Chapter 156: The Start Of Our Conques (1/2)
Unexpectedly, what was supposed to be a probing question ended up eliciting a candid confession from the lizardman.
“That’s right, we were all awed by Lady Habona’s display of power.” As the lizardman said that, he threw a worshipful glance at Habona. A second later, he withdrew his gaze and humbly asked, “May I know who this Excellency is…”
“Do you know about the prison exit?”
Regarding my slightly disrespectful questioning that left his own hanging, the lizardman didn’t show any sign of displeasure but merely nodded his head respectfully: “I’ve heard of it, according to rumors, it has never once been breached successfully and only the four-stars are able to leave at will and return to Hell.”
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“Well, I’m in the process of raising an army to assail that legendary unassailable exit.”
“…” The lizardman threw me a strange look: “Are you joking?”
“So you think that it’s impossible as well?”
“At the very least, I’ve never heard of it succeeding.” Without outright rejecting that idea, he proceeded to touch upon his own views: “The prison exit has always been a place of nightmares for us.”
“…” Why is everyone so pessimistic about my decision?
Having my excitement dampened like that, I waved the lizardman away without even asking for his name. Tugging at Habona, I invited her to the side where we discussed the matter of that lizardman.
“Not feeling too well?” Seeing my dejected look, Habona asked the question anyway despite already knowing the answer: “You should’ve already expected this sort of response.”
“That’s why I want to break out of this place even more! Honestly, I don’t even think the four-stars are able to leave this hellhole.” Walking up towards a deserted corner, I folded my arms while leaning against the bony wall. I began sharing the conclusions I had come to: “Have you heard any word from those who left the prison?”
“Hmm…not really.” Habona’s eyes narrowed slightly as she quickly picked up on the implications of my question. “You’re saying that the rumors of the four-stars being able to safely leave is false?”
“I’m not entirely sure either. At least till we find out for ourselves, this is merely an assumption of mine. However, Mo En’s son has already left the prison, did you know of this?”
“A little. Apparently his son seemed to have received some kind of shock from the death of his wife and decided to leave prison, abandoning his children while they were still young. Even though that happened some time ago, I did hear of such a matter.”
“Here’s the problem, if he had truly left the prison, why hasn’t he sent any word back to Mo En after all these years?”
“The Prison of the Dead is unique that way, you can’t send any messages back in.”
“You can still send in messages via the prisoners.”
“Those messengers might die.”
“Then just send a few more!” Having shot down each and every one of her explanations, I then voiced my own suspicion: “No matter what, this is where his birth parents and children are held and yet he hasn’t even sent back a single word, even devils aren’t that heartless. Don’t you find this strange at all?”
This oddity wasn’t just limited to Mo En’s son. Prior to this, I checked on every other devil who had some relative leave the prison after reaching four-stars. All of them never heard from their relatives again as if they had never existed at all.
These stories were a common theme amongst the different races I surveyed. Not only did the medusas, harpies and devils experience this strangeness, I even heard rumors of the dogmen and the ratmen experiencing this as well.
“Numila told me some time ago that the previous leader of the harpies, her mentor,rushed off to the exit after grooming her to be a harpy witch. Before leaving, she mentioned that she would find a way to send word back to the prison. As for the result…not only Numila, even Elena and Eugenia experienced roughly the same situation.”
Cupping my forehead with my left hand, I sighed deeply. “Based on these facts, I’ve come to the conclusion that all the four-stars who left had never been heard from again.”
Hearing that, her normally cool expression changed to one of shock. “So it’s all a lie then?”
“I don’t know…that was just a conclusion I pieced together after listening to all of those accounts. I can’t say for sure if it’s true but…choosing not to abandon your clan after reaching four-stars might be the smartest choice you ever had in your life.” After all, if you had left your clan then…we probably wouldn’t have met at all.
All these four-stars who stayed behind…Habona, Manasha, Numila and the other four-stars who couldn’t bear to leave their clan behind or perhaps those who didn’t care about where they lived like Mo En…no matter what their reasons were, choosing to stay behind might have inadvertently saved their lives.
“Let’s put aside this weighty topic shrouded in eons of mystery for now, how about we talk about those lizardmen instead. How did you get them to eat out of your hands like that?”