Raised in Dungeon

Prince Francis was feeling overwhelmed. Throughout his life, he had been compared to his genius older siblings. Today, he had been pushed too far and had decided to skip class. Sneaking out of the castle, he felt mixed emotions as he replayed Sabina's words in his mind. With his heart heavy, Prince Francis made his way out of the castle, wondering if he could ever exceed the expectations others had for him.

"That old woman, you already know how strong my siblings are, but you're still preventing me from becoming stronger. You never let me train my sword skill and instead forced me to study ethics and even some sh*t dancing thing! Strength is everything in this world."

As the prince walked along the corridor, the maids passing by were taken aback when they saw him unaccompanied by a soldier or a knight. Without taking much time, they all lowered their heads, curtsied, and hurried away, leaving the prince to move ahead. Same with the soldiers; they were astonished, wondering why no one escorted the prince. They quickly composed themselves, bowed to him, and walked away, on their way to inform the superiors about the prince.

"Damn, if I stay here too long, I'll get caught!" muttered Prince Francis.

After traveling a little distance, Francis came to a place he had never been.

It was the castle's underground prison, one of the most dangerous places in the castle, but also safe since most high-level soldiers were there.

"That place is a prison, right? Somehow it didn't look like the prison I saw in the book."

The prison is underground, and the building looks more magnificent because it is next to the castle.

Francis peered at the prison from afar; two soldiers were guarding the entrance.

He then walked casually and steadily. He was approaching the soldiers while puffing out his chest.

"Hey stop there kid-"

As the soldier started to point his spear at Francis, the other soldier turned pale and immediately stopped his friend.

"STOP!" the soldier shouted.

"Wh-what are you doing?!"

"Don't 'What are you doing' to me! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Don't you recognize that face?!"

The soldier then looked at Prince Francis longer, and suddenly his face turned pale as well. He stood straight, put his hands on his chest, and bowed.

"I apologize for mistaking you! Prince Francis!"

"O-okay! It's fine! I forgive you!" Prince Francis rounded his voice to look more mature and authoritative.

"By the way, what brings you to this filthy prison, your highness?"

"Mom- Her Highness Ismenia asked me to gain more experience about criminals; I ordered you to step aside," Francis said nervously.

"Without a bodyguard, your highness? Please wait a moment, I will call Sir Maximillian first-"

"Wait! Don't call him!"

"Wh-why?"

'If they call uncle, he will force me back to study!' Francis thought,

And then Francis said, "Her highness said I must not disturb others working, especially uncle Maximilian."

"B-but your highness, you can't go in unguarded. Pardon me, did Queen Ismenia really ask you to?"

'Damn! I'm going to get caught! I don't want to go back and study!'

"Eee, she said; one of the prison's soldiers will guard me. So, you… as your punishment for pointing your spear at me, you should come with me."

"YES, YOUR HIGHNESS! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

Still shaken by his previous treatment, the soldier accepted immediately without reporting the prince to his superiors.

They went to the basement, where many criminals were locked up.

"WOAH, WONDERFUL! THIS IS LIKE WE ARE EXPLORING THE DUNGEON!"

"Your highness, don't just walk around; please stay together with me," exclaimed the soldiers.

In the underground prison, Prince Francis found an amazing sight, a room filled with barred cells, each of which locked up a criminal. The prince chuckled, "So, these are all the dark figures hiding in the castle! We should watch our step, or lest we get ambushed!"

The soldier doesn't know what to do, whether he should join the prince's game or not.

"Well, hero, let's get out of here then. I don't think it's safe here," the soldier finally decided to follow the game for the prince's shake. He did it while holding back the embarrassment of being seen by other soldiers.

Being called a "hero" made the prince excited, so the prince waved his hand,

"Don't worry; we've got this. Come on!"

Since only rocks and prisons were underground, he felt like he was adventuring in a dungeon. He huffed happily while swinging his sword back and forth.

"Your highness, be careful with your weapon; it might hit a rock and hurt your hand."

"I know about that! Don't dictate to me!"

After a while, he becomes aware of the strange odor that is creeping inside his nose.

"What is this smell?!"

"It's the smell of blood, your highness. About a week ago, an extraordinary event happened here."

"What happened?! Tell me!"

"Sorry, your highness, Sir Maximillian forbade us to say anything about it.

'Aah, that man again.'

"Fine!" snapped Francis in annoyance.

They cautiously began exploring the basement, studying each cell and the criminals within, ensuring a safe distance. After a while, they had seen almost all the cells and the criminals inside. Most of the criminals were limp and didn't talk.

After advancing more profoundly into the prison, Francis's eyes were drawn to one of the prisoners who looked different. It was a little girl who was probably the same age as him. He tried to get closer to get a better look at the girl.

-CRING

As he approached the bars, he realized the girl's legs and hands were chained together. The girl had tan skin, and the most striking thing about the girl was her bright, white hair.

"SINT! Get away from me! Human!"

"HIII!!!"

Francis was scared; he spontaneously retreated backward and fell.

