"That...was dangerous."
Lying on the ground, face upward, the puny human looked at the area where he fell.
The height from where he fell wasn't high; rather, it was like a small hole.
'Anyway, where am I?'
He stood up as he looked around.
The place looked like a cave, but there weren't any bars, entrances, or exits.
'Is this a secret treasure room?' He thought as he turned around and looked at his surroundings.
The cave wasn't big at all; it was about three meters tall, and there was the poison gas too.
But the reason he thought it was a treasure room was because, wherever he looked, he could only see the marbles.
The floor was full of green marbles.
"...Good thing I fell." He muttered as he just realized how engrossed he was in them.
That fall cleared his mind.
'Still...I'm not going empty-handed.'
He thought as he started to collect the marbles.
He didn't have to worry about space since the marbles broke as soon as he touched them.
'I wonder what they are?' He thought with curiosity as he looked around for a clue.
'Nothing.'
He found nothing.
The place was covered by green marbles and some bones that looked like they belonged to humans.
Human bones were something he had never seen in real life or ever expected to see, but from the moment he entered the air tunnel, he has been seeing a lot of them.
He was glad that he had a strong mentality. But he wasn't sure how much more he could watch before breaking down.
'No. Don't think about it. Ignore it. It's useless to think about these bullshits.'
Fastening his pace of collecting the green marbles, he made himself lost in the activity of collecting them so his mind wouldn't think about the human bones.
--
On one of the rooms present among many in the prison,
"What's this commotion? What's going on outside?" A guard present in the room said this as he turned towards the door.
"Probably that criminal who ran. Anyway, that's not our concern since we are assigned to watch over him." Another guard that was present there said as he pointed at a statue.
The statue was wearing armor and sitting still on a chair.
Cling cling
"Here you are."
Suddenly, a bell-ringing sound followed by a voice resounded, making the two guards flinch.
"Who is that?" A guard said this as both of them lowered their bodies, observing their surroundings.
The statue, tinman, hearing something familiar, raised his head as he looked around.
A woman wearing black clothes appeared in front of him out of thin air.
"Now you are another interesting one."
She said this as she observed Tinman.
"Who am I?" The mysterious lady seemed to have understood what Tinman was thinking as she recited the question that was on his mind.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Whoosh
In about a mere second, two spears pierced the mysterious lady's head as the two guards appeared behind her.
But, as if she were a hologram, the spears went right through without harm.
Clunk clunk
The two spears landed on a wall.
"Just think of me as air. I'm just here to greet a friend." The mysterious lady spoke as she stood still in her exact position.
The two guards kept attacking, but noting seemed to harm her.
She stood there awkwardly as Tinman just stared at her in confusion.
--
'Sigh. Finally finished.'
The puny human thought as he looked at the clear cave.
'So, the green marbles weren't the only thing here.' He thought as he looked at his hand.
In his hand, there were two tennis ball-sized black balls. They were just like the green marbles, but, unlike the green marbles, they were emitting an ominious black cloud.
At first, the puny human was repellent about even looking at them, but thinking that it would be of use one day, he picked it up.
Looking around for one last time, he gathered rocks under the hole he fell from and used them to get on the air tunnel.
'It's strange how no guard came after all the commotion I made here.'
He thought, unaware of the event taking place outside.
After a while,
'Shit, I crawled quite far.' Finally reaching the middle path of the air tunnel, the puny human thought as he looked at the left path.
'Gotta be careful.' He thought as he started crawling through the middle part.
Currently, he was full of energy. He felt like he had drunk multiple energy drinks. All the green marbles helped him more than enough.
Drinking multiple energy drinks was dangerous; the puny human wondered if it was the same case with the marble too, but he couldn't be so sure.
'As long as it helps.' He thought.
Fortunately, the air tunnel was about to end.
'After going through the middle path, you will have to crawl straight without needing to turn. Doing so, you will soon reach an opening to the outer section.'
The Emporial Prison was divided into two sections. Inner and outer sections
The inner section was located underground. It was the section where one could find dangerous criminals the lower they went.
'If I am here, then the owner of this body must have been dangerous too...that...makes things complicated.' He thought as the vision of living peacefully after this shattered.
'I hope he wasn't here for any murder.'
Not killing was the only thing that kept his sanity intact.
'Hmm...the smoke is fading.' The purple smoke that was hindering his mentality was finally fading.
'Its good.'
Happy about it, he started to fasten his momentum. Not long after, he reached a dead end.
'Hmm?'
Looking at the dead end, it looked somehow familiar.
'This should be easy.' Smirking, he struggled a little as he inverted his body, making his foot forward.
'Three, two, one.'
Bam
Counting down, he kicked the seal.
Bam Bam Pop
After two more kicks, the seal poped open as he felt a bright ray of light entering the air tunnel.
"Argh"
He groaned as it pained his eyes.
BAM
Clap clap clap
'Wha-'
Hearing a loud clapping sound, the puny human walked out as he found himself in an open place.
The place was full of people who were wearing the same clothes as him.
"HAHAHAHAHA."
"Bastards."
'...What the heck?'
Two very tall criminals were fighting hand in hand as the other criminals stood aside and watched the scenery.
One of the tall guys swung his fists towards another, while the other shielded himself by crossing his hands.
It was a muddy place, but they didn't care about their attire as they fought. The guy who was shielding himself suddenly used his legs as he kicked the other guy in the gut.
As blood dripped from the mouth of the guy who was kicked in the gut, the crowd cheered as they clapped, jumped, and laughed.
'I wasn't expecting this.'
Calming himself, he quickly put the seal back on the air tunnel, stored the gas mask inside his clothes, and moved along with the crowd of criminals.
'I don't think the guards will be able to find me here.' He thought as he mixed in with the crowd.
Booooooooooo~~
The crowd booed as some guards came to the scene.
It didn't take the guards much effort to control the situation.
Some guards kept the crowd in control while a small guard jumped between the two tall criminals. The small guard quickly moved as he attacked both of the criminals.
Both the criminals, looking annoyed, tried to fend him off, but
BAM
Without even realizing it, they found themselves lying on the muddy ground.
The crowd went silent as they looked at the two criminals on the ground.
The puny human found it hard to believe that it took only one guard, who looked weak and small, to stop the two tall criminals.
He couldn't even tell what happened.
'Kind of comical,' he thought as he stood still.
"Silence. Keep silence." The small guard shouted as everyone stood still.
"This is not a place for your barbaric acts. Be warned." He said this as he looked over the crowd once and walked away with other guards carrying the two criminals.
"Aww, man, that shucks." Some prisoners said as they walked along the crowd.
'Good thing they were fighting.' The puny human thought in relief.
If the two criminals weren't fighting, the guards and criminals wouldn't have been distracted, and they would have noticed the puny human crawling out of the air tunnel.
'Looks like lady luck is on my side.'
He thought as he smirked.
"Hey you."
Feeling like somebody calling out to him, he froze as he turned around. Who would call him in this place?
"There you are, newbie. Did you get lost?"
A guy wearing the same dress as him walked towards him.
The guy was taller than him and had brown hair. He had a scar on his right eyebrow, and he looked menacing.
Not knowing what to do, the puny human nodded his head as the guy grabbed his hand and started dragging him.
"For crying out loud, stay still and don't create more trouble for me."
He said as he continued dragging the puny human.
'...Is he an idiot, and where is he taking me?'