Reincarnated as both God and The Devil

Chapter 73: The Prisoner (1)

Albert has been working as a prison guard for a noble's castle for almost 14 years. He had seen all kinds of prisoners come and go.

The most common prisoners were usually just thugs and drunkards, your usual riff raff. They were locked up on the 1st layer of the underground prison. The ones who had more heinous crimes were usually locked up farther inside, with a thicker gate separating them from the common criminals.

The crimes of the people that were locked up in the inner cells were crimes deserving of death. War crimes, r*ping, murder of one's family, making a mockery of nobility- these were some of the crimes that places one in the inner cells.

And beneath the cells of these prisoners, was another cell separated from the rest. Never allowed to see light, reserved only to threats which the castle has a hard time disposing of, either because of politics or because they simply can't. But mostly, it was for both reasons.

"Had fun talking to the beast?"

"...Lord Fynn!"

Albert waited for a few more hours if the special prisoner would talk to him, but alas, not even a hum. So, he once again returned to his post in disappointment, only to find the Lord of the castle visiting personally.

There were 2 armed guards behind him.

Albert dropped the chair he was dragging and quickly saluted towards the Lord.

"Enough formalities, tell me, has the beast spoken yet?", Lord Flynn waved his hand impatiently.

"T-the beast, M'lord?"

"The beast! The golden-haired beast locked up in the lowest level!"

"T-the special prisoner, M'lord?"

"Yes, the prisoner! Who else would it be, me!?"

Lord Flynn stomped his feet repeatedly.

"Of course not, M'lord", Albert gulped as he tried to regain his composure, careful not to offend the noble in front of him. "I am afraid the special prisoner still has not talked, M'lord"

Lord Flynn could not help but click his tongue in frustration. "Shame. I wanted to keep it for myself, but if I can't use it then I might as well sell it", Lord Flynn then turned his back and proceeded to walk towards the exit.

"One of the King's daughters, Princess Sofia, will visit in 3 days time, I expect the beast to be washed and bathed when we present it and make sure it's leashed", said Lord Flynn before he left the underground cellar followed by his personal guards.

Albert frowned as soon as the Lord left.

Those with crimes punishable by death are usually stripped of their rights. If they are somehow released from prison, it would be as a slave. In which the Lord of the castle has full ownership of.

But as far as Albert's knowledge goes, it was deemed illegal by the King to enslave children.

The special prisoner below, was a child.

He wasn't some beast as the Lord so colorfully described. When the prisoner first arrived here, covered in ashes, Albert even thought that he was some kind of noble that got into a tragedy.

But to his surprise, they threw him straight to the pit and chained him like an animal. Feeding the prisoner only bare meals and not even allowing him to bathe in sunlight, or to even bathe properly in that matter.

Until now, Albert still had no idea what the kid did to deserve such treatment. The higher-ups did their best efforts to keep the prisoner's identity in utmost secrecy.

Albert then sighed, maybe the kid was better off sold.

Anywhere would be better than here.

If anything, the prisoner's situation can't get any worse, Albert thought.

Two days passed, and it was the day before the Princess' visit.

Albert made sure to talk to the prisoner, just in case the prisoner somewhat miraculously felt like talking. He even made sure to tell the prisoner that he was being sold off, and they would probably not see each other again after today.

But still, no response could be heard from the prisoner.

"Since it's our last day together, I bought you something special", Albert then retrieved a small pouch from his pocket and dropped it in the pit.

"My daughter likes that a lot. My family will murder me though if they find out that's actually from Liana's place", Albert laughed out loud.

"I didn't spend time there, if that's what you are getting at. I just went there to get some of that. It's called sugar pops. They're sweet and pops in your mouth. Try it"

"My daughter would ask me for it every day, so I thought you'd like it. How is it? Have you eaten one yet?"

Albert continued to talk even knowing that he won't get any response. He continued to talk with the prisoner until the last hour of his shift.

"Well, this is me then. I don't think we will be seeing each other anytime soon again", Albert released a dejected sigh, "5 years, is it? It's been 5 years since you were here. You practically know all about my family. Heck, you might as well have watched my daughter grow. Come to think of it, you even know more secrets about me more than my family", Albert laughed robustly.

"Well, that's that then", Albert said as he stood up and patted his pants, "Thank you for listening to me all these years. Don't forget to visit from time to time"

He then grabbed his chair, "Fare well, kid", he said as he dragged the chair and walked away.

But halfway to returning to his table, he heard several footsteps coming from the front. He squinted his eyes trying to see who it was, and it wasn't until he took a few more steps forward that the source of the footsteps became visible.

It was a woman with pointy ears, her hands tied.

