Chapter 755:This Is Hellhole

Chapter 755: 755:This Is Hellhole

Lancelot stood there covered in blood and dirt, breathing heavily as he looked at the Crown Prince they had managed to protect.

At that moment, he did not know that this single decision would change his entire life.

He did not know that the frail young man he had carried through the battlefield would one day become the foundation of everything he had.

And he certainly did not know that the name Lancelot would one day become known throughout Arcadia.

A name that once belonged to someone at the lowest level of society would eventually become the name of a Duke.

Crown Prince Alaster slowly opened his eyes.

For a few moments, he could not understand where he was. The ceiling above him was unfamiliar, and the smell of medicine and blood filled the small room. His body felt heavy, and several parts of it still ached from the injuries he had suffered during the attack.

He tried to sit up, but the pain immediately made him stop.

"Where am I?"

Lancelot, who had been sitting nearby, quickly stood up.

"Don’t move too much. You are still injured."

Alaster looked at him with confusion. His memories slowly returned. The carriage. The attack. The knights protecting him. The desperate escape through the forest.

His expression suddenly changed.

"The others..."

Lancelot became silent.

Alaster looked at him more carefully.

"What happened to the people who were with me?"

"Where are they?"

"Why aren’t you saying anything!"Alaster shouted.

Lancelot lowered his head.

Several seconds passed before he answered.

"They didn’t make it."

Alaster’s eyes widened.

"What?"

"The knights who protected you were killed while we were escaping. Some of my men also died."

His voice became heavier as he spoke.

"I am sorry."

Alaster stared at him in silence.The words seemed to take a moment to reach his mind.

Alaster eyes became din hearing this.A sense of regret and hatred flashed in his eyes.

"They... died because of me?"

"If only I was stronger and more capable,this wouldn’t have happened."

"Ahhhh!"Alaster roared in pain and unwillingness.

Lancelot did not answer immediately.

He remembered the soldiers who had followed him into the forest without hesitation. He remembered their final moments and the blood covering the ground.

He clenched his fist."I lost good men too."

His voice carried a faint sadness.

Alaster lowered his head.

For the first time, he understood how serious the situation had become. The people who had followed him had paid with their lives, while he had survived.

He could not simply return to the capital.

The assassins were still searching for him.

If they discovered that the Crown Prince had survived, they would immediately continue the hunt.

Lancelot also understood this.

"You cannot leave this camp for now."

Alaster looked up.

"Why?"

"The assassins are still looking for you. If you leave, they may find you again."

Lancelot paused before continuing.

"Except for me and a few others, no one knows who you really are. It would be safer if you stayed here for a while."

Alaster remained silent.

He understood what Lancelot meant.

If he returned to the capital now, the people responsible for the assassination attempt might discover that he was alive. There was no guarantee that the people inside the court could protect him either.

After thinking for a while, Alaster nodded.

"Then I will stay and lie low."

That was how the Crown Prince of Arcadia began living as an ordinary soldier.For the first time in his life, Alaster had to eat the same food as common soldiers.

Sometimes there was barely enough food for everyone.

He slept on rough bedding and spent his days rolling through dirt and mud during training. His clothes became dirty, and his hands became rough from constant work.

At first, he hated it.But as the days passed, he began to see something he had never seen from inside the palace.

The real Arcadia.

Everywhere he went, there was poverty.

Villages were damaged from years of fighting. Houses stood abandoned because their owners had either died or fled. People gathered around small food distributions, hoping to receive enough to survive another day.

There were children who had lost their parents.

There were families who had lost everything.Some soldiers had been fighting for years and had barely enough strength left to continue.

Dungeon breakouts were also common.

When monsters escaped from dungeons near settlements, entire villages could be destroyed before the army arrived. Some areas were still dealing with the damage from previous outbreaks, while new conflicts continued to appear in other places.

Strife between different groups was also becoming common.

The newly formed Arcadia had been created by forcefully joining several states together. The remaining forces from those old states had never been completely cleansed or brought under proper control.

Some still followed their former leaders.Others simply waited for a chance to rebel.The court was too weak to control everything from such a distance.

There were too many problems and not enough people capable of dealing with them.

Alaster slowly saw all of it.

Every day, another piece of his ideal image of Arcadia disappeared.He had grown up believing that the new nation would bring peace and prosperity.

He believed that Arcadia would become a place where people could live without fear.

But the reality before his eyes was completely different.

One evening, after returning from another exhausting day, Alaster stood outside the camp and looked toward the distant villages.

The sight of smoke rising from a damaged settlement made his hands tighten.

His expression slowly turned bitter.

"This isn’t an Empire that Arcadia wanted to establish."

He lowered his head as frustration filled his voice.

"This... This is just a hellhole."

"Look at this country! Look at what they have done!"

His hands trembled as he picked up another report and threw it aside.

"Rebellions everywhere. Nobles fighting for power. Villages starving. Soldiers dying because there isn’t enough food or equipment. People are losing their homes while those bastards sit in their mansions and fight over titles!"