I opened my eyes.

I was standing in the center of the stone courtyard, again.

‘So it turns out that my acting skills were not good enough to fool them. But still, that one guy is way too critical of me! I mean, every single loop he has something rude to say, and everything I do seems to make him believe that I am a fool. I really want that guy dead. He’s the first guy I’m gonna kill when I get powerful enough to get out of here.’ I thought heatedly.

I looked up at Jerard as he prepared to have my skull split open, and I contemplated what to do next.

‘I can try to pretend to have a seizure again, though with my acting skills, I doubt that would work. Fighting is a no-go either, since I am not strong enough to win against them. I’ll have to figure out another way to get sent to the cell. Well, the reason that they brought me to the cell in the first place seems to be because they believed at the time that I was weak. If so, then I just need to figure out a way to make them believe that I am weak again.’

I looked at Jerard’s face as he released the arrow from his bow, and once again I noticed a light grin forming on his lips.

Just before the arrow reached me, I stumbled backwards, as if surprised, and the arrow landed harmlessly in front of my feet with a thunk.

“Do not move, intruder!” Jerard yelled down at me.

I ignored him.

After stumbling away from two more arrows, the world snapped, and the Cardinals finally arrived.

The Cardinal that was in front of me, (who was Jerard’s brother if I remembered correctly) took a step forward and swung his sword towards my neck.

Thinking quickly, I dropped down onto my knees, dodging the strike from Cardinal, and bowed my head towards him.

“I beg you, please, spare my life.” I said in the most whimpering tone I could muster.

“And why should I do that?” The man growled, pointing his sword at my head.

“I-I-I’m innocent! I swear! I-I don’t know how I got here! I-I was just testing m-my ability w-when-!” Suddenly, the Cardinal lightly stabbed the tip of his blade into my forehead, drawing blood.

“And why shall I believe you?” He asked, stabbing my forehead again.

I winced.

“I-I, please- j-just spare me! I swear, I-I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?”

“Y-yes! Anything!”

The Cardinal crouched down and looked me straight in the eyes, studying my reaction. I trembled, and didn’t return his gaze, letting my eyes wander.

“…So you say.” He muttered.

The man stood back up and looked around at his comrades. Picking a particularly stout one, he called him over, and then pointed at me.

“Take that fool away to the dungeon. He will be set for direct interrogation later.”

“Yes, Sir Melious!”

The stout Cardinal then grabbed my arm with a tight grip. I looked upwards from my crouching position just in time for the world to twist, and then we were in the cell.

“No funny business. Do you understand, intruder?” He asked gruffly.

“Y-yes Sir!”

“Good.”

The world snapped, and the Cardinal disappeared.

‘Ha, looks like I fooled them. I knew my acting skills weren’t that terrible.’ I thought smugly.

I looked around the room, noticing that within the darkness I couldn’t see anything at all.

‘No wonder I was so scared the first time I was here.’

Abruptly, I heard a light groan and the sound of feet shuffling around from the dark side of the cell.

“Are you a new cell mate? I am sorry, I forgot to light the candle.” A deep voice said from the darkness.

I waited patiently as Clarence lit the candle on the tray, and then raised it upwards, illuminating the room in a bright orange glow.

‘Now that I think about it, he didn’t use a match. How did he light the candle?’ I thought curiously.

“Ah, now I can see you. Hello there young man, my name is Clarence. Might I inquire what yours may be?”

“Yes, hello, my name is Jared Spurrier.” I replied.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I see. An odd name that is. Are you not from around these parts?”

“I don’t know. I lost my memory, and the only thing I remember is waking up in a courtyard before being escorted here. Where is this anyway?”

“We are in Duke Craitor’s fortress, in the region of Phalia, near the border. Are you sure you have no recollection of anything before today?”

“Yes, I am sure.”

“Hmm, I see, well that is quite unfortunate. The man sleeping beside me on this cot- Stoney is his name- also lost the memories of his life before he got here. I wonder if perhaps you two are related in some way. After all, you both lost your memory at similar times, and ended up in the same cell. It could also be just a coincidence. What do you think?”

“Coincidence.”

“I see.”

We stood there in an awkward silence for a few seconds.

“I… have a question.” I said.

“Yes, what is it?”

Well… I was wondering… maybe you could help jog my memory by telling me some basic things that I may have forgotten, no?”

“Alright, that sounds fine.”

Yes, so you see… let’s sit down first yeah? Get comfortable.”

“Alright.”

I walked towards the bunk bed on the left, and sat down on the bottom mattress. Clarence sat down beside me.

“So… I have little bits and pieces floating around here, and I remember small facts and tidbits of basic knowledge, but maybe a booster can help me. Can you perhaps tell me about all of the ranks there are in the ranking system? I know about Cardinal and Predom, but that’s it.”

“Hmm… well I only know about one more rank above those ones, that being the rank of Supreme. I have heard rumors of there being a rank above even that, but rumors are baseless anyways. As far as the general populace knows, the highest rank attainable is Supreme, with the only person in our country of Accismus holding that rank being the King.”

