There’s a saying in this world.

If you spend a long time as a prisoner, eventually prisoners start boasting about their shackles.

Whose are bigger, heavier, stronger.

How hard it is to wear them.

At first, you might think, nah, no one really brags about that, but the truth might be otherwise.

Because I’m no different myself.

Good equipment.

Status.

Money.

Skills and experience, and so on...

Feeling proud of what you’ve earned through sweat and blood, wanting others to recognize it, yet sometimes an emptiness sweeps through your whole body.

What use are wealth, fame, and power?

Because once you return to the real world, it all becomes meaningless hard labor.

Therefore, the man thought.

Good equipment.

Status.

Money.

Skills and experience, and so on...

No matter how much you talk about it, in the end, it’s just boasting about shackles to someone else.

“Sigh, I want to eat Big Mac.”

Because this world is a prison.

There was a man quietly looking into a mirror.

Thump—

His appearance was reasonably decent.

Wearing full white armor.

Thump—

The man gazed at his reflection for a long while, feeling an inexplicable awkwardness.

Ah, maybe it wasn’t inexplicable?

Swoosh.

He smoothed the upper left part of his breastplate.

Where his finger touched was empty, showing only faint traces visible upon close inspection.

You know that thing?

Like when you stick a sticker for a long time and then peel it off, leaving a mark.

Thunk.

He withdrew his hand from the mark.

He was no longer a paladin belonging to the order.

Having officially left the order, he became an outsider, no longer allowed to use the title ‘paladin.’

As proof, he had returned the emblem that was attached to his armor.

No longer was he obliged to attend dawn prayers, pre-meal prayers, or the midnight prayers they held every night before sleeping.

But still...

Thump—

The man knelt on the carpeted floor with eyes closed, saying a brief prayer.

It was a habit he maintained every morning even after leaving the order.

“The star that rises at twilight will guide us...”

In fact, he hated prayers.

When in the order, he internally complained about how often they prayed, sometimes even skipping with excuses.

Yet he kept up the morning prayers alone for one reason.

In a way, it was the same reason all humans pray to gods.

“I, your servant, earnestly beg you, please do not take away your power from me. Have mercy. Save me in times of crisis.”

Because he was anxious.

He had built a tank character relying on holy power, and if one day his holy power vanished, he’d instantly become useless.

In reality, many who left the order lost their holy power entirely.

Honestly, prayers also gave him peace of mind.

The desire to lean on something exists even for a lump of rock.

Thump—

After a brief silent prayer, the man stood up.

Looking up at the ceiling, he said,

“...Please, I beg you. It seems the goddess cares for the baron, so I will continue to serve faithfully by his side. Okay?”

Though the tone was far from reverent for a prayer, it was not unfamiliar to him.

Even during his time in the order, though his lips uttered solemn prayers, his mind spoke like this—and yet his holy power grew steadily.

Maybe the goddess preferred this relaxed relationship.

...Or maybe not.

Knock, knock.

Just as he was about to leave, a knock came at the door.

“Parab, are you in there?”

A familiar woman waited at the door.

Small build.

Round eyes.

Overall gentle impression, but somehow gave off an aura of stubbornness and justice.

“Marone? What brings you here? There’s still time before assembly...”

“Just thought big armor is hard to put on alone... Maybe you need help? But looks like you got it all on already!”

“Hahaha... At first, it was hard for me alone too, but I got the hang of it eventually. Thanks for the concern.”

“Finished? Want to go together? Assembly time is near.”

“Ah, sure.”

They left the room together for the meeting.

Several were already gathered, including a seriously-faced deputy captain.

Bersil Gowlund.

Another prisoner with proud shackles in this vast prison.

By the way, she recently got new shackles.

“At first, I didn’t realize, but lately I feel Yandel’s absence a lot. Gowlund must be having a hard time too...”

“Hahaha... That’s probably true...”

Parab smiled awkwardly and tried to catch her breath.

Thump!

Even without heavy exercise, his heart throbbed fiercely since he woke up.

A symptom started the day he returned to this city.

Several days had passed, but it still didn’t get easier.

This thing just wouldn’t get familiar.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!

Still anxious to the point of madness, sometimes panic attacks made it hard to breathe.

Because of that instinct—whether blessing or curse.

‘Please, let today pass safely.’

Suddenly feeling worse, he closed his eyes and prayed again to the goddess of this world.

At that moment—

Pshuuuuuuuuung-!

The sound of a fighter jet taking off hit his eardrums.

All the clan members gathered in the clearing looked up in shock.

“Huh?”

Something shot into the sky like a rocket, arcing towards the city center.

Slow yet incredibly fast.

Leaving a clear trail in the sky, something shining was launched.

And then...

Daeang! Daeang! Daeang! Daeang-!

