The two of them sat inside — Shine and Nain.
Outside, Jhed was still running.
"Thirty..."
Shine had cut down so many trees just to make one open field. Any adventurer passing through later was going to get quite a shock.
Watching Jhed from inside, it seemed like he'd left his old world behind completely. He'd run, stop, catch his breath with deep gulps of air, then run again. Over and over. The same cycle.
The sun had fully risen, its light falling directly on the open field.
"How did you meet Jhed?" Nain asked.
"In the house in the Mimor forest. That's where we first met," Shine said.
"What were you doing there?"
"I was there for many years." Shine's voice shifted slightly.
He kept bringing his hand up near his face, as if the place carried memories he didn't want to touch.
"In a way, it was a strange kind of good place too — because the years I spent there as a slave, my age stopped advancing. If I hadn't become a slave, I'd be much older by now. Maybe an old man already." Shine said quietly.
It was true — Animal's magic froze the aging of anyone bound to him as a slave. Not just Shine, but every adventurer in that room. Their age would only begin again once they were free.
"So you worked there..." Nain said.
Shine was quiet for a moment, eyes drifting around the room.
"Yes... yes, I worked there." He nodded slowly. His words were unsteady — maybe because they weren't entirely true.
Inside the small house, there wasn't much to sit on — they were both on the floor. Nain sat with her knees pulled up. Shine leaned against the wall, sword resting beside him, armor set aside.
Shine had gone somewhere inside himself. Perhaps into old memories.
"When I was fighting monsters to protect my village, that's when I crossed paths with Animal. I had defeated many of the Demon Army's generals. I was holding the entire village together alone. He touched me once — just once — and I became his slave. After that, I spent eighteen years in that room. Your mind worked but your body didn't. When I saw how many other S-Class adventurers were already there, already beaten, already his — I thought I'd never get out.
When I was free, I used to think about people. Help them. But that room changed me. It made me selfish. I started thinking only about myself. Whoever came in, I just hoped they'd pick me — not the others."
That room had taught him to put himself first. He'd stopped thinking about others and started thinking only about himself. The other adventurers had probably become the same way. People who once helped others without reason, who thought of strangers — if that's what it earned them, anyone would change.
In that room, all they could do was talk to themselves — because only the mind worked, not the body. And talking to yourself long enough, you start to really know yourself.
Shine was deep in those memories when the door opened and Jhed walked in.