The path down to the dungeon was not as "slippery" as it was made out to be. The moss covers the stairs and even the walls ensuring comfortable footing and a cool environment to the dungeon.
{There's no way that this is normal. I assume that what Ms. Garcia said was true about the stairs being slippery. Meaning that the moss occurred after the teachers who assaulted the students were placed here. Is this a Skill? For what purpose? It doesn't seem to be a trap…}
"AHH!" [???]
Hearing a shout behind me, I spread my feet to secure my footing. I turn my torso to see what's going on only to see someone throw themselves at me. Instantly, my mind goes into combat mode.
{Is this some sort of lunging attack, or a tackle to ruin my balance?}
Confused on what is happening, I decide to take the attack and counter, instead of opening the fight with a push kick into the enemy's face.
As soon as I Receive their attack, I realize how paranoid I was. The person behind me who threw themselves was Astrid and the attack was actually just her tripping on an outcropping of moss. Realizing at last second, I open my arms into a hug to try to stop her fall. While it did cushion her fall, it did nothing to stop the momentum which ended up with both of us falling down the remaining stairs and landing hard on the floor.
*SLAM*
I twisted my body in the air to cushion the blow for her. I thought that it would be the gentlemanly thing to do, however I forgot that she was taller than me and she had a tower shield on her back, so in reality, I almost ended up crushed from their combined weight.
"Argh." [Astrid]
"Are you alright? You hurt?" [Shin]
"Y-Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for catching me." [Astrid]
"No, don't worry about it. I'm glad that you're not injured." [Shin]
A couple of awkward seconds pass by as she looks at my face from on top of me. Until she realizes that she is doing so which then makes her face bright enough red that even I can tell in the dark.
"Uhm, now, c-could you let me go please." [Astrid]
"Oh, yeah…right." [Shin]
I completely forgot that I had her wrapped up in a bear hug. Making sure not to squeeze or touch anything I'm not supposed to, I unwrap my arms around her and help her stand up. Of course, not before I commit the feeling of her body to memory.
"Astrid! Are you alright?" [Lady Róża]
Lady Róża's distressed voice can be heard from well up the stairwell.
{How far did we fall? It only felt like a couple at steps at most, yet their voices are a decent distance away. How are we not hurt?}
That is, until I realize how spongelike the floor seems to be. Unlike the stairs which possessed a thin layer of moss, the dungeon floor seems to be covered in a denser layer of it to the extent that I feel like I'm on a very luxurious waterbed. I debate whether to just lay back down and fall asleep but hearing the other two rapidly coming down the stairs I give up immediately.
When Lady Róża and Elea reach the bottom floor, they both sport anxious looks filled with worry.
"Astrid?!" [Lady Róża]
"Lady Róża, don't worry, I'm fine." [Astrid]
"I see, I'm glad you're alright. I wouldn't like to see my friends hurt." [Lady Róża]
"If it wasn't for him, I might have been hurt but he caught me on the stairs." [Astrid]
"I see, then I thank you, criminal, for helping my friend." [Lady Róża]
"Please don't mention it, Lady Róża. It's only natural to save someone if possible." [Shin]
{Criminal?}
*CLANG!*
"HEY! WHO'S THERE?! [???]
The sound of steel banging on stone welcomes a new voice which booms from the back of the room. The candle that I held was snuffed in the fall, making it hard to see who or where they are due to the dim lighting from Lady Róża's candle.
"What? Why is there moss all the way out here?" [???#1]
"Yeah, well… I might have lost control of it for a bit. I'm not sure how to stop my Skill when I activate it…" [???#2]
{Huh? I'm fairly sure I know that voice…}
"You idiot, why would you use it then if you can't control it?" [???#1]
"Hey, how am I supposed to know how to work this fantasy shit in a day?" [???#2]
"Brock, no swearing. There are kids here." [???#1]
"They know all of those words by now. Plus, with all we've been through, swearing will probably help alleviate some stress. You should try it, Roxanne." [Brock]
Their conversation ends as they approach us and enter the light of the candle. It's hard to make out their faces but by going by their demeanor, they look to be teachers.
"Are you the teachers in charge of watching over the criminals?" [Lady Róża]
"Criminals? Oh, you mean students, got it. Yup we're in charge. OW!" [Brock]
The other teacher present elbows him hard in the ribs before turning to us.
"My apologies. We are indeed the ones the Emergency Committee placed to watch over the people suspected of crimes. There were others, but we have taken their place." [Roxanne]
{Just two of you?} [Shin]
"There are just two of you?" [Elea]
It seems that their lack of number have both Elea and I confused.
"Ah, the dungeon is completely dark, so we are the only ones actually able to see here because of our Skills. That ensures that escape is quite difficult. [Roxanne]
"I see. Then, we'll be leaving him in your care. Can you escort this criminal to his cell?" [Lady Róża]
"Yup, don't worry about it, Lady Róża. Now, come on over here you… Shin?" [Brock]
"Hey man. I told you I'd see you after school, right? Here I…hrrrrk" [Shin]
I can't even finish my sentence as I'm wrapped in another bear hug (strangled) by this giant ape.
