"What? Who are you people?!"
"Are you the lord's men? I demand to see him!"
"I didn't do anything wrong! I told you!"
The inside of the dungeon wasn't as dirty as Rain expected it to be. Yes, it was cold, but there weren't any puddles along the path for them to step on at least. Proper channels for water to flow through were dug out on the sides of the corridor, which kept the floor serviceable to walk on. It wasn't that dark, either. Though the lighting there was nowhere as expensive as the vast network of expensive glowstones found inside Coin's establishment, the halls were still lit rather decently with braziers set up every few dozen paces from each other. And the reason for that became increasingly clear.
Along the way, they came across several prisoners who wore garments that a typical commoner couldn't afford. Some of them looked like merchants, while the others looked like lesser nobles. And according to their etiquette, the former had to be treated well even if they were locked up, regardless of their crimes. As to what those crimes were, none of them cared enough to ask.
There were no prisoners there that fit the description of "commoner". Perhaps the lord's dungeon was reserved for captives of high social status.
Well, that would make sense. Besides the lord's dungeons, there was also the village guard gaol.
"I wonder how deep this place goes?"
Stain shamelessly ignored every single person who called out to him, including the obvious nobles, and continued to mind his own business exploring the lord's dungeon. It looked like he was more interested in the layout and appearance of the place than its residents. Maybe it was the arrogance of the strong? Too bad, though, that the floors were quite small. Each level only took them a few minutes to look around in, and each time they went down a flight of stairs, the floors became noticeably smaller. There wasn't much to see, anyway. As expected, most of the cells were empty chambers. Perhaps they were only furnished depending on who it will be occupied with.
It didn't take them long to "explore" each floor. And as they went, they came across fewer captives. By the time they got down to the fourth level, the entire level was completely unoccupied, even by guards. And since there wasn't anybody who needed to be taken care of, the braziers had been left unlit and without any fuel.
But instead of being discouraged, Stain and Hornet looked noticeably excited.
"Maybe there's treasure here? Finders keepers, right, Rain?"
He looked at Snow, whose eyes started to sparkle with familiar greed, and shook his head.
"You're really going to steal from a noble?"
"Well! If he kept his stuff in such a place, maybe he doesn't need it anymore. It'll be much more useful with us, whatever it is."
"Ugh, this girl…"
They lit their torches and followed behind Hornet, who used a weak jet of flame from her lance to illuminate the path ahead.
Despite the darkness, the first area of the fourth level still appeared to be relatively well-maintained. In fact, it looked even better than the second and third levels. Instead of bricks, the floor was made out of smooth stones that were comfortable to step on, and the walls were even painted red.
It didn't take them long to find out why.
"Uhh, this is…"
"Mm! Yea, this looks like one o' "those" kinda places."
There were only two "cells" in that particular area. Each of them was far larger than any of the cells on the upper levels. That was to accommodate a… particular set of furniture and equipment.
"Handcuffs with fur, whips, candles, smooth rods… What are these for? A torture chamber?"
"Pff—"
As expected of someone whose brain is only built to make money; Snow was completely clueless about those kinds of things.
Ignoring Stain and Hornet, who threw themselves onto the gigantic bed, Rain pushed Snow out of the room to avoid having her eyes dirtied by all of the suggestive objects inside. It took the former two a few minutes to satisfy their curiosity about what was inside until they came out of the room… with not a small number of "souvenirs".
"... What are those?"
"Research material."
"Drinks."
It was incredible how they could answer with straight faces.
Rain could only shake his head. He looked back at Snow and noted the envious gaze she had pointed towards the stolen goods on the latter two's arms.
Hopefully, the next areas weren't filled with actual treasure.
********************
There was a total of six layers to the dungeon. The scale surprised Rain, who thought that the village could only afford maybe three or four levels at max. Though it was far from the rumored twenty-level jails underneath his own country's capital, six was still a staggering amount for such a small village.
Along the way, he had to stop Snow from joining in Stain and Hornet's blatant pillaging of the lord's properties. Multiple times. As for the two heroes, he couldn't bring himself to stop them. Maybe it's because they still intimidated him, despite their otherwise normal, yet peculiar behavior.
