There were no guards here, and Madame Raven probably didn't think it was necessary. Not far away, a faint light fell from the top, but it seemed to change its position constantly, and the cool air currents made Sesyana realize that it might be a passage out of here. But to get there, it's almost impossible. There was a chain in the pillar of light that hung silently there, hanging down to the ground, and an elf could easily grab it and climb up...... At the moment, it looked like some kind of mockery.

There were no doors in the bars, and each bar seemed to grow directly out of the stones, cold and strong, and indestructible. The Sword Dancer was silent for a while at the bars and stone walls, slightly frustrated, as a warrior who lived by swords, he was indeed helpless in such a situation. All these decades of non-stop training have only taught him how to move forward on the battlefield until he dies...... No one ever told him how to get out of the dungeon if he was unfortunate enough to be thrown into the dungeon.

Novi probably wouldn't have been so helpless. He has traveled many places, experienced many dangers, and has enough wisdom and calmness to face any situation - but he is only calm and blank on the surface.

Linde muttered to himself just across the wall, the high and low voices and the chaotic content made Cesyana uneasy, but when Lind was quiet, he was even more worried. Worried about whether he was unconscious and if he was still alive......

"Lind Star?" he had to exclaim, "are you alright?"

A moment later, the sound was no longer next to him, but diagonally opposite.

“...... I do not know. The elf's voice sounded trance-like, like a dream. "When are we going to get ashore? I love the water and I love the river, but I feel like I'm getting seasick...... Aren't dwarves the only ones who get seasick?"

Sesyana just stared at his shadow in surprise. There was no answer. He couldn't figure out if it was each cell moving or the prisoners in it - what the hell was this magic, and what was the point, or was it just the boring whim of the female mage?

And he didn't know how to answer Linde's question.

“...... Why the hell are you arresting Norvi. As he squinted and examined every cell he could see, he simply asked the question that had been bothering him for a long time, and the answer was still "I don't know." ”

"Nobody knows. Linde repeated over and over again, "Nobody knows." Lance tried to convince us that he knew, but he didn't, I could see it, anyone could see it. No one said anything...... Theodore says it's because Norway is trying to help a dragon...... An ice dragon, can you believe it? They all say that the dragons have left this world, that they are dead. All dead, dead at the end of the world, huge piles of white bones...... Such a powerful and evil creature should not exist in this world, this is the world that the gods have promised to the elves......"

Sesyana sighed softly involuntarily. A few years ago, he was steadfast in his belief in it. But that's just a self-deceptive lie. Sometimes he even felt that the gods had actually given up on the spirits. It's like they gave up on the giants...... The thought always startled him and made him afraid to think about it any further.

That's blasphemy...... Although as an exiled elf, his very existence may already be a blasphemy.

Shaking off the self-pity that always came at her from time to time, Sesyana carefully groped with her fingers for the place where the iron bar connected to the stone bricks, and unconsciously remembered the ice dragon—when it turned into a human, the blond young man looked almost like an elf, quiet and agile. It has delicate facial features that lack expression and pure light blue eyes. But its face when it is emotional is vivid that belongs to the human being, and it will get angry. He will be annoyed, he will smile, he will try to protect his loved ones, he will argue with his friends, and he will be naïve like a child. And when it turns back into a dragon...... Sesyana had never seen such a powerful, elegant, or even beautiful creature, especially when it spread its wings and flew into the starry sky, his gaze was completely absorbed by the silver-white figure, and he could not take his eyes off it until it disappeared. He couldn't see what was evil in it......

- Another blasphemous thought.

There was a dull sound in Linde's cell, as if something had hit the wall, and Sesyana was slightly startled and exclaimed, "Linde?"

There was no answer.

"Lind?sta!" cried out the elf's hand as he gripped the bar, barely hearing the familiar, light footsteps overhead.

At night, the fireplace unnecessarily ignites its own fire, and the room is warm and cozy, even filled with a faint scent of flowers. The grapes on the table would grow again silently after they had been eaten, and the tea in the cup was always steaming, and Nalya had the audacity to eat a piece or two of the snack, reluctantly admitting that it was even more delicious than she had made herself—and it might have been quite a pleasant thing if it had not been a prisoner but a real guest.

