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The world spun beneath his feet. The ruckus outside awakened Prince Arterius, who fainted from the long and grueling discussion he had with the senators earlier that day. His ward, Stolas, came rushing to the tent, the man\'s clothing was stained with soup.

"Prince Arterius!" His ward approached him from his bed. "We must get out of the tent right now!"

"W-what seems to be the ruckus?" Prince Arterius grabbed his cane and stood up wincing in pain.

Stolas immediately grabbed his hand and placed it over his shoulder. His ward was sweating buckets. Prince Arterius could feel how tension-filled he was. His usually calm and collected ward seemed to be panicking about something.

Suddenly the ground shook, Stolas held him tight to steady his footing. He could feel his ward trembled, but remained calm, and proceeded to evacuate him out of the tent. As they stepped outside, Prince Arterius noticed some swirling lines forming on the ground.

He couldn\'t get his eyes away from the pale, pulsating blue light, dancing on the ground. The hair behind his neck prickled in fear and excitement. Unknowingly, a smirk formed on his lips. From the distance, he saw a pillar of light breaking the night sky with its elegant light. He wasn\'t sure what was going on, but whatever it was, he never felt threatened by it.

As quick as the lights appeared, it vanished in an instant. Not a few moments later, the knights began to rally towards the hole.

"Ser knight!" Prince Arterius shouted. "What is going on?"

"My Prince," the knight bowed. "We have received news that, people came out of the hole! We were called to provide back up!"

Prince Arterius couldn\'t believe what he was hearing. "T-they\'re back?! Y-you mean, they have returned from the hole?"

"Yes, my Prince."

He looked at Stolas with a sense of excitement in his eyes. He wanted to see it for himself and started to move to the direction of the hole, but his ward was quick to dismiss his wishes.

"No! We are not going there!" Stolas shook his head.

"B-but…" The prince protested.

"No buts! You\'re in no condition to be there! Let\'s just stay here!"

Prince Arterius wanted to prolong the argument and tried to sway his ward to his favor, but Stolas was adamant about his decision.

"It\'s for your own good, Prince Arterius," He sighed. "Let us get some news from them later. I will see to it."

Although bummed out, he had no choice but to agree with his ward and started walking back to his tent which was further away from the hole. He sat on his bed ignoring his numbing headache and waited for updates from his ward; it didn\'t take that long for the update to arrive.

Stolas went inside his tent along with his godfather, and a fuming Senator Lucresia.

"I cannot believe this!" The Senator began. "The slaves were unscathed?! Don\'t you see what\'s wrong in this picture?!"

Lord Prestonheim sighed while massaging the bridge of his nose. "What are you saying, Senator Lucresia?"

"Are you dumb?! I am calling this sabotage!" The senator yelled. "They were the reason why our knights and a great commander fell!"

"What is your proof?!" Lord Prestonheim snarked. "Where you there, Senator Lucresia? Do you have someone in that party who reported it to you?"

"What proof do I need? Isn\'t it obvious? A beastman, an elf, a dwarf and an Ardant! Do I need to say more?!"

"Are you basing this because they\'re… different?"

"Diff- different? Are you telling me that I am judging them because of their race?"

Lord Prestonheim nodded his head.

"N-no, t-that\'s not it…" The senator clicked his tongue. "They are slaves! Slaves!"

"Regardless of what you say, it\'s still the same." Lord Prestonheim sighed. "You see them as the threat!"

The old senator and his godfather locked eyes. They spoke with their glaring eyes, unmoved by each other\'s sentiments. Both men stood silent, trying to convince the other that their judgement was flawed. Somehow, no one was winning; the two relentless men wouldn\'t budge until the young Commander Crovar entered the tent.

"Ahem," He interjected. "That argument is quite petty, at this point. No matter who you want to blame for the missing knights. You cannot argue the fact that these people got out of that hole alive."

"Are you saying we need to congratulate them for making it out alive?" Senator Lucresia raised his eyebrow. "It\'s true that they managed to save that poor young knight and some Orkamuus, but one thing still remains they\'re—"

"They\'re not us." Lord Prestonheim said. They\'re no citizens of our great kingdom and thus, can be blamed for such incompetence."

Senator Lucresia nodded. "Yes, it is either them, or your head!"

Prince Arterius stood up. He hasn\'t been able to cope up much with the conversation. As what he understood, the old senator was trying to blame the slaves for the lost of many of the knights\' lives. This was a common tactic that the Principalia usually do when they fail; find a scapegoat and save face.

"Do you still consider the expedition a failure?" Prince Arterius asked the senator.

Senator Lucresia looked at him with great disdain. "We haven\'t come up with that yet. Not after that fiasco you showed us earlier. Many of our colleagues are saying that it was a rather vital discovery that can be used for the war. I am still not sure if we could mine as many of those stones, those things should give us an answer!"

"Things?" Prince Arterius asked.

"Slaves" Senator Lucresia looked at him dead in the eyes.

"Those you considered things, were vital to the success of this expedition. I would prefer if you call them, citizens." The prince interjected.

"Hmmm…perhaps. But one thing is for certain. Regardless of the help they did, you must understand that to me, this expedition was a failure. Many of the knights have died inside those damned mines! We have lost a strong ally in Commander Syleon Crovar, and the only surviving knight is currently at the brink of death. And how about those slaves? Unscathed! That says a lot in my experience, and I won\'t let them pass without punishment!"

"Punishment?! I\'ve heard you say that earlier, Senator Lucresia." Prince Arterius sighed. "I do not see this as a failure at all. In fact, I cannot understand your thirst to punish those poor souls!"

Senator Lucresia smirked, "Then you better understand it now. I firmly believe that the number of lives that died for your vanity project was more than what the Principalia could bear. You let your elite knights die inside that hole undermining that we are currently at war and will need all the men we could get. Those knights who lost their lives here in this hell hole could\'ve been used elsewhere. That\'s where your incompetence come lies!"

Prince Arterius felt his blood rushing all over his face. He wanted to nag at the old man, but he couldn\'t deny the fact that he indeed lost a lot of knights during the expedition, and that didn\'t include the knights who died after the monster attack.

Senator Lucresia indeed has a serious argument in his hands. He truly was going to undermine his accomplishments with the deaths of the knights. He knew that the sly, old fox had found himself a fodder for him to feed his ego.

"So, I will let you choose once again," The old, balding senator cleared his throat. "Them, or your godfather and birthright. Your call, Prince Arterius. After all, it\'s your life and not mine." Senator Lucresia smiled.

Prince Arterius looked at his godfather looking for answers, but the silver-haired commander remained unavailable to him. This was a decision that he solely has to make—a decision that he would regret for years to come.