  “Oy!”

  My eyes went blind for a moment as a blinding light poured into this narrow iron coffin. What greeted me afterward was the sight of Albert’s face with his signature smile. Turns out he did not run away after all….

  “You are not hurt, right, kid?” Albert asked while cutting the chains wrapped around my hands using his wind magic. At st I could stretch my body again, rising back from death, I mean, from the iron coffin.

  “Uhh Albert, did you kill that guard?”

  “Of course, did you not see his still-fresh blood flowing toward the drainage channel?”

  I froze completely when I saw the guard’s body no longer moving. What was even more horrifying was that he did not kill that poor man immediately, the guard had to endure the pain of bleeding out… why did Albert not just cut his throat right away…?

  “Albert, I know this sounds stupid. But your method is truly torturous—”

  “Ah to hell with this torture talk, I know what you mean, kid. We are no longer bound by Silthroat’s rules, therefore we are free to—”

  “Stop cutting me off whenever you like! Even if Silthroat sounds immoral, we were taught to kill the target in a single strike, not to make them suffer like that!”

  We both fell silent for a moment, maybe this was the best way to make him realize it. Even though we both came from an organization whose hobby is killing people, we were also taught not to inflict curses like what Albert did earlier. That is what I meant. We were instructed to end the enemy’s life immediately, not to toy with it.

  “Enough of your nonsense.”

  “What—”

  My body was flung to the side and crashed hard into the ground, my ears ringing followed by an overwhelming pain in my head, especially on the right side. My mind could not yet process what had just happened to me, blood poured from my nose to the point I struggled to stop it.

  Everything became clear when I looked at Albert, his left hand raised and clenched, his face flushed with anger. At that moment I could conclude that Albert had just punched me like this, for the first time.

  “I thought we were relying on each other to get through this dark corridor, but it turns out someone is still carrying a torch of the past to find the way out.”

  Damn you, Albert! How dare he punch my face like that, I cannot even speak because of the immense pain gnawing at my face right now, ughh.

  “If you want to be completely free from Silthroat’s influence, then act on instinct, not rules. Silthroat is merely a vessel for rules, money, and criminals like us,” he took a short breath.

  “Silthroat exists because of murderers who do not want to see others suffer, yet still desire money from their own deeds.”

  “Sounds complex, isn't it? Well at least you understand what I am trying to say, I am not good at putting words together.”

  So that is the reason Silthroat was formed. They initially sheltered people who already had the intent to kill but were hindered by pity, but is that not the same as bringing suffering upon those closest to them? Enough, this is not the time to think about something this complex.

  “As for this guard…” Albert approached the corpse.

  “I could not kill him immediately, you see that neck protector? Yes, that is the reason.”

  “Now get up and stop being a whiny kid, that punch does not mean I hate you. I was just carried away by my emotions for a moment hahaha.”

  Carried away by emotions to the point of punching me like an executioner? This guy really needs his brain rewired first. My face is slightly swollen, I can still feel his fist as if it were still pressed against my right cheek.

  Since I do not have the right words to respond to this situation, a sincere smile might help instead. Hahaha, I look stupid doing it.

  “Good boy, we need to leave this pce immediately. Lucky for you, I can still track where you were taken, and it is a miracle that you were not immediately brought to prison.”

  “Come, take my hand.”

  When I took his hand, he pulled it hard and immediately dragged me away from that house. It turns out we are now much closer to that towering pace. But one question surfaced in my mind, why did they put me inside an iron coffin instead of iron bars?