“Gah!” I got whipped straight across the back, “Oof, that one stung…”

“Plenty of more where that came from, monkey man!” The guard whipped once more.

Hold out… Mustn’t show any pain on my face, otherwise they’ll just get even more inclined to continue the whipping. Though, it’s not that easy to grit my teeth against these whips. And these chains, they’re made of rusted metal, so if the whipping doesn’t kill me, I’m sure the tetanus will. This really is a bad situation I had gotten myself in. Ow, it’s kind of starting to chafe.

“Aaaargth!” Issei suddenly woke up as the other guard whipped him as well.

“Now why in the world did you start hitting him before he woke up?” The first guard whipped me again before reprimanding his subordinate.

“I wanted to hear his startled and confused screams, haha!”

“Geez, you’re even more sick in the head than me, new guy!”

Since we were strapped to wooden poles out near the cement wall of the courtyard, this entire punishment was basically in full display to the other inmates. They gasped and winced at each crack of the whip, but very few could even bring themselves to muster the strength to look away. Just then, they all began whispering amongst themselves.

“Why are those two getting punished?” One guy could be heard.

“I heard they were sticking their noses where they don’t belong.” The other replied.

“Phah, seriously? At that point, they kinda deserve it. Impatient people like those guys are the first to die in here, they should just be happy that they’re being given edible food and drinkable water, as well as shelter from the beasts outside…”

What? Does this man hear himself? Edible food, don’t make me laugh! The grub we’re being served is just barely more edible than mud, and it’s got the same consistency of vomit! Frankly, I’m not a picky eater, but even I have my limits!

And the water? Everyone here knows they’re just filtering out the inmates’ piss and reusing it as drinking water! I’ve abstained as much as I could from drinking any of that piss water, but I was sadly born a living being, and a living being would either drink anything or die with pride…

“What the hell is happening, M-kun?!” Issei glanced around in a panic before getting whipped again, “FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKK!”

“Whoa, that was a good one.” The guard chuckled, “I must’ve hit a soft spot. Lucky me!”

“You’re never getting away with this!” I yelled back, “We saw what you were doing in there! We’ll tell the others!”

We’ll, this is nothing more than a bluff, given we didn’t actually see anything, just heard some screams and signs of a woman being put through torture. Even still, this much should probably scare them off a bit.

“Tell them for all I care!” The other guard said as he continued whipping Issei, “If anything, we’re keeping her safe from you dogs!”

“Safe?”

“You’re all men, hehe. Men of carnal desires, just like any other male living being in the world.” He esxplained, “If you tell them, it’ll devolve into an all-out free for all scramble to find her and have their way with her. It’s the law of the jungle, first come first served.”

“Like hell that’ll happen!” I shot back, “You’re underestimating our common sense, our sympathy, our humanity! Listen everyone, in the boiler room-!”

“STOP!” Issei suddenly let out a bone chilling plea, “Don’t say another word, M-kun. I don’t know if this asshole’s right in his prediction, but I don’t wanna find out either. You’re way too trusting of the people around you.”

Wait, but no… That can’t be right! Issei, you’re not seriously taking his side on this?! Humans help other humans, that’s how we survived the early stages of evolution! There was none of that “survival of the fittest” poppycock! If we don’t yell out that your friend is being kept in a room behind the pipes of the boiler room, you might not be able to save her!

“M-kun…” Issei looked me dead in the eyes, not even flinching from the repeated whipping anymore, “Don’t do it, please.”

“…Alright.” I braced myself for another incoming whip, “A-Ah! What the fu-?! That one was closer to my nape than anything!”

“Oh, whoops.” The guard feigned ignorance, “My hand slipped. You’re right, it’d be a shame if I were to accidentally snap your neck with the whip, hehe…”

Yikes, he’s seriously going to kill us at this rate…! In any other scenario, I’d use Materialize to steal my own cuffs from my wrists before stealing their whips from them, but everyone’s focused on us. When I fought Bryce, I could just barely play it off as me having a really good sleight of hand, but right now we’re 5 meters away from the guards, it’s just not possible no matter how you look at it.

“This time I’ll surely…!” The guard raised his whip high into the sky, before suddenly getting punched in the face.

“Lee?!” I stood surprised, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Just paying back the favor I owed you!” He smiled, “Now come on, you whipping numbskulls, I may not be in my prime, but I’m more than capable of-ARGH!”

With the near dead silence of the entire courtyard, we all stood in horror as the guard nonchalantly whipped out his AFP and shot Lee in the foot.

“Huh, guess you guys aren’t pulling any punches against us…” He said as a matter of fact, before daintily flopping to the floor.

***

“The guards just shot a prisoner!” Every one of the inmates began screaming and running inside, “Everyone run, they might shoot us next!”

