Chapter 2: The Prisoner

Rattle, rattle─

An unpleasant vibration was felt from the floor.

A creaking sound, as if something hadn't been oiled enough.

“Ugh…….”

As I barely managed to lift my incredibly heavy eyelids, the first thing that came into view was the light pouring through the cracks of the barred window.

Clank!

I tried to move my body reflexively, but something caught on my leg.

“……Ah.”

My gaze naturally fell, and I soon saw the top of my foot, flushed red as if frostbitten, and the steel shackle bound around the ankle above it.

I was bound.

“…….”

The scene was so unrealistic that I wondered if I was dreaming, but the chilly sensation from my ankles and wrists soon woke me up.

“Hey, you've finally woken up after lazing around so comfortably?”

A sneer came from somewhere.

I naturally lifted my heavy head and my gaze turned to the person across from me.

Disheveled hair that reached his shoulders.

A thick beard that made it hard to guess his age.

Scars visible all over his face.

The only thing I could tell was that he was a man of considerable age.

The reason I felt a strange sense of kinship with that scarred man was thanks to the shackles hanging from his arms and legs.

The same as mine.

“……Where is this?”

I didn't know if my throat was hoarse or if I hadn't had water for a long time, but as soon as I spoke, I tasted the metallic tang of blood on my tongue.

“Where do you think? It’s the prisoner transport wagon to Kreutz. The damn Winter Castle.”

“……Winter Castle?”

Winter Castle Kreutz.

A name that was all too familiar to me.

Therefore, it was also a word that felt incredibly unrealistic to hear in a situation like this.

“The place we’re going to is the Winter Castle? The northern fortress?”

“Is there another Winter Castle besides that one? Tsk tsk, you must have been through a lot with the inquisitor. They usually wouldn’t torture a prisoner they’re sending to the Winter Castle to the point of becoming an idiot.”

Every word the scarred man uttered sounded incredibly familiar.

“Don’t tell me…… by inquisitor, do you mean a Heretic Inquisitor from the Punishment Order?”

“Yeah, that’s right, the great Heretic Inquisitor who turned your already useless head into a lump of scrap metal.”

Of course, it was a fact I knew.

To be precise, a fact that shouldn't be.

“……No way.”

It was only then that I realized the language I was hearing and speaking was completely different from what I had known.

Although it was an incredibly unfamiliar language to me, for some reason I could understand its contents, so I hadn't felt the dissonance.

“They all say that. That I’m innocent, that it’s unfair. But isn’t that just how the world works? There’s no grave without a story.”

The scarred man chuckled.

But for me, none of it was a story I could laugh off.

“…….”

Winter Castle Kreutz.

Heretic Inquisitor.

The infamous northern fortress.

I know all those words.

No, it was impossible not to know them.

‘……No way.’

I couldn't believe it, but there was only one conclusion all this evidence pointed to.

The World of Justice.

I had entered it and I had become a prisoner being dragged to Winter Castle Kreutz.

‘Just…… how?’

I had entered a game.

In that unbelievable reality, the first thing that came to mind was, naturally, a question.

‘I definitely…… used an item called the Ascension Stone that I got from the Destruction Dragon, and there was a flash of light.’

That was all I remembered, but I could tell that the unidentified item called the Ascension Stone was related to the situation that had befallen me.

What in the world was that item, the Ascension Stone?

What kind of object could turn the world of a game, which was nothing more than a virtual reality inside a monitor, into reality?

Naturally, I didn't know the answer.

“Hey you, what’s so funny that you’re chattering away? Are you that happy to be going to your death? Surely you’re not unaware of what kind of place the Winter Castle is?”

A thin voice was heard then.

The prisoners in the transport wagon were not just me and the man.

A total of four prisoners, including me.

The scarred man across from me who I first spoke with, the white-haired man to my right, and diagonally across, a woman whose face was hidden because her entire body was covered by a hood.

The one who had just spoken to me was the skinny, white-haired man to my right, who looked as if he could collapse at any moment.

