A breathtaking sight lay before me as I hid among the trees, blending with the grass and leaves. The ground was painted with crimson red, reflecting the rays of the sun. In the middle of the road was a pillar of death, a carriage surrounded by corpses; not a single color of dirt was beneath it. A man lay before the center, with his sword stabbed on the ground. He hung his body with dignity, tightly gripping the sword with both hands.

  “He did it…” Said Harry, like his soul left along with those words. The air was colder than a night breeze. “We should go, Your Highness, the commander had served you well.” My mouth was left open, I was shocked yet amazed. I wanted to say something along the lines of, we should bury him, but that… that scene… that field… was a grave I wanted to be in.

  “Stop smiling your highness…” Harry looked at me with his face back to how it was, a face with no life, eyes that looked just straight ahead, void of a future. I don’t know what he is thinking in his mind right now, but I know each and every word was an insult, I have no idea what our relationships are, who he was, who I am, what we have gone through, what else he had done to me, but I wouldn’t want the person I sacrificed my life for to look at my corpse with the biggest smile on his face either.

  “Let’s go, you…” Harry shook his head. “Let’s go Your Highness, we need to get you checked by a doctor soon, before the aftereffects cause more damage to you.”

  What aftereffects though, I get it now, I know why I only have two knights, but… there is no aftereffect, right? That’s not why I’m smiling… I’m smiling… I’m smiling… because I’m insane… because death is so beautiful!

  As I gazed over the totem of death, my totem of life, I grew further yet closer to it. Harry dragged me along, and I walked on my own, I had gone through so many things as soon as I died, I wanna believe I had not even been transported or reincarnated, I just wanna believe that this was the afterlife, this would be the end, and it will be… beautiful… like they promised. Heaven should be beautiful.

  After a few minutes of walking, maybe it was an hour, I couldn’t really accurately count the time. I was quiet the entire time, it was awkward yet at the same time I was used to it. It was not something I wanted to talk about, or think about, but… I really do suit awkwardness, or it really just loves me, loves me too much.

  We arrived at the front of a small village. It had walls made of chopped-down trees with the top carved into a sharp point. Two guards were stationed at the front, but unlike my knight, they were more similar to the bandits; simple leather clothing, long pants, and boots, along with a wooden spear.

  Having my ironclad knight who looked like he came from a fantasy novel face a village that looked like it came from the Stone Age, was a really weird picture to digest. However, without the wooden walls, it would probably just look like cosplayers hanging out on a film set.

  “We would like to stay for a few days,” Harry said to one of the guards, putting his hand into his pocket and pulling out a small coin that made mouths open.

  “We greet Your Highness, the Crown Prince!” The two repeated.

  Eh, Crown Prince? So I wasn’t just a normal prince huh… but still, how shit of a person am I to have only two knights when I will soon be the king.

  As soon as I entered the village, I became one hundred percent sure that this was either a fantasy world or a medieval one. Other than the out-of-place wooden walls that made it feel like I was walking into the village of monsters, the houses were all made of stone bricks with straw roofs.

  The longer I walked inside the village, the more I realized just how clear it was that I was someone of high status. I wore such colored clothing that I could be the sun of this village. The village was far bigger than it seemed outside, with houses widely spread among each other, and each door we walked past closed before I could even look at them. However, it wasn’t all that big, it was like the size of 10 supermarkets.

  A few minutes later, we arrived at not only one of the few two-floored houses in the village but also the biggest. I did not even expect this village to be this big or have such a huge house.

  “Can I request 28 Mer, Your Highness?” Harry reached out his hand.

  Mer…? What is Mer…? As I stared at his eyes with my blank stare, I pondered at the many possible definitions of the word Mer in my knowledge of the English language. Which inserted the thought of how I could understand the language of this world, was it actually English, or can I truly understand it through the original’s memory, however, if I can remember the language through that memory, why couldn’t I remember anything else?

