'So, the zombie warrior that you saved the girl from was the summoned hero? And now you will be blamed for slaying him?'

'Yeah, what a mess.'

'An unbelievable amount of neglect. Even if a hero can be summoned in just six months, such carelessness from the kingdom…'

The Otherworlder raised his eyebrows at the new bit of information Cockarista had revealed. 'Six months?' he asked in his mind. 'What's with that?'

Cockarista coughed and shuffled in his spot. Cockarista had blended into the darkness while the Otherworlder sat away, near the bars of the cell as they had their conversation with just telepathy.

'They say in the days of yore, the kingdom was clouded by a tremendous peril. It was then that a hero from another world came into our own and expunged the evil from the skies of the kingdom. An era of peace and prosperity began, but on his deathbed, the Hero spoke of how the evil is not gone and will return.'

'Since then, they have been summoning heroes to prepare for this evil?'

'Initially, yes. But now the hero is a symbol for the people and a thorn for the royalty. Regardless of the cause, a summoned hero has died. Someone must be punished.'

The Otherworlder nodded at the cockroach's words as he changed his assessment of him. Cockarista was much more knowledgeable about the world than he had assumed.

-Tap.

Just then, the sound of footsteps rang out in the cell. The guard was coming back to check on them.

-Tap.

The Otherworlder scooted towards the bars of the cell. He thought of faking shouts and sobs to fool the guard when Cockarista's voice rang in his head.

-Tap

'Do nothing, just sit still.'

-Tap

The footsteps stopped in front of him as the stout man who had come to replace the guard showed his face. Hearing the cockroach's words, the Otherworlder immediately shifted to a stoic and calm look.

A deep frown covered his face as the stout man's eyes fell on the Otherworlder. He then looked around in his cell and got even angrier. He looked at the Otherworlder again, who was now meeting his eyes, and spat on the bars of the cell.

"You're lucky that thing hasn't come out yet."

The Otherworlder was about to offer a counter when Cockarista's voice echoed in his head again.

'Don't tell him anything!

"You still have a chance, accept whatever the princess asked of you and you would get out—"

—Ptooey

A mixture of wet phlegm and saliva passed through the bars and landed on the stout man's face. He dabbed it with his fingers and brought it in front of his eyes as the Otherworlder gave him a satisfied smirk.

Cockarista asked him not to talk back, so he spat at him instead.

"Y-YOU! BASTARD!"

The stout man's round face went red with rage. He stomped on the floor and grabbed the bars of the cell like a bull pushing through a wall.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD I'LL—"

—Ptooey

The Otherworlder spat on him again.

As if time had stopped in that instance, the stout man was stunned in his spot. His rage had disappeared like a mirage and was replaced with disbelief.

"You... I was going to kill you myself." the stout man's voice was akin to a whisper. "But now, even if you beg me, I will not get you out. You are going to die, you are going to die like a dog, they all do. Nothing will save you anymore. "

The Otherworlder's smirk only grew wider and wider as the guard slowly backed away.

His luck had really worked like a charm this time. When they took all his weapons, he thought the situation was getting hopeless, but the guards had themselves landed him in the hands of a partner he could escape with.

'What was the motive behind those actions of yours?' Cockarista asked.

'I wouldn't get another chance to. That fatso annoyed me,' the Otherworlder responded with little thought.

Cockarista was silent for a few seconds. He reassessed his image of the Otherworlder in his head. The Otherworlder was much more impulsive and bold than he had imagined.

'I have a question,' the Otherworlder said.

Cockarista sighed. He had expected the question, but didn't know how to answer well. 'Any other person would try to attack me. I couldn't even communicate with them. I had no choice.'

'No, no, not that. I wanted to ask why you are stopping me from speaking. You made sure I didn't utter a word since I came here. Why?'

The Otherworlder's observations and his nonchalance in brushing off the topic of Cockarista's murders stunned the cockroach. This stranger was already putting so much faith in him. It went against his honor as the slayer of a hundred dragons, the leader of the headless, and the hero of Cucaracha.

Cockarista nodded in determination as he decided to place as much faith into the Otherworlder as he was placing in him.

'Listen thee, my partner.'

The Otherworlder raised his eyebrows at Cockarista's sudden change in tone.

'I ask you to not speak for that wretched princess. She can hear us.'

'Huh?'

Cockarista nodded and pointed its legs outside the prison, towards a small rock. Squinting, the Otherworlder could faintly make out some markings on the stone. The events gathered in his head like pieces of a puzzle and formed a picture of the Otherworlder's head.

Knowing all about his identity without Raeran's explanation, rising from a simple princess not in the race to the leading candidate in a short span of time, and the knowledge of the language of an isolated country.

'That princess' secret, her gift, is the ability to listen.'

The princess could turn things into receptors. Whatever she marked, she could listen to everything from it.

A dreadful ability.

A terrifying power.

Something that could lay hundreds to waste, something that could give immense information, something that could raise great status, something that could bestow unattainable knowledge...

... and something that was useless against the Otherworlder and Cockarista.

'Sir Cockarista,' the Otherworlder muttered blankly in his mind.

'Yeah?'

'I think I've found an escape plan.'