I'm at a loss.

What should I do?

This guy... His identification card says his family name is Luto, and hometown is Chosira town.

Why do these names sound so familiar? I should have asked him earlier, before he drank the tea…

Why did I have to ramble on and on with that monologue in the first place? I could've interrogated him with all that time I wasted…

He drank so much of the drugged tea that his mind stopped working. Now he's just laughing hysterically while looking around randomly with soulless eyes.

This prison's existence was supposed to be a secret to the people. Anyone who accidentally finds out about it like this guy would normally be executed, but the names listed on his card were so familiar that I decided to put his execution on hold until it was deemed safe to do so.

* * * * *

"What did you say?!"

"Those names you brought up earlier… Our king came from Chosira town, and was married into the Luto family at some point."

"How accurate is this information?"

"That's what these intelligence documents say. Our agents are quite reliable."

"Did he have children?"

"A few. He left them all behind in Kitrod, though."

"So there's a chance this guy could be a relative of our king?"

"It's possible. I've confirmed with our intelligence network that the nearby towns don't have any families with the same house name."

"Ah, crap…"

"Is something wrong?"

"We can't dispose of that guy, then…"

"Why not? We can probably make it look like he fell off a cliff or something."

"He has the backing of both commander Mavuto and general Denato, and those two would give us hell if they found out."

"Would they even know he came here?"

"His province is still supposed to be on rotation today, so if he managed to travel this far, then he must have received permission to go to another town. They definitely know."

"You have a point…"

"We have to return him back to the surface."

"Are you sure?"

"What choice do we have?"

"But he knows too much already."

"We'll just have to make him forget. Bring me an expert on hypnosis, quickly!"

"Yes, sir. I'll be back soon."

That drug inside the tea can easily be used to exploit others. It clouds their judgement and deprives their will for a few hours, so as long as the victim is conscious, others can give orders or implant false ideas in their heads.

I'll just make him drink more tea tonight, and have that hypnosis expert make him forget about everything that happened today.

* * * * *

The boy is lying there half-naked and asleep after an hours-long hypnosis session. The hypnotist is confident that he won't remember anything when he wakes up.

As for why he's half-naked, we had to get rid of evidence that he got lashed by a whip. One of the prisoners is surprisingly good at sewing, so we forced him to patch up the boy's clothes. He was complaining about having to do more work after a long forced labor session, but readily complied after we lashed him a couple times. Some blood might have splashed onto the boy's robes, but his clothes are already bright red, so he probably won't notice.

Several hours later, after confirming that the boy and his possessions were in the same state as when we found him yesterday, we carried him back up to the surface. His province's rotation was scheduled to end today, so we decided to drop him by the old windmill that somehow became the town's route marker. If he wakes up, he'll probably be able to spot a carriage passing by since it's so close to the main road.

"Ugh… It's too bright out here…"

I've been living underground for years now. It might be the early sunrise hours right now, but even that gentle sunlight was too harsh for me. I'd probably go blind if we came up here any later than now.

We went back inside the mill, headed into the tunnel leading underground, and slowly moved the large grinder back in place to cover the underground entrance. It might look like a heavy stone grinder on the outside, but it's actually very light.

As the last one to return, I had to close a few more hatch doors on the way back, to make sure nothing can accidentally find its way to the underground.

Well, I hope the hypnotist was right about that boy forgetting everything that happened.

Maybe I should drink some of that tea and forget about this whole ordeal, too…