“And just when I was wondering where you got that tell on the Grinner…”

“Guuuh, L-Lane t-there was nothing wrong with that Grinner, hehe,” said Runny while squirming on Lane’s grip, “I, I mean it, I knew nothing of it!”

“So, you did know,” said Lane before punching letting him fall, and dusting his hands, “Now tell me, Runny, what exactly is that you knew nothing of…”

“That’s not my name,” said Runny pouting from the floor and rubbing his nose.

Lane looked at him, sitting on the floor. As usual, Runny wore a mismatched outfit of clothes that screamed hand me down.

For footwear, he had a black boot on the left foot and a brown shoe on his right one. His pants were at least two sizes bigger than they should as he carried them rolled up in a thick bundle that still didn’t go above his ankles. In contrast, his beige t-shirt was too short and left his belly button, and the chord Runny used to tie his pants, on plain sight. A problem Runny saw fit to fix wearing an oversized jacket; a jacket with so many patches that Lane could not say for sure which color it had originally.

Finally, on his head, Runny wore the only good item he had. A black cap that struggled to contain a long mop of ever-messy black hair falling over a pair of glinting blue eyes. Somehow, in all that mess, Lane felt Runny’s face looked fragile and almost delicate; and that, made Lane mad.

“What?” Lane said

“N-nothing! Lane, I truly know nothing!”

“Then why did you insist so much?” and Lane took a step forward raising a closed fist, “I wasn’t going to chase that Grinner after it began scrambling north. I only went for it after you said how special its hide was!”

“What’s the big deal anyway?” said Runny pouting from the floor, “didn’t you get it? I bet you got a profit even after taking apart the piece for that girl of yours. Figures you forget about good ol’ Ronnie after completing your deal. But you are welcome!” said Runny trying to crawl away, “This Ronnie is ‘magunimus’ after all. I will forgive you!”

“Heh, Good old Runny? Profit? Do you even know what you sent me into?” And he picked Runny, who by that point had crawled almost to the corner of the square, “I got cursed by a spirit! Robbed by a drunkard! Thrown away by an old man and bit by a Book!”

“C-cursed? Wait, book?”

Lane turned Runny, looked into his eyes, and when he started squirming out of his jacket, grabbed him by the arm. However, after staring at him in silence for a moment, Runny started blushing.

“L-Lane, I, it hurts…”

“Tch, forget it then,” Lane said releasing his arm, and after rubbing his chin, “How much?”

“Hu?” asked Runny looking sideways, “W-what do you mean?”

“How much did you get? How much did they pay you to sell me off?”

“I didn’t sell you off! I just gave you a clue a kind man shared in the bar!”

“Kind man? What kind man?”

“Err…”

“Runny… Did you at least see his face?”

“Tehehe…”

“…Well, pay up!”

“What?”

“What what? Runny? Give me half of the money! That much should be mine.”

“I, I don’t have it…”

“Ah? Stop fooling around, what could you spend that money on?”

Lane stopped, his eyes widening, and his mouth agape as he looked at Runny standing there. Then he frowned and looked at the sides, there was no one around but Lane still got closer to Runny before whispering.

“You got it?”

Runny looked down, bit his lip, but then smiled and nodded without looking at Lane.

“Show, no… Do you have a safe place?”

Runny licked his lips and finally looked up on his own and stared at Lane’s eyes in silence.

“Yes,” Runny finally said and started trotting away, Lane following silently behind.

Runny strode throughout small alleys and lonely streets before reaching an entrance to the sewers at the back of the market. As Runny entered the hole, Lane stood in place frowning and waiting until Runny’s face showed up again.

“What? Aren’t you coming?”

“Really, Runny?” Lane said, “The sewers? Don’t you have somewhere else?”

“Ain’t like I had much to pick from! Are you coming or not? It isn’t even that far.”

“Tch, this better not be a joke, Runny…” Said Lane following him into the sewers.

