It’s been a week and a few days since I arrived at this prison and I still haven’t heard from the girl that summoned the kingpin’s daughter or me. I was already planning my escape when the soldiers dropped the bomb.

“Good news for you, mister hero!” The fatty soldier said in a sarcastic tone.

“Don’t tell; I’m finally getting to put you in a diet?” I replied to him in a similarly.

“Shut your mouth!” he yelled before another soldier calmed him down. A few coughs later, he said: “Anyway, by order of our great and humble king tomorrow you are going to be executed in the main square of the kingdom, as an example.”

“Quite funny, though I don’t believe it. I’m the hero, the king needs me,” I told him.

“Seems like you are still unaware, let me explain it to you.”

“Sure, just open the door, and I will explain a few things to you as well.”

“You still have high morals, I admire that, but we have a new hero, and finally I’m getting rid of you,” He said before laughing like crazy and going away.

It was a problem, as I had to come up with an escape plan. However, I wasn’t going to die here, and as I witnessed this week, security is pretty low. The soldiers seem weak, and if a jailbreak ever happened, they would end up outnumbered. The patrols are done by a single soldier every thirty minutes, so I could appear and disappear at any moment. The place has armoured doors at the end and beginning of each hallway but only a few stays closed. The thing I would have the most problems with is the monster of a lake that surrounds the prison.

Lophius was a creature of around seven meters long and three meters tall living within the pond. It was a combination of an anglerfish and a frilled shark that can make the strongest and fastest soldier shiver with only a glance. Being on a boat with it around isn’t dangerous, but in the water it can devour a person in seconds, leaving nothing behind. Usually, people condemned to death would end up being his food.

My only hope was to find the boat which travelled with criminals every week on the shore of this island prison.

I waited until night to begin the escape attempt, and I knew the only two outcomes were, escape or die. First of all, I needed the patrolling soldier to enter the cell. All I had to do was to play dead and not respond to the night call. I sat on the darkest corner of the room and waited until the three bangs on the door. This situation was like the time I got trapped in a Colombian jail.

“Night!” He said before hitting the door with his baton. This moment is the one I was hoping for; I can't ruin it. A single suspicious move will throw everything to trash, so I have to be careful.

“Night!” Yelled the soldier with a much stronger tone. But I still didn’t move a single centimetre from the spot I was. It didn’t take long before he entered the room.

“What the fuck are you playing? Didn’t you hear the call?” He said keeping the distance. However, I stood in place like nothing. He got close enough to grab his neck and twist it one-hundred eighty degrees. Then I put him on the ground making as less noise as possible and take everything useful he had.

Leaving the cell, I can hear the demands of freedom of all the other prisoners. This hall can harbour about twenty or thirty people, but none of them can be saved. I had to escape without making a ruckus that could alert the king.

Due to the keys I obtained from the guard, I managed to open the door to the next hallway. As I expected no soldier at sight is patrolling this path now. Without much resistance, the escape was going to be like water flowing down a pipe. I went silent, killing and hiding every soldier that I was finding in the way.

On the way to the first floor, I spotted a strange room. At first, I doubted I heard claps and people singing, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what was going on in that room, so I took a peek through a small window on the door. Then I found why most soldiers were missing. Most of them were getting filled with alcohol, arm fighting, dancing and having a blast on the room. I would have gotten away ignoring them if it hadn’t been for the lower glazes, clenched jaws, frowns and tears of the female slaves on the corner of the room. Also, their rape attempts made my blood boil.

I can’t tolerate this type of situation, especially when there are young people involved. Almost all are distracted or drunk to fight back so ending their lives isn’t hard at all. Without hiding, I opened the door, and the massacre began. Twenty soldiers dead in one single room, less to deal with later.

After stabbing the last one, I turned to the slaves who remained to hug each other in a small corner trembling without control. Looking closer I discovered not all of them were human, only one was human while the other four were monsters. As I started approaching the group, a female who looked like a fox stood in front and yelled: “Don’t you dare to move forward. I won’t let you hurt us!”

I had to stop her or she might attract unwanted guests. “I’m not here for that, seems like you are fine so I’m taking my leave.” They stared at me before whispering to each other. I wanted to flee from the prison, so I just took the useful items and left leaving a small gift on the door.

Right before going upstairs to the first floor I heard some soldiers coming from this way. Guessing by the sound metallic armour and the shake of their swords they were six or seven. I can’t fight that many at once even with a few daggers and a giant sword. I decided to hide in a near jail whose keys I had thanks to the idiots from before.

