Raised in Dungeon

Two weeks before the whitmoon festival begins.

People in the capital became increasingly busy preparing house decorations and other equipment needed for the parade. Similarly, the gatekeepers were overburdened day and night as they dealt with the long lines in front of the gates.

Houses in the capital have been decorated with lotus flowers of various colors, and merchants change the theme of their merchandise according to the festival, some selling flowers, some selling cakes in the shape of princely silhouettes, and many more. As the capital's population has almost doubled, the main street has become crowded with horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians.

Hungry peasants misused these crowds. They begged for money on street corners. But most peasants would be chased away by shopkeepers, so only a few did it.

And the other way they get money is...

"THEFT! ANYONE, THAT KID STEALING APPLES!"

is to steal.

This crowd became a golden opportunity to escape from the guards.

The thief was a little boy who was 5 or 6 years old and had tattered clothes. He ran desperately towards the slums, pushing the people around him violently.

He looked at the apple he was holding with a smile, wishing he could share it with his family.

But

-BREAK

He fell to his knees. The apple rolled forward, and he looked at it with despair.

When he immediately tried to stand up, he couldn't move; the plant's roots were wrapped around his legs. It was the root of the plant that made him fall. He tried to pull it with all his might, but it was useless; there was someone who approached him.

"You've been trapped, little thief."

The boy lifted his head and saw a pretty man with short hair and a dark yellow color. He wore armor covered in white cloth. On his chest was the crest of Wildenhall Kingdom. And because of his actions, people looked toward him and realized who he was.

"That armor... he's the knight of rounds!"

"Knight of rounds?!"

"Who is he? Who is he?"

"That's Mr. Sewel."

"His body is small and so pretty..."

"This is the first time I've seen the knight of rounds so close!"

A peg was stuck next to the root wrapped around the boy's leg. The man picked up the peg, and the root was untied.

The boy became terrified because the knight saw his crime directly.

Moments later, a woman in an apron came out of the crowd. She looked at the boy and hit him on the head.

"BASTARD PEASANT THIEF!" She was the owner of the fruit shop that the boy had stolen from.

Then from behind the knight, another person wearing the same armor appeared. He was also one of the knights of rounds. He was tall and well-built. His short hair was the same dark blue color as his eyes.

He carried the fallen apple in his hand and gave it to the shopkeeper woman.

"Here you are."

"Tha-Thank you very much, sir," said the shopkeeper, who blushed and felt embarrassed when the man smiled at her.

"Ah, Tobias, you took the apple! I meant to give it to the lady!" said Sewel with an annoyed face.

Tobias made no expression, implying that he was used to his colleague's attitude.

He looked at the little thief and stared at him with a furious face.

"I-I-I..I'm sorry sir..." the little boy said as he bowed his head; he was crying, and his body shook. Not hearing an answer, the little boy raised his head and found Tobias glaring angrily at him.

"Sorry is not enough. If everything can be solved with forgiveness, you won't regret what you did!" Tobias said.

"I'm sorry! Please forgive me! I meant to give it to mom and dad; they haven't eaten anything for two days!"

"Nonsense! I won't believe a thief's dirty mouth! Thieves are villains, and villains are not to be trusted!"

Beside Tobias, Sewel looked lazily disgusted.

'oh no, there he goes again,'

Tobias lifted the boy's hand roughly and then...

-SLAP

He slapped the boy so hard that the boy's saliva came out of his mouth.

"Akh! Ha ah... I'm sorry," the boy whimpered.

"No, you cannot be forgiven! Your sins will not be forgiven, and you must be punished! Justice will not allow you to continue sinning!"

Tobias proceeded to slap the boy across the face.

-SLAP

-SLAP

-SLAP

-SLAP

-SLAP

With each slap, the other people who saw him started to feel sorry for him. Even the shopkeeper couldn't bear to see it.

"Sir, I think that's enough, I got my stuff back, so there's no need to continue."

"ENOUGH?! YOU JUST KEEP QUIET! HE'S A CRIMINAL! HE SHOULD BE PUNISHED!"

Tobias slapped him ten times. And by the tenth slap, the boy was unconscious.

The boy's face was unrecognizable, his hair a mess, his eyes wide without light, and he was drooling with blood in his mouth. Meanwhile, his cheeks were swollen with blood. Quite a lot of blood was splattered on the ground.

"My gloves got dirty," Tobias said as he took off his bloody gloves and threw them on the ground.

"Let's go, Her Highness Alicia is waiting for us," he said to Sewel.

"Fine... We were late from the beginning because of what you just did. I only meant to return the apple."

"That's not enough; he must be punished to deter him."

"No, no, that's not a 'deterrent' anymore. What you did could ruin his future and hope for life."

"What did you say?!" Tobias then grabbed Sewel's neck roughly.

"Did you just criticize the rules that the council has made?!" Tobias was furious and almost used all his strength to strangle Sewel.

"What if I do? Are you going to kill me? Then do it..." Sewel replied with a big smile on his face.

A few seconds passed, and the people around him began to move away, worried that there might be a fight between the knights in the city.

But Tobias finally let go of her hand.

"Let's go," he said.

"Pfftt... okay okay."

...

Arriving at the royal castle, Tobias and Sewel were immediately greeted by the unpleasant face of the person wearing the same clothes.

"Oh no, don't make that face, Miss Fleur. Are you that unhappy to see us?"

She was Fleur Lymsey Wake, the number 1 holder in the Knight of Rounds, or arguably the strongest among them.

"It's because you look annoying." She said it with an uncomfortable face.

"Oh no, don't hate me. Are we a team?"

"NO!"