 Walking throughout the sewers, Lane covered his nose and mouth as he could, but still scrunched his face. On the flipside, Runny smiled and started walking slower. As his eyes got used to the light in the place, Lane could see a huge expanse of tunnels coming and going in all directions. They stepped on a stone path that followed the edge of a channel filling almost all the space available. On the channel, dark water flowed slowly with only an occasional burble here and there.

“Careful with the outlets,” Said Runny pointing up, “At this side, they are usually safe to walk under, but sometimes people still throws stuff that splashes.”

Lane looked up and found the outlets reaching out of the walls towards the channel all over the tunnel. Some of them, however, were completely broken, and by this point were only holes in the walls.

“Usually?” Lane asked looking down, but Runny was already making distance, “Wait, Runny, is something going to fall from those?”

“Not if you are fast hahaha!” And he began walking faster down some stairs at the end of the wall.

“Fuck!” Said Lane trying to follow him, but soon, he realized that the deeper they got, the slipperier the floor became.

“Look over there,” Said Runny pointing to the right and turning left around a corner, “That tunnel goes deeper into the town. I think that if you manage to follow it all the way through, you can even reach that castle of yours!”

“That’s not my castle,” Said Lane staggering and reaching for the wall in the corner.

“Uh, I wouldn’t touch that…”

“What?” Asked Lane staggering back, “What’s wrong with the wall?”

“Well, why don’t you touch it and find out?” But Lane only frowned, pulling away from the wall walking forward, only to trip after a few steps when he tried turning around the corner.

“Gah!” He landed on something wet and squishy, “W-w-what is this? Runny I swear…”

“Bwahahahahaha!” Came Runny’s laugh from above, “What are you doing rolling in the moss? I say, Lane, isn’t it too early for a bath?”

Lane stood up, rubbing his hands on his pants with a shiver, and looked up. At some point, Runny had climbed up a good ten meters above him. Now, Lane could see his smiling face showing up from the wall.

“Wait there!” Said Runny disappearing into the wall.

“Hey!”

“I’ll be right there! Just…” Came the muffled voice of Runny from above before sounds of crashing stuff reached him, “Where was it?... I think…. Ah, there it is!”

A rope fell and Runny’s head popped out from the wall again.

“Grab it!” He said smiling, “I’ll help you climbing!”

Lane did, but when he put his weight on the rope, Lane saw Runny’s face reddening and stumbling.

“W-wait,” He said, “I think it’s better if I tie it up first…” And disappeared again, “Will this hold? Hmmm, I think it may… Done! You can climb Lane!”

Instead, Lane grabbed the rope again and pulled down hard. Finally, seeing that it didn’t budge, he climbed up until he reached a small aperture in the wall. Runny’s hand came from the hole, and Lane took it to pull himself through the aperture.

Standing up, Lane saw Runny, standing proudly in front of a well-lit dumpster.

“So?” Runny asked, “How is it? Great, right? Haha! I’ll tell you, this is the Great Ronnie’s Lair! No need to be thankful, this Great Ronnie loves to share!”

“What the, what is this place?” Lane asked watching the small hills of trash gong up to the ceiling.

“And that’s not all!” Runny said climbing the closest hill, “Come! Look over here!”

Lane climbed behind Runny and found himself staring at an abyss so deep that he couldn’t see the bottom. In the walls framing the abyss, Lane saw what was left from sculptures and carvings depicting different scenes.

In some of the walls, huge outlets dropped clean water continuously, leaving on the air a white mist that swirled in spirals down the hole.

“The water in those is clean,” Runny said pointing at the outlets, “You can wash your hand in them, but be careful of the current. I got dragged once and fell four whole levels!”

Lane looked at the hole again and gulped.

“Say, Runny… Do you know what is down there?”

*-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-*-**-*-

Two hours away from the town, on a moving carriage, Lady Erin sat hugging a pale slim youth while smiling.

“Say, Master,” She said rubbing her head on the youth’s shoulder, “Will it really work?”

“It better does,” Said the youth scoffing and looking down at her, “And even if it does, don’t think I’ll forgive you just like that!”