Maka didn't get any useful information from that humble and pitiful young man.
How could he know? In addition to wandering between fear and attachment every day, from the bedroom to the dining table to the dark dungeon, he spent every minute and every second of his life in depression.
Recently, his master will assign him tasks and order him to go out and do some cruel things. He was scared. He didn't want to go out into the world full of strangers, but he had to accept it.
Other than that, life didn't seem to be any different, and he didn't want it to be.
Until today, he was suddenly abandoned by his master. The reality was so realistic that it made him feel like he was in a dream. In the dream and outside the dream, there are two completely different lives.
He didn't know what to do, and he was afraid of Maka. But if he didn't follow Maka, he wouldn't know where he should go or what he should do...
In the monastery in the mirror space, Maka walked in front, while Joshua followed from a distance, looking completely confused and at a loss.
"Is there a dungeon down here?" Maka asked coldly, standing next to a trap door.
Joshua seemed to be startled, and after a while, he softly said "Hmm".
Maka kicked open the latch of the trap door, flipped up the door panel, and walked down the descending wooden stairs. Accompanied by a frowning "crunching" sound, the surrounding light decreased little by little, and was eventually swallowed up by the darkness underground.
Suddenly a soft light broke through the darkness in front of him, and it was Maka who lit up the staff with a luminous spell.
The area of this dungeon is unusually large. There are no walls as far as the eye can see. It is a prison made entirely of metal as thick as an arm. There are seemingly small single cells, and there are large prisons that can fit many people.
Relatively speaking, the ceiling is surprisingly low, and taller people might have to hunch over to walk forward properly.
Maka originally thought that the place had been cleared out, but unexpectedly, he saw several small figures lying on the ground at a glance.
It seems that although the other party has evacuated this place, because time is too tight, there is still no room to take everyone away.
Maka looked back and found that the timid young man didn't seem to come down with him.
"Crack."
He walked to the door of a cage that could accommodate about five or six adults. With a tap of his staff, the large enchanted lock on the iron fence door immediately popped open.
Opening the fence door casually, Maka slowly walked into the prison.
There is only one person locked up here, a little guy who is no more than ten years old. You can't tell whether it's a boy or a girl just by looking at it, it's dirty and full of scars.
The little guy was lying on the dirty ground with disheveled hair, motionless, but looking at the slightly undulating body, it was obvious that he was still alive.
"Little guy, wake up."
Maka reached out and patted the other person's arm. The wounds on it were covered with bruises, and there were still dried blood stains on the wounds, which mixed with dust and solidified into a terrible black-red color.
He patted it twice, but the child showed no intention of waking up and was still lying on the ground unconsciously.
But his words alarmed the girl who was locked in another small cell not far away. In fear, the iron chain on the opponent's foot hit the iron pipe of the cage, making a crisp sound.
In this dark and silent dungeon, the sound seemed particularly harsh.
Maka turned around and saw that the girl had shrunk into the corner on the other side, as if she wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.
After looking at the girl and thinking for a moment, Maka did not go over there immediately, but turned back first and turned the child over on the ground.
It seemed there was a reason for the kid's delay in responding, because Maka saw a particularly serious wound on his body.
It was a scar that looked like it was caused by being beaten with a blunt object. From the collarbone to the chest, the purple swelling was quite obvious, and part of it had even ulcerated due to infection.
Just looking at the injury with no sign of treatment, Maka felt that this child must be of some value.
Not to mention whether the so-called "master" is Grindelwald's secret subordinate, or simply Grindelwald himself. The reason why the other party imprisons children in large numbers is obviously to study the possibility of artificially creating Obscurials.
Many years ago, when wizards did not hide themselves as they do now, it was not uncommon for people to be naturally Obscurial.
During that period, children with magical potential were unable to receive correct guidance due to secular prejudice against wizards.
Muggles are afraid of the power of magic. They not only hunt down and judge adult wizards, but also raise torches and ropes against children who have just experienced magical violence.
Therefore, in that dark age, children with magic hidden in their bodies were deeply suppressed.