Or more specifically, an elf prisoner. The elf had two guards in full armor following from behind her, each holding a chain that was attached to her feet.

"Oh, new blood? What did this one do?", Albert asked as he passed by the prisoner.

"Killed a bunch of humans in the next village", the words of the guards were a bit muffled due to the helmet he was wearing, but the serious tone on his voice could not be hidden.

"Ooh. Nasty stuff", Albert shook his head as if he was chilled, "Well, good luck with that. There should be an empty cell near the end of the hall. It's a bit dirty, but elves are used to the dirt anyhow", Albert laughed maniacally, garnering the laughs of the guards as well.

Albert then nodded and continued to walk back to his table. He didn't really give it much of a thought, they were at war with the Elves, after all.

Elves killing a lot of people, people killing a bunch of elves that was an everyday occurrence.

But as Albert was about to pass the inner steel gate, it was then that he noticed that something was not right.

What did the guard say just now?

Killed a bunch of humans in the next village?

Humans? That is a bit called, is it not?

He has been working here for 14 years, and since then, not a single guard that he met would use the term "Humans" to describe their fellow countrymen. It was usually "people" or "villager".

Albert could not help but furrow his eyebrows. Could it be that he was just thinking too much about it?

Maybe it's nothing, but the urge to check won in Albert's mind.

He looked back, and from the distance, there was a source of light that was not there before. He quickly ran towards the end of the hall to see what it was.

And as he got there, he saw the elf prisoner, who was clearly chained earlier, without even a piece of metal latched on her body.

While two guards that were previously escorting her now had their helmets removed, and they too, had pointy ears.

Elves, the three of them were elves!

And on their palms, were balls of fire, currently pointed towards the hatch that was securing the special prisoner's cell.

They were trying to free the prisoner!

Albert quickly unsheathed the dagger that was on his waist as he rushed towards the three.

"What!?", the two elves quickly waved their hands as soon as they realized that Albert was there. But it was too late for the elf that was nearest to Albert.

Caught unawares, the nearest elf could not even react before he was stabbed on the neck by Albert, completely draining him of his life.

But Albert was not so lucky either, as the fire balls that were previously pointed at the hatch below was now on its way to him. He was able to dodge the first one, but was too slow to dodge the other.

"Kuk!"

The fireball directly hit him in the chest as he was flung a few meters away. As soon as he stopped, he quickly removed the parts of his armor that was burning.

"BREACH!", Albert then shouted with all his might. The prisoners in the outer cells heard this, and they soon started to howl and shout like crazy. The prisoners in the inner cells on the other hand, only had curious looks on their faces as they watched what was going on.

The three were in a stand off as they looked at one another.

The two elves could not really make their escape easily, as Albert was blocking their path. So, their only option? Kill Albert.

The elf guard unsheathed his knife and rushed towards Albert while firing a fireball at the same time.

Albert dodged the fireball by leaning on the left, and still managed to deflect the knife that followed by letting it slide on his arm brace, making the elf guard lose his balance. Albert then took this chance to elbow the elf on his stomach.

However, it backfired on him as the elf guard was wearing armor. Albert groaned as he leaped back to check on his elbows, luckily, nothing was broken.

But his split-second of carelessness was a mistake. As the female elf took this chance to get the knife from the waist of her dead comrade and proceeded to rush towards Albert, also firing a fire ball at the same time.

The other elf guard did the same, with both of them jumping towards Albert.

"Shit!", in desperation, Albert threw his knife, hitting the elf guard right in the eye. But not before the elf guard could cast the fireball.

Both of the fireballs managed to hit Albert, causing him to roll on the ground like a doll, only stopping when he hit the steel gate of the inner cells.

Albert coughed up blood, but he still tried to stand up. However, the female elf was already only a few feet away from him, with her knife directly pointed at his neck.

Albert could not help but hold his breath. His mind blanking out, and the only thing he could see was his family as he waited for the knife to plunge through his neck.

However, it did not come. Instead, he could feel a slight breeze coming from his left, followed by an exploding sound that reverberated in the hall.

Albert then slightly tilted his head downwards, only to see the knife stopping an inch away from his neck, with two fingers pinching it.

He then looked towards the female elf, whose eyes were wide open as she looked towards her right.

And finally, he looked towards his left., with his head slightly tilted downwards.

The first thing he saw was golden hair.

Golden hair that was long enough to touch the floor. It was dirty and unkempt, but its golden hue could not be contained as it reflected the light from the torches.

He then saw pair of eyes, with eye color as black as night slightly being covered by long eyelashes.

Albert immediately knew who this was. He grew taller, sure. But the unique features he had did not change even a single bit, he still looked like a doll.

Albert was sure of it, this could only be the special prisoner.