Afternoon.

The second year students- Adrian and Cornelia again continued with their journey, their destination- the mountains. Adrian had her rest through the midday for her to completely recover from the battle.

The princess was a few steps behind him. Her countenance was still red. She could not believe she did something so shameless; worse- she liked it. She had the urge to run away and hide somewhere forever, many times.

“If you can’t get over this small event, you can’t be a good queen in the future.” His casual words woke her up broke her train of thought.

“It’s as if getting over it easy.” She snorted and stomped her foot. Not any one of them stopped walking.

“Princess Evelyn briefed her plans to defeat her brother not even a minute after her orgasm.” He said.

“What?!” She gasped. “You ‘defiled’ the the third princess?”

“Tsk.” He turned back at her and smiled. “Want me to show you what ‘defile’ means?”

She took a step back and vigorously shook her head. “What’s the point of becoming a queen when you can’t become one of your own nation?” She sighed.

“What’s the difference? You will be taking a royal dick inside you anyway.”

“That’s not the only thing a queen does.” She retorted.

“You know, that’s the truth. After all, not every nation is a Nemphis or a Northguard.” He shrugged.

She did not say anything in response. The only thing she could do was look at the wet ground and bite her lips.

“Besides, there are only two ways for you to become the queen of Recruz.” His statement caused her to look at him. “First- to marry one of your brothers. Did you choose one already?”

She clenched her fists. “I would never do that! What’s the second one?”

He finally stopped walking, prompting her to do the same, and turned back, looking into her eyes.

“Make a sacrifice.” He smiled.

“Pardon?” She frowned.

He approached her. “I will make you a queen- nay- something much more.” He gently caressed her cheek. “But what can you give in return?”

The hellish depths- it was a catacomb of dry canyons; some points even reached an indeterminable magnitude of depth. Hence, the name.

A young man barely came out of a small cave at the surface. He patted the all the dust off from his white uniform and heaved a long sigh of relief.

Finally! After hours of hiding, sneaking, running and fighting, he escaped from those slithering reptiles. He almost woke that big chunk of iron from its slumber.

He took out a green and a light blue potion before devouring them.

He scanned his surroundings. There were only tall walls made of rocks and earth sandwiching the not so broad path; so tall that only a narrow blue crack could be seen up above.

He had two choices. Either walk through the path and hope to find an exit. Or just climb up.

He chose the latter; it was harder but safer. He took out the climbing accessories from his backpack and got ready to climb up.

After an hour of climbing, he finally reached the top. But no sooner had he got up on his feet than-

“Well well well. Who would have thought that my first prey would be a Nemphian dukeling?” An eerie male voice sounded in his ears, followed by an even more sinister laughter.

In a valley of the Medial mountains.

Three youths wearing black uniform were confronting two wearing yellow.

“Give us the sleepeater flower and you can leave.” One of the black uniformed students declared.

“We found it first.” A yellow clothed student, clenched the stalk of the black flower harder.

“Did we deny your claim?” Another black uniformed student declared. “When we ask you to do something, you should silently follow.”

“Why should we?!” The other student clad in yellow retorted.

“Why?” The student laughed. “Because you hail from a mere tier 1 kingdom.”

“You!” The stalk in his hand almost snapped.

“Hey! Hey! What have we here?” A casual but amused voice attracted the attention of everyone.

All of the 5 students grew wariness in their eyes.

A demonically young man and a young lady with a royal aura, both of them wearing white uniform with blue linings, approached them. All of the students there, be it the black uniformed ones or the yellow uniformed ones recognised the arriving duo- tier 4 students of the Griffin class.

Though these two were just second years, they were more than a match for them.

“Greetings, Sir Adrian Darkheart.” All three of the black clad students bowed.

“Greetings, your highness.” The yellow uniformed ones bowed as well.

Adrian nodded his head. “What were you doing?” He asked with a slight smile on his face.

“Nothing much. These tier 1 kingdoms depend on tier 2 kingdoms such as ‘our’ Darkshore Kingdom. Shouldn’t we get something in return?” The student smirked.

On the other hand, the student with the black flower in his hand said, “Your highness, these students from tier 2 countries think they can do whatever they want just because ‘we’ belong to tier 1 nations.”

She did not say anything in response and looked at her companion.

“I will say what I always say. You can use me however you like, but as long as you pray the price.” He shook his head and looked at the yellow outfitted student. “The same applies to whatever that belongs to me.”

He looked at her and pointed at the two yellow clothed students. “Dispose.”

Before anyone could understand what he meant, a narrow sword pierced through the heart of the one holding the pitch black flower. Her actions surprised everyone who were not clad in white and red.

The one most affected by the emotion was none other than the one stabbed. He slumped to the ground with his mouth and eyes opened wide open.

“What are you doing?!” The other one jumped back. His hope to get out of the situation with the flower in their hands shattered. And that hope itself was the one who shattered it.

But before he could get any further, he tumbled to the ground. Two strands of roots came out of the ground and tied themselves around his ankles.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” Her sword pierced through his throat.

The surprise on the three of their faces converted into a pleasant smile.

“Huh. Who was I talking to? You already made the princess of a tier 1 kingdom bid to your-“

*Sphhhlt*

His head rolled to the ground before his body fell.

“But can’t afford it.” Adrian said coldly.

“What?!” The other two retreated. But in no time, their heads tumbled to the ground- followed by their lifeless bodies.

“Bring me the flower.” He looked at her as he sheathed back the dagger into his pocket.

She picked it up from the unmoving hand and passed it to Adrian.

“Was that all for this flower?” She asked.

“Yes, and no.” He began to examine to flower.

Her countenance did not change at all as she waited for his answer.

“This flower was my goal.” He span the flower with his fingers as he sniffed it. “But their deaths were not necessary.”

“Then why?” She looked at the corpses of her fellow tier 1 nation citizens and his fellow countrymen.

“When you plan to use me, you pay the price- whether you can afford it or not, whether you want to pay or not.” He looked at her.

She gulped. This was not just an answer, it was something more- a warning.

“Let’s proceed. If we can finish the task by today, there will only be fun for the whole remaining month.” He began to walk through the valley, northwards. She silently followed.

In twenty minutes, they reached passed through the mountain range into the centre of the circular Medial mountain range.

There was a massive lake which was being protected by the mountains- ‘The Heavenly Blues’ they called it; not for the colour but the songs sung by ‘mermaids’.

He let out a long breath. “We’re finally here.”

“What will you do?” She asked.

“Flirt with some beautiful mermaids of course. Your small assets are not enough to go through the month.”

She gasped. She looked down in doubt. These big tight melons she were proud of were small.

“Tsk. Do whatever you want. Why do you have to bring my breasts into this?”

He shrugged before putting down the backpack and removing all of his clothes.

“What… what are you doing?” She subconsciously looked away, but then remembered what they had already done before looking at him casually.

“Stay here and guard my things.” He turned away to the lake and started to advance.

Moments later, his ankles were under the water. Then came the knees, the thighs, the abdomen, the chest, the neck and finally the head. He submerged all of himself into the water.

His destination- its lowest depth.