As expected of the deepest level, not much attention was paid to its comfort. In fact, it was quite frankly inhospitable. The walls were covered in moss and water had gathered from the upper levels into a two-centimeter-deep pool that couldn't be drained easily. The air was very cold and moist, almost to the point of freezing. It also stank something fierce. There was no way anybody could be detained inside the three cells that were built there and be expected to live for a prolonged time.
"Yep. Can't light these things up."
Hornet tried to blow flame onto the two braziers using her magic lance, but the fuel had already gone bad. At the very least the water there looked clear. The soil had done a good job of filtering out the rust, so corrosion wasn't much of an issue.
Stain, Snow, and Rain looked around to see if there was anything of note there. The latter two came up empty-handed. There were only a few stacks of boxes that contained old, moldy clothes and broken equipment. In a way, that provided them with a bit of relief. It was better to find nothing than something horrifying.
But Stain wasn't so unlucky.
"It's here!" he called out and beckoned everybody over. They all had to push and shove their way in just to fit inside the cramped cell. At least Hornet was self-aware enough to leave her "tail" and lance poking out through the door.
"The entrance looks intact. Doesn't look like anybody's gone through for a long time."
He pointed towards what looked like a cellar door that was partly hidden underneath a large wooden container.
"What's that?"
"It's something like a seal. Certain settlements have this underneath them."
"So, there's a seventh level?" Rain asked in shock. But Stain shook his head and said,
"Not exactly. It's not part of the dungeon. Technically."
He then proceeded to pull the boxes away to expose the entire door. It wasn't big at all. The size was just enough for a grown man to squeeze through by raising his arms. After that, he grabbed the conspicuous handle and pulled the door open. The water on the floor immediately started to drain into the opened cavity until the slope prevented any more from passing through.
"What is it, then?"
Despite having a torch up, Rain could only see darkness through the hole. At first, that was the only thing he could sense. But after a moment passed, a rancid smell of detritus and rust wafted through the hole. Both he and Snow recoiled and reflexively took a few steps back.
"That's–!"
"Don't worry," Stain hurriedly cut him off assuredly. "Hornet. Burn it."
Hornet nodded obediently and shoved both Rain and Snow out of the cell so she could fit her entire armored self. After one look and sniff at the hole, she grabbed the large gourd on her waist and took several mouthfuls of its contents. The smell of alcohol quickly overpowered the smell of decayed metal. Then, after confirming with Stain, she stared down the hole, took a deep breath, and–
"Fwoo–!"
A massive jet of fire escaped from her mouth and into the cave. The light it produced was intense enough to illuminate most of the dark floor in a brilliant red and orange blaze.
"Whoa…" Snow muttered quietly. Rain agreed.
They watched in awe and fear at Hornet's intimidating figure. The way she spread her arms which ended with a pair of clawed gauntlets, as well as the long "tail" that ended with a massive lance made her look like a dragon.
… It was just too bad that the two bags of stolen beverages tied to her back ruined it slightly.
A few dozen seconds passed before Hornet finally stopped. But instead of gasping for air, the first thing she reached for was her gourd to refill herself. Stain looked at her with mild disappointment on his face before he faced the audience and said, "It's fine now."
"What did she do?" was Snow's innocent question.
"Mm! Glassed 'im good. Should still be a bit rusty there, but y'know, can't have 'em all."
With a hiccup, Hornet jumped down into the hole without waiting for anybody else. A few seconds later, the hole lit up with the same light at the same time as smoke started to rise out.
"She'll burn the entire cave until it's safe. All we need to do is wait until she's done."
"Will she be all right?"
Stain laughed.
"Nah, don't bother."
That was Snow's first time seeing Hornet's ability, so her speechless jaw-drop face looked apt for the occasion. In a way, it was a far more impressive display than Stain's extremely fast swordplay. But, though Rain was also affected, he had already seen Hornet perform an even more awesome feat, so he was able to keep his calm a bit better than the former.
Though, if he was being honest, seeing someone breathe fire like a wyvern still spooked him.
"Now, then. Unless you want to go inside of an oven, we'll have to wait until the cave cools down. Let's go back up and get some rest first, yeah?"