The black-haired girl lay helplessly on the carpet in front of the fireplace, licking the muffin crumbs from the corners of her mouth, flattening her limbs, and staring at the ceiling in a daze. She had tried everything she could think of, she could do it, but she still couldn't leave the hospitable room.

If Tess is here......

She remembered their first real "adventure", of the winding, labyrinthine passages of the Silver Tooth Pit, the tinkling and never-ending beating, far more than the silence of the moment.

Naria looked sideways at the flames burning in the fireplace, and her heart moved.

The flame fluttered upwards ...... It can't be that even the air here is made of magic, right?

She bounced off the floor, rushed to the table to lift the delicate little teapot, lifted the lid and poured it into the fireplace. As she had expected, the pot had a steady stream of water and quickly extinguished the flames.

In the curling green smoke, she couldn't wait to cover her nose and plunge into the fireplace, testing the size of the chimney...... She can get out!

-- At least you can get in.

Pulling her hair atop her head, Nalya dragged the overly heavy chair to the side and stuffed it into the fireplace, then bent herself into the gap between the top of the chair and the roof of the fireplace, and cautiously leaned into the chimney.

It's not too crowded...... Naria barely reached out a hand and touched the still hot brick, beginning to regret not learning her thief's skills from Tesdor.

The cold air came down, making her shiver. When you look up, you can almost see the starlight twinkling overhead—a distance that is nothing compared to the bottomless passages in the Silver Tooth Pits.

The girl bit her lower lip, fumbled through the gaps between the bricks, and struggled to climb up.

That's a lot harder than you think.

At first, she dropped an inch or two for almost every inch she went up. Her fingers were quickly worn out, and the annoyance of the pain made her even more reluctant to give up, and then she found that it seemed easier to use her back and feet to support her sides, rubbing upwards little by little, but when she was halfway up, her legs went limp, and the whole person fell straight down......

She felt like she had been crawling all night before she finally stuck her head into the cold air.

At that moment, she almost wanted to scream, but she finally controlled herself, and climbed out of the chimney, her sore legs could no longer support her body, and she shook uselessly.

She simply sat on the roof, and then she felt the pain in her fingertips. But that was nothing compared to the joy of being free at last.

From above, the castle is as beautiful as a dream in the moonlight, and the waterfalls that have been surged by the torrential rain during the day have become a trickle, hanging like white ribbons around it, as if dancing with the wind.

But Naria doesn't have much to enjoy the scenery right now - she still has to rescue her companions. Where might they be? as the crow said...... Dungeon?

Waving her balance and running cautiously to a lower place, Naria prayed earnestly that this time wouldn't be as orgasmic as the last time she tried to "rescue Is" in the Silvertooth Mine.

- This time, her prayer was probably finally heard by some god.

While chatting with Selene Grein at Greystone Castle, the Countess once told her that no matter where the castle was, whether it was big or small, and what the style was, the structure inside was actually much the same. The master's bedroom could never be next to the kitchen, and the barn would never reach the top of the tower...... Christus, who is both large and empty, also proves this. Naria was confident that she could easily find the dungeon, but the beautiful castle hidden in the valley of Lady Raven, while it may seem normal, has a completely whimsical structure.

The doors on the walls are still walls when they are opened, the towers have no entrances at all, and the winding corridors go around and around on their own, bringing you back to where you came, or breaking off somehow...... The castle grows as if it had a life of its own, or was born out of some crazy dream. Narya tiptoed around cautiously for a long time, not encountering any servants or any magic traps, only turning herself dizzy.

She returned to the courtyard, and vaguely felt as if she had found her way to it, and before she was halfway there, she found that at the end of the road was nothing more than a clump of crazy roses, and the flowers that bloomed out of season were as white as the faces of dead men in the moonlight.

She shuddered and turned to the other way.

After a few failed attempts, she finally realized that the whole castle was constantly changing, and that she probably could find neither a dungeon nor a way out, and that Madame Raven might be hiding somewhere mocking her futile struggle. When she went to the fence of the well to get some water to drink, she was surprised to find that there was not a drop of water in the well at all—the warm, moist air with a slight smell of decay rushed to her face, and in the silence, half of the elven words sounded abruptly, and disappeared as if they had been choked off.

“...... Is there anyone down there?"

After a moment of hesitation, Naria had the audacity to open her mouth and shouted to the bottom of the well.

(To be continued......)