"I won't lie... sire."
Ash was quick to adopt the others' speech patterns to better blend into this time period. And it was proving quite effective until now.
"Hmm!"
Nodding, Tiglath was confused as to what to do with this man.
This cultist was the responsibility of the Crimson Order, and being its chief knight, he had taken the task upon himself to interrogate them.
The other two had confessed to their crimes. And the one he killed, well, it simply meant that the man never existed. But Ash… he could prove to be difficult.
Clicking his tongue, Tiglath scanned the man thoroughly and couldn't find anything out of place. The cultist appeared like any mortal.
"How far did you not remember things?"
The blood tyrant asked.
Ash was about to say that aside from today, he didn't remember anything, but he stopped, remembering that he didn't know how much he had spent sleeping, which was a problem.
'I can't say that… it would technically be counted as me lying.'
Carefully selecting his words, Ash said,
"I only remember the last two of the sacrifices… everything else before that is blank in my mind."
"Really!?"
Hearing this, not only was the tyrant confused, but the other cultist was also looking at him with disdain.
Once again, the tyrant looked at the ring and found the statement to be true.
"Iman... Lock them up. We are good for today."
Saying this, Tiglath waved away the cultists and seemed lost in thought. Before moving forward, Ash took a glance at the flask hanging from his waist. Aside from that, there appeared to be no more weapons on him.
'Did you notice anything important, Imp?'
Ash asked with anticipation.
While they were talking, the Imp had observed every corner of the field. He was trying to find a way out of this.
[hmm! Something like that… beyond this boundary is a jungle. I don't notice any guards there.]
Because Imp couldn't fly more than five meters, this was all he could observe, but that was enough for Ash.
Iman, the soldier, moved and put a blindfold over their eyes; he covered their ears and began moving toward the prison.
Slowly, the light dimmed, and his vision turned dark; yet he wasn't clueless like the last time. As Ash traced his steps, Imp narrated to him about the surroundings.
[This is the last left before entering the garden. At this point, the path is divided into three parts, but remember to go left...]
'Good, good...'
Muttering to himself, Ash calmly followed the soldier for quite some time.
[We are here; this is the first turn... from here on out, the path is straight for two minutes. You can't see them, but the area is filled with cells. Some of them are occupied by prisoners, but most of them are filled with skeletons…]
[...ugh!! The sight is horrifying.]
'Don't worry... we will be out of this place before they know it.'
Assuring himself and the little guy sitting upon his head, Ash moved closer and closer to his cell. Half a minute of distance was still left when he suddenly began hearing someone crying.
Sob! Sob!
Hearing someone cry like a child, Ash's mind instantly leaped to the worst possible conclusion.
'A ghost?'
One thing was very true: Ash was very, very afraid of ghosts.
'Arghh!!'
Swallowing hard, he silently prayed it could be anything but that.
'This place is already unbearable... please don't tell me there are ghosts too.'
His thoughts were already spiraling into absurd possibilities when the soldier beside him clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Why is that idiot crying now?"
'Idiot?'
Connecting with Imp, he asked, 'Hey, can you see who is crying?'
[The giant one. He is crying for some reason.]
'Ohh! Phew! It's not as bad as I thought.'
Smiling, he moved calmly and stopped right before the cell.
When the blindfold was removed from his face, he confirmed Iman's words.
Ash entered the prison, and the moment he did so, the giant sprinted toward him.
Getting into a defensive position, he was about to create a shield, but the giant was quick.
"Baba!!"
Ash heard these words and found himself in the embrace of the giant. The giant was hugging him, his snot dripping over his shoulder.
'Baba... what is he spouting... I haven't even done the deed..'
Confused, Ash tried to separate himself from the behemoth, but his strength was nowhere near enough to achieve this desired result.
The embrace began to get tighter, and he felt his breathing getting harder and harder.
"Let me go... please..."
Ash struggled, and the giant seemed to come to his senses.
Letting him go, he looked at him apologetically, his eyes conveying how sorry he was.
"Sowwy... bad child me... sowwy. pain.."
The giant said, pointing toward the wound over his leg.
Hearing this, Ash didn't know how to react. No matter how much he tried to think otherwise, the giant in front of him was a child through and through.
'Tsk! Just what did they do to him...'
Ash suddenly felt the hatred for the cultists increase more and more.
"Don't worry, come with me."
Saying this, Ash moved toward the corner of the prison, and the giant followed him.
Sitting in the corner, he looked at the giant and explained to him, "First of all, I'm not your baba… brother, you can call me… understand?"
"Brother?"
Repeating the words, the giant nodded his head.
Wanting to know more about his situation, Ash looked at the other cultists and was surprised to find they were looking at him with eyes full of jealousy.
'Hmm! Why though?'
Confused, Ash understood they wouldn't be of any help.
Turning his attention back toward the giant, he asked,
"Why are you doing this… where is your mama…"
Hearing this, the giant shook his head.
"Mama… no mama… only baba…"
"No.. no, that's not how it works…"
Ash was about to correct him but stopped, realizing that he might not even know what mama even means.
Engrossed in explaining to him bits and pieces, time flew with such speed that Ash didn't even notice until he heard some footsteps moving toward the cell.
Tak! Tak!
Multiple people were coming, and Ash understood that the dance was over.