It seemed that the Prison Island, our destination, sat in the middle of a vast lake.
I wanted to see what it looked like, so I asked them to remove my blindfold before being loaded onto the boat.
What lay before me was a serene lake. Barren land where not a single blade of grass grew, and a lake surface without a single ripple. There were no living creatures around except for us, and several mid-sized oared boats were moored nearby.
On the distant horizon, I could faintly make out something resembling an island.
For the first time, I saw passengers other than myself. Two men with criminal faces and one woman. They were pale—perhaps contemplating their impending fate. I didn't know what crimes they'd committed, but if they were being shipped off to a prison this remote, it was probably best not to engage them in conversation. Besides, I was only here for paperwork…
Surrounded by the knights, I boarded the boat, and the knights began to row.
The vessel slowly started moving forward. That was when I realized why it was rowed by hand.
There was no wind. Completely still. And yet, the stillness felt strangely unnatural.
"What a peculiar place," I murmured. "It's a lot like the Treasure Hall."
"A peculiar place, huh? Let's see if that composure of yours lasts after we reach the island," Hugh said with a scoff. His tone was completely different from when I'd seen him at night.
So this was what he'd meant last night by "on the surface, doing nothing."
Indeed, even though we'd been blindfolded and fitted with earplugs, it wouldn't do to be seen getting along in front of the other prisoners. I decided to play along with the act. I crossed my arms, puffed out my chest, and spoke.
"Lasting, huh? I used to be a Level 8, you know. A prison like this is nothing. Think of it as a little sightseeing trip."
"What!?"
Hugh's eyes went wide. The other knights who'd been rowing, and the three criminals seated behind us—they all stirred at my words.
"The air is nice too, and it's healthy to get away from the Imperial Capital once in a while. Oh, and I was just thinking I should pay my respects to the people my Party has caught—it's been a while."
In the over five years—no, nearly six years—since I started working in the Capital, the number of criminals the Mourning Specter had captured wasn't merely one or two hundred. The majority had been apprehended within the Empire, so some percentage of them must be imprisoned here on the Prison Island.
"Don't tell me… the imprisoned criminals are your target…? Well, regardless, there's no prison worse than this one, so…"
As if.
I had zero interest in criminals, and even less if they were the type to hold a grudge. Luke might have been curious, but I certainly wasn't.
The hand-rowed boat moved along solemnly. In the crystal-clear water of the lake, however, not a single fish was visible. It was as though everything had perished.
Our destination—the Prison Island—was finally close enough to see clearly.
It was, much like the lake's shoreline, a desolate place.
On barren land where not a single plant grew, a massive black wall stood some ten meters tall. The wall extended all the way to the island's edges, as if concealing its entirety.
The island itself probably wasn't that large. But if the entire thing was being used as a prison…
So this was the Prison Island. Quite imposing. I wondered how many people were locked away inside.
As I was mulling this over, one of the knights rowing the boat muttered with a strained expression.
"To stay so calm at this Prison Island… so this is what a Level 8 is…?"
Ah… they hadn't told their own people that I was here for paperwork, either.
Indeed, even someone like me would probably lose composure if I were actually being locked up in this massive facility. The other three criminals also looked somewhat unwell.
Actually, looking more closely, even the knights rowing the boat and Hugh himself looked a bit green around the gills.
Could this be… seasickness?
The rocking was so gentle that even someone like me, who wasn't particularly strong against boats, wasn't affected… but I supposed even the elite knights of Zebuldia had their weaknesses.
"You all look unwell—what's wrong? Want some chocolate to snack on while you rest?"
I'd had a lot of chocolate brought in during my house arrest and stocked up on it.
The knight looked at me as though questioning my sanity and spat out.
"Y—…you monster…"
"W-well, if you don't want any, that's fine… Chocolate probably isn't the best thing for seasickness, now that I think about it."
"!?"
Still, being called a monster was a bit much, even if they thought I was a criminal. I was just offering chocolate… although, maybe this was a rare experience worth savoring. After all, every Level 8 Hunter besides me was practically a monster.
Gathering my composure, I turned to Hugh.
"When we get there, I'd like to take a tour of the prison interior. Is that something that can be arranged?"
"…Do whatever you want."
What was it Citry had wanted to know? Right.
"If there are any criminals at Level 7 or above who seem useful, could I get some data on them?"
"!?"
"Ah, it doesn't have to be Level 7 exactly. If they have power equivalent to Level 7, that works too. Mages would be even better…"
"What—what are you planning to do!?"
That… I didn't know.
What did that girl plan to do with such information?
The boat touched shore, and under the knights' guidance, we disembarked. The other three were still blindfolded, handcuffed, and wearing restraint garments as they were dragged onto land.
Seen up close, the Prison Island was extremely austere and imposing. Compared to the Corte prison, it was even more crude—and utterly silent. It was like another world. The thought even crossed my mind that if enough time passed, this island too might manifest as a Treasure Hall. Such an absurd notion was testament to just how unsettling the place was.
As we were led forward, surrounded by Hugh and the others, a large gate came into view. In front of sturdy metal doors, men in gray uniforms with fearsome faces stood in formation.
One of them—a scar-faced man with a thoroughly villainous expression—spoke upon seeing us.
"Thank you for the escort duty. So these are the next subjects for sealing. One of them appears to be missing shackles—"
"That's the one we mentioned."
"Hmph… Thousand Transformations. The hero who became a Hunter in Zebuldia and accomplished many great deeds. To think you'd end up in a place like this… how the mighty have fallen."
The villainous-faced man approached, glaring at me. Quite the thing to say.