"I didn't see you when they brought everyone together last night. I thought that you made it away. Knowing you, you probably slithered away from that summoning thing like the snake you are." [Brock]
"Even when brought to another world, your jokes still suck." [Shin]
"Is that anyway to treat the person who was worried the most about you? I actually looked for you know." [Brock]
"Yeah, Yeah. Thanks" [Shin]
{I'm happy that he's okay. However, I would have preferred it if he weren't summoned here with the rest of us. He deserved much better than this.}
"Umm… you're acquainted with each other?" [Roxanne]
"Yup. By the way, what are you here for? What did you do this time?" [Brock]
"Other students say he killed 3 teachers." [Lady Róża]
"Ah, I see. Well why did…. WAIT! HUH?! There's no way that happened." [Brock]
"Finally! Someone believes me. Thank you, Brock. I've always like…" [Shin]
"Even if he did, he wouldn't possibly leave any witnesses or evidence, so I know that he's innocent of these allegations at least." [Brock]
While the girls in the room give Brock a look of both disbelief and disgust, I stare daggers into his eyes.
"…I've always likened you to an idiotic ape who only brings misfortune to his friends with that giant mouth of yours." [Shin]
Turing to the other teacher, I say,
"Ignore that idiot. Should we head on in? I think standing here would be counterproductive." [Shin]
"R-right. Well then Lady Róża, we shall take it from here." [Roxanne]
"A-Alright then. I'll leave him to you." [Lady Róża]
With their cargo (me) being handed off to its destination, they turn around and head back up the stairs.
"Alright lets go, I have a bunch of questions for you!" [Brock]
"Save the questions for when I'm in the cell. The last bit of light that I had just left so how about you guide me before I fall." [Shin]
"Really? I had thought that you developed echolocation by now. My bad" [Brock]
"sigh… I'm not even going to as why you think that." [Shin]
"Um? I'm a little confused on what's going on, but I think that we should get back to make sure that the people in there aren't trying something." [Roxanne]
"You're right, c'mon" [Brock]
I feel two very thick hands clasp both of my shoulders and push me towards the steel door that I saw earlier.
Walking into a somewhat dangerous/dark area unprepared is not my forte so I activated my Delusion Skill and relied on my permanently activated Guarded and Reflex Skills to protect me if something happened.
At first, I used my Delusion Skill to check to see if there were any dangers further in, but I was reminded of the definition of the Skill.
"|Delusion Skill: You separate yourself from reality, enabling you to choose what is seen.|"
This got me wondering if I could use my Skill to have night vision similar to the military night vision goggles that were in my dad's collection. Sure enough, with a little effort, my vision becomes the greenish tinge like that of the night vision goggles that my father had. I'm unsure if this is due to my Skill leveling up or my lack of understanding of this Skill. All I know is that I need to spend time at some point going over my skills so that they are much easier to understand.
{While being able to see in the dark is good, Brock and Roxanne don't need to know that I can see.}
Now able to see and with Brocks meaty paws pushing me through, I let myself be guided into the interior of the dungeon.
…
When I was 14, one of my teachers brought me and my class to a prison for a children's tour. Why the hell did a prison, who contained murderers and worse, have a children tour option? Well, it all came down to an "education program" at my old school. The premise of the idea was to gather all of the troubling kids and try to scare them into behaving. I have no idea which genius thought of that idea but let's just say that it did absolutely nothing for the kids. In fact, I actually had a lot of fun learning about management of dangerous personnel.
Walking through this dingy dungeon, however, I'm reminded about the stark difference between our worlds. Where the prison I visited was clean and bright to prevent prisoner's injury and health, this dungeon looked like it was designed to maximize discomfort. The floor was a thin slab of stone which made the floor uneven to walk on and the darkness due to lack of windows made it impossible to see. However, I have Skills to help out with both of these issues. The only thing that they can't really help with is the wood-like ferns that are spread throughout the dungeon and whose leaves are low enough to brush my face.
"Hey Brock, why is this dungeon that has no sunlight filled with plants?" [Shin]
"Ah, yes. When I got down in this dungeon, the humidity was quite high, and humidity irritates my eye, so I used a Skill to grow some of the moss that was already here to remove some of the humidity." [Brock]
{Okay, sounds reasonable. Too reasonable…}
"Why didn't you tell me that was your reasoning? You could have been switched out with that other person if you said so." [Roxanne]
"That's because he's lying. I bet he was just bored and messed around with his Skills. So wouldn't waste any sympathy on him." [Shin]
Even without looking at his face, I can tell that I hit the nail on the head from his hands increasing their grip on my shoulder.
"Wha…? No way that's true. Roxanne! I swear it isn't like that. Oh, look. Here we are. Bye, catch you later." [Brock]
Completely trying to evade my accusation, Brock pushes me in a room before closing the door on my face. The last thing I hear before the doors slams is,
"I think you have some explaining to do, don't you?" [Roxanne]
*SLAM*
{Hoh, She sounds mad. That's what you get for lying.}
Now that I'm stuck in here, I turn my attention on my prison cell and unsurprisingly, there are only two things noticeable in the room. In a corner of the room is a plank of wood perpendicular to the wall and a small hole in the corner of the room.
{Yup. This is pretty much what I was expecting. Actually, for a castle/fortress, I'm surprised that there's even a hole in the floor to use as a toilet and a plank to use as a bed.}
I take off my backpack and place it on the bed before I sit up on the plank with my back against the wall.
"Well then, I wonder how this is going to play out." [Shin]