章 12: They've Begun
Leonar looked around, confused by the voice he had just heard.
Had someone spoken to him?
He scanned left and right, searching for anything that might be out of the ordinary.
In the corner of the makeshift casino, Damian was busy losing a game of dice to a goblin, who had snagged a good chunk of his tokens and was now sneering at him.
Damian swayed, grumbling with a frown, clearly frustrated, while the goblin laughed at his defeat.
Suddenly, the voice echoed in his mind again, this time with a sharper edge of irritation.
"Are you really not hearing me, or are you just playing dumb?" the voice demanded, clear and insistent in his head.
Leonar muttered under his breath, almost as if he were trying to speak to someone in hiding.
"Who… who are you?"
But it didn't make any sense. No one around him reacted, and Damian hadn't even noticed his attempt to communicate.
In his mind, he started to wonder where this voice might be coming from, only to be met with an immediate response.
"I'm the thing you're holding in your hands," replied the female voice, as if reading his thoughts perfectly. "I need you to make a contract with me."
Leonar froze in shock. He looked down at the white metallic sphere in his hands, a seemingly ordinary, lifeless object—though now it was obvious it wasn't ordinary at all.
Confusion flashed across his face as he tried to grasp what the voice was saying.
'A contract? What on earth does that mean?' he thought, struggling to make sense of her strange request.
"We don't have time," the voice added, intercepting his thoughts again. "You're in danger right now. You need to make a contract with me if you want to leave here alive… and stop them from arriving."
Leonar narrowed his eyes, processing what he had just heard.
That voice… her tone, the urgency.
Unintentionally, a slew of video game images popped into his mind, heroic tales where characters made pacts to save the world and face epic threats.
Yet he remembered how, when his debts had spiraled out of control, he'd had to sell his consoles and any other distractions. His days of virtual heroics were long gone, replaced by the endless struggle to get by. And now, on top of everything, this mysterious voice was demanding a contract to… save the world?
'This is just what I needed…' Leonar thought sarcastically.
He hardened his gaze and let out a sigh.
"Look, that sounds like a lot of hassle," Leonar muttered, barely louder than a whisper, and then, with a touch of irony, he added, "Maybe we could find someone else for that job. What do you say?"
The voice fell silent for a moment, as if trying to process Leonar's unexpected response. Then it spoke again, filled with disbelief.
"Do you think I'm joking? You're in a dungeon right now… and you could die!"
That warning made Leonar stop and frown.
In a way, that voice… had a point.
He had let his guard down so much, distracted by the goblins' games, that he'd almost forgotten where he really was.
The goblins had created such an entrancing casino atmosphere that he'd completely lost sight of the danger.
"Come on, I don't think these goblins will actually try anything. Doesn't seem like they're serious about killing me here," Leonar said, his tone casual, downplaying the situation.
'Is this some kind of joke? Years trapped here, and I end up with an idiot like him?' thought the voice with a hint of irritation.
The voice replied, its words laced with barely contained anger, almost desperation.
"Are you aware you're talking to monsters? These creatures love killing humans, and goblins in particular are known for—"
A blood-curdling scream interrupted the conversation, echoing with intensity from the level above.
The tension in the air became palpable, and Leonar felt a shiver run down his spine.
Moments after the scream, several men's voices followed, shouting frantically, almost as if begging something or someone to stop.
The sudden noise startled Leonar, and he turned to look at Damian, who was also alert, his eyes filled with uncertainty as he glanced upward.
For a second, their gazes met.
The female voice sighed, as if she had expected what was about to happen.
"Well… looks like they've started."
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