After getting Runar to accept his offer, Rei immediately went to stand in the small line of prisoners waiting to get their food, and when it was finally his turn he looked briefly at the guard in charge of food and handed the two fragments he held in his hand to get edible food
Luckily, the guard was obviously slacking off, so he didn't even bother checking if Rei had another fragment...
But then again, it's already a rare occurrence to get one fragment, let alone two, and there wasn't really any reason for the prisoners to hide their fragments since they all were mundane people, not awakened... so to them the soul fragments are just shiny useless rocks that could get them food if they handed it to the guards...
Well, maybe they could hide it for another day when they starve and use it then, but even that was odd because they could always get the free bread if they're that hungry...
'Maybe I'm the odd one?'
It wasn't like Rei had a big reason to hide the third fragment either... he just thought that it might come in handy later on.
That's why he decided to hold two fragments in his hand as if asking people to try and steal it to make the illusion that he's an honest guy that's confident in his ability or just a fool, in both cases he would succeed in making himself look like the type that wouldn't hide his fragments...
In the end whether it was because of his deception or not, regardless… Rei got the outcomes he wanted and the guard didn't realize that Rei hid a third fragment in his pocket.
"Oh? two fragments in one day what a lucky kid but hm…? I don't think i saw your face before…"
The guard asked with a confused expression, but before Rei could answer the guard continued...
"Oh wait right! i remember now... you're the new one aren't you? the outskirt kid that Commander Warden arrested yesterday for trying to steal a loaf of bread."
"Eh? ah… um y-yeah right..."
making a fake smile Rei replied awkwardly while internally analyzing what that meant...
In truth Rei had no idea what the guard was talking about or who that commander warden was… but considering the fact that there isn't any kids or short people that can be mistaken for a kid other than Rei between the prisoners…
And the fact that Runar didn't know what Rei's name is even though Runar was in prison for at least a week made Rei assume that this might be the actual story behind why his vessel was in prison when he got thrust into this world...
'But seriously…? for just a DAMN LOAF OF BREAD!'
Rei's eye twitched slightly
'Couldn't that damn warden guy just let it slide? what kind of commander would arrest a kid just for a damn loaf of bread!'
Smiling the guard handed Rei a tray that had two bowls of porridge and water with two loavs of bread.
"Here kid, the prison life might be hard but at least you can get bread here Am I right? "
"Y-yeah…"
Rei's fake smile faltered for a second when he realized that he only gets a cold barely edible looking porridge for the fragments he gave but he recovered quickly and took the tray.
'Still… I got lucky, i didn't know how I would go about asking people to tell me why I'm in prison without arousing suspicion or looking like a lunatic... but luckily this guard turned out to be a Blabbermouth and gave me the information for free.'
Sighing Rei headed towards the table in the corner where Runar was sitting, and placed the tray of food on it and sat on the chair opposite to him...
And looking around him Rei made sure that no one was listening and that the guards are still slacking off and not even bothering watching the prisoners...
'Heh typical.'
"Soo…ready to answer my questions buddy?"
Rei asked smirking ominously...
"Yeah sure…"
Sighing Runar replied with a shrug.
" oh? Great then... "
holding a cup of water Rei drank generously.
"Ahh! so refreshing to finally drink some water man!"
Smiling faintly Runar agreed and drank from his cup too.
"Hm... I would have to agree on that."
Rei nodded as he held his spoon to take a bite from the cold porridge.
"I know right? I've been dying in that damned cave man…"
chuckling Runar crossed his arms at the table and asked:
"So? what's your oh so cheap and small questions Rei?"
Turning serious Rei smiled faintly and shrugged.
"Oh that? nothing much you know…I just want you to tell me everything you know about this place, the prisoners, the guards and that commander warden guy… oh and the state of this kingdom on your way as well."
Runar's expression went blank for a second and he blinked…
"Huh…?"
Then his expression suddenly turned dead serious and he gazed at Rei intensely for a full second before making a very pleased twisted smile that sent shivers down Rei's spine.
Then...
"Haha…Hahahaha! sure Re, I will answer your very little questions..."
Runar said as he went back to his bright smile.
'w-what the hell is with this guy!?'
"I-is that so? good then i guess..."
Rei took another bite from the damn cold porridge and asked:
"So what are you starting with?"
Runar held his chin as he contemplated the question...
"Hm good question, I guess I'm gonna start with this place… The prison of hope..."