Even if they know that they may be different from other children, they dare not reveal their true side; even if their parents know that their children are abnormal, they will try to prevent the possibility of their children growing up to be "heretics."
Under the influence of the general trend of the times, beating and scolding children with abnormalities has become the choice of some parents. They firmly believe that there is nothing weird about their children and refuse to appear weird.
And when the suppressed magic and children's negative emotions are intertwined and covered, and they are pressed hard in the heart. Some children chose silence out of fear, while others exploded in silence.
The chaotic magic power of negative emotions suddenly transforms into a strange and uncontrollable energy when encountering severe emotional fluctuations.
Some wizarding scholars believe that it can be regarded as a kind of black magic, because it has all the characteristics required to be defined as black magic; while other wizarding scholars believe that it can only be regarded as a relatively negative magical phenomenon. Just like the generation of dementors, it cannot be defined in terms of good and evil.
Now, someone obviously wants to take this weird and powerful power into his own hands, turn the uncontrollable into controllable, and use this to accomplish some ulterior purpose.
If you want to fully control this power, it is obviously best to start with its carrier.
Maka can easily imagine that the other party is getting ahead of the magic school time and time again, searching for these children who have experienced magic runaways, and locking them in this mirror cage.
The upper level here has a comfortable and warm living environment; while the lower level is an eerie underground prison.
While experiencing heaven and hell over and over again, psychological induction of the same nature is added, and experiments and adjustments are constantly made to achieve the expected goals.
What was born in this way was a deformed life like Joshua, with no strong power but a fragile heart.
“… There could not be a more boring research project.”
Maka opened the mouth of the child in front of her, took out a bottle of potion for treating trauma, and poured it in.
This child obviously did not give in, so after suffering potentially fatal injuries, the "master" had no intention of treating him.
If it was this child, there might be some useful information that could be gleaned from him. While waiting for the injury to gradually recover, Maka stood up, turned around and walked towards the girl on the other side.
"Don't be afraid, can you talk to me for a few words?"
Maka did not open the door immediately, but stood in the aisle outside to speak. With the two sides separated by a metal fence gate, it might bring some negligible sense of security to the girl.
Even if this sense of security is extremely limited, it is still much better than being face to face.
"Or how about escaping with me?" He smiled, "Of course, if you want."
The girl didn't say anything, just stared at the ground in the corner, and only glanced at him blankly every once in a while.
Like the child just now, this girl was wearing a tattered old dress, which was extremely thin and airy.
Her exposed skin was covered with criss-crossing scars, which made people feel pitiful.
The dirty face was buried in the shadows, the hair stained with dust and blood was tangled and knotted, and it was scattered on the shoulders and back like withered grass, and the whole body exuded a sour smell.
Of course, the place itself doesn't have much flavor.
"Don't you want to leave here?" After a moment, Maka asked again.
Following his words, the girl shrank visibly tighter, as if she was afraid that he would run in and hurt her.
But after a few seconds, she suddenly spoke.
"...save..."
"It's okay, just say it properly." Maka said as softly as possible.
"Please... help... me." The girl seemed to be trying her best to encourage her dry throat, spitting out the broken words. The broken syllables made it possible for people to barely understand what she meant.
"… OK."
Maka stared at her for a moment, and when her eyes slowly met her own, Maka nodded slightly.
There was another click, and Makara opened the iron gate, walked slowly to her side, squatted down and touched the top of her head. Although the long hair was full of stains, how could he care about it.
No, to be honest, if you have to dig deeper, the materials used to prepare potions are much more disgusting than this!
"Can I leave by myself?" Maka asked.
The girl nodded timidly, but soon shook her head, her still clear eyes looking at the shackles on her ankles.
Maka raised her staff and struck it casually, causing the heavy iron ring around her ankle to crack.
"Come on, let's go save the others—"
As he spoke, he stood up and walked towards the corridor outside. In this dungeon, there are still some people who were abandoned here, most of whom are children who are already dying.
Behind him, the girl looked at the broken shackles on the ground, and there was an inexplicable vitality in her eyes. She looked up at the figure who had already walked outside the fence gate, and quickly chased after him with bare feet.