By Zephyria 
Abyss lost his parents at a young age and lived with his younger sibling. To feed his sibling, he didn’t shy away from hard work and took on any job that came his way, but their living situation didn’t improve.
It was only natural. What great things could two young children do? Even if they worked the same amount, they would receive less pay and wouldn’t be properly employed anywhere.
Still, while somehow managing to live day by day by working, his sibling was kidnapped. After that, like a common tragedy, his sibling died, and the one left behind vowed revenge. That was the story.
“I’ll kill them all. If I die first, I’ll come back to life as a corpse and kill them all.”
“How can a corpse come back to life? What a ridiculous thing to say.”
“I will definitely come back to life as a corpse and kill those bastards!”
“If willpower and determination were all it took, why would there be so many wronged people in the world?”
Abyss, who was spouting nonsense with burning eyes, looked at me. Then, he began to glare at me as if I were the enemy who killed his sibling.
So what? Did I say something wrong? I shrugged, then suddenly became curious. His determination seemed somewhat similar to my own.
“What will you do when you finish your revenge?”
“Finish?”
He pondered for a long time, as if he had never thought about it.
“I’ll have to think about it then… I don’t want to think about anything else right now.”
I don’t know if he really doesn’t want to think about it, or if he doesn’t want to talk about it. Because, in fact, there’s only one thing left after revenge is over.
After the conversation ended, he started moving again without any plans or thoughts. He was unnecessarily quick, but he was practically a target wandering around asking to be killed.
I was about to say something, but I held back, wondering if he had some hidden plan that I hadn’t noticed.
I watched Abyss get beaten, trampled, and put in life-threatening situations from a step behind, just observing. It wasn’t thrilling, and every moment was a crossroads of death.
It was only natural. Just by looking at him, it was clear that he had never been in a fight before. He was big and his muscles were well-developed, but that was it.
At the moment when he really seemed like he was about to die, I finally sighed and approached. After killing a few of them, the remaining people quickly distanced themselves from us.
I looked at Abyss, who was lying face down, panting heavily. His eyelids were swollen, and he couldn’t even open his eyes properly. Could he even see me? As I just stared at him, he muttered with difficulty. But the sounds that came out were so slurred that I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“What’s the reason for your failure?”
As soon as I finished speaking, I killed a few more of the guys who rushed in without any sense. They shouted, asking who I was and where I came from, but I ignored them and continued speaking.
“There are many reasons, but the biggest reason is that you’re too weak. You must have known that too, but getting caught and rampaging around without any plan is no different from begging to be killed.”
“……”
“You have no grasp of reality. Do you think these guys will treat you and send you home? They’ll probably just throw you in a corner, take out any useful organs when you die, and feed the rest to the fish. Would you like that, or would these guys like that? You’re just a walking money bag right now. The reason they’re not killing you and vaguely keeping you alive isn’t because you’re great, but for the sake of freshness.”
Abyss’s eyes widened as my words grew longer, as if he hadn’t expected it at all. But it wasn’t very noticeable because they were swollen.
“They’re also very professionally tending to you when they beat you, so that your organs aren’t damaged. It’s not just because you’re strong that you keep getting up even after being beaten like that. What were you going to do, coming back to life as a corpse and killing these guys when you don’t even know how to do anything?”
“……”
“If you didn’t value your life that much, why didn’t you get some oil, sprinkle it all over, and use your body as firewood for self-immolation? At least more of them would have died than now.”
At my words, he made a strange noise and shouted as if he was wronged. As expected, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. I clicked my tongue and looked at Abyss with a pathetic look.
“I’m not telling you to actually burn to death, I’m saying your actions were that stupid. Even if you somehow managed to infiltrate this far, you should have at least… Ha. What’s the point of saying more.”
The reason I was rambling on was because I felt ashamed every time I looked at his face.
Actually, I knew it too. How could someone who had to earn money all day to keep his young sibling from starving learn combat skills? He wouldn’t have the time, and he would need money to learn such things.
Even if he had any money left over when he didn’t even have anything to eat tomorrow, would this guy have learned how to fight? He would have used that money to educate his sibling instead.
In the first place, why should the common people train themselves to protect their own bodies? What are the guards doing, and where is the Imperial family?
Is this the time for me to be doing this? Can I really be running around here and there all day, causing this mess, just to feel a little better?