Interested Rei looked at him silently...
"The prison of hope is located beneath the fortified defense castle of the south… its an important military asset that works as gate for refugees and a strategic defensive stronghold against monsters and possible invaders from our neighbor nation…"
Pausing for a second Runar said in a cold tone
"The Sun Empire..."
Raising an eyebrow Rei asked:
"The Sun Empire…?"
Runar blinked surprised at the genuine question Rei asked finding it strange.
"Huh? what do you mean? how can you not know about The Empire?"
Rei shrugged immediately coming up with an excuse.
"Ah…that, actually I'm from the outskirts so I'm not very informed about these things… but of course i heard about the empire a couple of times naturally, i just don't know much about it..."
frowning as if not buying it Runar asked:
"You? from the outskirts? well, that's hard to believe..."
Rei took another bite from the damn cold porridge and stayed silent, as if not willing to elaborate...
Putting a spoon of the tasteless meal in his mouth Runar sighed as if getting the sign and deciding to let it slide.
"Well, since you don't seem informed enough… the empire is the biggest and strongest human nation in the world and the ruler of this continent..."
Rei held his chin as he thought:
'Right… i remember my sister talking about that once or twice when i asked her about the map of the game...'
"That's some interesting information but let's get back to the topic at hand."
Nodding Runar continued...
"sure getting back to the topic, let me continue telling you about this prison..."
"As you might've realized at this point the prison of hope currently doesn't hold much prisoners.. and seems to be in a bad shape considering the shortage of food and the rusty armors of the guards..."
"Yeah… why is that?"
"That's because of the sudden attack of the huge horde of thousands of monsters that's happening all across the kingdom of hope..."
"And as a result the kingdom is now using all it's power and assets to eradicate the monsters..."
Runar lowered his head and said with a faint sad smile that somehow still looked dazzling.
"But unfortunately, the kingdom's power might not be enough… because the kingdom of hope is just a small nation at the end and most of it's talents either left the kingdom to pursue higher goals and education or left after the mysterious disappearance of the royal family. "
Rei frowned.
'Well I'm damned there's a freaking war going on right now and the royals conveniently decided to disappear!'
Sighing Rei asked in a flat tone hiding his fury at the creature he's gonna ask about.
"I see… what about the dragon of hope?"
Suddenly Runar's tone turned cold again and his gaze shone with murderous rage.
"The dragon of hope… the symbol of this kingdom has gone mad and betrayed us… it destroyed the royal palace before killing more than half of the royal army and getting heavily injured in the process and flying away… and his location is currently unknown."
Rei frowned again and asked feeling like Runar was talking about a personal grudge.
"Your tone seemed as if your talking about something personal there…?"
Runar calmed down and said flatly.
"I didnt ask so don't."
Rei shrugged.
"Alright alright… you got me there buddy, sure i won't intrude if you don't want me to..."
"But instead tell me about the prisoners and guards here."
Runar noded as he took he took the last bite from his porridge, somehow looking elegant even in doing that.
"All the prisoners here are mundane and they are around 50 prisoners currently, and more than half of them are refugees or people without national ID card or any recorded data of even existing considering they are mostly outskirt rats that stole something and got arrested..."
'so most of them are like me huh…'
Rei mused to himself as he tried to bite the bread loaf...
but of course he couldn't even bite it...
'what the hell is this damn thing! it's literally harder than my pickaxe!'
Of course Runar paid him no mind and continued talking.
"Oh and there is also some nobles like Sir Thomson, the one that collided with you earlier… but other than him most of the others are not of a particularly high status so you don't need to worry about them..."
finishing his porridge Rei nodded and asked:
"And the guards?"
having finished his food Runar stood and stretched as he replied and somehow still looked elegant even while doing that.
"There's only around 30 of them because of the shortage of power… all are armed with weapons and wearing armors but to be honest they're not the real threat..."
Standing Rei started stretching too… only he didn't look as elegant as Runar one bit...
'Handsome bastard!'
hiding his annoyance Rei asked
"Oh they're not?"
Nodding Runar coldly answered.
"Yeah the real threat is the two Awakeneds ruling this place with an iron fist… Kane and his leader Warden..."
Then...
With a casual tone as if talking about the weather and with the most twisted smile Rei saw him make yet…
"And these two my dear friend Rei..."
Runar paused dramatically as if imitating Rei...
"Are the two people I want you to help me kill... "
----------------------------------------------------