He was frightened because of the red eyes of the girl who was looking at him with deep hatred.

"Your highness! Are you alright?" the soldier shouted.

The prince immediately stood up and straightened his clothes.

"It-its-not that I'm scared! I just slipped!" yelled the prince, embarrassed; he didn't want his soldiers to look down on him because he was scared because he saw a girl.

"O-okay, your highness..." replied the soldier.

Francis looked at the girl again; now he was silent, bowing his head.

"Your highness, you'd better not come any closer. That girl always yells at people passing in front of her bars."

"IRRITERT! Stop talking about me human! Just get away from my sight!" The girl came forward to shoo them away. Her eyes were full of hatred, as if she wanted to kill the two humans before her. Her hands and feet were bleeding from forcing her body to escape.

"Let's get out of here, your highness,"

They then moved on. Prince Francis walked while looking at the girl's face, unable to tear his eyes away from the girl's red eyes that did not stop glaring at him.

"What did that girl do?" asked Prince Francis.

"You don't know about that? That's because-"

"BECAUSE SHE EXISTS" Suddenly, a large man stood behind Prince Francis and touched his shoulder. Francis was instantly terrified and shouted, "UWAAA."

That person was Maximilian, the head of the knights, and the leader of the soldiers in the kingdom.

"Don't surprise me like that, uncle!" screamed Francis afterward.

Maximilian looked at him with angry eyes for a moment.

Then he sighed,

"I heard from the soldiers that you walked this way." Maximilian then looked at the soldier standing next to the prince. The soldier immediately turned pale and began to fear because he realized that the prince had deceived him, and now he was taking the prince to prison.

"You escaped from Sabina's class again, right? Because you disappeared, everyone is now frantically looking for you. They also have other work to do to prepare your 12th party," Maximilian scolded Prince Francis.

"I-I don't want to study! Studying is useless! That's why I can't be as strong as my brothers!"

"You seriously think so?"

"Huh?"

"Let me say it clearly… GIVE UP; you can't be stronger than princes Eldritch and Leofric. Everyone knows that. Sabina did nothing wrong, and you did nothing wrong either. It's just that these two are too extraordinary."

"T-it can't be like that! How do you know that I won't be able to be as strong as them?! I haven't gotten my god's blessing yet, and I still haven't gotten my armacar either!"

"That's the problem. All princes receive their god's blessing at the age of 11, but Prince Eldritch received his at the age of nine. In contrast, you haven't even gotten it yet. Do you know why? It's because you're the youngest and weakest. That's why you must make up for it by studying a lot!"

Upon hearing that, Francis' face instantly turned haggard, as if reality had slapped him. Was it true that he could not be stronger than his older siblings? Is it really true he was the weakest prince? He has been waiting for his god's blessing since he was nine, but he is now twelve and has received no blessing.

Seeing the prince's depressed face, Maximilian once again sighed, then said

"Well, it's not that you can't become stronger. Hard work also pays off, as evidenced by Prince Harald or Tobias in the Knights of the Round. You just won't be able to outdo princes Eldritch and Leofric."

Maximilian then pulled Prince Francis' hand with some force.

"Let me go! I don't want to study! I want sword training!"

"Just give up your highness. You only need to study until the whitmoon festival ends. Afterward, you will be handed over to Oxwade Academy, where you can train with the strongest swordsman."

But despite such persuasion, he still didn't want to study. From the beginning, he didn't want to study because he was just lazy. However, because of Maximilian's strong grip and strength, Prince Francis gave up and could only obey.

Francis' screams and resistance weakened as he and Maximilian passed through the Norttish girl's bars again.

"HIIIII!" it turned out that the girl was still staring at him, making him shudder and gulp down his saliva.

He immediately ran forward, pulling Maximilian away as well,

"What did you say earlier, uncle? About that girl's crime," asked Francis.

"You don't even know about that yet? You really have a lot to learn."

"Never mind, just tell me!"

"That child is a Norttish, a cursed nation with white hair. Their existence is very dangerous because their bodies can spread disease and harm many people. That is why they should be imprisoned and then we will kill them."

"HUH?! Spread disease? Does that mean this prison is already full of diseases?!"

"They use mana to do it. Inside the prison you always see flowers, right? That flower can prevent humans from using mana. These Norttish, their mana can explode, and that explosion can spread disease. The other-worlders call it radiation. When that happens, the land will be barren, spirits won't come, and the poison will spread everywhere."

"Then, the reason she was imprisoned is…"

"Because she exists."

"Because she exists? So she was locked up and killed because they were born into this world?"

"They are a disease, a virus created in this world to give us trials. We must kill them in order to overcome god's trials."

Prince Francis had faced off against Maximilian many times, and he knew that under his burly, hardened exterior was still a good person. He had never felt completely comfortable around him but never was his unease so strong as when he looked upon Maximilian's face this day. Francis had never been scared of him, but now he found himself fearful of the uncle he knew, for with this expression, Maximilian seemed like a bad guy.