He slowly forced his body that was beginning to feel slightly better and more tolerable towards the seat and sat down with his hands still tied behind his back, taking slight glimpses towards the captain on the other side.

[ Silence! ]

One of the men behind the captain cast an anti-spying spell, to ensure what happens inside stayed private.

"My name is Reagrit Theoden, what is yours?"

Calmly, he grabbed a piece of paper from his desk and spoke gently, which was something that Ren did not expect.

"My name is Rem…" He mumbled back, finding the brain in himself to come up with a fake name to see if they had some way of lie detection, just to get it out of the way early.

"Rem… That is quite an unusual name is it not?"

"Well sir… I'm not from around here…" He replied, a harsh emphasis on the word "sir".

A small chuckle was heard from the other side, making Ren's worry increase even more.

"Of course I know that… Do you think I'm an idiot? I know exactly where you're from…"

"Y-you do!?"

Ren's eyes grew wide hearing the captain's words, making many questions in his mind surface such as are isekaied people a common thing? And, did his body have a life prior to him inhabiting it? But, none of his assumptions seemed to be the answer.

"You're a soldier from the Orobonian theocracy sent to raid these villages, churches, and temples in the name of the devils and demons you people associate with!"

The answer caught Ren completely off guard, it was a neighbouring country that old man Adrian had talked to him about but he did not know what they had to do now, and he could not help but let his opinions be known.

"W-what?! I-I'm not from there! I—"

*SNAP*

[ Holy Light ]

Suddenly, a massive beam of white, holy energy shot out of the ground and ceiling beneath him, bathing his body in white.

The sensation of his flesh burning by some odd, divine light that both felt like fire and did not all at the same time felt so surreal. The pain was unlike anything he had experienced, it was unimaginable, like small, microscopic daggers striking him everywhere on his body, especially his heart.

A feeling of lightheadedness and nausea took over himself as he felt like he was about to pass out or even die at any second. Every part of his being ached for an answer to this feeling of misery and any answer that could bring relief was one worth considering. It was all too much to handle and for a moment he even considered giving in to the pain and giving up before immediately shaking that thought away like it never occurred as he continued to fight on.

And, after what felt like an eternity of suffering in his mind, the pain suddenly subsided, leaving his body aching and nearly once again broken, no signs of burns to be found on his body despite the feeling.

"That is what you get when you lie to me… You got that?" The voice of that devil was picked up by his ears, making him look up to see his deadly, life-sucking stare.

"What do you expect me to believe? You come to my town wearing the standard Orobonian soldier's uniform and you expected me to accept that lie? Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the knight captain! Not some fool who thinks the people who attacked Nuxvar were simple mercenaries! I can tell an Oroborian insignia when I see one! Summoning and controlling a filthy vampire is 100% something they would do to increase their fighting strength!"

Ren was breathing heavy still trying to recover and take everything in— the air that he had been so deeply fantasizing about no longer mattered or felt as good as it did the first time.

The armour that luck had given him must have belonged to one of the "bandits" that he now recognized as proper soldiers. He had to be careful about what to say if he did not want to get fried once more.

"Understood..."

The captain slowly nodded back.

"Good!"

"So! You and your buddies had just attacked Nuxvar and killed hundreds in cold blood! From what I've seen, you must have been here to spy on us… So… Is Goldcrest the next target? Who are you after? Is it one of the Refugees here? Are they one of your targets? Did you hear about our holy festival and come to ruin it in the name of your devils? And where is your group's camp?"

If Ren could sweat, his entire body would have already been soaked. He had absolutely no idea what the answer was to any of those questions… But for his own survival, he had to answer…"

"Before I answer, I would like to know how long I've been asleep for to assess the situation,"

"3 days! You slept like a sloth! No matter how many times we tried to wake you up, no matter what we used you would simply not budge… Now answer the damn questions!"

"Understood... I'll answer the best I can."

Ren pretended to be remembering the answers when in reality he was using the time to come up with his lies.

"I have no knowledge of this festival of yours. We have no target in this city… And yes… This city is our next target, there should be an attack either today or tomorrow. Our camp is a few kilometers northwest of the town in between two small hills beside a river. As for the motives, I really don't know! I'm just a simple soldier! Please don't hurt me! I promise I'm telling you the truth!"

…

Silence once again befell the room as the captain put his hands over his mouth, deep in thought before he spoke.

"Norrix! Go out and confirm if this man's claims are truthful! Be back here in 2 hours and report your findings to me!"

"Yes sir!"

One of the men immediately saluted and bowed, sprinting out of the room in haste.

That was when the captain's cold, bone-chilling gaze was brought back towards him who was slowly losing more and more of his sanity…

'Two hours… All I have to live are two hours huh… It's been a nice run...' He thought in his mind, wanting to cry only for no tears to fall.

