After descending the corridor, what they encountered
gradually began to exceed the trio’s expectations.
The dungeon beneath the warden’s mansion was not quite what Ronald had imagined—it wasn’t as dark, damp, and dilapidated as a typical prison.
But it was only after actually making their way down did he realize this was not the case.
The stairs heading downward, in addition to their earthen structure, were covered with a layer of wooden planks, with metal components wrapped around the edges to stabilize the staircase.
At the same time, along both sides of the path, neat lighting fixtures were hung, providing appropriate illumination for this place untouched by sunlight.
Continuing roughly five meters down,
the staircase beneath their feet was also about to reach its end.
It was just then, Swift, following behind Ronald and Nicole, whispered:
"There are people below, one five meters to the left, another six meters to the right."
Hearing the detective’s hint, Nicole nodded with her usual composed expression:
"It’s still best left to me."
While speaking, the investigator girl again took out a seed from her pocket, lightly inscribed a rune on it with her fingertip, and tossed it forward along the stairs.
The small seed landed on the ground, hardly making any sound.
It kept rolling down the stairs, moving forward until it disappeared from the view of the three.
Nicole’s spell once again had the desired effect.
As the trio stood on the stairs, although they couldn’t directly see what was happening inside the dungeon, the lighting within still cast a partial view of the scene through shadows.
The tiny seed that had hit the ground suddenly began to exhibit the vitality of plant life.
The shadow cast on the ground, from a small dot the size of a button, quickly swelled and grew.
Brand new root systems penetrated the ground, and suddenly sprouting branches and vines spread like the tentacles of a North Sea leviathan.
The dungeon guards didn’t even have time to put up a decent resistance before being completely enveloped by the sudden vegetation, promptly losing all capacity to fight back.
Facing such an outcome, Nicole skeptically scratched her head.
Turning back to look at her companions, she quietly asked with a puzzled expression:
"Could it be that we’ve missed something?"
"It’s dealt with, just like that?"
Confronted with the incredulity on the investigator girl’s face,
Swift shrugged his shoulders, speaking calmly:
"At least according to my spell’s reaction, they’ve indeed lost all ability to act."
As if to verify that his spell couldn’t be wrong, the detective was the first to take the initiative to go down.
Until reaching the end of the stairway steps and confirming the situation inside the dungeon with his own eyes, he then gestured back to Ronald and Nicole:
"It’s really fine now, come on down."
"Actually, it’s not so hard to understand."
"The strongest person in this house is not here at the moment, and ordinary people from the mystical side, how could they be a match for you, an elite investigator?"
Upon hearing the detective’s opinion,
Nicole looked a bit awkward, yet she still nodded in acknowledgment:
"Put that way, it isn’t wrong."
After a brief exchange, Ronald and Nicole also followed down the staircase.
Standing at the end of this tunnel, everything in the dungeon was suddenly clear.
Its structure here was, relatively speaking, quite simple.
A table was set up in the entrance hall, and on the walls hung some necessary items for the dungeon guards.
Farther ahead, three passages branched off directly into the depths of the dungeon, with independent cells excavated on both sides of each corridor.
Of course, the most eye-catching thing in this space at the moment
was the spell that Nicole had just used.
Tree branches and vines crazily growing from the ground had tightly locked two middle-aged men in white clothing next to the central table in the hall, also covering their eyes.
Under such exaggerated restraint, the two guards were practically immobilized as if they were in straitjackets.
Looking at her own results, the investigator girl nodded slightly.
Then, she turned her gaze to Swift standing beside her:
"How about it, do you need me to run a polygraph?"
Mr. Detective shook his head:
"That kind of simple task is better left to me."
With that, he strode over to the bound man in front of him, then pinched his voice to ask in a somewhat shrill tone:
"Where were those two priests before?"
Hearing someone approaching, the controlled guard, even though he couldn’t see who was in front of him, still instinctively raised the alarm:
"Who are you, do you know where this is..."
Swift didn’t even wait for the other party to answer before knocking the two men unconscious.
Turning to look at Ronald and Nicole, he then said:
"Those two priests are around here, let’s split up and look."
"I’ll take the passage on the left."
Nicole immediately followed, saying:
"Then I’ll take the one in the middle."
At this moment, the dungeon guards had been thoroughly subdued by Nicole and were also knocked out into the vines’ embrace by Swift.
With no one overseeing, the three of them each entered the passages they had chosen to begin inspecting the situation.
However, reality again deviated from expectations.
Taking Ronald’s actual observation for example, there was no abnormal and grisly scene here.
In the warden’s dungeon, the prisoners’ conditions were actually just above a passing grade.
Although the inevitable filth and disarray were present, the prisoners’ bodies did not exhibit any significant disfigurement, nor were their mental states on the verge of hysterical insanity.
To some extent, one could even mistake these cells for a slightly unkempt storage room.
The discrepancy with one’s imagination was too great...
With such thoughts in mind, Ronald reached the end of the passage.
He was responsible for only five prisoners on this side.
And the figures of those two priests did not appear in the cells of this corridor either.
Shaking his head, Ronald then turned and left.
When he returned to the hall, Swift happened to appear there as well.
The two exchanged a glance, and Mr. Detective took the initiative to say:
"There were only five prisoners on my side, and I didn’t see those priests."
The situation was now straightforward.
Neither of the passages they were responsible for revealed any sign of the priests, so they had to be on Nicole’s side.
It was at this moment that the investigator girl’s voice came from the last corridor:
"They’re both here with me, come over and give me a hand."
Hearing her voice, Ronald and Swift immediately entered.
Nicole’s passage also housed five prisoners.
However, at the very end, two priests lay unconscious in a cell, with Nicole currently pulling one up to his feet, preparing to move him outside.
Seeing the scene in front of him.
Swift didn’t hesitate to step forward and also hoisted the other priest up.
Still standing at the entrance of the cell, Ronald vaguely felt that something was amiss.
Rooted in place, he pondered over the troubling details, speaking in a slightly perplexed tone:
"I think something is not right!"