The more questions I had, the hotter my face became, and I couldn’t lift my head at all.
“You pathetic bastard.”
I muttered, suddenly annoyed, but Abyss didn’t react at all. I reached out and touched his neck. I felt a pulse at my fingertips, and I sighed.
While I was talking, the remaining guys had already run away. The leader of the bastards who left us here and everyone else not caring about us was strange.
Abyss also looked like he was going to die from excessive bleeding if I left him like this, so after hesitating for a bit, I had no choice but to summon my sword. A cold energy traveled up my arm to the top of my head.
I shivered and threw it to the side, and the sword disappeared without a trace.
And a little later, a commotion began to be heard, and Garam appeared through the open door. Sweat was flowing down his temples, as if he had come in a hurry.
“Your Highness.”
“Take care of this one. He’s not dead yet, so take him and treat him.”
As I stepped out onto the creaking wooden floor, I saw the knights. Most of the other guys had been subdued, but the leader was nowhere to be seen.
That bony guy must be quick-witted. He must have sensed something was wrong and already ran away.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
I returned to Talim and began investigating those thug bastards. It seemed almost impossible to catch them all because it was such a huge group. Moreover, the bony guy who escaped was already known among the guards for being meticulous.
It was truly insane. Was that something to be proud of? Annoyed, I messed with the guards again and got scolded by the Crown Prince, spending several days like that.
During that time, Abyss’s health improved a lot, but I was gradually dying.
“Your Highness, this bill does not align with the sentiments of Actan, which values tradition. Our ancestors did not establish such a system for no reason.”
“Crown Prince values reform so much that he is even threatening Actan’s unique traditions…”
“Your Highness, we must stop this. This is unacceptable!”
“Your Highness!”
“Your Highness!”
Why are these crazy bastards doing this to me… Damn it, I can’t kill them all.
I often hid in Abyss’s hospital room to escape the swarm of nobles.
“The accent at the end is a bit awkward.”
“Should I just drop the ending?”
“Rather than dropping it, just make it more natural…”
“Stop telling me to make it natural. What am I supposed to do, exactly?”
“That was very natural just now.”
As soon as he found out that I was the Crown Prince, his face turned white. He begged me to spare him, saying he didn’t know, so I set a condition. That was this speech correction.
“And please make your expression a bit more natural. It’s too stiff right now.”
“Do you only know the word ‘natural’? That word is now forbidden.”
“Then try to make a more unadorned and comfortable expression.”
“……”
Is this bastard making fun of me? I steadily built up my animosity towards Abyss in my heart. The day will come when I release it all.
And a few days later, Abyss, whose health had greatly recovered, began training with Garam. He lacked the basics, but he was said to have a naturally good physique and frame.
“From what I’ve experienced, I can definitely say that learning in actual combat is much more effective.”
“Aaaaaaah!”
“Swinging a wooden sword in the training arena all day won’t help much.”
“Uaaaaaah!”
After Abyss learned some basic skills, I took him around to subjugate bandit groups. Of course, I didn’t want him to die like that, so Garam and I accompanied him, which was quite a hassle.
I roughly laid down on a rock and read a book, and Garam was on guard next to me. Abyss was making a lot of noise, but his efficiency wasn’t good, so he always missed one bandit.
I glanced at a bandit rushing in with a sword and clicked my tongue, but Garam warned me with a cold aura.
“If even a single strand of Your Highness’s hair is damaged, you’re dead.”
“Kkeuaaaak!”
Abyss desperately screamed and rushed to barely catch the bandit who was trying to swing his sword at me. Then, as if he had lost his mind, he yelled at me.
“Don’t stay in such an obvious place, hide somewhere!”
“It’s my business where I am and what I do.”
“Because you’re doing this, the bandits keep targeting this place! Why are you reading here of all places!”
“So what? It’s your job to protect me, should I have to worry about that too?”
“You son of a bitch!”
Abyss, as if he had finally exploded, shouted with a face that looked like he was about to cry. And Garam hit him on the back of the head.
“Why did you hit me!”
“Do you want to die? How dare you raise your voice and curse at Your Highness? You’re getting a month’s pay cut.”
“Aaaaaaah!”
Watching Abyss suffer made me feel like the pent-up emotions inside me were completely relieved. I looked at the clear sky and let out a refreshing sigh.