CH 103.1

A week of time of digging up the ruins of the collapsed palace, and the number of corpses found was too many to count, and among them there was also a corpse presumed to be the prince.

The reason we had only presumed was because the body had dried up to the point where it was difficult to recognize the original shape.

It was because of the princely garb he was wearing that we were able to assume that he was the prince.

“Your stamina is no joke. You haven’t shed a drop of sweat even though you have been moving for hours. We all get exhausted after only half a day of work.”

Selenion, who was taking a break, approached me. He picked up the thick piece of pole next to my feet and threw it aside.

“Sir Selenion, you will find yourself to be the same if you back up to travel the whole Continent and explore and experience a plethora of things.”

“I would like to take my words back. Rather than wandering around, it suits my constitution to settle down in one place.”

The conversation ended with his bear-like laughs. We immersed ourselves in work in silence, and soon the rest of the other knights returned to work.

After several more hours of digging, we were able to find the entrance down to the dungeon.

The entrance to the dungeon was sabotaged with stones.

Looking at the darkness beyond the stairs, the knights hardened their expressions little by little.

“I hope that His Majesty is safe in there.”

One of the knights muttered.

Yes.

There was a reason why the knights and other workers were nervous as they looked at the entrance of the dungeon, though it was not a dungeon that spilled out monsters.

A thorough search over the past week hadn’t hauled us with the King’s body.

Even his supposed corpse.

Based on that, the knights had hope.

The hope that their King might have secured himself in the dungeon.

“Let’s go down.”

I tramped down first, and other knights followed. We hadn’t settled down the stairs yet, but the darkness that enveloped every inch in front of us was already welcoming us.

“I can’t see nothing. Hey, did anyone bring a torch?”

“Not me.”

“Me neither.”

“No one brought one? Why does no one ever brings anything? Ah, wait a minute. I’ll go up and get it right away.”

“Leave it to me.”

At my words, the knight who was about to climb the stairs stopped.

“Yes? Hero? Did you by chance carried a torch?”

Instead of answering, I drew my sword and injected magic.

Crimson flames soared on the surface of the sword. A skill I had learned from a former Hero I met in the depths of the dungeon.

Brightness revealed the surprised expressions of the knights.

“Condensing mana on top of the sword… is that even possible?”

“I heard that it is possible. But I also heard that, even in the Empire, only a few outstanding knights can do it.”

They looked at the flames and were genuinely amazed.

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“Now, now. Admire it later, and let’s rescue His Majesty first.”

Selenion garnered the attention with a clap.

The knights also nodded and clamped their mouths shut.

By the way, ‘rescue’.

They seemed to conclude that the king will definitely be alive out there.

‘It’s not good to be so excited.’

The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

“Then, the light source problem has been solved, so we will continue.”

We went downstairs and started searching the first basement floor.

And I started seeing some bad signs.

“The prisoners are all dead.”

All the prisoners confined on the first basement floor were dead.

Most of them lay unscathed, but they seemed to be dead from dehydration.

“Do you have anything to store drinking provision in the prison? Like in the guard’s room or something like that.”

“Yes? Nope. There’s nothing such. The guards look out for themselves…”

The knight couldn’t finish his words, his complexion turning white.

He was no different from any other knight.

An ominous imagination dominated the air.

And the dream soon became a reality.

“Ha, damn it.”

Fourth floor of the basement.

The king lay dead against the wall.

Cause of death: dehydration.

* * *

Lately, Leslie was having a problem.

She was seeing no serious progression towards her relationship with Cloud.

It was not like she was on bad terms with him.

Rather, she was on the good side of the starting vestiges of a romantic relationship.

Because he cared for and respected her as a teammate.

But it didn’t go any further than that.

All because of Cloud’s lover named Katarina.

Leslie honestly thought it would be easy to bake and boil even when she first set out. Katarina seemed to be an innocent woman who knew nothing of the world. However, Katarina’s obsession with Cloud was much stronger than Leslie thought.

She was obstinate about simple subjects, tuned out her conciliation or threats, stuck close to Cloud like gum and left Leslie with no opening.

It wasn’t as if there weren’t times when she was lucky to find Cloud alone.

Any every time she snooped for an advance, he parroted out to seek permission first.

It triggered her further on meeting his older teammates crushing on him…

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No wonder, she was uncharacteristically nervous.

So, when he came to her room alone in the middle of the night, she had expectations.

She did…

“The king is dead.”

She was at a loss for words at the unexpected declaration.

“…huh?”

“The king of Prona is dead. So is the prince, and are all the vassals.”

Cloud sighed as he dropped on the bed.

Seeing that, Leslie sighed.

So the reason he had come over was not just to provide a tidbit. He had a good reason to come sneaking up at night.

“I will ask you a few questions. Did you confirm the king’s death today?”

“Yeah. Found his body in the dungeon today.”

“Who knows about the death of the king? Are there any others beside you?”

“The knights who searched with me. They are alright. I asked them to not open their mouths about the fact that the king is dead. Even took an oath.”

“Good job. Declaring the death of the king would have only added to the anarchy in the city.”

Even though it was a relatively small storm compared to a Heavenly King’s descent, it was still but a storm. What if another storm strikes the city that has already been swept away by the great storm named the Heavenly Kings? No one would be able to stand it.

“But if the king and the prince are dead, isn’t… the bloodline of the royal family completely severed?”