  “And… where is that…?” I said slowly, tilting my head with my mouth open. “In your pouch, Your Highness.”

  “Ah, of course, wait a second.”

  Pouch. I thought. My clothing consisted of colorful fabrics and long dresses meant for a princess. I didn’t pay much attention to it until now, but I was inside multiple layers of clothing, making me question how I am still yet to sweat.

  I dug into my thick fabric prison and happened to touch a much thinner and smoother fabric holding multiple circular objects. As I pulled out the pouch, I realized what a Mer was.

  “Okay, so how much do you need again?”

  “28 Mer, Your Highness.”

  I opened the pouch, revealing an array of bronze, silver, and gold coins. Like any normal wallet, the more the single currency is, the lower its value. I pulled 28 of the silver coins without even thinking much of it.

  “Here.”

  “Ughhh, Your Highness, those are Cen, not Mer.”

  “Huh. But.” I looked into my pouch, and based on the amount, silver had the most quantity, with gold coming next, and the bronze only had 3 pieces, which I then pulled out.

  “Oh, well you can just give me the right amount, Your Highness.”

  “The right amount?” I had zero idea what he was talking about. Harry reached into my pouch and placed all the silver coins back inside.

  “The conversion, Your Highness, I’m sorry but I still have yet to learn even basic arithmetic.”

  Oh, he means… oh… but I have absolutely zero idea what the fuck the conversion rate is. I paused, staring blankly inside the pouch. I mean it could just be the normal 10 to 1 ratio… but… what if it isn’t…

  “So, what is the conversion again? I forgot.” I said with much confidence, hidden through my emotionless tone.

  “Well… if I remember correctly…” Harry rubbed his chin. “1 Cen is… 25 Mer.”

  “Ohhh…”

  What an odd conversion. I thought. After looking at the coins for a few seconds, I gave Harry 1 Cen and the last 3 Mer from my pouch. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

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  Harry went inside the inn, leaving me standing outside on the side road, while multiple people tried their best to avoid me, even covering their children’s eyes. Well, the guards did know I was the Crown Prince… so if there were a chance there are more Prince in this country, they already know which one I am. Just what did this body do?

  I remembered the reason why I was attacked and the reason why one of the only 2 knights I had died. At that point, he was probably not the only life I killed with my stupid antics. Why doesn’t Harry even harbor anger enough to kill me?

  Harry stepped out of the inn. “Let’s go, Your Highness.” I stepped inside the inn, barren of a single soul, not even one at the desk. The inn was filled with multiple tables scattered across the ground floor. At the edges were two straight stairs that went up to the second floor.

  “Our room’s on the second floor, Your Highness.”

  The entrance of the room was placed directly in the middle, adjacent to the window encompassing the streets of the village. Two beds were placed at each corner, leaving a small path to the window. There were also two small desks at each side of the door facing the beds, with a lamp above.

  “What else would I expect from a village.” I scoffed.

  “You’re back to normal, Your Highness! I’ll go look for a doctor to check on your health quickly!”

  “What?”

  Harry ran past me, his steps rocked the entire inn. “He would break the stairs with those steps, also, I was not on drugs. Ughhhh.” I closed the door with my beck bent over and my face filled with the bitter taste of ignorance.

  “Ahhh… finally… some time alone…” My body fell to the bed on its own and I let out a long sigh that lasted for more than a minute. “Now… I can ponder on what has even happened. But…”

  …

  …

  …

  “But I don’t know.”

  …

  …

  …

  “Another world, that’s something.”

  …

  “I haven’t seen a single magic, so… I’m.”

  …

  …

  “Anyway, not like death affects me that much. I didn’t really have “much”.” I quoted in the air. “Hahaha…”

  …

  …

  …

  …

  …

  I wiped away the tears from my eyes and leaped out of my bed. From the first layer of my clothes to the second, to the third, to the fourth, I took every piece of my clothing off. Apart from just actual clothing, there were other things inside that prison.

