-PRESENT DAY-

-At that time in the Kingdom Of Juiyo, In the dungeon under the castle-

Bewildered, I looked at the man in front of me,

"Or are you the general mentioned in that much-talked-about story?"

"A story?"

"The story about a general who was once known as the most powerful general in this Kingdom. And also he was a friend of the King."

The man smiled slightly and looked towards me,

"A story? Oh, no, no, no. It's too real to be a story. When they end happily, that's when you can call them a "story." Otherwise, it's just an order of events that have happened."

"How long have you been here?"

"Too long for to count."

"Are you sure there isn't anything I can tell the King to convince him?"

"Unfortunately, after losing his wife, the King closed his heart to all kinds of mercy. Even if his daughter, that he values more than anything, talks to him, even she can't convince him either. He's a little stubborn."

At that time, I pushed the chains harder and said,

"I have to get out of here somehow. If I can't get out of here, I can't do anything about my friends's condition."

"But your efforts are useless, kid. I told you, didn't I? The chains are made with the toughest sea stones, and they have specials spells on them. Even an Epic can't get rid of them."

I didn't know what to do. How many times that I have tried, the chains didn't move. Suddenly all my power drained out and I found myself breathing heavily. It was useless like he said.

I said,

"If there's no way out of here, How am I gonna save them?"

Then I looked at iron bars. At that moment, they looked like an obstacle that I couldn't overcome.

I said slowly,

"I think it was my fault that I dragged them into this from the beginning. I should have known these things would happen. But still... even so... I wanted to help those people."

The man raised his head and said,

"Fighting the "Epics"? Is that really what you want?"

"This is what I wanted from the beginning, but every time there is an obstacle in front of us. Like we're not supposed to-"

He then said,

"Do you really think that's true?"

I lifted my head and looked at him,

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think when you started this journey, did you really thought that there will be no obstacles? If you ask me, Kid, your head is full of stupid thoughts."

Then he said,

"If it hadn't been for you, other people that thought like you were going to be involved. There is always somebody to carry somebody's greatness and will. And think of your goal as working on your body. If you don't push your body with some weight, there will be no muscles that will be appearing. You must remember that obstacles only make us stronger. If your soul and will get tested by these events, you can't give up, because they have just started getting stronger. And finally, think of your friends the same way too. You just only need their one thing."

I asked him,

"What is the thing I need?"

"Their respect and loyalty towards you."

It hit me right in the head one more time. Why I'm in here. Why I've been fighting the epics all this time. All of them. It was because I wanted to be a hero like my father and earn people's respect. I thought if I could help people like him, maybe I could achieve something.

And I knew that he was right too.

I slowly lifted my head and said,

"Yeah, you are right. If I don't do anything about it, then I have no right to complain about it either!"

Then I turned my head towards the window and shouted,

"Lezlie! Babu! Hiroshi! Can you hear me!? Answer me!"

I couldn't see her, but Lezlie heard my voice and she shouted too,

"I am here! I can hear you!"

"I need all of your help to get out of here!"

She shouted back,

"But how?"

"If you have your bag with you, search for any usable items!"

Then I heard Hiroshi's voice shouting towards me,

He said,

"Hey, Ryuu! Can you move?"

I tried to push my chains one more time, but nothing happened.

I said,

"I can't! These chains are so strong!

Then Lezlie shouted again,

"I've got it! I got an idea!"

She opened her bag and said,

"Here Skittles, you can come out now!"

Babu said,

"Hey! Who is "Skittles", And why we haven't heard about it?"

After Lezlie spoke towards her bag for a while, a rabbit's head came out of it and looked around.

Babu looked at the rabbit with a surprised expression and said,

"A little bunny!?"

"Yes. If Skittles can find the key to the dungeon for us, she can bring it to us. I don't understand how I could forget her all this time!"

Hiroshi then said,

"Look around very carefully! The keys must be around here somewhere!"

The man in the shadows started talking again,

"If you're looking for Keys, it's on the hanger at the entrance to the door."

After he said that, Lezlie said to her bunny,

"Come on girl! Get the keys for us!"

After Lezlie's words, The Rabbit began to jump and approach the door. And when she got to the door, she looked up at the hanger and started staring at the keys.

The keys were pretty high for a rabbit and it was nearly impossible for it to get it.

Babu looked at Lezlie sarcastically and said,

"Are you really sure she can get the keys?"

Lezlie said,

"She really can! She just has to try!"

Just then, Skittles jumped extremely high, took the keys, and started jumping back into the cell. With Lezlie picking up the keys, she immediately unlocked the cell and headed for the others's locks.

When Babu and Hiroshi were freed, I was the only one left. Babu took the rabbit in his arms with great joy and hugged it tightly,

"I really liked this rabbit!"

Hiroshi then turned to Babu and said,

"Give the rabbit back to Lezlie and go to the door and look around. Lezlie, you save Ryuu. And I'll try to get our weapons back."

After Lezlie got the rabbit back, she approached me and opened my locks. As soon as I got rid of my locks, I rubbed my arms. They were in a lot of pain and bruises, but I could still move them. When I stood up again, I smiled and said,

"Well, thank you."

"No problem at all, Ryuu."

Then she said,

"But what are we going to do now?"

I said,

"Can I take the keys for a moment?"

She look confused at me first but then handed me the keys.

I said,

"Thank you, Lezlie!"

And ran towards the man in the shadows. I quickly opened his locks and stood up.

He looked at me and said,

"Even though I'm the guy in the story, you're saving me, huh? Why did you do that, Kid?"

"Because a man who faces everything for love and respect deserves to be saved for me. You didn't do anything wrong, you defended what you wanted and what you had. Besides, we could really use your help, you know the second Kingdom and the shortcuts of it a lot better than we do. If you can help, we can still save the Princess."

He then smiled and said,

"All right, Kid, I'll help. But we need a carriage first."