A young man opened his eyes to a vast expanse of nothingness. It was dark inside, with only a small mote of light there to guide his way through the endless abyss.

The young man immediately knew where he was. Its shadows and empty corridors all reminded him of a place he could never forget... Home.

He had spent most of his life here, yearning for a world where he could live without the constraints of his frail body getting in his way. But he understood that his presence here could only mean one thing.

He had failed...

Like the many times he had done in the past, it seemed that no matter what he did, he'd always end up back here, alone... and in the dark.

He wondered if it was time for him to give up, to move on and experience new things, even if he knew it would be hard. A part of him wanted to leave, to say goodbye to the home that had sheltered him, and to take a great leap outside so he could look at the bright world for what it truly was.

In the end, the young man reached out into the deep abyss, grasping at the tight shackles that had chained him there for half his life. And with a swipe of his hand, he broke free.

It was time for him to show the world that Julius Mondeau had returned.

...

Three days had passed since then, and a frail young man was lying beneath the covers of his bed. He had a book clutched in his hands, one of many in a long running series of epic tales named Orc Slayer Bonbon.

He was currently at the climax of its story, reading the part where Bonbon faces off against the mighty king of orcs, Mo'ron, in a showdown to determine the fate of the world.

Julius didn't know where the book came from. He just remembered that a small tremor had knocked it down from his bookcase. And that after a bit of curiosity, he…

Wait… Why am I thinking about this now?

Shaking his head in an attempt to keep himself awake, Julius noticed he was only five paragraphs away from finishing his book. He had spent two days of his life doing nothing but reading, all for the sake of finishing it by today.

It wasn't because the book was good. The only reason he did so was because taking care of himself was wasting too much of his time. Sleep alone would've doubled the number of days it would've taken him to finish, and he didn't feel good about wasting four days of his life reading a book like this.

To be honest, Julius didn't even know why he was reading it in the first place, since fables were never something he'd been interested in before. The last time he remembered touching one was when he was five, and even then he felt like it was a waste of his time.

I guess it's because I have nothing better to do... but at least I'm done now.

Julius flipped past the last page of his book, leading to the back of its cover, where the words "Thank you for reading" were written at the bottom. He didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, it truly was an entertaining read, filled with adventures he could only dream of having. But… that was it, a dream written in book form. Nothing more than that.

But before Julius could continue spiraling down his train of negative thoughts, a sudden wave of exhaustion snapped him out of it. The adrenaline in his body had run out, and all he could feel was a searing pain in the back of his throat. His three days of stupidity had ultimately come back to haunt him, and dehydration was the first to make its move.

Reaching his arm toward the nightstand beside him, Julius blindly grasped at the space above it. He was searching for something, a small porcelain cup with a blue gem in its center. It was the only gift he ever received from his mother, something he still cherished to this day. The only thing he questioned was whether it came from actual affection, or if she just pitied him enough to throw something at him and call it a day.

Why am I still thinking about that?

Time slowly passed as Julius continued to blindly search with his hand. His body was scooting closer and closer to the edge of his bed, and a part of him was starting to get ticked off by it. It had taken him a while to find a good spot on his bed, and now, it was all ruined.

Fuck!

Am I even searching in the right place?

Fed up with the nonsense of looking like an idiot, in both ways, Julius decisively sat up and panned his gaze towards his right. There, he was able to see a nightstand coupled to the side of his bed.

The nightstand had a smooth surface to it, with streaks of black that contrasted against its brown wood. A layer of wax was coated over the top of it, giving it a silky finish. Though, it was immediately apparent to him that something about it looked different.

…His cup of water had gone missing.

It couldn't be.

A faint image flashed in the back of Julius' mind. One that depicted who the culprit was. A short man in black with a pair of large glasses on his face. His butler, Marus.

I swear I'm going to kill him.

Julius' eyes twitched, and a long heave ensued. He just sat there while his mind stared at the white ceiling above. Unfortunately for him… There was nothing he could do about it. Dehydration had already weakened him to the point of no return, and based on the dark spots in his vision, he knew it was only a matter of time before he'd pass out. With nothing else he could do other than rot in his bed, he started to ponder about all of the things he would do once he got better. More specifically, the revenge he would plot out.

He always had the option to poison his butler's drink. From what he remembered about the past, he knew his butler, Marus, was an avid tea drinker. The only thing he wasn't so sure about was whether poison was considered a branching flavor of tea. He wasn't very knowledgeable in the art of it, and the only thing he knew about tea was that you mix water and leaves together to make it turn green. Logically speaking, poisonous leaves should come up with a similar effect... If you ignore the poison part, that is.

Wait... why am I trying to justify myself? I can just poison him.

But just as Julius came to that realization, a quiet voice rang out from the edge of his bed.

"W-where am I?"

The voice was low and gruff. It had a deepness in its tone, and a trace of etherealness was present in it. It almost sounded otherworldly, like its presence didn't belong here but in another world instead.