Ignoring their problem, Tobias asked

"Are we the only three coming?"

"No, you're almost the last. The others are already resting in their rooms; some are out patrolling the city; the only one who hasn't is number 10, Birawa Budiono," Fleur replied.

"Birawa, huh? He never shows up on schedule and is always 'my pace'," Sewel said.

"Just leave it, he's an other-worlder; the culture in his world is different from ours."

Fleur then looked at Tobias, who seemed to want to ask something. Then, after thinking for a few seconds, Fleur immediately knew what he wanted to ask.

"Aaah, you want to meet her highness? She's in the east garden pavilion; she's reading a book, so don't disturb her until she's finished."

"Th-thank you!" replied Tobias with a flushed face.

Just as Fleur said, Tobias went to the garden on the castle's east side.

There was a white rose garden. As he walked a little, he could see the figure he wanted to meet in one of the pavilions.

A girl with long golden hair was there. Her hair was loose and almost touched the ground. She was dressed in a long white sleeveless gown with slightly transparent bottoms. She was the first princess and the third prince of the Wildenhall kingdom, Her Highness Alicia Regina Wildenhall.

There was a stack of thick, dull-colored books on the table. And there was tea and some sweets on the table.

Alicia was reading one of a relatively thick book.

She was alone, whereas usually princes were not allowed to sit alone without their maids or personal knights.

Seeing Alicia, Tobias' face once again flushed, mesmerized by her beauty. Tobias immediately tried to smell his body, worried that the smell of blood was lingering on it.

Tobias wanted to call out to her, but Alicia's face looked very focused, so he didn't want to disturb her.

[ILLUSTRATION]

However, when Alicia was about to drink her tea,

-CRACK

"Ah!"

The glass fell onto her thigh and then shattered below.

"Your highness! Are you alright!" shouted Tobias, who immediately ran over to Alicia and suddenly patted her thigh with his cloak.

"Tobias?!"

Then, after a few seconds, Tobias realized what he'd done was embarrassing and disrespectful. His face turned bright red, and he immediately raised both hands.

"PARDON ME, YOUR HIGHNESS!" Tobias shouted.

Tobias then slightly peered into Alicia's face, afraid she was angry with him. But instead of getting mad, she smiled.

"It's okay, Tobias. You did it because you were worried about me, thank you very much."

'She's an angel,' Tobias thought.

"So, what do you need me for, Tobias?" Alicia asked.

"So-sorry! I just...wanted...to...see...you..."

'AAAAAAAAAAAA! What did I say?!'

Alicia once again smiled, and she closed her book.

"Alright, let's chat for a while. You can sit down."

"Tha-thank you!"

"Where are your gloves? Did you break them?" asked Alicia, looking at Tobias' ungloved hands.

"Thi-this is because I just punished a criminal. So my gloves are a little dirty,"

"Fufufu, no need to be so nervous. You're now a knight of rounds! You've become a great person. It's different from what you were when you were a common soldier."

"But, you're the princess, one of the princes; my status is still far below yours!"

"Talk to me casually. I don't really care about social status."

'I know that... you're the reason I've risen to this level as a commoner,'

Alicia poured the tea into a new glass and handed it to Tobias.

"Here you are," Alicia said.

"THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Tobias drank the tea in one gulp."

"Fufufu" Alicia chuckled at his behavior. Tobias, who saw that smile, immediately melted, unable to stop looking at her face.

Then, her smile slowly faded after a while, and her face became serious. She stroked the book on her desk, then said

"Hey Tobias, tell me how Daemon Servus is moving?"

Tobias' face also became serious, and he began to tell Alicia what he was facing in the southeast fortress.

Daemon Servus is an organization made up of humans and demi-humans that worships the Devil. Based on royal secret forces research, this organization intends to restore the glory of the demons as it was 1,000 years ago. There is no information on how they do it, nor is there any information about their members. What is known about them is that they often slaughter villages by draining all their blood. Three villages had already perished. And everyone in the village became a dry, bloodless corpse.

"I met one of them in the western region, but because of my carelessness, he managed to kill himself before I could scoop up the information; please forgive my carelessness," Tobias was a person who took his work very seriously, so even though it wasn't his fault directly, Tobias became very desperate.

Alicia knew Tobias' nature well, so she immediately tried to comfort him.

"Don't talk like that, Tobias!" Alicia held Tobias's rough hand, and it made Tobias blush instantly.

"You-your highness?!"

"You've done your best for the kingdom! Don't beat yourself up. I think our kingdom needs people like you! I need you!"

Then slowly, Alicia let go of Tobias's hand again and moodily said,

"But… I'm actually not happy you came here."

Before Tobias could react, she continued.

"It's not that I'm not happy to see you! I am, but I feel the council's decision to summon all the knights of the rounds to the capital was wrong. Daemons Servus can attack at any time, not to mention bandits, and many things that make the presence of knights of rounds more necessary. But the council chose to protect their capital so they would not be embarrassed by other countries."

Tobias then smiled; it was because of Alicia's kindness that he wanted to serve this person for the rest of his life, but he was too late. Alicia had already chosen her personal knight before he became strong.

"Princess Alicia, take it easy. They'll be fine; my subordinates are strong."

"Hmm?"

Seeing Alicia's slightly surprised face, Tobias realized he had addressed her without respect.

"MA-PLEASE, I BEG YOU PARDON! YOUR HIGHNESS!"

"No-no-no problem! I'm even happier if you call me by my name."

"There's no way I'm doing that! Please forgive me! Forgive me!"

"I told you it's okay!"

Alicia smiled and thought

'Hopefully, this peaceful life will continue forever.'