I hid in a similar cell to mine yet this didn’t have any window on door or wall. Everything I had to do was to wait until the guards were gone. Nevertheless out of my surprise one of them stopped in front of the room I was in. At first, I thought I was doomed and that this will end probably in a fight. I was ready to stab the first person to come through that door.

“Hey, keep going!” This voice sounded the same as the fat soldier who got mad at me.

“I just heard something suspicious inside,” He said to the chunky guard.

“Must be your imagination, now keep going!”

“Yes, sir.”

I felt relieved, and when I look back, I find the little girl that brought me here. She was in a cell chained by the hands, feet and with a metallic mask covering her head. She looked like having passed a through hell, malnourished, bleeding from an arm, feet and lots of bruises and torture scars. At first, I thought she was dead before I heard her slow and weak breaths.

As a hitman, I had been trained to endure the worst torture, the cruellest training, the harshest conditions but one thing I never got rid off, no matter how much I tried, was the feeling not to attack any children and mostly protect them if encountered one.

I can’t let them get away with this, especially with torturing little girls and rape attempts. Despite my seek of blood because of this, I can’t kill all the soldiers. Either I can leave her here alone. The regrets I would have later for leaving this girl here in this state would storm me to the day of my death so I took her on my back abandoning the long sword there as I can’t carry both. The keys of those scums are more useful than I thought.

Just opening the cell and the shouts of the soldiers reporting my escape resounded through the walls of the entire place. Perhaps they found out the dead bodies I left even if I hid them a bit. Running with her wasn’t easy, but I successfully managed to reach upstairs and cross the main door. After so long being underground the beams of the sun and the breath of fresh air stroking my head are the most beautiful things I feel. The crystalline water surrounding the place and the forest with tall trees on the other side made this place feel like if it wasn’t a prison.

Although it wasn’t the time to relax, I had to look for the boat. I took a while searching, but I didn’t find the ship. Lose hope wasn’t going to get me out of here so after thinking for a few seconds I realised the only way is to deal with the monster.

“He is here!” Yelled someone whose voice I didn’t recognise. Immediately I turned around, ready to attack, to find myself surrounded by seven soldiers including the fat guy.

“Did you think you can get away?” Said the chunky soldier, who I denominated meatball.

“Didn’t I tell you I will be putting you to regimen, meatball?” I told him not long later to see him uncover his grinding teeth.

“Kill this lowly bastard!” Mr Meatball ordered to the rest of his team. Regardless of the command nobody moved an inch. Their trembling legs and raising swords betrayed them.

“Come on!” I loudly said with my dagger at hand.

They instead of attacking, stepped back while the fat soldier, the chief guessing by the orders he was giving, was getting more and more pissed off.

“You will all receive your punishment later; I will show the power of a Chevalier!” He told them while drawing his sword.

He didn’t take long before trying to cut me. However his grip was weak, his defence inexistent and he wasn’t aiming for the vital points. All I had to do is move to the left avoiding the attack, quickly stab his shoulder, making him drop the weapon, and then his open a deep wound on his lumbus.

“Hope you like big fishes!” I told him before the final blow of throwing him to Lophius. He didn’t last a second upon it.

“Who is next?” I asked the remaining soldiers with a cold look. None of them dared to move forward and attack me. They decided to run back to the prison underground. However, they will die sooner or later as I let the slaves the keys of the prisoners in front of the door.

Now the only problem was Lophius. How could I beat such a beast and get to the other side? Maybe I was crazy or idiot, but I had to kill it so without thinking twice I stripped and jumped into the water with the dagger. I looked at all directions looking for the monster though I couldn't find it. Instead, it found me and approached so quick I only spotted the current it was making while moving before swallowing me.

Somehow I manage to survive, but everything is dark, slimy and soft. This place was without any doubt the insides of the beast. I guess this was like being in a whale, so all I had to do is find it’s heart. As I can’t see anything, I decide to follow my ears. The beats of the heart were getting stronger the deeper I was going.

Once sure to have found what seemed a heart I stabbed it with my dagger. It didn’t last long before the monster started swinging around like crazy and the water level increased. The monsters start sinking as I go up to the bright light once again to take a large breath. I would not by any circumstance eat finish for a long time after this.

After a short time, I decided to go back after the little girl who I should question once awake. I didn’t want to disturb her deserved rest so I slowly take her on my shoulders and get back to the water. Now it was safe to swim, so I quickly crossed the lake and reached to the other side.

I took a last glaze to the prison to only see the prisoners along the queen killing the soldiers at open air and throwing them into the water. Guess nobody knew Lophius was dead as everyone was afraid of the water. Anyway now I have to get as far as possible from that place and seek for more information about this world. This girl can be useful and disguise her as my daughter will be easy, so hiding isn’t hard at all.