‘Accismus? Weird name for a country.’ I thought to myself.

“And can you tell me more about how the ranks work? How do they portray the fact that someone is more powerful?” I asked.

“Well, as far as I know, there are two things that you gain upon ascending a rank. Every rank gives you a new ability, with every ability generally being stronger in power the higher the rank you attained it at. You also become physically more powerful every rank, and at the rank of Supreme, I heard that your skin even becomes as tough as steel. Though, once again, that is just a baseless rumor.”

“And how do you ascend to higher ranks exactly?”

“Well, the first two ranks are relatively complicated in how they work. To become a Cardinal you have to have some magic blood within you. To become a Predom you have to only have magic blood within you. That is also why some people are born as Predoms, and these people are known as pure bloods. In this day and age, only the nobles are pure bloods, and the lower class have to work hard to become Cardinals. A lower class citizen becoming a Predom is quite difficult, and requires strengthening their bodies to the extreme, which is why most commoners who tried are dead now. I am not quite sure how one would become a Supreme, though I think you would need to increase the quality of your blood to do so.”

“Thanks, that helped a lot. I still don’t remember anything about my life from before, but at least now I remember the basic information.”

“I am glad to help.”

I watched as the weird worm thing in Clarence’s eyes squirmed and then disappeared.

‘What did the Duke call that thing again? A Craerture? Weird.’ I thought bemusedly.

“I think I need a moment to calm down and collect my thoughts. Could I perhaps lay here on this bed and think for a bit?” I asked Clarence.

“Of course, no need to be humble. Go ahead.” He replied with a smile (or at least I think it was a smile).

I looked at him as he stood up and set the tray with the candle on the floor, before walking up to the bed below Stoney and carefully lying down on it.

‘He seems overly kindly and forthcoming for someone that I just met. Also, he is very obviously related to the Duke in some way, since they both have that weird eye parasite. Stoney, on the other hand, seems to be your run of the mill amnesiac optimist, who flows through life as though it were a river. Though, it’s far more likely for him to be lying about the whole amnesia thing and he’s actually here for a purpose. What that purpose could be, I don’t know. What I do know is that Clarence is far more suspicious than Stoney is, and that he’s likely working in tandem with the Duke. After all, it was only after I had started acting suspiciously towards him that the Cardinal brought me to the Duke to be interrogated. I have a feeling that the weird eye parasite is some sort of spy camera that the Duke can see through, and that Clarence is actually observing my every move so that the Duke can glean information about me. In this loop, I didn’t act very suspicious towards Clarence at all, and so I have a feeling that I’ll be staying in this cell for much longer than last time.’ I thought.

I looked up at Stoney as he stirred in his sleep, and then looked down at Clarence as he lay still as a statue, eyes open, staring upwards unblinkingly.

‘Yeah, he’s definitely more suspicious.’

I looked away from Clarence and lay down on the bed, shifting a little as I tried to find a comfortable position.

‘Man, this thing is rock hard. How does Stoney sleep so well on this bed shaped stone?’ I thought in annoyance.

After a few more moments of shuffling around to find a comfortable position, I eased my body onto the bed, and took a few deep breaths as I let my muscles relax. This was probably the first time I actually had a second to breathe and just rest since I got to this foreign world, and it was much appreciated.

I closed my eyes and relaxed my mind, sorting through the possibilities of what I should do next.

‘I should probably try to find a way to break out of this cell. If I manage that, I may be able to escape this fortress without having to fight anybody. The question is, how? I don’t know how to pick locks, and I don’t even think there is a lock to this cell. I can’t dig my way out of here, since I don’t have access to any tools that will give me the ability to do that. Wait, ability? Now that I think about it, can’t I just use my magic ability to break out of this cell? I know that using magic in here is possible, since the Cardinal from earlier teleported while in here. Did they just think I was too weak to be able to? I guess I’ll have to prove them wrong.’

I raised my arm, and felt around for the heat inside of me. I felt it thrumming deep in the center of my chest, and I willed it to release, to escape the bonds of my body.

Nothing happened.

‘What? Why didn’t it work? Let me try again.’

Once more, nothing.

‘Why isn’t it working? That Cardinal used magic while in here, so why can’t I? Did I just do it wrong? No that can’t be, I know exactly how to use my ability, all I have to do is release the heat in my chest, right? So then, why isn’t it working?’

Once more, I tried to let loose the heat in my chest, but it didn’t budge. It was as if it were stuck within me, not able to escape.

‘This is really annoying. Is there some sort of stopper in this room that disallows certain people from using magic? I will assume that that is what’s going on. Man, they really thought of everything, didn’t they.’ I thought unhappily.

‘Well, for now I guess I’ll just go to sleep for a bit. I am really tired, and since I can’t seem to do anything today, I’ll just try again tomorrow morning. Well, that is only if the Duke doesn’t decide he wants to melt my face off again. Let’s just hope he doesn’t find a reason to do that.’

I shuffled around a bit, finding a more comfortable position to lay in, and then closed my eyes and let my consciousness flow down into the deep depths of my mind.

After a few minutes, I fell asleep, and the world turned black.