Later that day, Aldrus and the group were thoroughly discussing the matter again after having some hours to reflect. They concluded that the most important thing to consider before jumping into action was figuring out exactly how the cell worked.

I guess it’s time to reveal the secret, Aldrus thought, trying to hide how thrilled he was about the uncertain truth he had just discovered.

"I have a theory about that ’weak point’," he said.

"Huh? Do you, now? Why didn’t you tell us earlier?" Cedric asked.

"Well, I wasn’t really sure. In fact, I’m still not sure, but I guess keeping it to myself won’t do any good."

Alice curiously listened before asking, "Does it have anything to do with our Perspective?"

At those words, Aldrus’s eyes widened in surprise. It seemed that she had reached the same conclusion. As expected of you.

Ever since he met her, she had always been a smart girl.

"Yes, that’s right," he simply said. "What reason could they have to tell us there’s a way to escape? And not only that, but they even encouraged us to try. I think the answer is pretty obvious. And Cedric..." He crossed his arms. "You were right."

Aldrus began explaining his reasoning in as much detail as he could, ensuring they were all on the same page.

They all had minor deviations in their conclusions, but they could agree on one thing: there was no escape route.

It was obvious; their captors had no reason to let them escape. Otherwise, why would they have bothered to lock them up in the first place? If they prompted them to struggle so eagerly, it was likely because of something else.

The first thing they had no doubt about was that the jail itself was an artifact. Although it wasn’t powerful enough to rule Sir Zorum out as an enemy just yet.

Artifacts were gear artificially crafted by skilled Holders who had been granted the title of "Master Craftsman." They used fragments to create various types of powerful objects—each with a specific use.

Everyone was familiar with Fragment Gear to some extent, though information about those items wasn’t easy to find, especially the rarest ones.

Aldrus had learned a lot about them during his week of studies in Sir Zorum’s class. It turned out there were three different types of Fragment Gear.

The first was armor. The guards standing by the main gate of the academy wore pieces of it; Aldrus had noticed them the first day he arrived.

Weapons constituted the second type. As their designation suggested, these were formidable tools, expertly fashioned to produce a particular effect.

Lastly, there were the artifacts in question. These were the rarest and most versatile of them all.

As far as Aldrus knew, he had only ever seen one person wield them: Sir Ludwig. His golden rings emitted a unique aura and a strange sense of attraction. Although Aldrus had recognized them for what they were, he couldn’t tell what they did.

Nor could he tell their rank.

Sir Ludwig really has his secrets, huh.

Much like the Holders themselves, each piece of Fragment Gear had its own rank, and of course, they were also bound by Balance—meaning all of them carried a setback.

With this knowledge and a bit of time, Aldrus concluded that the prison was a second-rank artifact. Since it was something that could stop the three of them, that was the most logical explanation.

However, if his theory were true, then he might have been overestimating the cell this whole time. An artifact that required a constant supply of Perspective to sustain itself... an object with such a major flaw couldn’t possibly be as powerful as he’d thought.

Also, if it were, the jailers’ leader wouldn’t have needed to urge them to try and leave. An artifact like that would’ve been more than capable of stopping his classmates and himself.

"So... are you saying this is a first-rank trash? Then why the hell can’t we just break through it? There’s three of us," the blond boy said.

"I suspect it’s balanced with incredible durability, given how severe its weakness is," Aldrus replied.

Cedric scratched his head and whined, "Man! That just leaves us with nothing, though! It doesn’t matter if it’s first-rank or not—as long as it remains hard as a rock and sucks our Perspective, we won’t be able to get out!"

Aldrus and Alice fell silent; Cedric had a point.

They were expected to struggle with the thought of being able to leave, while supposedly not knowing what would happen if they did. That was simply a way for their captors to ensure their state of mind would never be ideal enough to bypass the cell’s effect.

Of course, they could have just trusted the object and kept them there regardless. The mental toll was too great to simply overcome, even with knowledge of the truth.

Aldrus felt his theory was sound, yet even with that knowledge, his powers remained entirely inaccessible. Just as Perspective required certainty to bend time at their will, they also needed to clear their minds of any worry and doubt if they expected to break through the artifact’s domain.

Sadly, though they seemed alike, the two concepts were in fact entirely different. Certainty was already difficult under any circumstance, but achieving a peaceful mind while locked up in an unknown place, by an unknown group with unknown goals—all while their friend was trapped on his own and his life depended on their actions—was a significantly harder thing to achieve.

No matter how much they tried to forget or to convince themselves, as long as they were even a tiny bit stressed, the artifact’s effect wouldn’t falter.

It was as if the situation were making fun of them. Every time they reached an answer, the harsh reality remained the same: they were still completely trapped.

***

The day flew by, and their second night in that place drew closer.

Still overwhelmed by it all, the three had a quick dinner—courtesy of the cloaked jailer—and lay on the cold ground to sleep.

It didn’t take long before they drifted off. They had hoped that the peaceful realm of dreams might help clear their minds.

As his consciousness slowly dove deeper into the darkness, suddenly, Aldrus was awakened by something weighing on his chest.

M-Mngh? What’s going on...

He slowly opened his eyes, confused and groggy. As he became aware of his surroundings, his body instinctively flinched, trying to stand up. Yet, he was unable to move.

Glancing down at himself to find whatever was holding him down, he noticed Alice sleeping comfortably in his arms.

Eh...? N-No way!

He panicked, thinking he had somehow jumped back in time. The situation was disturbingly similar to the previous night. However, as he turned his head toward Cedric, he swiftly realized he had not.

The blond boy lay beside them, in a different spot than before. That was enough to calm his racing heart.

Damn it, Alice. This again... He sighed, still a bit concerned about her state.

Soon, he made up his mind and promised not to worry about it more than necessary; it was nothing particularly bad. They were just young friends trying to spend the night freezing in a stupid, tiny cell.

Yes, that’s right. I’ll just help her this one time and forget about it by morning. He nodded to himself.

With that, he carefully pulled her closer to his chest and tried to calm down, staring at her sleeping face.

You really look like an oblivious little animal, don’t you? Just like last time, nothing seemed to bother her. Even in their awful state, inside a dark, cold place, the princess on top of him slept as if nothing in the world could ever hope to disturb her.

...

Hmm...

Hmm?

Huh...

She can’t... be disturbed?

His eyes widened, and he felt his heart about to burst through his chest. An overwhelming excitement drowned his entire being, threatening the remaining hours of his sleep. Something became clear. A ridiculous thought surfaced in his mind...

An idea.

A plan.