“Tch, now look what you did, newbie.” The one guard smacked his subordinate on the back of the head, “You know what you just did right now? You were too greedy, and you created pandemonium. Damn interns, ruining all the fun…”

Looking at everyone scrambling inside as if they were looking at a group of startled cattle, the two guards continued their leisurely conversation as if they just made a tiny little mistake of sorts. I looked down at Lee, who was holding onto his foot tightly as he was continuously getting trampled on by the other frightened inmates. I had almost broken free of my shackles using Materialize, but I quickly stopped myself after recalling that the guards have guns and aren’t at all afraid to shoot first and ask questions later.

“Sorry, I’ll untie these guys and head inside.” The other guy apologized.

“I don’t remember telling you to untie them, though?” The first guard ushered him back inside the prison, “Remember, their punishment still isn’t over. If they think they’re such smart escapists, then they can surely free themselves!”

And just like that, everyone but me, Issei and a bleeding Lee were left alone in the courtyard. I double checked my surroundings before undoing the shackles on my wrists and Issei’s, after which I checked up on Lee. He’s still tightly grabbing onto his foot, writhing in pain and quickly bleeding out. Our top priority is to rush him to the infirmary.

“Here, let me help you up.” I squatted down, “Issei, help me with this.”

“Mn? S-Sure…” He stammered as we lifted him up over our shoulders, “Hey, umm… Thanks for that, guy.”

“…Nah, it’s really nothing.” Lee chuckled, “But if you’re really thankful, at least remember my name and call me Lee, okay?”

“Alright, Lee-san.” Issei seemed oddly apologetic, “And also, sorry for shooing you away back then at the cafeteria.”

“Lee-san? Eh, whatever. It’s not a bad idea to be wary in this world of ours, you did good to be paranoid, kid.” Lee’s face became serious all of a sudden, “But still, why were you in the boiler rooms to begin with?”

“We were looking for Issei’s friend.” I joined in, “She’s apparently being held captive somewhere in there.”

“Your friend’s a female?” Lee clicked his tongue, “You’d best forget about her then.”

“Hey now, that’s not nice!” I reprimanded him.

“Don’t get me wrong, kid. I’d like it if the world was a fairy tale where everyone gets their happily ever after, but given her role in the prison, I doubt she’s still the same girl she was prior to her incarceration.”

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Issei gave him a nasty side glare, “Her role in the prison? What role could she even have if not the role of a slave?”

“See, this is where that twisted traditional mindset of the Carmenians comes into play.” Lee grit his teeth, trucking through the pain all the while explaining, “Their logic was always that a woman shouldn’t be doing field work, so they wouldn’t let a female slave work on the canal like us men.”

Ah, I’ve heard of this before. Back when Lune and I were in Oden, he would tell me about the stories of him and his friend going to the Kingdom of Carmen, only to get shooed away by the nasty locals who didn’t even have the decency to hear them out. I do believe this happened in between them leaving Trivis Numerica and heading for Great Hiana, so they would have been around 14 at the time. He then went on to complain about just how horrible of a people the Carmenians are, only accepting people of their own nationality, and despising any others. Even still, their outdated traditions are hardwired into their brains from a young age, but I still don’t see what Lee’s getting at.

“You still haven’t figured it out yet?” Lee sighed, “Makes sense, since you’re using your own way of thinking to sort things out in that head of yours.”

“Our own way of thinking?”

“Right, you won’t ever figure it out with your own traditions as a basis. Try thinking like one of them, like one of the Carmen fucks who think men are the hunters in the family, and the women are good for nothing else than looking pretty. What would their one and only purpose in the household be?”

“…!” Issei realized something, “No, you don’t mean…!?”

“I’m afraid so. The Carmen women are viewed as nothing more than objects. Trophies used for showing off, and of course – stress relief.”

“Wait, Issei, does that mean the screaming we heard earlier was actually…?” I turned to an utterly broken Issei.

“Othelia, but no, she couldn’t be… Not by the hands of those brutes…”

“I’m sorry, son.” Lee ruffled up his hair, still barely keeping his footing, “So, what’re you gonna do now? You’re not just gonna stand back after hearing about what they’re doing to your beloved friend, are you? Me personally, I used to only want to escape out of here and go back to my boy, but now that they’ve shot a hole clean through my damned foot, I think I’ll take some notes from the guy our bandit camp imprisoned and burn the entire place down before making my grand exit.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Issei muttered, “Let’s wreak havoc on this shithole of a prison. M-kun, you’re gonna follow us, right?”

I didn’t really care about the guards, since I’m not one to hold grudges. I just want to go to Simpleton and get access to the Library of a Thousand Passages, nothing more. But still, seeing the horrid living conditions of the prisoners here, as well as the atrocities the guards are doing, I just can’t sit still and let everyone go on without me now, can I?

“Yeah, of course I’m in.” I gave him a strong fist bump, “Chained dogs are chained for a reason. Because when they free themselves of their shackles, all hell breaks loose.”