“Ah! I’ve finally found ya, your hi’ness!” A man announced his presence as he walked out of the treeline.

Alerted to his presence, Atlas’ body tensed up like a spring. His joints stiffened as his mind went into overdrive. ‘I don’t recognize that voice! Could it be… the traitorous assassin!?’

While Atlas was frozen from paranoia, the man walked out into the moonlight exposing his face for the prince to see. Catching a glimpse of his bearded face, Atlas’ mind lagged for an instant before grinding to a halt.

“I’ve been searchin’ for ya, your hi’ness. I went to the manor and found it empty. Afte’ that, I–” Atlas interrupted the man’s rambling.

“You..” He paused, his eyes narrowing to form tiny pinpricks. A visible layer of sweat appeared over his forehead. “You’re the… [son of a b*tch]!” Atlas cursed in English.

“M-my lord?” The man lagged, unable to understand the prince’s speech. “A-are ya sayin’ somethin’ to me, my lord?”

[Of course, I’m speaking to you, you c*ckingsucking d*ckwad!~ You motherf*cking, snake of a liar you…] Atlas devolved to resemble the roughest of rednecks as he spewed a storm of curses. He even changed languages here and there, subjecting the poor, confused man before him to the complete foulness of the spoken language.

Cursing him out for a full TEN minutes, Atlas finally stopped, holding onto his knees and gasping for his breath. After spending some effort to calm himself, he raised his head and coldly asked the man.

“It’s been a good three days, huh? Scout. Captain. Reudem.” The man standing in front of Atlas scratched his head in embarrassment and looked away.

It was him, the infamous captain of Scout Team #1, the very same team that had been missing for a week.

“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t execute you for brazenly lying to my face and running away for a week,” Atlas demanded, folding his arms.

“M-my lord!” Scout Captain Reudem looked terrified at the mention of the word ‘execute’. He immediately forgot everything about the prince’s earlier weirdness and threw himself at the latter’s feet. “My lord! You mustn’t ex’cute me!”

“And, pray tell me why?” Atlas scoffed, moving away from the man. He did not feel comfortable letting someone close to him in the absence of his protectors.

“Accident! There was an accident, my lord!” Reudem tried to follow the prince’s feet, but a piercing look from his lord immediately shut down his movements.

“Did any of you die?”

“N-no, my lord,” Reudem shook his head.

“Not good enough. Then execution it is,” Atlas declared and turned around to walk away.

“WE’VE ‘ATEHRED RATIONS, MY LORD!” Reudem cried at the top of his lungs, dropping the bundle on his back and presenting it to the prince. It was only now that Atlas discovered that the Scout Captain carried a sizeable bundle on his back.

With his life hanging in balance, Reudem did not dare hesitate or delay and immediately unfolded the sack. The contents of the sack came into Atlas’ sight, following which was a bloody scent.

Resting within the sack was a large piece of meat.

“It’s deer meat, your hi’ness!” He frantically explained. Seeing the interest within the prince’s eyes, he continued. “After leavin’ the town, we set a few small traps and baits and caught a few rabbits and other smaller creatures. It was a decent haul or us five men, but greatly lacking for the town. So we set out to find big’er game and on the dawn of the second day, we found it!”

“Found what?” asked Atlas growing curious. He temporarily shelved his desire to execute this bastard.

“Tracks, my lord!” Reudem exclaimed with much excitement. “We found deer tracks! And not just one, but a whole pack of ‘em!” He then paused to take a breath before continuing, “So then, we trailed the tracks and cau’ht up with the pack on the third day. I wanted to trap ‘em then and there, but then one of my men stopped me. He told me that the pack was acting weird and that we should continue trailing ‘em.”

“And?”

“He was ri’ht, my lord! The pack led us towards this walled-off valley where hun’reds and hun’reds of deer lived and mated! We hit the mother lode!” Scout Captian Reudem then immediately appealed to the prince. “Your hi’ness! You have to put to’ther another party and set up a camp there! With that much prey, we can feed the town for months!”

“Where is this place?” Atlas asked, growing serious. If his words were true –which probably were since Atlas did not find any signs of him lying with his reading– this represented an unprecedented opportunity for the town. They would be able to secure a food source that would allow them to live comfortably for months!

“It’s past the–” The Scout Captain opened his mouth to explain only to be quickly interrupted by Atlas. “Wait a moment.”

Atlas then gestured for the man to get up and follow him. “Follow me.” Scout Captain Reudem nodded his head, bundled the meat once again, and followed the prince.

As the two headed to the manor, Atlas asked, “I forgot to ask. Where’s the rest of your men?”

“They’re headed to see their families, my lord,” Reudem explained.

He was also anxious to meet his wife after having not seen her for over a week. However, he understood that his duty towards his lord came first and came to find Atlas.

“Oh. They won’t find their families at their homes. We’ve been facing a little issue you see,” Atlas then began to fill in the man on all the details that he had missed during his absence. He kept his exposition very brief and to the point.

Of course, Atlas also remembered to assure the man of the safety of his family. He figured that showing such personal concern would net him a few loyalty points from the Scout Captain. It was an effortless task and Atlas did see quite a few benefits to be gained from it.

Scout Captain Reudem’s heart went through a whirlwind of emotions as he heard the little prince’s narration. He couldn’t believe the sheer amount and scale of the events that had taken place in a mere week of his absence.

‘A wolf attack!? Collapsed mines!!? A FLOOD!!??!!’ Each even sounded more ludicrous ad unbelievable than the last.

What surprised him, even more, was the apparent ease and competency with which the prince had handled the different situation. Reudem understood for a fact that had it been him in that position, the town would’ve already fallen to ruin!

‘His Hi’ness even more amazin’ than what I took him to be!’ Reudem gazed at the prince’s beautiful side profile with intense passion.

The two quickly arrived at the Baron’s manor. Atlas asked for the Scout Captain to remain in the parlor while he went to fetch the map. All the while, Atlas kept quietly grumbling about how he had to do all the menial tasks himself instead of having an assistant upon whom he could push such menial chores.

Eventually, he retrieved the map from his office and brought it to the parlor. There, Atlas had the Scout Captain roughly mark the route and location of the hunting ground. Reudem marked the path with little difficulty, all the while praising the prince for his map.

“All that’s left is to fill in the map to scale,” Atlas held the item in his hands and spoke to himself. “So about two days’ journey from the town, correct?”

“Ri’ht, your hi’ness,” Scout Captain Reudem nodded his head. He then faintly frowned and continued, “Actually, we’d be able to get there sooner if it weren’t for a mountain blocking the route.”

“Can’t you just find a way through the mountain?” asked Atlas. Looking at the map, he realized that this mountain was the cause for the large detour in their route.

Reudem flashed a helpless smile in response. “Not this one I’m afraid, your hi’ness. This one’s… different.”

“Different how?”

“We spotted monsters in its vicinity,” Scout Captain Reudem honestly replied, a hint of dread coloring his reply.

Atlas took another look at the map in his hands. It was then, that it suddenly clicked within his mind. ‘Right. This is… that place.’

The monster den where he had escaped from at the start of his transmigration journey… was the same mountain. The map in his hand synced with the map in his mind; the one that was given to him by the Shadow Monarch.

In other words… ‘So this is where those fu*kers are hiding!’ Atlas fumed, his eyes spilling fire. Revenge. He would have his revenge upon those hideous monsters!

Not for the unseen father that they had killed. Not for the unknown mother that they had eaten. No. Atlas would have his revenge for one reason and one reason only.

‘Those motherfu*kers will pay for the sh*tty start they gave to my epic journey!’

Those monsters must die.