"Since I'm obviously not needed here anymore, I can just go back to my bed." With these words, the dark-haired one attempts to leave the canteen, but before he can, another guard blocks his path.
That repulsive one with whom Nora and I had such an unpleasant encounter in the shower. Kyle, as Tosa called him. The younger one's gaze wanders around the room in surprise. He looks at me and Nora first, then Gasard. The look directed at the redhead is filled with contempt.
Nora's eyes widen in fear as she sees him. Even I instinctively slide closer to Gasard, just to be further away from the guy. Suddenly, a scream pierces the silence.
"Gasard!" a scream from the dark-haired guard echoes through the room. "Are you crazy?" He holds his hand to his ear and curls up, without us even guessing the reason for it.
With a pained expression, full of anger, he looks at Gasard. But the latter holds on to his amused expression, seeming to affirm the dark-haired one's thoughts: "Is it so much fun to torture me today?"
The redhead laughs and only turns to me after he calms down. "That's the most effective way to get his attention, if necessary."
I don't understand it at all. Nor do I understand why the guard screamed in pain. Nevertheless, I listen intently to his words.
"You don't need to tell her that!" the guard says, massaging his ear. He pushes his bowl away and rests his head on the table as before. "She figured it out all by herself!"
I suspect he means the thing he warned me about, touching the bracelet.
A yawn comes from the guard. "Does that have to be? I can forget about sleeping for now." He stuffs a few slices of fruit into his mouth. "Just you wait! For all of this today, I'll think of something nice for revenge."
You have to listen carefully to understand him with his mouth full.
His comrade watches them all silently. His gaze occasionally falls rather hostilely on the dark-haired one. It's clear to me that this hostility mainly comes from our rescue.
"Guards should actually be at their posts," Gasard shouts, his gaze more on the younger one than the other. Still, he pats the latter firmly on the back.
A violent blow causes the young man to choke.
"Are you nuts?" he coughs out.
The younger guard leaves the room while the other one can recover briefly. Not for long, though.
"Besides, I'm hungry! At least let me eat!" The guard wipes his sticky mouth with his sleeve. "Come on now!" Gasard orders. His smile doesn't look strict, but friendly. "Get lost, or I'll set this thing to alarm!" He holds up the bracelet.
"I'm already gone!" The dark-haired one grabs a few more fruits, then hastily leaves the room.
Gasard starts laughing loudly. When he calms down again, his gaze wanders to Nora. "Could you please go too?"
She nods and follows his request.
My gaze, however, curiously wanders to the man. What does he plan now, I wonder?
He holds the bracelet in front of my eyes. After a while, his fingers slowly run over the stones. I try to remember the sequence.
"If you press these stones, the guy gets a signal," he explains to me. "But only if you really need help. The signal is pretty loud."
I can imagine those are the stones he pressed earlier. Still, I look at him confused. How does all of this work?
"The bracelet has several functions," he begins to explain. "It's mainly intended for mutual communication." Gasard pauses briefly. "If I had to explain everything to you, it would take weeks or months. Besides, it's not exactly my simplest device. Even I would have to go through my notes again to find out how everything works."
"What do you mean by mutual communication?" I inquire curiously. "If I may ask."
Gasard nods. Then he begins to explain.
"There are exactly two pieces of this bracelet. They can communicate with each other. When I made these things, I was bored. Additionally, the bracelets can also eavesdrop on the surrounding area, making them very useful for espionage purposes. The person to whom this signal is directed can determine whether their surroundings notice anything or not."
I listen with interest to his explanation.
"Down here, we only use them for espionage purposes. One reason why I think this idea is insane." He shakes his head with a sigh. "Torsos said it might be better to protect you this way because there can't always be someone directly with you."
I was shown once that the bracelet has its purpose. I don't want to think about what Kyle could have done to us if this guard hadn't shown up.
However, it's also not a pleasant thought that one of the other prisoners could discover the bracelet. I resist thinking about such a thing.
Would Moriphos continue to protect me if he knew about it?
"Rest assured," he winks at me. "Since you've been wearing the bracelet, the good guy has come to me seven times because he messed something up."
I wonder if I should really be happy about that. After all, my life could depend on it again someday, and he should be able to operate it or I should.
"The sounds can be received in several ways, one of them being a receiver in the ear."
Now I begin to understand why the guard screamed earlier.
Internally, I struggle with the feeling of pity for the guard and schadenfreude. After some back and forth, I decide to go with the latter.
He deserves it for the way he treats me!
"Through this receiver, the person concerned can understand everything; those present don't notice anything."
This was demonstrated to me earlier and sounds somehow interesting.
"Then there's also a built-in speaker in the bracelet." Gasard holds up the bracelet and presses the stones in a sequence that is too fast to remember.
"Hey, hey, wait a minute!" suddenly, a voice I know well echoes in the room from the bracelet. The voice of that guard who helped me in the shower.
"I've had enough!" a second voice, which I've also heard earlier that day, resounds. That man in black among the guards. His voice is filled with anger.
Curiously, I wonder what's going on.
"I have to restore order here; someone who doesn't follow any rules can't just show up," he reprimands the other.
"Good old Marto is an old stubborn one," Gasard says with a laugh. "Even our beloved ruler doesn't get the upper hand when he argues with him. Which happens quite often."
I look at Gasard incredulously. I wouldn't have thought that someone like him would listen to a subordinate, but it makes him even more interesting.
"It's mostly disputes where Torsos wants to be right but isn't," he explains, grinning.
"I'm not usually a guard," the guard sulks.
"Do you know how little I care about that?" Marto shouts. "As long as you wear that uniform, you're under my command!"
"Okay, old man!" the guard groans, sounding annoyed by the commotion. "I give up."
Gasard presses a few stones again, and then the conversation falls silent.
"There are still some functions, but explaining all of that would take a long time," he opens the bracelet again and puts it on me.