Raised in Dungeon

The next day, Luke was no longer doing his daily duties as usual; he was transferred to the underground to guard the Norttish.

"Hey, can I have some water?" Ivaylo smiled.

The bishop instructed Luke to provide the bare necessities, such as food and water. Since the body was wrapped and the cell bars were not initially locked, he definitely could not escape.

Luke went inside the cell and gave him a drink of water.

"Slowly," said Luke.

Then Luke fed him bread and soup.

"Thank you."

"It's okay; this is my job."

Ivaylo smiled again, but this time his smile wasn't as strange and tense as before.

"It's very kind of you to say'slowly' to me as if you're used to looking after people," Ivaylo said.

"Ah, yes, I often take care of my sick mother."

"Oh? Is your mother sick? Is she okay now?"

"Not really. Thanks to the church's help, she may be feeling better, but her illness has not been cured."

'Huh? Why am I telling this to this guy?'

"How poor you are; what is her illness?"

"I don't know, she can't move her body, or she can barely move it at all, and she also can't speak well."

Why is it that when I talk to him, I feel like I want to tell him everything?

"Oh, I know that; maybe it's a disease called a stroke. I have a friend from another world whose parents have the same disease."

"Really?! Do you know how to cure it?!"

'Talking to him somehow makes me calm.'

"I don't know, but I can ask my friend when I get out of here. You can first untie this."

Luke was immediately disappointed when Ivaylo asked because the pleasure he felt was phony; he must have lied to get out of there.

"Haaaah… it's useless to lure me with such lies; I've already given my heart to the church, It is impossible for me to betray the church," Luke said with an annoyed face.

"Did I make you angry? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you angry; maybe I was joking too much. But believe me; I didn't lie about the disease."

Luke could tell that Ivaylo was truly sorry. There was something strange he felt while talking to Ivaylo. He somehow didn't think that Ivaylo was lying at all; he was sure that Ivaylo was honest. Maybe it's his charisma that makes Luke keep listening to Ivaylo talk.

At that time, day and night, Luke spent his time talking to Ivaylo.

...

The Council meeting lasted for three hours.

In the evening, Archbishop Cornelius returned to the city church, feeling upset.

"Welcome, your excellency, Archbishop Cornelius Beckingham," greeted Bishop Augustin at the front of the church.

"Yeah, is it true that we have captured that man?"

"Yes, your excellency. He is currently locked up in the basement.

​ After getting out of his carriage, the archbishop looked very upset. It seemed that the outcome of the council meeting was not to his liking. If it weren't for the "good news" of Augustin capturing the leader of the Noctem Dolls, he probably would have gotten very angry and decided to lock himself up in his room.

"How did the meeting go, your excellency?" asked Augustin.

"HMPH! If only you saw Benedict's face there! That face of his shows that everything is according to his plan! AGAIN! He's left us one step behind! AGAIN!"

The decisions made by the council were

First, increase the security of the capital by summoning all the Knights of Rounds to the capital and asking them to focus on guarding the capital.

The knights of rounds are the knights with the highest title in the kingdom, who were chosen by the council as the kingdom's strongest troops. Because each knight in rounds is very strong and can fight 1000 people, they are spread to every corner of the country. And this time, all the knights of rounds would be summoned to the capital.

What made the Archbishop upset was the second one:

In exterminating Earl Isabelle Browet Wolverlope, Prince Harald brought the Norttish hidden by the Earl, and currently, the Norttish is locked up in the castle's prison.

As it turned out, Archbishop Benedict Spelman intended to bring the Norttish to his place for his research because it was said that he had a way to utilize the blasting mana that he could not say and could not give to the royal research center.

Cornelius had always disliked Benedict Spelman, so he was on the side of those who rejected Benedict's proposal to bring the Norttish, but it turned out that almost everyone in the room agreed with Benedict. Benedict was the archbishop with the most contributions to the kingdom, and his subordinates investigated Earl Wolverlope; he had the right to have the Norttish.