  Other than my pouch full of riches that could probably buy this entire village, there was also a giant circular coin with a peculiar carving on it. “This probably proves that I’m royalty or I’m the Crown Prince, right? Yeah, I need to keep that.”

  After examining all my clothes, there was only one that had a pocket… and… I was trying my best to find something that was as less appealing as possible, but unfortunately, it was the color purple. “Is this a medieval world or Asian? Why is this the clothes of a prince!!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, immediately exhausting all my energy.

  For some reason, once all the thick layers of clothes left my body, buckets of sweat started to fall on every inch of my skin. “Okay… you know what… at least, I know, that there is magic. Whatever it is, one of these clothes has some anti-sweat magic, or anti-heat, ahhhh whatever!” I hurriedly wore every piece of my clothes back on. I wanted to escape this place and venture into the village even for just an hour, but not having clothes that weren’t in the color of the rainbow, not like I had a choice either.

  “Or maybe… I can go out.” I opened the windows of my room and jumped out. It was the coolest moment of my life, without hesitation, without thought, why would I care what I wear, what people think, despite the stares they gave me when I arrived in this village, that feeling, it never disappeared.

  My arms are like clouds and the wind protects my skin. The world is an open canvas and I am the brush, with these colorful clothes, with my title as royalty, I will do whatever I want and create an abstract masterpiece.

  “Oh wait, I probably should have thought about it a little bit.” It was stupid, jumping out of a window on the second floor, and then acting like I made a mistake as I looked straight in front of me. That was something that can only happen in cartoons, children's fantasy, but, that’s it, I’m doing that children's fantasy, I’m living it.

  I embraced the air, the shortfall I was about to take, and I accepted the pain the fall would deliver, I accepted it all. My feet landed first, the impact bending it, shoving my face to the ground. Without fear, nor pain, I stood back up. “I don’t feel an ounce of pain, bitch. Now, where should I go?”

  Immediately, a giant explosion erupted from outside the village, and dust formed high like a skyscraper. It was like a meteor fell down from the sky. Without hesitation, I started to run. It was also a good help for the citizens, as long as I walked on the path of danger, everyone would avoid me, saving them from the danger. An unknown hero? Useless fact? I did not care.

  As I reached the end of the wooden wall, I jumped, trying my best to scale over. The walls were all scraped smooth like butter and all tied together by three lines of rope, evenly spread at separate heights. I peeked into the small crevices that the walls provided through the gaps made by the thick ropes. Then blood spurted into my eyes, making me jump back immediately. “Wha-” I stopped speaking. What the fuck was that. Shit. If I jump out of this wall, I might actually die.

  At that moment, I didn’t need someone like Harry to tell me, but I was smiling, smiling brighter than in my entire life. Me, crazy? Me, insane? Me, on drugs? You know what! Might as well.

  I stuck my feet on the lowest line of the rope, pulling myself up with my grip. Then I moved on to the next layer, making my way up slowly until I reached the top, grabbing the tip of the wooden wall and pulling myself up into horror.

  Not a single human being was alive beyond the walls. The grass was painted red, dancing from the wind like raining blood. Every body was cut in the middle, split evenly with their guts stretched like cheese.

  In the middle was a giant hole made by the explosion I saw. It was deep like a grave, meant for the dead. But rather, it was filled with blood, squished out of every human.

  I stared into the sea of blood, every inch of my sight was filled with the color of crimson, like I was looking through the gates of hell. Blood- the left, right, top, and the walls, every corner.

  I wanted to live where I was free, where I could do whatever I want, to see what I want to see, to achieve what I want to achieve, to make decisions without control.

  Life is beautiful, you could achieve anything you want as long as you put your all into it.

  There is an opportunity for everyone, one just has to take it, grab it, strangle it by the neck and kiss it.

  It was love at first sight, that’s what a dream is, a goal, the final destination.

  Everyone has a motivation that drives them to live.

  And mine.

  It’s the beauty of death!