"Well then… REM… two hours… There is two hours until I can confirm your words… And if you lied to me… Then It won't be pretty… I'll crack you like an egg until I get the information I want… I will smite you with my holy light until I gr—"

Then, out of the corner of his blank eyes, he noticed a dim, yellow light enter the area from that small opening at the top of the room, slipping through the tight bars like they were not even there.

Ren found it hard to tell what it was in his hazy, disoriented state yet he could not take his eyes nor focus off it as the captain continued his threats ahead of him.

"Close your eyes…"

A faint, almost inaudible whisper entered his ear sounding like a little child, one that felt so odd yet so familiar at the same time.

Ren was desperate, he had absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to run. This all could have simply been a figment of his imagination, which was highly likely yet he still decided to do it. He would grasp on to any shred of hope he had left in his otherwise, bleak, gloomy tunnel of death.

So, he closed his eyes and put all of his trust in that voice.

"HEY! Are you even listening! Why are you clos—"

[ Blinding Flair! ]

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a bright, blinding flash of light that was so powerful that it penetrated Ren's eyelids despite him still having his eyes closed and reached his now hurting eyes and engulfed everything around him.

"ARRRRGGGGHHH!! MY EYES!! MY EYES!!" Screams of agony filled his ears, feeling grateful to that unknown voice he now knew as completely real.

Luckily, his eyelids provided a coat of protection good enough that once the light disappeared, he was able to once again open his eyes with little to no problems.

And there, as he opened he slowly sight that was still blurry and disoriented, he witnessed the sight of the captain and the one man behind him holding their eyes tightly writhing in agony, still screaming like it was the worst pain of their lives.

But, his attention did not linger there for long as his vision finally became crystal once again... Directly in front of him, he saw a person he never even imagined he would ever see.

"LUCK!?" Ren blurted out in disbelief.

Ren had all but completely forgotten about Luck's existence or simply deemed him as dead, he was only concerned for his own safety at the time after all and could not care less about luck who he had only just gotten to know and almost disregarded as useless or insignificant in his predicament. However, now, seeing the little, cute flying fairy in front of him, he could not be more shocked as he did not know if he had saved him or had simply gotten him in more trouble than before.

"Luck! What ar—"

Before Ren was able to finish his sentence, he was immediately interrupted by Luck who spoke as he used a small, metallic item previously in his hands to pick the lock at his back, making his bindings abruptly drop on the ground.

"Shhh… My lord! I've come here to save you! Please follow my lead for once! I'll lead you and tell you how to escape! I've got it all planned! I know you are my leader and master but please trust me! I promise I will prove myself to you to make up for my previous incompetence!"

Ren still could not believe his ears… The person who he nearly killed because he thought he was an NPC was talking to him with such loyalty and kindness... There in front of him, he saw a literal light of hope, and he was prepared to do whatever it took to keep hanging on and escape from his living nightmare and inevitable death.

He could not help but feel slightly happy for seemingly the first time in forever...

"Okay Luck… I trust you! Lead the way!"

******************************

"AAAHHHH!!"

"Huh?! Huh!? HUUHH!?!"

The captain slowly opened his red, aching eyes, looking all around him only to see that the naked vampire once in front of him had suddenly somehow escaped and his cries for help seemed to have not been picked up by anyone from the outside— the silence spell seemed to have shot him in the foot.

"WHERE IS HE?!"

His rage continued, one hand over his red eyes as he looked around to also try and find the other soldier that was in this room alongside him.

He was also nowhere to be found, but after he started walking around, he felt some sort of heavy object hitting his feet.

"WHAA!?"

When he looked down, to his surprise... it seemed to not be a heavy object at all… It was Dreven, the other guard that was supposed to be there, his eyes fully white, dead, bleeding on the ground completely naked.

That was when two and two clicked in the captain's mind and the realization of what the vampire must have done became vivid…

*SLAM*

Suddenly, the doors to the room were thrust completely wide open with a panting soldier at the front of it, behind him a commotion of massive proportions as the panicked figures of various soldiers were seen rushing towards the exit.

"CAPTAINN! CAPTAIN! IT'S A—"

The soldier at the front of the door, heavily panting began screaming like a madman, completely unlike how a normal guard was supposed to act. However, before he was able to finish what he had to say the mad, beyond furious captain interrupted.

"THE VAMPIRE ESCAPED! RAISE ALL SECURITY AND CATCH HIM! HE DISGUISED HIMSELF AS A GUARD! HE MUST BE CAUGHT AT ALL COSTS!"

"BUT SIR! NOW ISN'T THE TIME FOR THAT!!"

"WHY IS THAT?! HOW DARE YOU!? ARE YOU DISOBEYING ORDERS!?

"BECAUSE THE VILLAGE IS UNDER ATTACK BY THE OROBONIANS AND THEY HAVE ALREADY SET THE TOWN CENTER ON FIRE!!"

"HHHHUUUUUHHH THEY WHAAAAATTT!?"