Then right now, even though Cornelius was annoyed by what happened in the council meeting room, he still felt lucky because his subordinates also captured the Norttish. He was not just a regular Norttish, but the leader of the number one criminal organization, the Noctem Dolls, named Ivaylo.

"So this is that guy."

As Cornelius entered the basement, Luke immediately stood up and saluted him.

"Welcome! Your Excellency!"

Cornelius raised his right hand to return Luke's greeting. Then he approached Ivaylo, who smiled at him.

"What are you smiling, your criminal!" Cornelius shouted while swinging his whip at Ivaylo's head.

Ivaylo kept smiling; he showed that Cornelius' whip didn't hurt him so much.

Cornelius continued to whip Ivaylo's face so often that Ivaylo's face was swollen and the blood from his face splashed on the floor, but even so, he was still smiling.

"What a pity," Ivaylo said.

"What did you say?" asked Cornelius irritably.

Ivaylo then looked at Cornelius with his swollen face and said,

"I created the Noctem Dolls organization because I don't like being alone. I want to have friends who will always follow me everywhere and friends who have the same thoughts as me."

Cornelius then whipped Ivaylo's face once more.

"What nonsense are you saying?!"

"That's why I pity you, Archbishop Cornelius Beckingham. Unlike me, who has loyal friends. Whereas you, in that room, none of them listen to you."

Hearing Ivaylo, Cornelius recalled the events in the room. What made him upset was not Benedict's arbitrary decision but because of the other council's gaze. When they look at Cornelius, it's like they're looking at a fool. He was an honorable archbishop, but he was not even considered an equal in that room, let alone respected. All his words were considered nonsense by the other council. And it was all because Cornelius was most often on the side of those who disagreed with the majority decision.

The reason why capturing Ivaylo was "lucky" for him is…

"I will hand you over to the royal family when the time comes. Indeed, they don't seem to respect me, and that's why I will show my achievements to this kingdom. And to start with, I will capture all the members of the Noctem Dolls and give them to the kingdom. That way, the name of the land church will increase, and I will regain my influence in the council seat."

Cornelius then left from there.

"Luke, please take care of this guy; the Archbishop has gone too far; he doesn't need to be tortured, he must have his own reasons for fighting the world, and I will guide him to become someone better," Augustine said.

Even without being told by Augustine, he would have done it anyway. But Augustine's words touched his deepest heart.

So this was a bishop

A saint who sees the world differently from ordinary people.

After the bishop came out, Luke wiped a wet cloth on Ivaylo's face.

"Does it hurt?" Luke asked.

"Things like this are my daily bread. Compared to what happened at the research center, this is nothing," Ivaylo replied.

'Research center?' felt that if he asked, he would discover something extraordinary threatening his life, so he dropped the idea of asking him and tried to change the subject.

"I know Archbishop Cornelius. When I was a child, I met him for a day. He was grumpy to everyone, but he always smiled in front of the children at the orphanage, and I heard that he was the one who freed the most slaves. So please don't say anything bad about him," Luke said.

"You really are a good man. But I'm just telling the truth. From his expression, you should know that what I said is true."

Right, Luke could not reply to anything Ivaylo said. The archbishop also looked very hungry for power and honor; maybe what Ivaylo said was all true, and maybe all this time, he was doing good to slaves and children only to obtain a good impression from others.

'What was I thinking?! How could the archbishop be like that?!'

But slowly, his doubts about the archbishop began to appear, especially after seeing the archbishop's treatment of Ivaylo, which he thought was too cruel.

Norttish were dangerous, and since the kingdom had already established laws about them, their existence was no better than slaves. So Archbishop Cornelius' harsh treatment of Ivaylo should be something that would be acceptable to the average person. Plus, Ivaylo is the number one criminal in the kingdom and has killed many people; Luke should not sympathize with Ivaylo. Despite the fact that he only spoke briefly with Ivaylo, Luke was drawn to him; he felt close and comfortable with him. Like, Ivaylo had been his best friend for a long time.

"It's strange, at a time like this, I feel very close to you," Luke suddenly said, then, with embarrassment, he continued

"Ah, sorry,"

"Fufufu, it's okay. My friends are all saying that to me too."

