Canna leaned against the cold stone wall of his cell, his eyes scanning the dimly lit surroundings. The air was damp, filled with the echoes of distant drips and the occasional shuffling of feet. As he looked around, his gaze settled on one of the other cells, where he noticed a pair of eyes staring back at him.
The figure was small, stout, and cloaked in the shadows, but there was something unmistakable about it.
"Are you a dwarf?" Canna asked, his voice breaking the silence of the dungeon.
The dwarf, equally surprised that Canna could see him despite the darkness, responded with a gruff tone, "Aye, I am. And what brings you to this lovely place?"
Canna, still in a bit of shock at actually meeting a race he had only seen in movies, replied, "Interesting. I wish I could see you up close. Anyway, we're under suspicion of destroying a kingdom."
There was a collective "ehh" and "huh" from the surrounding cells, and soon, other prisoners began to chime in, their voices mixing in the confined space.
"Did you actually destroy a kingdom then?"
"Another lunatic sent here, huh?"
"Quiet down! I'm trying to sleep!"
The random voices made Canna smile. He found the situation amusing, despite the circumstances. "Well, I didn't," he clarified. "I'm not an idiot who would just destroy a kingdom, you know."
Behind him, Kael was giving Canna a deadpan stare, thinking, 'You're my friend, Canna, but yes, you're exactly that type of person.'
The atmosphere in the room was tense, the air thick with conflicting opinions. The nobles and high-ranking officials were deep in discussion, their voices raised in heated argument.
"This is madness!" one noble exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table. "We cannot simply let Canna Yakane walk free! He's a threat to our kingdom!"
"He's more than a threat," another chimed in. "If he truly destroyed Avaloria, what's to stop him from doing the same to us?"
"But think of the potential!" a third voice argued, this one more measured. "If we could control him, make him work for us, just imagine the power we could wield. He could be the ultimate weapon in our military arsenal!"
A burly man, who had remained silent up until this point, finally spoke up. "And how do you propose we control someone like him? He's clearly powerful, far beyond any of us."
"We enslave him," the third voice continued, undeterred. "We use the same method we've used on others—collars, threats, whatever it takes. Once he's under our control, we'll have nothing to fear."
A murmur of agreement spread through the room, but not everyone was convinced.
"Are you all out of your minds?" an older noblewoman interjected. "You would risk everything on the hope that you could control him? What if he turns on us? We should eliminate him now, while we have the chance."
The room erupted into chaos, voices overlapping as the debate intensified. Some argued for Canna's immediate execution, fearing the danger he posed. Others, seeing the potential to harness his power for their own gain, pushed for his enslavement. The division was clear—those who sought to use Canna as a weapon versus those who wanted to eliminate the threat entirely.
In the end, the decision fell to the king, who had been silently observing the heated exchange. His cold, calculating gaze swept across the room before he finally spoke.
"We will not kill him—yet," the king decreed, his voice cold and final. "We will attempt to enslave him, to bend him to our will. If he resists, then, and only then, will we eliminate him. Until that time, he is to be kept under the strictest watch. We will see if this Canna Yakane can be made to serve the kingdom of Arenthia."
With the king's word, the debate was settled, though the tension in the room remained palpable. The nobles exchanged uneasy glances, knowing that they were treading on dangerous ground. The plan was set, but whether it would succeed or backfire spectacularly remained to be seen.