Chapter 1363: 121. Neighbor

People really got this wild even in prison?

Could this actually be some kind of shady prison?

Listening to those gasps and low growls so laden with philosophical implications, Muen immediately felt his little heart tighten.

It wasn't that he was being overly cautious. Prisons really were prime danger zones for dropped soap, and coupled with certain painful memories from the past, Muen had no choice but to maintain at least the most basic vigilance toward such things.

After all, he still remembered that a long time ago, his appeal to men had been greater than his appeal to women.

"Hm?......No, that's not right either."

But as he continued listening, Muen noticed something else unusual and realized that, as far as the philosophical implications were concerned, he might simply have been too vigilant and thought too much.

First of all, there was only one voice.

One person shouldn't be able to get philosophical by himself, because there probably wasn't any man in this world gifted enough to stick it into himself.

Second, rather than ultimate pleasure, what that voice conveyed sounded more like ultimate pain. It was simply that once the two reached a certain threshold, the sounds they produced became extremely similar, so they were very easy to confuse.

Finally, Muen realized that his mind was actually being affected by that voice, producing fear that shouldn't have been there. That was the real reason why he'd suddenly thought the sound was so philosophical."

And for a voice to affect his mental strength, which was already terrifyingly powerful by now, the owner of that voice......

"Huh? This newcomer adapted pretty quickly. I thought I'd have to listen to another one howl like a ghost along with that sound for ages."

"......"

Muen raised an eyebrow, got up, and walked over to a small window in the prison wall. Through the thick, icy metal bars, he looked toward another cell adjacent to his own.

Inside the cell was a gaunt middle-aged man. His eye sockets were deeply sunken, he was little more than skin and bones, and his clothes were ragged and torn, making him look as though he'd just been dug out of some graveyard. Only the faint spark moving through his eyes made it possible to tell that he was still alive.

"How should I address you?" Muen asked curiously......The prison blocked perception, so he hadn't even noticed until just now that he actually had a neighbor.

No.

A lot of neighbors.

Apart from what this gaunt middle-aged man had just said, there were also plenty of angry curses and miserable wails throughout the prison. It was simply that under the suppression of some terrifying magic, even those sounds couldn't travel very far.

It seemed that, to save himself some trouble, the Tower Master had simply tossed him straight into the Origin Tower's dedicated prison.

"Heh, I'm hardly worthy of being addressed so respectfully. I'm just a poor wretch casually abandoned by this rotten Tower." The gaunt middle-aged man grinned. "Just call me Huffer. Huffer Malken."

"So you're Mr. Huffer. I'm Enmu, an ordinary, obscure mage."

"Enmu? Good name. Did that damned old bastard Douglas put you in confinement too?"

"You too?"

Muen froze.

"Of course. Do you really think a good man like me, who cares so deeply about the Origin Tower, would commit a crime? I merely went a tiny bit too far while conducting magical research. Sigh, that old man has no real ability. All he knows how to do is lock people up!" Huffer shook his head and sighed.

"I see......"

If it was only confinement, then perhaps the man in front of him wasn't actually a bad person?

But judging from the way he looked right now......

Muen narrowed his eyes and smiled. "If you don't mind me asking, Mr. Huffer, what exactly do you mean by 'going a tiny bit too far' with your magical research......"

"Oh, nothing much. I just used more than ten thirteen-year-old girls in the prime of their youth for a few human experiments."

Huffer looked furious. "It makes me angry just thinking about it. My experiment was almost successful! This was a major experiment capable of rewriting the history of life magic! But not only did that old bastard refuse to understand me, he sealed my laboratory and even threw me in here for confinement! He even said he'd lock me up for two hundred years! What an asshole! I've bled for this Tower, I've shed tears for this Tower, what right does he have to imprison me! If even an indispensable talent like me is persecuted, when will our Origin Tower's life magic ever surpass the Church of Life?!"

"This is complete nonsense. Letting that bastard become rotating Tower Master was the single greatest mistake the Tower's leadership ever made!"

"......"

"Huh? What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything? Do you also feel that I've been treated unfairly?"

"No, no. I just feel that toward an ambitious young man like you......No, that's not right, an ambitious middle-aged-to-elderly man like you, I've been a little too disrespectful."

Muen bent slightly at the waist.

My apologies, my apologies.

He'd thought this was some poor innocent man being persecuted......Turns out he was just a complete fucking animal.

"Oh, not at all, not at all. Everything I did was merely for the sake of contributing to the Tower."

Huffer waved his hands repeatedly, clearly delighted by Muen's attitude. "You too, kid. I knew you were different from those useless bastards. Sure enough, you've got vision. A young man like you is exactly the kind of person who ought to become Tower Master someday!"

"I'll pass on becoming Tower Master. I still prefer studying magic. The great path of magic is what we mages should truly pursue."

"A magic stone?"

The moment he saw what was in Muen's hand, Huffer's eyes lit up.

This guy had actually brought something like that in here?

And he even dared to take it out so casually? Didn't he know just how precious a magic stone containing stored mana was inside a special prison like this, where mana couldn't be recovered?

"So not only is he an unusual newcomer, he's also an adorably stupid newcomer."

The possibility that it might be a trap flashed through Huffer's mind, but then he remembered that the other man was also a mage and, with a prison wall capable of blocking magic between them, there wasn't much he could do anyway. Huffer immediately relaxed.

He moved closer and reached for the magic stone......

And then.

Crack.

The magic stone was instantly crushed to powder by that hand.

Huffer's eyes widened, and his mind went completely blank for an instant. Driven by instinctive alarm, he subconsciously tried to retreat......

But it was already too late.

Magic-stone powder scattered through the air, the sparkling crystalline grains extraordinarily beautiful. That large hand shot forward, seized him by the throat, lifted him like a baby chick, and smashed him violently against the metal bars.

Bang!

Huffer's head spun from the impact, and the intense pain nearly made him lose consciousness.

"Damn it......"

Huffer clawed at that large hand, trying to break free, but at that moment, the hand seemed to have transformed into an iron vise, gripping him tightly. A powerful sense of danger urged him on. Huffer could no longer care about anything else and even drew upon the mana he'd painstakingly accumulated over several months, constructing a powerful spell.

Light flashed, and a scorching current of air swept away the chill inside the prison. Yet the magical attack Huffer unleashed couldn't even break the skin of that palm, a hand that at first glance clearly belonged to someone accustomed to a life of luxury.

"You......You're really a mage?" Huffer's expression changed drastically.

"Of course. A pure mage through and through, the kind I can guarantee on my teacher's character."

Muen smiled faintly, pulled back the hand gripping Huffer's throat, and smashed him against the wall again.

Under absolute violence, whether it was mana, magic, or Huffer's will to resist, everything was shattered in an instant.

"It hurts......Spare, spare me! Spare me, sir! I've never wronged you in any way, so why......why are you suddenly doing this to me?" Huffer screamed.

"Oh, nothing. Just a moment ago, I was still troubled over how I could coax some information out of you, but now that I know you're nothing more than a complete animal and human piece of garbage, naturally I don't have to go through all that trouble."

Muen looked at Huffer and asked with incomparable gentleness:

"Now I'd like to ask you a few questions. Can you answer me truthfully?"