"Friends, huh? It seems like they're all bad people."

"Bad and good are on two sides of the same coin. It's just a different way of looking at things. If you think the person lives up to the justice you believe in, you'll say he's good, but if he doesn't, you'll say he's bad."

As he said that, Luke stopped wiping Ivaylo's head. He suddenly felt that tense feeling again, like when he first met Ivaylo. Although he was currently behind Ivaylo, he knew that Ivaylo was smiling. He was always smiling, but his smile this time was definitely the same as his strange smile at that time.

Ivaylo then continued,

"For example, the church views me as bad for killing many people. And the kingdom intends to kill me because I'm a bad person to them. Then what is the difference between the kingdom and us? We have killed many people, are you sure the people we kill are good people? Yesterday we killed a corrupt nobleman, yesterday we killed a nobleman who wanted to rape his wife's sister, and another yesterday we killed pedophilia. All of them are bad people, and like the kingdom, we only punish them.

As the church said, everyone has sinned, which makes them bad. That means it is permissible to murder everyone."

"S…s…So, are you saying you're a good person for killing?" asked Luke.

At that moment, Luke's body was sweating; he felt a strange aura that was tense and creepy coming out of Ivaylo.

Like, Ivaylo became a different person.

Ivaylo turned his head, looking at Luke with that strange smile again.

"Fufufu is a good question, my friend."

-PIN

Ivaylo suddenly moved his hand, free from the shackles, and a needle came out inside his sleeve. Three needles stuck into Luke, under his chest, throat, and head temple.

As a result, Luke fell, became paralyzed, and was unable to move or speak.

'Damn, I was caught off guard! Is this god's blessing? Or is it some kind of amnis? How can he use it when there's a clandestine flower inside?!' he thought.

The needles had a thread, Ivaylo pulled the thread in his hand and the needles went back into his right sleeve.

"This is neither amnis nor god's blessing. This is something called science, Luke my friend," Ivaylo replied as if he could hear Luke's thoughts.

"The individual does not determine good and bad, but the social, which means that we are based on what the church and kingdom decide. "From a social standpoint, I am a bad person, or what they called evil," Ivaylo said, reaching into Luke's pocket for the key.

'No, Ivaylo, don't go!'

Then Ivaylo took out another needle. This needle was black, and the base looked big. He stuck the needle into Luke's back. Luke then felt the heat in his body burn his body up to his head, and blood came out of his mouth, nose, and ears.

"I just injected a poison that can kill you in one day. You can't be cured; even if you could, the poison would have spread to your body first."

'No, I don't want to die! I still want to serve the bishop! I need to take care mother!

"To answer your question, even if an individual determines it, and it is me, I would call myself a bad person. Bishop Augustin is funny, too, saying that I have my own reasons for fighting the world. It was as if I were killing for the justice I believed in, but he was wrong. There was no justice in what I was doing. I just wanted to do things my way. This is just my way of enjoying this world."

Ivaylo walked to the exit, leaving Luke's body drooping and immobile, waiting for his death.

"One more thing, even though I'm a bad guy. I still have a good side, Luke. Because you have comforted me during my imprisonment and made me your friend, as a friend, I will do something for you.

That is,

I will painstakingly kill your mother with my own hands. As a friend, I can't bear the thought of your mother's fate, drooping, abandoned, while sadly thinking of her dead child. Oooh... what a pity."

'IVAYLO!... IF YOU DO THAT... I'LL DEFINITELY KILL...'

Luke's body, which had been very hot, suddenly became cold.

Then slowly, he couldn't think anymore; his eyes closed, and he died inside the coldness of the church's basement.

"Hmph? Oh my… I forgot to change the poison. It's an instant-kill poison. That's too bad; I wanted to see his reaction when I told him about his mother.

Mana will become stronger if you have a strong will. From his faith and love for his mother, I hope that mana will answer his determination and give him a miracle.

Then all my efforts to talk to him were futile.

I meant to lie, but at this rate, I'm going to kill his mother. Although it's troublesome, I must keep my promise to this friend of mine."