Are You... Okay?

Throughout the Rifton Estate, sobs, cheers, and yells echoed. 

Lady Ceenia blubbered over her daughter, clinging to the bruised girl while waiting for a medic and cleric to arrive. Some of the maid staff cheered and congratulated their young miss for staving off that wicked villain. And all of the guards were on full alert, either stationed near the mother-daughter duo or combing the nooks and crannies of the estate grounds. 

However, there was one place that didn't seem to change at all in the meantime. The basement dungeon below the workshop. While the upper floors were double and triple-checked for the scheming doctor, the torn-up dungeon was only checked once before two guards were posted at the door.

That left Rizz plenty of alone time for the rest of the day. 

Occasionally, Rizz would grab a bite of slop to eat. But he would never move the sludge pile. Rizz would just take a clump and slink to the back of the cell. 

Mostly out of sight from the dim dungeon corridor, Rizz would drip acidic drool into his shackles, bit by bit. 

Before long, while rustling the accompanying chains…

Crack, c-c-clang…

*That's one step down.* Rizz smiled to himself, silently patting himself on the back. *Now for the next step.*

Ptew… ptew… ptew…

Spitballs flew into the lock of his cell door. Sometimes it hit the metal casing. Other times it dribbled into the lock itself. And a few times, it was a direct hit, coating the inner lock mechanisms entirely. 

Rizz gradually shuffled forward. He kept the broken shackles around his wrists while getting closer to his target to speed things up. 

Rizz eventually took a break after hearing a few pops from within the lock. Of course, the goblin made sure to move his chains around to mask the noise. 

*That's two steps. On to the third…* Rizz pondered, giving himself a pep talk while staring into the cell across from his. 

But while the goblin was visualizing the next steps of his escape plan, Rizz was caught off guard by a voice in his head. 

'Hey… are you okay?'

Sighing, Rizz almost let an acidic spitball drip onto himself. 'Yeah, I'm fine. No changes at all.'

'... You are?' the young noblewoman timidly replied. 

'Yup. Fit as a fiddle. Just stuck in my luxurious dungeon apartment with one square meal a day. What more can I wish for?'

While telepathically guilt-tripping the girl, Rizz shot his first spitball at the cell lock opposite his own. 

'Oh. I… hadn't thought of it that way…' Elenia's fragile tone spoke volumes, making up for the gaps in her sentences. 'Um… I really am grateful for you. And I'm sorry for all this… It wasn't my intention to have you… locked up like this.'

Telepathically ribbing her, Rizz made a sarcastic, pathetic groan, 'Oh, does that mean you'll free me from these unbearably cold chains?'

Elenia wanted to give a bold answer. But she couldn't shake her weak tone of voice. 'That's… something I hope to resolve.'

'In other words, if Daddy will allow it?' Rizz scoffed, focusing more on spitballs than the conversation. 

'I promise to tell my father all about how you helped me, though I don't know what it is that you did…' Elenia tossed and turned while lying on her bed. She glanced at her worried mother, who was passed out on a bedside recliner.

'So what's the situation in the estate?' Rizz changed the subject with a chuckle. 'Did you catch the perv or did he get away?'

Elenia groaned with her face in a pillow. 'He… got away. But the entire town is searching for him. So he shouldn't get far.'

'And what about your old man? How did he take the news? I'm sure he'd love to hear about his assistant trying to get frisky with his darling daughter.'

'He's still away, so we haven't been able to inform him…' Elenia answered with fading determination. 

Rizz itched his nose while taking in that intel. 'So you can't message him? With items or magic?'

'I don't have that sort of spell. And we don't have any items for instant communication,' Elenia regained her usual calm while talking about her father instead of her freshly traumatic experience. 'It's always been hard to get ahold of Father when he takes business trips.'

'Is that cause your old man makes it hard to contact him or cause it's always impossible?' asked Rizz. 

Elenia took a moment to consider her answer. 'Well… I've heard that such items exist. But I've never been able to use them myself.' 

'Does that mean neighboring cities and kingdoms rely on hawks or birds?' Rizz reflected on his in-game experience. 'Or do you not have means of communication with neighboring kingdoms?'

'Well, I believe we can still communicate. But it would have to be through some form of messenger, whether a beast or a person,' Elenia answered. 'Though it's mostly between towns and cities within the kingdom when birds are involved.' 

'So where's that Mroboe place you mentioned before? Is it far from here? Or would Posnea be closer?'

Elenia's mind and heart skipped a beat in perfect sync. '... Why do you ask?'

Rizz's shrug was evident in his joking tone. 'What's wrong? I'm just curious. I'm new to all this, so I'm trying to understand how everything works. Like, do you go west to Posnea every time you need a good merchant? Or do you have to go north to Mroebo when you run out of spices?'

'No, Mroboe's to the south and east of here. Posnea's far north. You would have to cross all of Wassek to get there.' The noblewoman corrected the goblin. 'And we have plenty of merchants in Wassek, as well as spices. So you don't have to leave the country to get those things… At some point, I can show you the market here in the capital.'

'Ohhh?' Rizz sharpened his smile and narrowed his gaze. 'Does that mean you'll stand up to your mom and get me out of this cell? Right this instant?'