The Grand Duelist

Edward and his squad made out of three members were currently imprisoned within the Underground Penitentiary For Heinous Crimes of the Kingdom of Nether.

Their crimes were something that couldn't really be considered as heinous. If you asked some random person on the streets if busking could be considered as a heinous crime.

Then, that person would most likely reply that it wasn't a crime.

But unfortunately, for these four. They became too greedy and entered the territory of nobles at the Northern-East Area of the Kingdom of Nether where most of those nobles were gathered.

"Ah... I'm bored... Can they not do anything other than torture?" A squad member complained as he yawned in boredom.

"Really, don't they realize that their tortures against us are useless?" Another one chimed in.

"Well, I don't think that they know that we can turn off our pain sensors." Another squad member said before he turned to look at Edward.

"Leader, you really need to compensate us this time. The first time, we can say that we just got unlucky. But this is the second time that we got captured under your lead." He then said in a depressed manner.

Edward nodded his head and replied: "Yeah, once we're kicked out of here then I will surely compensate all of you."

Players couldn't stay for an extended period of time as prisoners at any prison within the world of Victory. Normally, prisons could only hold players for about a week at most before they should be released after the convicted paid the required compensation.

But players could only stay for about 72 hours before they must be released from the Underground Penitentiary For Heinous Crimes of the Kingdom of Nether.

The primary reason why the prison time was so short was because of the game company's fear of damaging the mental states of players.

If they were imprisoned within this vicious and nightmarish penitentiary for too long.

Of course, once released.

The system automatically deducted the necessary compensation for their release, but if the player didn't have enough assets to compensate the system...

They would be given a debuff that automatically siphoned money from them from every source.

The debuff was called, "Sinister Burden" and would last until the system acquired enough money, equal or at least more than the compensation required by the system for their crimes.

Since these players were repeat offenders. All four of them knew about how much compensation the system wanted out of them once they were released from this damned prison.

"I bet that we need to farm for at least a week before we can get rid of that Sinister Burden or some shit."

"Hahaha, you bet. Last time, I even had to take a leave from work just so I could finally take that Sinister Burden away from my shit."

"What's worse is, not only would we get the Sinister Burden. This time, I bet that all of the gold coins that we earned at that retarded region of nobles would probably be gone by the time that we managed to get out of here. Haist..."

Edward swept his gaze at his comrades with a bitter smile on his face before he said: "Honestly though. I don't mind paying that much for as long as I can get out of this damned place as fast as possible. I mean, everything that we had seen so far inside this prison shouldn't really exist out of reality!"

"Yeah, agreed... Just from the walls of this jail cell alone and the thick smell of ammonia in the air. Apart from what we saw back when we came here for the first time. I don't think that we have seen everything that his prison has to offer." One of them said in a trembling voice.

"Then, do you want to see everything?"

"Of course not! I am just here to play, why would I want to give myself unnecessary stress? If not for the fact that I have to spend at least an hour inside this damned prison. I would've logged out and stayed out of the game for three days already!"

"Hahaha, I sure do agree about what you are saying. But I think that the game company is really sadistic. They are forcing us to stay within this prison for at least an hour just so it would count that we stayed in prison..."

"Not only that, whenever we stayed for an hour. Those bastards always come to us and force us to confess about things that we didn't even do." One of them said with a deep sigh.

"What they are doing makes me wonder if medieval society was this corrupted to the extent that they would force confessions to people that are not really involved."

"That's what we call as scapegoats." Edward took the words out of his comrade's mouth.

"Yeah, we really are scapegoats for the plans that those bastards are doing. But I really do wonder though. Just what will happen to us if we followed along with their wishes and confessed about something that we didn't do? Would we be publicly executed?" One of them asked in curiosity.

"That sure is interesting. How about you go and try? If you are indeed publicly executed, we'll be there and watch you from afar with tears in our eyes. We'll also burn some hell money for you." One of them teased.

"How about you go, and fuck off?"

"Hahaha, you're angry?"

"Shh! They're coming!"

Edward suddenly hushed them up, and his comrades instantly turned silent.

"I brought the two of you here because of the fact that these bastards are cursed, just like you."

"Cursed, just like me?"

"Yes, and what's worse is that these bastards are repeat offenders. They seemed to have taken a liking to the Penitentiary that they even came back for the second time."

Edward and his squad members heard the sound of several footsteps along with a conversation between a familiar voice and an unfamiliar voice. When they heard what the familiar voice said about them, they almost coughed a mouthful of blood in anger.

'That bastard, does he really think that we're here just because we wanted to be here?' All of them violently cursed in their hearts, but they still maintained their silence as the sound of approaching footsteps became closer.

"I remember saying that I would brief the two of you about what our jobs in here. But it isn't really that special. In fact, our job isn't even to maintain cleanliness within the jail but just to torture these poor bastards and politely ask information from their mouths."