After listening to it, however, Julius noticed that there was something weird about it.

First: None of the words he heard held any sort of resemblance to the Bayonian continental language. Not in its structure, nor in its intonation.

Second: Although the voice spoke out in an unknown language, he was able to decipher what it was saying, almost as if something in his head was translating everything for him.

Maybe I'm just hearing things. Two days are more than enough time for things like this to start happening.

...

Is what he would've wanted me to think…

Julius had played these games with Marus long enough to know him like the back of his hand. Four years of his life had been dedicated to an ongoing war between them, and by now, he's already learned every trick in the book. He just wanted to go to sleep.

"Marus, I know it's..."

...

Who are you?

However, before Julius could finish his sentence, he furrowed his brows and closed his mouth. The person he saw wasn't his butler, Marus, but rather a strange man he'd never seen before.

The man was large and stocky, built more in the shape of a square rather than that of a rectangle. He had short, unkempt black hair and wore a pair of dark-rimmed glasses that reflected the light from his brown eyes. The clothes he wore were messy, a little dirty even, as if the man hadn't taken the time to properly wash them. And eerily enough, a thin blue wisp outlined the edges of the man's body, adding a ghostly look to his already unsightly appearance.

In response to Julius' voice, the man had also turned his head, with the two making eye contact in the dimly lit room. That was... until a sudden shriek echoed in the air.

"Ahhh! Who the fuck are you!"

Julius just stared at the man. He couldn't believe the audacity of the man's words, since if anyone had the right to say that, it should've been him. They were in his room after all. The only thing he didn't understand was why a beggar was in his room in the first place. It just didn't make any sense to him, but after an image of his butler's stupid face came into his mind, he suddenly understood everything.

Did he seriously hire another one…

Marus didn't exactly have the best track record for hiring random beggars off the street. Most of the staff in the manor had actually started off as beggars before being trained into becoming qualified members of the Mondeau family. It's just that he never expected them to be weaponized against him. He could still remember what had happened to him yesterday, with a pair of newly hired twins stumbling their way into his room before committing unspeakable acts on his defenseless body.

"Ugh… I don't even want to think about it."

The issue he faced now was how he'd prevent a situation like that from happening to him again. A part of him wanted to search for the person who decided to make leg licking a trend among beggars and greatly reward them for creating such a vile thing.

I don't know who made that popular, but whoever did deserves to die.

He predicted that it had only happened to him because he was too distracted with reading. They probably expected themselves to get executed for intruding on a noble's living quarters. And with begging being the only skill they had, it wasn't a surprise for them to do what they were best at.

When Julius added the two together, it suddenly made a lot more sense for him. Though, the thought of that being the reason as to why he suffered so much made him want to cry.

Whatever, I'll just let him go.

"If you bring me water, then I'll spare your life."

In the end, Julius picked the safest option he had left. Although he disdained the thought of drinking something a beggar had touched, it wasn't like he had many options to pick from. He had already tolerated his sore throat for long enough.

With nothing left for him to do, Julius just twiddled his thumbs in absolute boredom while he waited for his newfound slave to fetch him some water. In his mind, the chances of the man obeying his command were nothing short of guaranteed. It was just a matter of how long it would take.

Unfortunately for him, though, instead of responding to his request like he expected, the man just sat there with his mouth open. Judging by his furrowed brows, he seemed to be contemplating something.

What are you doing? Move!

The man's lack of movement immediately lit a fire under Julius' temper. He wasn't used to people blatantly disregarding his orders, especially when he was the one making a concession. But after looking at the man's dopey face and wide mouth, a small part of him wanted to laugh.

Ultimately, a weak chuckle escaped from Julius' lips. He had never seen someone who looked so stupid in his life. However, before he could laugh any further, he noticed that the man was just staring at him with a blank look on his face.

What the...

Julius just froze. He didn't expect the man to suddenly turn to face him like that. Then, remembering the situation he was in, he understood that if the man wanted to do something to him... there was nothing he could do about it. He was powerless.

Scenes of yesterday's memories started to pile up on him, and an urge to vomit welled up inside. Frantically waving his hand and covering his mouth at the same time, Julius desperately urged the man to stay away from him. He really didn't want to get licked by another dirty beggar. Two were more than enough for him, and adding a third one would downright kill him. So, in desperation, he started to play a back and forth game with the rising vomit in his throat.

"S-stay back!"

Ugh...

"I'm warning you!"

Buehhh...

"D-don't lick me!"

The man just watched Julius' one man play in silence. He paused, then with his face squinched, said.

"How disgusting."

Julius' eyes widened once he heard the man's words. He knew its meaning all too well. The aversion and the hint of wariness in its inflection. It was all something he'd said many times in the past.

In the end, blood slowly spilled from the sides of his mouth. Despair ate away at his conscious, and with the added pressure of dehydration and sleeplessness getting to him, darkness gradually overtook his vision.

Then, using the last bit of strength he had left, he muttered out three words.

"You.. lowly. beggar..."

And passed out.