Who asked for your sob story?

The elf propped herself up as her nose scrunched up, probably because of the foul smell. She looked at the people around her, then she looked at me who is sitting in the corner.

I looked at her.

We both stared at each other.

It felt like she was suddenly having a hard time breathing...

What's the deal with her? After taking a few deep breaths and calming herself down, she finally started to walk towards me and then sat beside me.

It's not magic guys. It's all about appearances all over again.

On one side you have got people who look worst, their eyes dull with no life in them and then you have got a guy who looks way better than them, a guy who isn't sitting in a place covered with his shit!

Which will you choose?

The elf who is now sitting beside me. She didn't say anything.

...What was with her staring at me before and her reaction.. oh well, let's move on.

Weirdos in the world exist for a reason.

Alright, it's time to start the pla-

Um...

I just realized...

How do I start the conversation?

If this was a café then I would simply order the food, if it's customer service then I would ask them my quarries but how do I start the conversation with this elf!?

Like, what am I supposed to say!? To begin with, isn't it weird to suddenly start talking with someone you have never talked with?

Don't sit silently with your lousy ass lady...

'..Maybe it is a bad idea to cooperate, I can just deal with this all on my own

Such thoughts started to corrupt my mind immediately.

"When ..did you get captured?"

I looked towards the source of the hushed voice, towards the elf sitting beside me.

Hm?

Is she talking to me?

O-oh I gotta respond. It's alright now. I can handle it from here.

"Just recently" I answered.

"I see.." The elf said.

"Why ask?"

"...Your condition looked better than others, so I knew you must be like me, someone who got captured recently but I wanted to confirm"

Is she the type who would check things a hundred times to confirm it?

"You sure are cautious type, huh."

What else am I supposed to say?

"It's not that, it's just ..nothing," she said reluctantly as she shook her head

...

Oh lord, she left me hanging! Nothing frustrates me more than someone leaving their sentences mid-way!

Screw you!

"So, what rank are you?"

I asked, I can't let my personal feelings interfere with work. I needed to confirm if it was the same as the novel or not.

"..S- rank" she whispered.

"Must be nice to have relative working for demons"

I said in the most casual way possible.

What? What's with my out-of-place reply? It's not out of place.

You see, S-rank are prestigious type of food for demons, in other words, S-rankers go into their stomach faster than us low-rankers.

That's why her being here doesn't make sense unless someone helped her and the person who threw her here was an elf.

What I am trying to say is that she wouldn't get suspicious about me even though I have just blurted out that I know she has got one of her family members working for demons.

She gritted her teeth not responding but affirming my reasoning.

It also helped me know that the setting of this character is also the same.

"So, when are you getting out? or are you here to check up on us? Is there a spy who has slipped in? Are you here to weed them out? Must be nice, joining the team with demons."

Her eyes were downcast, her expression angered, and frustrated, she bit her lips causing the blood to fall on the ground.

I stayed silent instead of speaking any further and that proved to be the right decision.

A few seconds later she opened her mouth.

"..I am not with them" She spat with clear hostility as she continued "I know it might be hard to believe for you but that's the truth."

"I don't really have anything to do, it wouldn't hurt to hear you out I don't, I guess."

I knew the story but what can I do?

"He is my brother.." She said as she started to recount her story to me.

How her mother died, how her father stayed behind to buy time for her and her brother, for them to be able to escape, dying in the process. How she swore to kill demons, how she joined a group of people who were just like her, how they all became besties with each other, how then one day they ended up encountering a SS ranked demon, the same demon who ate her mother and father, how that demon beat the shit out of them, how the demon gave them the choice of killing each other and letting the last standing person live, how her brother killed everyone except her sister, how her brother asked the demon to let her sister live in return of becoming the demon's slave, how the demon accepted the offer and let her go.

"I hate him but I hate myself even more, I know what he did that day was for me, he killed his lover, his best friend, entered a slave pact with the person who killed our parents .. all for me, all because of me.."

She said in her quavering voice as her body trembled, she held her tears back not letting them fall.

Even though it was better to cry, she was holding back.

All I wanted to say is... just why?

Why!?

Who asked for your whole past, lady?

For the past hour, I have been hearing her sob story.

And now she is trying to not cry when she should be.

I have no clue what to say.

How did I get into this shit again?

Oh wait, I was the one who asked her.

Damn it!

"..So, you ended up doing something reckless like trying to kill that demon but got captured, once again causing trouble for your brother, great job." My damned mouth said the words I wanted to say when I first read her story in the novel.

Fuck no!!

Why!?

Kill me!

..Wait no, don't! That was a joke, I swear!

