The Grand Duelist

There was one place within the abandoned Kingdom of Nether that remained unaffected by the turmoil of the outside world. It was unknown whether the residents or the managers of that place didn't care about the world outside, or they simply gave up on resisting against the fate of the kingdom's destruction, but this place remained pristine. 

Every resident of the abandoned Kingdom of Nether knew that this place remained peaceful and even managed to retain its stability, yet none of them migrated towards that place. They knew that once they entered that place, they would be abandoning their humanity and it was impossible for them to come up anymore.

But little did these residents know that the people whom they thought as weren't humans anymore were actually the most affected by the traitorous acts of those nobles. The inquisitors and jail janitors of the Underground Penitentiary of the Kingdom of Nether were convicted criminals. It was impossible for them to return to society.

This was the reason why despite the fact that they were effectively free to do whatever they wanted to do after the nobles abandoned the Kingdom of Nether. They still remained cooped up in the Underground Penitentiary. It wasn't like they didn't want to come not and return to society. They just felt that they didn't deserve to see the light of the day.

Hence, they remained here.

"I won't stop any of you if you want to return to the surface. Those bastards abandoned us already, and they probably brought the order of the knights with them, so there is nothing stopping us from returning." The Captain of the Inquisitors, a figure incredibly familiar to both Joseph and Ezreal spoke in a somber voice.

Surrounding him were the inquisitors and jail janitors who seemed to have forgotten the fact that both sides belonged to two different factions with huge differences in their status. At this moment, none of these rugged middle-aged men and rotting old men cared about those trivial matters.

They gathered here as one, surprisingly in unity.

"I won't return, captain... I'm supposed to die six years ago already. Since you saved me that day, I was already prepared to die and become a ghost of this place." One of the inquisitors spoke. This man had a permanent glare on his face, probably because of the abuse that he experienced when he was younger, but none of these men cared about his look.

All of them turned to stare at him and collectively sighed.

"You guys... " Even without saying anything, the Captain of the Inquisitors understood that none of these men had the intention to leave the Underground Penitentiary. He felt moved, but at the same time, he felt angry and irritated by the actions of those nobles.

If they didn't leave the Kingdom of Nether for the Empire of Truedawn, none of these would've happened.

But of course, he couldn't blame the nobles for their actions. It was a well-known fact that the Kingdom of Nether wasn't so stable anymore. There were a lot of snakes, even in the Royal Palace. Even he was astonished that the King, Oliver Oligarch lived for so long.

Speaking of the King, the Captain of the Inquisitors suddenly fell into deep contemplation.

Until now, they still haven't received any news regarding the fate of the King of the Kingdom of Nether.

They still didn't know if he was dead, missing, or if he abandoned his own Kingdom to become the dog of the Empire.

Of course, the Captain himself knew that the first possibility was more likely to happen. After all, no King would possibly abandon their Kingdom just to become the dog of others. A king had a significant amount of dignity and wasn't someone that anyone could easily command. If a King really did defect to the Empire, then that could cause a conflict of interest.

The Captain let out a sigh and turned to his comrades once again, "I'll ask you guys, one last time. Does anyone of you want to go to the surface or not? I know that most of you would probably never be able to enter society if you go to the surface but that is better than just rotting in this place."

The Captain sternly asked. From his expression alone, it was clear that he was quite sincere.

"Say no more, captain. We've already decided. For now, I suppose it's better if we decide on what should we do with these prisoners. Do we release them, or do we give them a painless death?" An old man covered with festering wounds all over his body spoke in a grating voice.

A putrid odor was continuously released from his body, yet none of the people around him complained.

They knew better than to complain.

After all, this old man's authority was second only to the captain.

They knew that they must respect him.

The Captain turned to look at the old man and sighed, "Alex... I see that you've already decided." His eyes then flashed in the light of determination similar to the lights from everyone's eyes, "Okay, let's decide on what should we do to these prisoners."

Every prisoner within the Underground Penitentiary committed all sorts of heinous crimes. Of course, none of them would be released outside. Even though some of the jail janitors and inquisitors thought of escaping to the surface. None of them were willing to release these criminals back to society.

If that happened then there was only a single result that would definitely arise from this decision.

And that was complete mayhem.

Releasing these prisoners was similar to opening Pandora's box.

The Captain stood up and was about to walk towards one of the nearest jail cells when a voice suddenly rang out.

"Wait..."

He turned around towards the direction of the voice and as soon as he and his comrades saw the person who spoke, anger quickly appeared in their eyes.

"You..."

"You're that traitorous bastard..."

"Ezreal!"