“Here are the keys, sir...”

Raeran took the jangling keys from the thin guard and placed them in his pocket.

“Uh sir, are you sure you want to... that cockroach...”

“Shut up.” Raeran interrupted. “Away from my sight.”

The skinny guard with the annoying voice chattered his teeth against each other as he hastily walked away from the knight. Raeran sighed and looked down at the bunch of keys in his hands. He shook his head and stepped towards the cell deep in the palace’s underground dungeon.

Raeran came to the cell and looked inside through the bars. The dark prison barely had any light reaching inside it. Next to his feet was a plate of half eaten food. He scanned over the inside of the cell and found a man in a coat sitting motionless on the floor with his back against the wall.

With furrowed brows, Raeran opened the lock to the cell and swung the small door open. He stepped inside and the door shut on its own. Raeran stopped right before stepping into the dark part of the cell and looked down at the Otherworlder.

That same person filled with regality and composure that he had brought here was sitting against the wall with a dark and emotionless face. His smooth wheat hair trickled down his muddied brown eyes.

It was not the face of a person who had given up.

It was not the face of a person who had reached a compromise.

Seeing the man with his own eyes, Raeran knew. For his princess, for her goals, for himself.

He had to kill the Otherworlder right here.

“Sir Iatra,” he said in a low voice. “My lady asked me to take you to her.”

The Otherworlder lazily raised his eyes up and looked at the knight with an amused gaze.

“She is a princess, after all. I should have expected this. Not knowing her place.”

“What do you–”

“Tell your princess to come here herself.”

“You...” Raeran clenched his fists and bit on his lips. With another sigh, he looked around again before taking a step towards the Otherworlder.

“Sir Iatra. I do not know what card you have, but getting rid of a prisoner or two is no big deal for the Princess.” Raeran approached the Otherworlder and leaned closer and closer to him. With each second, he could feel his muscles tightening. His mind was on full alert, waiting for the perfect moment to draw his blade.

Raeran extended his hands towards the Otherworlder as if helping him up and continued. “My lady asked me to take you to her, Sir Iatra. You wouldn’t turn her down, would you?”

The Otherworlder narrowed his eyes in a begrudging manner and reached out to grab Raeran’s hand.

‘NOW!’

A glint of light flashed through the dark prison cell. The elf knight withdrew his sword at breakneck speed! As he swung the sword ahead, the Otherworlder pulled his hand as far back as he could.

–Thwamp!

Thin and sharp wires pulled against the knight’s body in an attempt to drag him towards the prison door. The thin wires, pulled with great force, made their way through the small gaps in Raeran’s clothing and pierced against his skin.

The Otherworlder had perfectly timed his actions to take his attention away from when he was wrapping the wires. From the door to the conversation, it was all but a game to create the best opportunity for him.

Surprised as he was, Raeran was still an esteemed knight. He fluidly maneuvered his sword around himself and pinned it against the wires. He leveraged his weight to keep the wires at bay.

“WEAPONS!?” Raeran growled out loud. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t pierce through the wires. The same spells that affected the prisoners also affected him and he couldn’t use his mana to get out at all.

“Fuck! My plan failed.” The Otherworlder scrunched his face in a distressed frown and inadvertently took a step back.

“Iatra Fors!!” Raeran shouted. “Don’t run away now, face me!!”

Raeran leaped in the sky and passed through the wires. He rushed towards the Otherworlder with his blade pulled back.

-Swish!

Like a meteorite falling from the sky, a black figure fell right down on Raeran. The knight jumped back with all his might and avoided the falling object as a sharp pain ran down his forehead and all the way to his torso.

‘Good work, lad. Just focus on supporting me now.’

Cockarista had appeared from above.

“W-what... He wasn’t there just moments ago...” Raeran mumbled in surprise as he tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword. “No way... the cockroach is on your side?”

“It’s Lord Cockarista vi Cafard for you,” said the Otherworlder.

Raeran howled and charged ahead again. A rainfall of slashes erupted from his blade as he swung his sword at Cockarista with masterful movements, yet the Cockroach dodged them all by barely moving a few inches.

The entirety of the knight’s physical strength fell short against the casual movements of the cockroach. After a brief yet intense bout of attacks, the Otherworlder finally clicked his tongue.

‘Let’s end this.’

‘Go on.’

The Otherworlder pulled his hands again and Raeran was pulled off his feet. Before the knight could make sense of what had happened, a black, thin appendage appeared in front of his eyes.

-CRACKKK!!

With a deafening sound, Cockarista’s punch landed square on the knight’s face. The elf knight flew backwards and slammed against the walls before falling to the ground. His eyes had popped out and his skull had caved in from the cockroach’s full forced punch.

It was an instant death.

The Otherworlder gulped at the crazy spectacle before turning to the cockroach again. Why hadn’t this bastard left yet? He wanted to ask.

‘Did you make sure the door didn’t close?’ Cockarista asked.

‘I did. You placed the wires just right.’ Without mana, the Otherworlder couldn’t control the wires at his will, so he had no choice but to depend on Cockarista for placing them at places where he could control them with ease.

He swung his fingers around and pulled them back to open up the door to the cell. The two partners nodded at each other and slowly stepped out of the cell.

Cockarista stretched all six of his arms in glee and turned his head around to look at the outside of the cell. ‘I didn’t think I'd get out so soon... It’s all thanks to you, lad.’

‘Me? No way,’ the Otherworlder said. ‘My contribution will begin now. I know the palace inside out, after all.’

Cockarista chuckled and patted on the Otherworlder’s shoulders. Before they set off, the cockroach turned to the Otherworlder again and looked into his eyes.

‘Tell me, lad. Why are you trying to save that girl? You don’t seem like a dumb and naïve idealist to me. Then why? What cause are you reaching for? What plot are you sowing?’

The Otherworlder’s eyes slightly widened at Cockarista’s words before being replaced by a cocky smirk.

‘Scheme? Plot? No way, it’s nothing like that.’

He reached into his pocket and took out a coin, holding it up against the cockroach.

‘I just... flipped a coin once, you see.’