Perhaps no one had explained his situation to him either… but well, I'd be leaving soon enough. For now, I'd try to be friendly.
"Don't say that. I've actually been looking forward to this quite a bit. Let's get along, shall we?"
"…Don't think you'll get special treatment just because you're a former hero. The people who come here are heinous criminals. Our job isn't to manage them—it's to seal them. Not just you—for everyone on this Prison Island, you are guaranteed no rights whatsoever."
An intimidating, sharp glare. The man rattled on at a rapid pace.
"The right to live, the right to die, the right to walk, the right to speak, the right to eat, the right to sleep, the right to own anything, even the right to absorb Mana Material—none of it. Guaranteed. Irredeemable criminals, every last one of you. That is your punishment. Pray that you don't die out there."
East Seal Prison Island. It seemed this place was far more extreme than I'd imagined.
Well, criminals were treated harshly in every country. Corte, the reproduction of an ancient city, was pretty awful in its own way too.
"The rest is up to us, the prison officers. You can head back now. Hey, take the prisoners away. First up is a body search. You are not allowed to bring a single personal item into this prison. Not even a pebble."
He glared at me fiercely, snorting with agitation. Come to think of it, nothing had been confiscated from me at all… but since I was technically on release, that was probably expected. Normally, prisoners had their weapons and Treasure Weapons seized before transfer. From the perspective of someone who'd been kept in the dark, watching me walk in decked out in Treasure Weapons must have seemed absurd.
The prison officers in formation surrounded the four of us who'd been brought in. At that point, Hugh spoke to the man in a stiff tone.
"Right, we'll leave the rest to you. Before that, there's one important matter to confirm…"
--- The officers of East Seal Prison Island worked in shifts. If they stayed too long, their Mana Material would be drained, weakening them to catastrophic levels, so those with powerful Mana Material retention rotated every three months. The prison's supreme authority, Marquis Alter, rarely visited the island, and since the prison itself was run by a skeleton crew, the on-site leader at any given time served as the de facto administrator.
The current leader of East Seal Prison Island's officers—Jin Bain, a former expert bounty hunter who'd been scouted for this troublesome job—doubted his own sanity when he heard the words from the young knight of the Zeroth Order who'd accompanied the escort team.
"Hah? 'Show consideration,' he says!? Were you even listening to what I just said!?"
The Prison Island was a hellhole where those too dangerous for ordinary prisons were gathered. The prison's primary function was unquestionably the weakening of criminals through the land's natural properties, but dealing with the inmates also demanded resolute composure.
Among those imprisoned were still executives of organizations that wielded significant influence across multiple domains. In the past, gifts and favors requesting special treatment for such individuals had arrived more times than anyone could count.
But every officer at this prison, Jin included, had rejected every single one. As a result, some had even been targeted for assassination. Even so, they could not yield. Once you let yourself be swayed by such things, it would chip away at the fortress of the seal, and the people sent to this Prison Island were without question among the most dangerous individuals in existence.
The officers of this extraordinary prison all served with full knowledge that their own abilities would deteriorate in the process.
And now, of all things, a knight of the Emperor's direct Zeroth Order was asking for special consideration?
"I understand your perspective. But the situation is extremely sensitive. We really need your cooperation on this."
"No. We won't cut corners—I mean, there's only so much we can do—but we'll fulfill our duties. I don't know what extraordinary circumstances you've got, but if you want special treatment, bring an order from the Warden—Marquis Alter himself."
The officers entrusted with managing this extraordinary prison were all specialists in combat, but the criminals they guarded were even more dangerous. Without the land's properties, there was no way they could be held here long-term. That was why Jin and the others' duties truly boiled down to one thing: keeping the prisoners from getting out.
Their primary role was surveillance. They rarely entered the same area as the prisoners—it was simply too dangerous. How, in such circumstances, could they possibly offer "special consideration"?
"This prison has two functions. The land weakens their abilities, and by pitting the criminals against each other, we prevent them from escaping. That's why criminals from organizations that are enemies of each other are deliberately gathered here. A former high-level Hunter? To them, that's prime bait."
It was madness, plain and simple. But the fact that the various nations had been pushed to such desperate measures spoke volumes about how dire things were. The people imprisoned here were, for the most part, wanted criminals. If every last one of them could be captured, Jin could have lived off the rewards for the rest of his life.
In principle, anyone sent to this prison would never leave alive. Those who would be released midway wouldn't have been sent here in the first place.
At Jin's words, Hugh furrowed his brow but reluctantly nodded.
"Understood. I'll try contacting Marquis Alter. Besides, Thousand Transformations won't have any issues even without special treatment."
Thousand Transformations. A big name that Jin knew well.
Before becoming an officer, he'd had his prey snatched away more times than he could count by the leader of the Mourning Specter.
A terrifyingly capable individual. One of the hardest parts of hunting bounties was finding targets, but that Party effortlessly located and captured multiple high-value bounties. That wasn't something you could achieve through combat ability alone.
Jin had never met him in person and had no grudge against him, but the real person was quite different from what he'd imagined. Despite having barely set foot in this prison, the man's edge had completely vanished.
Surely someone who'd reached Level 8 didn't have poor Mana Material retention… but how exactly did that thoroughly unimpressive-looking man plan to navigate this prison?
"I'm looking forward to it. But do it quickly, will you? The longer Thousand Transformations stays inside, the higher the chance he ends up dead."
"Same goes for you—be careful. Thousand Transformations is a man who defies common sense. Before long, he'll probably come crying to me begging for special treatment."
What was with that ridiculous story?
Jin's eyes went wide in bewilderment, and Hugh gave a shrug before heading back to where the escort team waited.