The city wall alarm bells rang in unison.

Kwaaaaaaaang-!!!

Soon, the entire city shook.

Drdrdrdrdr-!

A faint tremor was felt on basement 6.

I looked at Raven and quietly organized my thoughts.

“A portal, huh...”

Barbarians don’t dismiss absurd claims; they don’t limit their imagination.

Though the mage seemed unsure.

“I... well, maybe not. I just faintly felt the typical magical wave of a portal beyond...”

Even if not a ‘guide’ who instinctively senses portals from afar, she was the most sensitive to mana.

So, there really was a portal beyond.

Moreover... I’d heard rumors about this once before.

Thunk, thunk...

Twenty years ago, at the round table.

No, now that much time had passed, it was more like twenty-something years ago.

There, a fiend named ‘Kagureas’ from another world said.

[There is a portal underground in the royal palace.]

Besides the dimensional square, somewhere beneath the palace there’s a portal.

Maybe this was it.

“Hopefully it’s not the portal connected to the labyrinth...?”

Well, we’ll have to check, but probably not connected to the labyrinth.

Because ‘Kagureas’ also said:

[I only learned by chance, but it seems not connected to the labyrinth.]

Well, it was just hearsay.

But since the first discoverer said so, it had some credibility.

“Anything else besides the portal?”

“That needs a closer look...”

“Hurry up. Maybe we’ve made an incredible discovery.”

Did she like the phrase ‘incredible discovery’?

Raven enthusiastically investigated the box (?) where the portal was suspected.

She circled around once.

Carefully checking for grooves, circled again, floated up with levitation magic to see the top.

Kwaang-!

Tapping the walls with the flail, even instructed me to dig if I had a shovel...

After trying everything, only one thing was certain.

We couldn’t find anything besides the portal’s existence.

Ah, is there one more thing?

Well, not learned from investigation.

“Hey, Yandel! Look! The ceiling we fell through is restored!”

The floor °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° of basement 5 that caused us to fall had been neatly repaired.

Because of that, even the faint tremors stopped.

It felt like we were completely cut off from the outside now, and panic welled up.

“Can we use teleport? We can still use teleport, right?”

“Huh? Ah... wait a moment!”

Finally, Raven seemed to get scared that we might be trapped here forever and quickly drew a magic circle on the ground and did some tests.

And...

“Yandel...?”

“Speak quickly.”

“There’s... bad news and good news—”

“Bad news first.”

“I don’t think we can use multi-teleport magic here... The mana keeps scattering...”

Damn, so we’re really trapped here?

Sounds crazy, but I kept calm.

“Then the good news?”

“Though invisible to the naked eye, a spatial transfer magic circle is buried beneath this floor. It seems to cause the mana scattering, but if we activate it—”

“Briefly.”

“We can escape, but we don’t know where we’ll end up.”

...So no need to worry about being trapped forever.

That was reassuring.

“You know military magic circles, right? This is almost the same. You create a magic circle at a designated coordinate, then consume mana to travel back and forth easily...”

“Main point.”

“This magic circle has one circuit. Only two-way travel is possible. So what will you do?”

No need to think.

“Are you sure there’s nothing more we can find here?”

“Yes. If there were research facilities, maybe, but with bare hands, this is it.”

“Got it. Then activate the magic circle immediately.”

“Yes.”

Knowing I’d choose this, Raven started the activation without hesitation.

“It’ll probably take some time. I’ll check if there’s anything dangerous. I’ll tell you when it’s done, so rest.”

Since it would take some time, I approached the cubic structure in the center.

A gray structure, neither black nor white.

Its surface was soft enough to leave a mark if touched, yet so durable that dozens of strikes with a flail left no scratch.

‘If there really is a portal inside, there must be a way to enter...’

Hmm, maybe magic or a card key would open the entrance?

But if it were magic, Raven would’ve noticed something...

Lost in thought, I considered something else not to waste time.

‘Noark.’

Maybe a far more important matter than that mysterious box. Who had those bastards allied with, and what were they trying to accomplish?

Just wanting to overthrow the royal family didn’t quite add up.

‘...Zone 7.’

And what about zone 7?

Judging from the situation, it seemed ‘Thunder’ had exploded there once more, just before the collapse...

Hopefully, it’s safe—

“...Huh?”

Just as the incident reached that point, I flinched and stepped back from the box (?).

There was no choice.

There were what looked like human handprints from below the wall I’d been touching earlier.

Sssuuk.

Slowly putting my hand to the handprints, a mirrored handprint on the opposite side twitched.

And faintly, a voice was heard.

[Let me out.]

The unexpected chill sent shivers down my spine, but thanks to that, I learned the box’s true nature.

[Please.]

This box was a prison.