“Edward, where are you?” Those were the last words my mother cried out.

As I journey across level five of the dungeon, I was vividly reminded of my past life as a prince. You see there was once where I journeyed across the land with my mother, the Queen.

We were en route to a trading zone in the middle of the country. There, spices and herbs were being traded frequently. I remembered on the way there, there were caravans of spices being carried about. The tradespeople seem joyful and delighted. They were about to make a massive profit on their wares after all. This was before the great war, where there was significant peace between nations and trading was a lucrative career. People would come up to our country to trade anything - from material goods like carpets and cups to food items like rice and turnips. It was an era of flourishing economy. The demand for goods were very high due to a booming population in our country and the supply was struggling to catch up.

Occasionally there would be fighting going on between merchants due to disagreements over the terms and conditions of the trade. Most of the time it would be over the prices of goods. However it was really a time of peace and harmony that swept over the continent and improved the economy as a whole. There were plenty of entertainment options from traditional outdoor movies to circuses that would go from city to city. It was a vibrant time to be alive.

My mother and I was on the way to one of the major trading hubs in the middle of our country. We were on this journey for nearly a month as the transport options were limited due to supply. We were on a horse carriage, and we brought plenty of goods in order to sell at the trading hub. There were spices and minerals at the back of the carriage. We must have been carrying several millions of dollars worth of goods. However we were also protected by several armed guards. These were elite guards who are part of the royal army. And they have been trained since young to take down any enemy in a matter of seconds. No one could hold a candle to them. After all they were the best of the best. Or so we thought.

Stolen novel; please report.

The journey to the trading hub was smooth and we arrived there in the early mornings of Monday. We set up shop there and starting to sell our wares while also buying things which seemed interesting. Of the items that were interesting was salt. It was a precious commodity that enhances the flavour of food and our country did not have that as we were a landlocked country.

Thus salt became a prized commodity in our country. First it was heard from afar in countries where there were oceans, and then salt farming came into practice. After that salt became available in our country through the trade routes. Still, it was a highly prized commodity that people will fight over. Such was the state of affairs.

We became busy the day after. We were selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of spices and minerals by the end of the day. One trader in particular wanted a million dollars worth of spices. And he unveils a giant bag of coins worth exactly a million dollars. Turns out, he was a staff of the royalty from another country. No wonder he could afford such extravagance. Luckily we were not getting scammed today as we checked a lot of the coins to make sure they were not fake.

We ended on Tuesday with all our wares sold out. Our carriage got weighed down by all the coins that we carried. With the increased spoils that we got from the campaign, our security did not increase but remained the same. Then came our journey back to the kingdom. We went through the plains and we got ambushed by an enemy. We were completely outnumbered by their assassins. All of our guards were killed after just ten minutes.

My mother and I got kidnapped. Our money was all stolen. Then at the headquarters of the enemy, the enemy tortured me while laughing at my face.

“Prince, how does it feel to not have your privilege for once?”

“You won’t get away with this! Our people will find you and track you down!”

“Hahahaha find us? No one knows we’re here besides you and your mother. Not your King and definitely not your Royal Army.” The enemy sniggered.