“How could I not? I know of the Winter Castle's infamy, that no one who enters ever comes out alive. Why else would they be dragging prisoners like us there?”

“Seeing you grin like that even though you know, you must be pretty confident in your skills.”

“I suppose I am.”

“I hope your skills are as smooth as that tongue of yours.”

The skinny man said so and shot me a glance.

“Well, it seems the one who’s going to die has already decided.”

At that moment.

Thud!

With a sudden vibration, the inside of the wagon shook violently.

The ride was never very comfortable to begin with, but the impact I just felt was as if we had hit a large rock.

“They’re driving this wagon so damn rough!”

The white-haired man corrected the scarred man’s words.

“No, it’s not the wagon.”

“What?”

The question did not last long.

[Kwooooooo……!]

With that, as if it had been waiting, the cry of a beast was heard from outside.

‘This is…….’

It’s not the cry of an ordinary animal.

This was the cry of a demonic beast.

-Demonic beast! Prepare for battle!

-Move it, move it!

Shouts were heard from outside the wagon.

Given the circumstances, they were undoubtedly the shouts of the soldiers leading this prisoner transport wagon.

Winter Castle Kreutz.

Also known as the northern fortress, it was the Empire's key frontline, adjacent to the Demon's Realm.

In other words, the very story of heading to the Winter Castle meant getting closer to the Demon's Realm.

The appearance of demonic beasts was, in a way, inevitable.

“……Seems like the situation is going to sh*t, doesn’t it?”

At the scarred man’s words, the white-haired man smiled wryly.

“Indeed…… they call it the shield that protects the Empire from the Demon's Realm, and it’s no ordinary start.”

“Is this the time to be so relaxed?”

“What, you were so confident, are you scared now?”

“Hmph…… as if. But I’m in this state.”

The scarred man held up the chains hanging from his arms.

As he said, no matter how confident one was in their skills, it would be difficult to display even a tenth of those skills in this state.

“Anyway…… if demonic beasts have appeared, it’s not a bad thing for us.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Tsk tsk, to be so slow-witted. You look like a foolish bear, and you act just like you look.”

“Let’s see if you can say the same thing when that mouth of yours is torn apart.”

As the scarred man growled, the white-haired man said with a wry smile.

“That wouldn’t be so bad. But you do know that this is our last chance to escape before being dragged to that damn Winter Castle, right?”

“……Are you serious? You want to break out of this transport convoy? If we fail, it’s summary execution.”

“We’ll die anyway if we go to the Winter Castle. Wouldn’t it be better to die trying something?”

“Hmm…… that’s true.”

While the men were plotting their escape amidst the demonic beast attack, I was busy trying to sort out my chaotic thoughts.

In this moment where the unreal had become real, what I had to do was set.

‘If this place is really the World of Justice…….’

I cautiously touched my left ear.

It was the motion a character took when checking the information window in the World of Justice.

[Opening the information window.]

──────────────

Name : Vell Blackwood

Level : 1

Stamina : 1

Strength : 1

Mentality : 1

Traits : [Postponer of Ruin(EX)], [Weapon Summon(??)]

Skills : ─

Magic : ─

──────────────

And, as if it had been waiting, the information window appeared.

As I had thought, this place was indeed the World of Justice.

“…….”

I was almost dumbfounded for a moment by the incredibly concise information, but I forced myself to come to my senses.

‘……This is pathetic.’

There were only three basic stats, and all of them were at 1.

The same state as when a character is first created in the World of Justice.

Was this what it meant for all my levels, stats, traits, and items to be reset when I used the Ascension Stone?

The brilliant stats that I once prided myself on as the strongest were nowhere to be found.

On top of that, the character name Vell Blackwood was utterly unfamiliar to me.

‘But…….’

Although all my levels, stats, and traits had disappeared, two traits that I didn't even have originally caught my eye.

Postponer of Ruin was a trait I obtained after hunting the Destruction Dragon, and since it had a Trait Nullification Immunity function, it made sense that it didn’t disappear with the use of the Ascension Stone.

The problem was the other trait.

‘Weapon Summon?’