I remembered someone saying You should always have positive thoughts because no one ever knows what wish of yours might get granted

For the record, I am an atheist and I don't believe in superstitions but man, when you get thrown in a novel outta nowhere, you start being careful with this stuff.

What? Be careful not to start believing. Ptff, like hell.

Regardless, I need to focus on the matter at hand. The elf's expression turned horrified as my words or should reality started to hit her, which made me realize the reason behind me being an outcast.

But what I said wasn't wrong.

After getting caught her brother begged for the demon to give him some time, time to convince her sister to enter a slave pact rather than eating her.

In a way, you can say that entering a slave pact is the only choice she has if doesn't want to cause any more problems for her brother.

That's where the protagonist's teams come into play. After they escape, they later down the line kill the demon and free her brother from the slave pact as well.

That's how the story unfolds.

"You lack tact, a lot of it"

A raspy voice entered my ears as I looked towards the man who had spoken to me.

Oh! So, now you can speak!

Tryna making me the bad guy to hit off with the Elf who is down in the slumps by giving her supporting words?

I get that Elves are naturally hot and all but seriously dude...

I decided to ignore the guy and looked towards the elf.

"So, what are you gonna do now?"

I asked.

That's more important than anything else.

What? I lack tact? Well, no shit Sherlock. I wouldn't be a friendless bastard in my last 16 years of life if I didn't lack tact.

"..I will escape, I will escape and then kill that bastard, even if it's the last thing I do and I am sure my brother would be more happy if that bastard dies rather than serving him with me till the day we both die." She said her voice contained different emotions, anger towards the demon, sadness towards her brother, determination to kill, and hope to succeed.

Yup, she is dead set on killing that demon, just like in the novel.

Well, good for me.

"So, what is your story?"

She asked.

She was the type of person who had to tell other people her story and ask theirs afterward.

Basically, dumb.

"My name's Noah and that's all you need to know"

I have no backstory here.

Just a guy who got swept in some weird ass shit.

"Th-" Before the elf lady could finish her sentence she was cut off

"You should give up on escaping from here"

It was the same guy who spoke before.

I get it, dude.

You saw a hot elf. You wanna spend time with her, you are freaking out because she is gonna leave before you even got a chance to talk to her but seriously, even I as an outcast can tell that sentence will score 0 points.

You don't take someone's hope away from them. That's just so cruel.

"...And why is that?"

The elf asked warily.

"Because you can't. Outside the cage is filled with lots of traps that activate for anyone who is wearing these chains, and there are beasts around here too, escaping along with these chains is impossible. These corpses that are lying here ...all tried to escape too. As far as I know, I have never heard of anyone escaping this place."

Okay, dude.

Just tell me. No, seriously, just tell me.

How in the hell are you gonna hear about someone escaping this place if all your interactions only consist of your cage mates?

And not able to escape with these chains? You guys are just too reliant on your mana and stuff, aren't ya?

Getting caught by traps? Noobs.

As for the beasts? Well, we will see.

What? What are beasts doing here?

Well, let me say it again. Beasts are animals who become more ferocious because of mana entering the atmosphere.

Now, this hidden dungeon is a big plot point of the story.

Why? 'coz this hidden dungeon revealed a scary truth! And it's the fact that demons can control these beasts.

Remember the war? Population chart? Let me remind you all.

Demons population is 50 million and so so. Demons are all above A+ rank.

Yeah, they are super strong but... is it impossible to deal with them? Hell, no!

The human population is alone 700 million and we don't have a level cap, yeah, it takes a hell lot of time to rank up after becoming an A+ ranker, some humans end up spending their lifetime just to become S- ranker but even so there is a good chunk of numbers who become above A+ ranker.

And of course, fu*king geniuses exist for a reason.

Don't forget we have got other species as well.

All in all, what I am trying to say is, that there are 100 million who range from S- to S+ rank and about 10 million who range from SS- to SS+ rank.

SSS- ranker? Well, no, we don't have one.

That's the statistics of the world outside of this hidden dungeon.

Wiping the floor with demons is not something impossible. It is well within the realms of possibility.

This is the biggest reason behind why peace talks were possible in the past.

I mean, demons are dangerous but they can be dealt with.

Now, imagine what would happen if the world learned they could control these beasts.

I mean, imagine what would happen if all the animals (beasts are animals) came after you! Duh, you had to freak out!

You can't win, no matter how strong.

Well, there is a catch, demons can't control all the beasts, each demon can only control a certain number of beasts.

I mean, it would be to op otherwise.

What? What's the amount they can control? Around 10-15 million or so.. for a single demon.

Also, it depends on how strong the beast is.

So, yeah...

Yabai

You might wonder why the hell demon lord enter peace talks back in the day. That's a topic we will talk about some other time. For now, gotta focus on escaping from this cage.