Rigel, accompanied by the beautiful boy, headed to another location.
It was a basent inside the sa building.
"Nn…?"
"Heh heh heh… Scared? Well, underground places do give off a claustrophobic feeling. That's a perfectly natural reaction."
"Nn…!"
The beautiful boy trembled slightly.
"But if you're already scared by sothing like this, I'm worried about what cos next. I'm planning to do much worse to you, after all…"
"Nngh…"
The beautiful boy's face twisted in terror.
However, Rigel paid him no mind and continued walking. Eventually, they arrived just before their destination.
"This is my special room."
"Nnn…?"
The beautiful boy fearfully peeked into the room from the hallway.
It was a space enclosed by stone walls on all four sides and the floor. The room was several ters in both length and width—sowhat claustrophobic, but not extrely cramped. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary room with nothing particularly unusual about it.
But upon closer inspection, there were two strange points.
The first was that there was no entrance or exit.
If one had to point to sothing, the only opening was the spot where the beautiful boy was currently peeking from, but it wasn't a normal door. It was more like a ventilation window near the ceiling. Once soone entered the room, it was structurally impossible for them to get out on their own.
And the second strange point was—
"Nn!?"
—water was filling the room.
The water level reached roughly a little over one ter high. It was dim inside, so it was hard to see clearly, but there didn't appear to be any monsters or fish being kept. Just what was the purpose of filling a room like this with water—?
"Nnnn——!!"
The beautiful boy hadn't exactly figured anything out. He simply felt a primal terror and took a step back, letting out a muffled scream.
However—
"Heh heh heh. Did you figure out what's going to happen to you? Or did you just instinctively sense danger? …Well, it doesn't matter either way. There's nowhere for you to run."
Thud!
Rigel shoved the beautiful boy hard in the back, forcing him into the room. Given the room's structure, it would be more accurate to say he pushed him down into it.
"Nn!?"
The beautiful boy lost his balance and fell forward, plunging headfirst into the water.
"Pwah…!"
It seed the gag had accidentally co off when he fell in. The beautiful boy lifted his face above the water's surface. The water ca up to around his chest.
"Heh heh. No need to be so terrified. It's not deep enough for you to drown."
Rigel turned his back.
He started to leave, but—
"W-wait…! Where are you going!?"
"Heh heh… I'm a busy man, you know. I can't spend all my ti playing with you."
"W-what did you say!?"
The beautiful boy demanded in a strong tone. After so ti had passed since the suspension torture, he had ntally recovered sowhat. That was why he could still speak so defiantly even in this situation. Or rather, he had spoken defiantly. If his ntal fortitude had been just a little weaker, he probably would have broken at this stage. In that case, he might have been spared the coming torture.
"Well, don't worry. I'll play with you again soon enough. Let's say… tomorrow morning or so."
"——!?"
"Until then, cool your head in there. Though it might not just be your head that gets cold."
With those words, Rigel began walking again. Then—
Slam…!
The door was rcilessly closed and locked. Even though the height difference made it unreachable anyway, having the door shut intensified the feeling of being trapped even more.
"Damn it… That bastard actually locked in here!"
The beautiful boy shouted in anger.
At the sa ti, he was confused.
"It's a strange room and escaping definitely looks difficult… but other than that, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly weird about it…"
He carefully observed the interior once more. Sure enough, aside from the water filling the room and the unreachable exit, there was nothing odd.
Compared to the continuous spinning while suspended in midair, this felt far too lenient as torture.
"Hmph. I'll admit he's strong. But it seems his stupidity can't be hidden."
The beautiful boy reached that conclusion.
Rigel had told him to "cool his head in there." He probably thought that soaking in the water in this room would physically cool his head and encourage reflection. The beautiful boy sneered at Rigel's shallow thinking.
"Heh heh… Did he really think I would submit over sothing like this? How insulting."
The beautiful boy's resentnt toward Rigel grew.
But a few dozen minutes later—
This form of water torture began to bare its fangs at the beautiful boy.
"Ugh… It's getting a bit cold…"
The beautiful boy shivered. It wasn't particularly a cold season, but staying subrged in underground water that never saw sunlight for a long ti would inevitably lower his body temperature.
"H-hmph! Don't think the next town mayor and C-rank adventurer will fall from sothing like this! I can still endure it!!"
He put on a brave front, but his body had already grown cold. And then, after several more hours—
"Ugh… Even though my lower body is in the water, standing the whole ti is getting tiring… But I can't sit down…"
The beautiful boy muttered while leaning against the wall.
Being in water reduced the weight on his body, but it didn't eliminate it entirely. On top of that, with water up to his chest, lying down was out of the question, and even sitting was impossible. The damage he had taken from Rigel and the soldiers during the secret eting, the damage to his joints and mind from the suspension torture, and his thoroughly chilled body temperature had all drained his stamina considerably.
"Is it… still not morning yet…? Is dawn still far off…? Ugh… In here, I can't even tell what ti it is…"
He voiced his anxiety, but of course there was no reply.
It wasn't even close to dawn yet. In fact, the night was still in full swing.
His (her?) ordeal was still far from over.
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