Day 25 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

Capital City of Naveland, Nave Province

WALKING down, they found a long hallway with cells on the right and left. They took care of the guards posted in front and tiptoed right in. Victoria pondered the steel and rock that made this dungeon.

No, a construction of this scale would not be possible without anyone accommodating it—and the tunnels didn’t seem recent, either, meaning it could be very old, far before her father’s era. It was truly unsettling to realize that even in the Capital, where her family supposed to reign most supreme, there were places they didn’t know exist.

Unless Mother knew and didn’t tell her… but why would she?

She forced herself to focus on the task at hand—sneaking in. The three found that it wasn’t very hard to waltz through the hallway noiselessly, though—everyone locked in there was so weak that they didn’t even realize there was three intruders. Many were unconscious and they were all pathetically dirty. The cells were even empty, without any semblance of beds or chamber pots, causing the whole place to exude an extremely foul odor.

Victoria didn’t let the smell bother her, and instead focused in finding her uncle. Her eyes scanned every cell, and occasionally, Jason warned that there were guards on some crossings and they disabled them with relative ease, especially with Jason’s means—that was, knockout drugs and poison. After a few minutes of going around the dungeon, they finally found a rather tightly guarded area and went ahead.

After incapacitating the guards, Victoria, at last, saw her uncle. He was pitifully laying on the ground without even moving. Victoria heard how his limbs were broken and reconnected and felt awful for the man. “Lieutenant Nile!”

The man only moved his head slightly, trying to see Victoria. “Your… H-highness!” He tried to move himself.

“Don’t move. I’ll get you out of here.”

“L…Leave!” He tried hard to speak.

“Unlock the cell!” Victoria hissed towards Jason.

“Oh, right,” Jason obeyed her and started tinkering with the lock. Dev stood guard a bit out of the way, preventing anyone from sneaking around them.

“They’re… dangerous,” Nile said with great difficulty. “They know about Corps.”

“I know. We have to go,” Victoria said, quickly opening and entering the cell after Jason unlocked it. She propped the big guy Nile up, with Dev’s help, and brought him out of the cell.

With Jason’s assistance, they easily got out of the dungeon the same way they came in. Victoria helped knocking out a few guards in their way while Dev held the weight of the Lieutenant. They went back up to the maze and tried to get out, but the whole place was chaotic, causing them to immediately hide.

“The gatekeepers are unconscious!” Someone yelled in panic.

They all looked at each other. “This is bad,” Victoria mumbled. “We have to split. We are too big of a target. I’ll draw them away.”

“Victa!” Dev whisper-yelled, but Victoria already went away.

“You bring him out,” Jason said to Dev. “I’ll help her.” Jason, who was thin and nimble, wasn’t strong enough to bring out a big man like Nile.

Dev nodded. “Okay. Be careful.”

Victoria held her blade and ran, drawing the hallway guards away. Her only thought was to let the others escape. Those people found her and blades started attacking her. “You dare intrude our place!”

Sneering, she inwardly thought that they were the one intruding in her capital city. Well, her mother’s for now, at least. The fact that they dared to put a criminal base underneath all these common people really irritated her, and her sword moved even faster.

Despite the narrow hallways, she managed to kill the few of them. There was, after all, a reason why she was called perfect. Unfortunately, the guards kept coming. She knew that she should ended the fight soon, or else she would be overrun by all these people.

Thankfully at that moment, Jason came and threw something. It produced white smoke that made it hard to see. Victoria pulled herself away towards the direction of the entrance and met up with Jason and Dev in the small storage room.

People were still running after them, so Jason played another trick—a very odd colored smoke bomb of his—to get them away from the small antique store. Victoria reminded herself to buy some of those stuff from him later. It seemed quite useful to have.

They were finally out of that accursed place, at least. Immediately Jason led them to turn a corner and ran to a small alley nearby, hiding from sight.

“Why did you do that?!” Dev said once they lost their pursuers, almost screaming at Victoria.

Victoria was stunned. “What did I do?”

“You put yourself in danger… Your Highness, I’m supposed to protect you until you arrive at the palace,” he said bitterly. “If you kept running off like that…!”

“Okay, it’s not the time to argue,” Jason cut off, although he also sent her a disapproving gaze. “We have to ensure safety first.”

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“They won’t chase,” Dev said, mellowed down from his anger. “They valued secrecy more than anything. This is still broad daylight.”

Heaving a loud sigh, Victoria plopped herself right down on that dirty ground uncaringly and helped Dev put her Uncle Nile down. “Are you okay?” She asked the middle-aged man.

Nile was hovering on the edge of consciousness and was unable to answer her.

Jason checked Nile’s pulse and his face darkened. “His bones had been broken many times,” he said. “Then they used a miraculous drug that could connect his bones before torturing him again. They’re really cruel.”

“What did you expect?” Dev whispered, looking resigned, before sighing and stood up again. “They won’t chase, but that doesn’t mean they won’t follow. Once we were out of public place, they would be able to attack.”

“Would they dare attack the palace?” Victoria followed him to stand up and asked with a low voice.

Dev glanced at her. “Usually, no, but now they even tried to kidnap you… I’m not sure.”

“I think that depends on how much the enemy paid them,” Jason said. “Those people are greedy for money.”

Dev nodded in agreement and glanced at the people around, from across the street or even on the eaves of the stores next door. “They are watching. We need to lose them before doing anything,” he whispered.

Jason patted his chest. “Leave that to me.”

*

Indeed, Blades was reliable. Jason led them around the city once the rainstorm finally let up. They mixed in the crowd a few times, separated three times, putting on different disguises, and finally regrouped again. Under Jason’s guidance, they were able to vacate to a place outside the capital—Jason said it was one of their secret bases.

