Flying through the air after the punch landed on him from the inhuman Octo, Henry fell a few feet away—right beside a female figure.
"That hurt... Are you okay?" getting up with difficulty. Henry quickly extended his hand to the female figure on the floor. However, she stood up without receiving his help and looked at him with enraged eyes.
"Oh fuck… that's Marian. That bloody queen of the arena…"
He heard whispers around him, and the hand he had extended toward the woman slowly crawled back to his side as he instinctively took a step back. Judging from what they said, the woman didn't seem to be a good person.
"You've got some nerve, jumping onto me like that. You wanna go, boy?"
The woman grabbed Henry by the head, just like Octo had grabbed Auran.
"I… Apologize, but… it was… not… intentional," Henry blurted out with difficulty as the woman's hand tightened around his neck.
He wanted to resist, but when he tried to cast any spell, the object around his neck activated and blocked all the mana he was going to use.
"Shit, this can't be the way I die… In some random place, strangled by an unknown woman, with no one even caring about my dead body…" Henry's eyes darted around. The guards, who had been watching the commotion, still showed no sign of action. They only hovered around those working in the mines to make sure they did their job properly. It seemed they wouldn't bother with anything else, even if it was a fight that could end in a prisoner's death.
"Now tell me, why did you jump onto me like that?" Marian asked.
Henry's eyes turned to look at Octo, who was a few feet away from them. The woman followed his gaze and saw the giant man.
"Octo, was this your doing?"
"No. If it was me, I wouldn't have thrown a weak and sticky man like that. Instead, I'd have thrown something like this," Octo said, pointing at the giant tentagan cluster that was being dragged out of the mine by a group of criminals.
"Fair point. So, it wasn't your doing." She turned back to Henry. "Let me ask again—and this is the last time I'm going to say it—is there a specific reason you jumped onto me?"
Marian looked straight into Henry's eyes. Her gaze scanned him from head to toe.
Henry noticed that her eyes suddenly twitched, and the grip of her hand around his head loosened.
"You're from the Great Malckoy family. What's someone from a Malckoy family doing in a place like this again?" she asked.
"Cough! How do you know I'm from the Malckoy family?" Henry asked, taking a deep breath and looking at the woman with suspicious eyes.
"That tattoo. Do you think it would be hard to identify a Malckoy family member after seeing that?" The woman's mood shifted from ferocious fierceness to unexpected kindness as she extended her hand to help Henry stand up.
"A tattoo? Where?" Henry looked down at his own body and noticed that, on his shoulder, there was indeed a symbolic tattoo bearing the crest of the Malckoy family.
"Oh… this." It was a symbol he had received after graduating from the academy. Only someone who had officially graduated could be deemed worthy to bear the Malckoy family crest as a tattoo. If anyone tried to imitate it without proper authorization, the Malckoy family would hunt them down like dogs. That's how much the Malckoy family valued their name and upheld their family rules.
However, since Henry had received it recently—and without the usual pain that came with a regular tattoo—he had forgotten about it easily.
"This is the best day of my life," said the woman, smiling.
"Ah, okay... why do I feel like that has something to do with us?" Henry asked cautiously, taking a step back from the woman.
"Us? You mean there's more?"
Marian showed a surprised expression, and after seeing Henry looking back at Octo and the figure he was holding, she realized who the "other member" was.
"Hey, Octo!" she called out.
The crowd surrounding Octo—who were cheering for him to land a few punches on the idiot in his hand—quickly made way for her.
"Huh?!"
Holding the fist that was about to land on Auran, Octo looked back at her.
"Remember that one time I saved your life from that guy with a crab hand?" Marian said with a nonchalant smile as she approached him.
"You don't have to rub it in my face. I told you I'd pay you back for it one day," Octo muttered, showing a somewhat embarrassed expression at the memory of the past.
"Well, now is that time. How about giving me the guy in your hand, and we can call our debt settled?"
Hearing her, Octo looked once more at the foolish man in his grasp. He had originally prepared to beat the guy for the disrespect he'd shown, but since it seemed he could shut the annoying woman up by giving the guy over, he was more than willing to let him go.
"Done. Here," he said, tossing the man toward Marian.
She caught Auran in mid-air with one hand and then dragged him across the ground like a bag toward Henry.
"I just saved your friend from that guy, and if I know correctly, the Malckoy family is the kind that repays a debt—with interest."
She said this directly to Henry's face.
"What do you want?" Henry asked bluntly, showing no sign of fear toward the woman. Since it was clear she wanted something from him, he knew he held some value in her eyes.
Marian then guided Henry and dragged Auran to a more secluded place where no one could eavesdrop on their conversation.
Then she finally answered Henry's question.
"I want what anyone in this prison wants—to break out of here."