Chapter 8: Dungeon

Just moments ago, Xing Yue learned with great pessimism that she might be a baby less than one year old...

No, this extent probably couldn't even be called a baby. She was a pure infant.

Combining what Phyllis and the goat-headed demon had just said, Xing Yue roughly pieced together her background.

The original owner was probably just born, maybe even just learning to walk, still a playful child. Because she was troublesome, Phyllis always kept her close.

Then one day, while Phyllis was focused on painting, she ran off and happened to run into the Hero's party, who had invaded the Dark Domain to slay the Demon King.

The poor original owner was then treated like a small monster by the Hero. By the time Phyllis arrived to save her, there was only one breath left.

Finally, Phyllis wiped out the Hero's party in a rage, but it was too late to change anything. The original owner of this body still died, allowing the transmigrated her to take over by chance.

Xing Yue felt this was the most reasonable explanation.

Thinking this, Xing Yue couldn't help but silently accuse the Hero's evil deeds.

'Ah, how could this Hero be so bad!'

'How could he not even spare a child!'

Xing Yue bared her small canine teeth and fiercely bit into the bread in her hand, as if the soft, easily squished bread was that detestable Hero.

As for the bread in her hand, naturally, the goat-headed demon who had left earlier brought it back. Not long after they entered the private room of the Demon King Castle cafeteria, the demon returned.

Of course, besides bread, there was also freshly squeezed juice.

Although Xing Yue couldn't tell what fruit the juice was squeezed from, it tasted similar to pear juice and was quite good.

After a hearty meal, Xing Yue ordered the goat-headed demon to pack another set of bread and juice before heading to the dungeon where a certain saintess was imprisoned.

First, go see if she's still alive, and at the same time, probe to see if she could get some information about what happened to her back then.

The dungeon of the Demon King Castle was like a giant maw leading to the abyss, a place where light truly could not reach.

From the entrance, a dark and eerie moss crawled and spread, covering the ground, walls, and even seeping into the rock overhead. Like living things, they endlessly extended along the downward path.

The faint candlelight seemed to be silently devoured the moment it touched the moss, leaving only a dim blur.

However, this dark environment didn't hinder Xing Yue's vision. She could still see the path clearly.

Stepping on the moss made a strange squeak, squeak sound, a bit like the foam padding in express packaging, oddly satisfying.

As they went deeper, low and fierce roars began to echo through the dungeon corridor, along with a faint, dense rustling sound coming from near and far, as if countless arthropods were crawling slowly and persistently along the walls and floor. But when they looked toward the sound, they saw nothing.

Compared to the Demon King Castle environment, the dungeon was clearly more eerie and terrifying. But if they were to be compared in terms of scariness, Xing Yue felt that Phyllis's paintings lining the entire corridor were even scarier.

Xing Yue and her companions were passing a row of cells when, without warning, the iron bars beside them shuddered violently.

A huge palm covered in brownish-gray fur suddenly thrust out of the cell. Five fingers spread wide, with silver-white claws scraping across the ground, producing a chilling scraping sound.

The moment Xing Yue turned, she met a pair of scarlet eyes. The owner of those eyes stared silently at her, looking extremely terrifying in the darkness.

The goat-headed demon beside her suddenly stomped down, crushing the huge palm. The next moment, a pained roar erupted.

"ROAR--!"

"Behave yourself if you want to get out early!"

The goat-headed demon growled viciously at the cell.

The huge palm retracted into the cell in pain, and soon there came sounds of fur rubbing and snorting, followed by a whining voice: "But, Brother Goat, I'm hungry! When's today's prison meal coming?"

"You'll have to endure it! You're locked in here to reflect, not to live like a spoiled young master!"

The goat-headed demon kicked the iron bars again in annoyance, then turned to Xing Yue with a humble expression and explained, "Princess, all monsters imprisoned in the dungeon receive uniform rations delivered on time. No monster is mistreated."

The other goat-headed demon chimed in, "Exactly! That guy is just greedy. We usually don't indulge him."

Xing Yue looked at the bear-type monster in the cell, who was now blowing on its own palm and looked nothing like the ferocious creature from before, and asked, "So what did it do to get locked up?"

One of the goat-headed demons scratched its head, thought for a moment, and said, "Seems like it couldn't catch any fish for half a day, so it jumped straight into the river to catch them. That's why it was locked up."

The bear-type monster in the cell suddenly turned red-faced. It stood up, grabbed the rails with both paws, and shouted loudly in protest, "Nonsense! I did catch one! But one wasn't enough, so I had no choice but to jump into the river to catch more!"

Hearing this, the goat-headed demon frowned and thought for a moment: "So that's how it was... But jumping straight into the river to catch fish is still wrong. Anyway, you deserve the punishment!"

"Hmph! That's more like it. I may be guilty, but you can't just slander a monster!"

The bear-type monster sat back down, lifting its head as if it had achieved a great victory.

'What are you even winning at?!'

The goat-headed demon gave a silly smile to Xing Yue, who had been about to speak, and said apologetically, "Princess, we're not in charge of the dungeon. We're not particularly sure what specific crimes the monsters here committed. You'd have to ask the warden."

"But we haven't seen her along the way—she's probably gone to eat."

Xing Yue looked up sharply: "...Wait, so no one is guarding this place right now?"

"Yes, Princess."

"..."

'This is a dungeon, yet there's such a strong sense of relaxation...'

'And why do you monsters seem to only think about eating...'

'What? I'm the same? Oh, then never mind.'

Xing Yue quickly let it go: "Forget it. Let's go. Continue to the saintess's cell."

"Yes, Princess."

The place where the saintess was imprisoned was the deepest part of the dungeon. Xing Yue and her companions walked for a while before finally arriving.

The dim cell was filled with heavy, damp air. A blindfolded woman was suspended in the center by handcuffs. Her tattered clothes were torn in many places, exposing large patches of skin. Her body leaned slightly forward, barely standing thanks only to the cold pull of the wrist shackles.

Even with someone approaching, she showed no reaction. Her consciousness seemed to have sunk into an unfathomable darkness, like a lifeless shell, merged with the surrounding stillness.