"Tie yourself up tightly and if you even try to escape..."

I purposely left my words unfinished and stared at him as if my gaze pierces his soul.

and with a voice sounding as if it came from the depths of hell, I said to him.

"YOU'RE GONNA WISH THAT YOU WERE NEVER BEEN BORN."

The cold and spine chilling voice made the captive shudder and faint in fear.

...

At a hill, northeast from the camp, sounds of blades clashing against each other rang out.

clang!*

"The prince is right, you really are a dangerous person. If we sent the first squad to you, they would've been wiped out." Said heize as he parried the dagger of the enemy using his own dagger.

Both of them are evenly matched in terms of speed and power. Their battle has been on a stalemate for around 20 minutes now, no one can get the upper hand as both of them are of the same level.

"Prince? ahh you mean the failure? hahahaha, I wonder what you guys were thinking when you dispatched half of the entire platoon to the north and the other half to the south. Did you expect the failed heir to be able to defend the princess? how ludicrous. I don't even need to see with my own two eyes to know that right now, the failed prince that you just met is already sprawled onto the ground." The enemy retorted.

The moment Heize heard this, he lost a little of his composure. Seeing the little opening, the enemy didn't let this chance slip and proceeded to strike Heize at the opening. Fortunately, he was able to dodge and the blade only managed to grazed his left waist. But the cut was still a little deep so blood gushed out from it.

"tskk, you really are a troublesome fellow. No matter, let's just end this with this last strike." Said the enemy as he infused his dagger with mana, the dagger glowed in a fiery red color.

Heize also did the same, and his blade also became enhanced. After 2 seconds both of them dashed towards each other, both wielding their blades.

When they're both only 2 meters away from each other, Heize appeared behind the enemy's back. But before he could appear completely, the enemy already turned around and aimed the blade at Heize's throat. And with a sadistic voice, he said.

"Kehehe, I knew you were gonna do that!"

The blade pierced heize's throat. At that moment, Heize died.... is what was supposed to happen.

But the moment the enemy's blade pierced heize's throat, he disappeared like a mist. And the real heize that was dashing towards him swung his blade and succesfully striked the enemy's nape.

"Y-You..." said the enemy as his life slowly fades away.

"In a battle, a single mistake could cost you your life, My title of 'Trickster' is not just for show." Said heize in a deep voice as he left the now lifeless corpse.

...

After waiting for about 30 minutes, I could feel different presences approach the camp. When they showed up, it was the soldiers from Elune kingdom, Aside from the time they took to subjugate the enemies, the fact that no one died is already expected.

Heize also came out from the bushes and hurried to check our conditions, when he saw that Airi and I were alright, he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Good thing you're uninjured, Lucas-sama" said heize as he sat down due to the fatigue.

"By the way, where are the group from east and west?" Askes Sier as he looked around.

And the moment he turned to a certain direction his eyes widened in surprise, what he saw are headless bodies sprawled onto the ground. When Heize and the other soldiers also saw this scene, they were surprised.

"T-This is.."

"D-Did the prince really do this?"

"A-Amazing, he managed to defeat 17 enemies all by himself."

"Now I'm starting to doubt the rumors about him being the failed prince."

All kinds of mumblings rang out from the group and finally, I dragged out the captive from the back of the carriage and threw him in front of the group.

The soldiers immediately became alert, but when they saw that the enemy was chained, they let down their guards a little bit.

"Shall we take this one as a prisoner of war? we could also squeeze out information from him." I suggsted to everyone.

"Yes, let's do that. I didn't expect Lucas-sama to be this efficient."

"Well, that's how I always did things back then."

If there's an opportunity, grab it, if it's a trap, destroy it. This is one of my motto back on earth when I was still struggling to climb to the top.

"M-Monster, y-you're not a human." said the captive in a stuttering voice as he looked at me with fearful and despaired eyes.

"Ho? Was our prince really that powerful?" Asked heize to the captive.

Ignoring the situation, I jumped up to the roof of the carriage again and began to watch the night sky.

"A-All of us 17 are stronger than the group from the west and east, in terms of team fight coordination and individual prowess. We just used a magic tool in order to make it look like we're just average soldiers. B-But he... with just a single swing from his sword, the entire crew except for me was beheaded. A-And his mana is not even activated yet! H-He is a monster!" Exclaimed the soldier as he looks at my figure.

"𝐻𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔!?" thought Heize to himself, he couldn't help but feel suspicious. After all, a failed heir with superior abilities than him suddenly appeared.

"Looks like I have to ask him, it's okay, I can see from the person's eyes and action if he really is lying. If this person is lying to us, then I'm gonna escort him back to the kingdom and ambush him there." Said heize to himself in a very low voice.

But what he didn't know was that I can hear him loud and clear due to my enhanced hearing.

While the other soldiers are resting, Heize went up to me and asked me. "Lucas-sama, I deeply apologize for this but I have to ask this. Are you really the second prince of Elune kingdom?" At that moment, the air around us tensed up.

"I think I really am, how about you? Do you think I am the second prince?" I answered him with another question.

Heize observed at me for a few moments and he heaved a sigh of relief.

"I think you are, I apologize for doubting you, Lucas-sama." Said heize as he bowed down to me.

"I understand your concern, A failed heir suddenly appearing with unbelievable power, even I would get suspicious at that."

"May I ask you one last question?" said heize.

"Go ahead."

"Your body is supposed to be frail, how were you able to become this powerful?"

"I just train smart and train hard, that's all there is to it."

"I see, I apologize for taking up your time, I will now go back inside. Please also rest inside."

"Yes."

And just like that, the conversation ended.

The reason why Heize was not able to see through my lies was because when I was on earth, I lied a lot of times in order to improve my business, I mastered the art of lies and deception. I can lie with all of my being, that even an accurate lie detector can't detect it. Before one deceive others, one must learn how to deceive one's self.

At that moment, a male's voice appeared in my head.

"You really are one terrific human, aren't you?"

"Gabriel, you need something?" I asked him.

"Nope, I just have nothing to do, so I decided to check on you."

"Heh? by the way, where can I find this sage king that you talked abour earlier?" I asked him.

"He resides somewhere in a different space, every country has a tower with a gate inside that will transport you to the place of the sage king. So rest assured, once you reach Elune, you can meet the sage king after a month."

"Why after a month?"

"The sage king is not always available, he only performs the activation ritual once every month, and unfortunately, he just finished his job yesterday, so you'll have to wait for a month."

"I see, well then-"

Before I could finish my words, another voice sounded inside my head. It was Alvion.

"Hey Gabriel, is that Lucas? let me talk with him for a moment, I have something I want to ask him about."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I don't mind, here." replied gabriel.

After a few seconds, I heared Alvion's voice again.

"Oii Lucas."

"What is it?"

"Earlier, I tried to practice the inner force of the humans on earth, but after 10 hours, I felt that I'm no longer improving. How did you manage to level up yours to that terrifying level?"

"Idiot, you just reached the first bottleneck. If you want to improve further, you need to break through it."

"Then how did you break through yours?"

"I can't tell you, every single person have different ways of breaking through, so you have to find it out yourself."

"What a bummer, thanks anyways, take care."

"Yeah."

The telepathy was cut off after that. After a few moments, I laid down and looked up at the skies again and I finally fell asleep.