It was a small, simple house, looking like it belonged to a farmer of the nearby village. The walls were made of wood, the roofing was of straw, and there were only one room inside. The inside felt a bit damp with a few wet spots and there were barely any furniture in here.

Dropping Nile to rest, Victoria sat down on one of the corners of the room. She was exhausted after circling around the capital to lose their pursuers. Closing her eyes, she heaved a deep sigh.

Dev walked to the spot next to her. “I’m sorry I got mad at you,” he said.

“I’m sorry I didn’t think first, too,” Victoria said, mumbled through her arms.

“Are you… okay?” He sounded hesitant to ask.

Victoria opened her eyes to look at him, then nodded. “Yeah, just a bit tired. Can you notify me if Nile wakes up?”

Dev readily agreed.

Victoria tried to sleep, but she really couldn’t. Her mind raced with few different things, worrying about the future, thinking about the past... At last, she opened her eyes again and looked towards Nile who was laying on a wooden bedstead on the other corner of the room. She sighed. “People around me are always in danger.”

Dev, who was sitting a few steps beside her, heard that. “Why do you say that?”

Victoria laughed bitterly. “It is true. How many people have died to protect me?” She gestured towards Nile. “He’s a relative from my mother’s side and worked as the lieutenant of my guards. Look what happened to him.”

The Major fell silent. “This is not your fault.”

The Princess smiled. “I know. Oh Goddess, of course I know. It’s because I have a high status, I have to be protected, I have to live. But thinking about it, what’s the difference of those who protected me and myself? We’re all humans. Just because I was born to the King…”

Dev didn’t answer for a few moments, and Victoria didn’t blame him. She didn’t expect him to answer her, as she also didn’t know if her dilemma had any answer. She had wrestled with this for years, but she still couldn’t figure it out.

Unexpectedly, Dev answered. “I also thought about this before.”

Victoria turned to look at him.

“The nobles, why do they exist? Aren’t they the same as commoners, but they just have different influence and wealth? Why are they like elephants that can destroy ants just by stepping onto it?” The young man looked lost in his thought, gazing towards the empty wooden wall. “Just a few words and they can destroy a person’s life. Even a family’s lives.”

Victoria observed his face.

Dev sighed. “In fact, I was resentful about this matter when I was young. But as I grew up, I realize people have different level of responsibilities. You were born to hold a heavy one, which is unfortunate, but that is why you have to live on, because your responsibility also related to a lot of people’s lives. I understand this matter while facing the battlefield. A leader would always be needed, because an army would scatter in fear if the general is dead. That is why if things go right, the leader would always be protected.”

Victoria’s heart thumped and she looked down.

In fact, some people near her had spoken about this before. She also knew how heavy her responsibility was. She also knew that was why she had to be protected. But no one really said that outright in front of her.

“And that’s why you shouldn’t ran off alone like that,” he added.

Victoria laughed. She had been entangled about this thing since her childhood, so it wasn’t easy for her to rest her heart just because a few words. She did, however, felt lighter after talking about it. “I’ll think about it,” she said silently.

And then she thought his words over. He seemed to have a personal experience. Victoria could conclude, from how he even knew about Arachnids, that his past wasn’t simple. But she also knew she shouldn’t ask right out—that was impolite.

At that moment, Jason, who had been patrolling around the house before, came in. He immediately sat down in front of Victoria and Dev. “So, Highness, what’s the next plan?”

Victoria looked towards Nile before sighing. “I’m waiting for the Lieutenant to wake up so we can find the barracks, and then go there.”

Jason nodded. “About him, where should we put him? And also, do you need more of my help after that?” He added the last question belatedly.

Victoria understood—he was asking whether she was going to also let him know where the barracks was, and if she wasn’t, he didn’t mind. It was only right—after all, it could be considered a military secret. “I am thinking if you don’t mind, after we figure things out, can you bring him to the Capital Guards base and ask for Sergeant Darkbrown?” She couldn’t possibly bring Nile into the palace without her. “I’ll pay more,” Victoria added.

Jason laughed. “Well, Brad said to me that Your Highness is a loyal customer, so of course I will do it. Then, I’ll go stand guard outside.”

Victoria nodded and agreed. Just a few minutes after that, they could hear a groan from the bed. Dev readily ran to Nile’s side and helped him to some water they brought.

“Your Highness…” Nile said hoarsely. “I’m sorry I put you in such a dangerous situation just to rescue me.”

Listening to that made Victoria felt even worse. Nile almost died, and he was apologizing. “Nile, speak to me. How is the reassembling going, before this happened?”

“Uh…” Dev cleared his throat, and when Victoria turned to him, he looked at her awkwardly. “Should I also go out…?”

The meaning was, could he hear such secrets? Victoria thought for a few seconds. “No need. Just pay attention to the outside.”

Dev looked surprise, and she couldn’t blame him. Even she was surprised that she trusted him to that extent. But Dev obeyed her and walked a few steps away, keeping his eyes on the door.

Nile looked at her. “It was fine at first, and when you went to Dustor, your friend the Sergeant even helped. I managed to contact a few of the veterans and have them go to the rookie base. Then those people barged into my house and almost killed me. They managed to capture me, and the rest you already know.”

Victoria nodded. “I understand. Where’s the base, Nile?”

Despite Victoria trusting Dev, Nile clearly was cautious and gestured for Victoria to came closer. When she did, he whispered something to her, to which she nodded. “I understand. I’ll go and personally take care of it. You have to heal, Uncle.”

Nile couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, Your Highness.” []