"If they aren't so tight-lipped, then these cursed bastards would've been released already." The voice seemed to be in disappointment when it reached the end of its sentence as the party of Javier, Ezreal and Joseph finally arrived at the Jail Cell where players were detained.

Joseph had an idea about what kind of prisoners were detained in this Jail Cell, but he only confirmed everything when he finally saw them.

"Players!" Joseph thought to himself when he saw the floating marks above their heads that signified their statuses as players.

"Sir, why were they imprisoned?" Joseph asked, but Javier shook his head and said: "People like us do not have the ability to ask something like that..."

"Just remember that once someone is imprisoned here, someone like us can do everything that we wanted to them. And as for your job, just let me set an example."

Javier dashed at one of the players, held him in the neck and slammed him on the wall.

"Guah!" The player harshly coughed as all air within his lungs were sucked out, causing his face to turn into purple.

"Oh, you like that? Eh? How about you just tell me about everything already? if you do so then you'd be released from this damned place, right?" Javier teased the player whom he pushed on the wall.

"Like... I... said... we... do... not... have any relations... with that duke..." The player gasped for air as he struggled on saying these words out.

Joseph looked uncomfortable looking at them in their current plight.

But since one could only be placed within this prison when one committed particularly heinous crimes...

Joseph didn't really look at them in a good light.

But he was relieved that none of them was a woman.

"If you do not have any relations with that particular duke, then why are ya'll frequenting that place? You must not lie, there's no need to lie... We know everything... We know everything about you! We even know things that you don't know about yourself!" Javier's sadistic side was turned on.

He held the player on the wall with his right hand, while his free hand summoned a needle that he inserted directly at the center of the player's chest.

Such a gruesome scene made Joseph cringe, but the player didn't have that much of a reaction aside from looking like he was gasping for air. In fact, he didn't even look like he was in pain after the insertion of that needle.

"Wait, it's not painful?" Joseph couldn't help but mumble, and Javier froze for a moment before letting go of the player.

"It's wrong to say that it's not painful. The technique that I showed you earlier was a method that could break any battle-hardened men into confessing due to pain. That needle even has a poison that will induce itchiness that couldn't be relieved from the insides of your body, but look at this guy. He isn't even reacting!"

Javier kicked the player and the latter flew backward and only stopped when he struck a wall. The comrades of that player hurriedly rushed towards him in rescue before they all coldly glared at Javier, Joseph, and Ezreal.

They looked like all of them wanted to violently curse at the three of them but they were scared of the consequences when they really did that.

"These bastards really are annoying to work with. They don't have that much of a reaction when it comes to our torture methods. But well, they do react when you choke them. But the more painful methods aren't working against them. It's as if they did something that turned off their sense of pain!"

Javier loudly complained.

'Turned off their sense of pain? I think I know about it!' Joseph inwardly exclaimed.

He hurriedly opened his Main Menu and trembled when he found the setting that he was looking for inside the Options Tab.

"We really hate these cursed bastards. Dealing with them is like standing before a treasure that you can only look but not touch!" Javier shook his head, and Ezreal asked in curiosity but with a frown on his face: "What do you mean standing before a treasure?"

Javier was taken aback by Ezreal's question: "Oh, you're finally talking? I am saying that these bastards are treasures due to the fact that the rewards that one could get from having them confess are really great! I mean, if one of them confessed, you could get ten gold coins each and if all of them confessed. You'd get a hundred gold coins!"

"A hundred gold coins if all of them confessed?!" Joseph who was in the middle of his trance suddenly awakened and greed could be seen within his eyes as he stared at Javier.

Javier couldn't help but laugh upon seeing his expression: "Yeah, a hundred gold coins from the Jail Warden himself. Sounds too good to be true, right? But don't worry. The Jail Warden never reneges on his promises, but the sad thing is. Like what I said. It's only a treasure that we can look at, but not obtain. After all, these bastards wouldn't talk."

What Javier said was pretty depressing, but that didn't diminish Joseph's determination particularly when money was involved. Right now, he was like a thirsty man in the middle of a desert with an oasis right in front of him. Just how could he possibly resist such temptation?

Joseph stared at Javier and he looked like he wanted to try something but Javier predicted his thoughts and said: "We are over for today. We'll just come back here tomorrow after you learned more about our torture methods from this compendium."

Javier handed over a book at Joseph.

[ You have received Compendium of Effective Torture Methods For All Kinds of Species. ]

[ This book is exclusive only for members of the Underground Penitentiary For Heinous Crimes. Once you are dismissed from your position, this book will automatically disappear. ]

Joseph nodded his head and was about to speak when Javier continued.

"We're gonna be back here tomorrow. So, just stay at home, don't worry about anything too much. Like I said, as long as you don't kill the prisoners outright, you can do whatever you want with them and no one will care..."

"Of course, that also involves both of you going inside the Cellblock whenever you want. Everything is quite carefree in here, for as long as you don't break any rules, of course..." Javier winked at Ezreal when he reached the end of his sentence before he turned around and said: "Let's go, there's no use staying with these tight-lipped bastards."