From the name alone, I couldn't tell what kind of trait it was, so I immediately checked the trait's information.

──────────────

[Weapon Summon]

Grade : ??

Type : Active

Level : 1

Summons a weapon.

The types of weapons that can be summoned increase with the level.

Currently summonable weapon types : 1

──────────────

‘Weapon Summon…….’

In fact, the ability itself was not a particularly special trait.

A trait with the very intuitive ability to summon a weapon.

Nevertheless, the first thing that stood out was, of course, the trait grade marked as ??.

Grade unknown.

That wasn't the only strange thing.

‘What is this?’

A level?

Then, a single guess came to mind.

‘Don’t tell me…… a growth-type trait?’

Normally, a trait's grade is fixed from the moment it's acquired and never changes.

But if it had a level attached, it made me think of another possibility.

A trait with the potential to grow beyond its original grade.

‘……I see.’

I thought I finally understood.

What I had gained in exchange for losing everything to the Ascension Stone.

The extent of the potential held by the trait named Weapon Summon.

[Kyaoooooo!!!]

[Ka-ak, ka-ak!]

Then, as if on cue, the roars and screams of demonic beasts echoed from outside the wagon.

-Form a line!

-There are, there are too many of them!

-They’re going for the transport wagon!

Unfortunately, I was given no more time to think.

Bang─!

Craaaack!!!

Because the demonic beasts had already torn open the sturdy rear door of the transport wagon meant to confine prisoners and revealed themselves.

“F*cking hell! It’s a Demon head hound!”

The scarred man fretted, unbefitting of his muscular build.

No, in a way, it was natural.

【Lv.1】

【Demon head hound】

At a glance, one might say it's only level 1, but the most fearsome thing about the Demon head hound is its numbers and its characteristic aggression.

Moreover, all the prisoners here were bound by their arms and legs.

“These sons of bitches……! Come on! You sons of bitches! I’ll f*cking kill you all!”

The scarred man, who was relatively closest to the wagon entrance, let out a roar and kicked out to somehow block the approach of the Demon head hounds.

[Kelp!]

A few Demon head hounds were hit by the ferocious kicks and sent flying, but that was all.

Clank!

“……F*cking hell.”

The shackles, tightly bound to his ankles as if to prove his status as a prisoner, did not allow the scarred man to rampage any further.

The scarred man had a robust body just as he appeared, but what he could do with his arms and legs bound in chains was extremely limited.

[Kyaaaak!]

Chomp! Chooomp!

“Aaargh!”

When a Demon head hound bit the scarred man's arm at once, the scarred man screamed and struggled to somehow shake the Demon head hound off.

“Get off! Just, get off, you son of a b*tch!”

In a scene splattered with blood everywhere, the situation for the other prisoners, including myself, was not much better.

[Grrrr…….]

[Grr!]

Because other Demon head hounds had already begun to approach the inside of the wagon.

[Grrrrrr!]

The Demon head hounds rush in.

Not one, but three of them.

“Hey, big guy! Hold on longer!”

“My arm feels like it’s going to be torn off, what do you mean hold on! You help too!”

The white-haired man and the scarred man screamed as they confronted the surging Demon head hounds.

It was almost inevitable that one of the Demon head hounds would spot me.

[Grrrung…….]

‘……F*ck me.’

The situation became desperate.

My arms and legs were tied, and of course, there were no weapons around.

[Kyaooo!]

The Demon head hound charges.

In that moment, where it felt as if time was slowing down, there was only one thing I could do.

‘This is the only way.’

I didn't need to think about how to activate the trait.

Because I could feel it instinctively.

[Activating ‘Weapon Summon(??)’.]

[A ‘Lv.1’ weapon is being summoned.]

The trait I had obtained by sacrificing everything I had was unleashed, and a cluster of light formed in my hand.

I wished and wished earnestly.

For a weapon to appear that could break through this situation.

And I saw it.

“……Huh?”

[Summoning weapon, ‘Colt garrison B-09’.]

A single gun, held in my hand as naturally as if it had been there from the start.