THE USELESS PRINCE
Chapter 45: Lucian Starlight?

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Lucian Starlight?

"What’s going on?" Lucian stopped when he saw the miserable scene of Ash and Canis.

Both of them were unhurt, but it was clearly unreasonable for Canis to carry Ash like this. So, something bad must have happened.

Even though Lucian was cold and unfriendly towards Ash, he was still a good person. That was why he was able to become the main character of the game False Horizon.

Did Ash misunderstand Lucian? Could it be that he was actually interested in Ash?

"Hey Third Prince, aren’t you ashamed? Your body is still intact, so why would you make someone poorer than you carry you?"

Ah no, it seemed like he was wrong. He was really disappointed when he had thought that Lucian had actually become a little closer to him.

Ash clicked his tongue, but before he could explain, Dragon Slayer spoke first:

"Hey! Don’t make wild assumptions! What the hell do you even know about Ash?"

This was the first time Ash had heard Canis speak so loudly.

Even while sitting on Canis’s back, if he tried hard enough, Ash could still see the expression on Dragon Slayer’s face.

And currently, he was frowning, not agreeing with what Lucian had just said at all. To put it bluntly, he was angry.

’Huh? Wait, what?’ Ash froze completely.

Who was angry? Canis was angry? Canis - Dragon Slayer was angry? What the hell was going on?

A person who was known as a saint was angry now? And most importantly, he was angry because of Ash? Was this a dream?

Ash immediately checked to see if he had been able to make Dragon Slayer his Servant, but the system only responded with disappointment:

[You haven’t been able to make Canis your Servant yet. Try harder, it’s almost there.]

Sighing in disappointment, he turned his full attention back to Canis and Lucian’s conversation. Not forgetting to remind Dragon Slayer that they were still at risk of being followed by Van.

"So, why are you guys here? And what is this situation? Did something bad happen?" Lucian crossed his arms, speaking in an emotionless voice.

Canis was about to say something more, but then remembered his and Ash’s current situation, so he was forced to explain everything to Lucian in a very short manner.

"The thing is..."

***

"Huh? Is that true?" After hearing the whole story from Ash and Canis, Lucian couldn’t hide his surprise.

But a part of him still felt quite doubtful.

But when he saw Canis’s determined gaze, Lucian’s doubt was somewhat relieved.

"So you mean that the two of you are currently being chased by a psychopath?"

"Before we returned to the surface, he hadn’t returned to the prison yet, but at this point he’s already realized that the two of us have escaped." This time, the one who spoke was Ash.

"Then what do you want me to do?" Lucian didn’t want to prolong the conversation and went straight to the main point.

He knew that Canis and Ash’s current purpose of approaching him was to receive help. And since Lucian was a good person, of course he would help them.

It was good that he understood Ash and Dragon Slayer’s intentions.

"It’s not much, just give us your signal flare."

"Why don’t you two use the map to get to the current location of the lecturers? We were each given one anyway?" Despite saying that, Lucian still took out the flare.

"Do you think our speed can compare to that psychopath’s speed? Furthermore, I’m paralyzed."

Canis took the flare from Lucian and handed it to Ash.

Ash took the flare, raised it up to the sky, and was about to fire it... when he realized something was wrong.

This flare looked extremely special. Especially because it was black instead of red like the other students.

In this test, all the students would receive a red flare, except for one person - Ash, because he would receive a black flare because he was a member of the Royal Family.

But then why did Lucian have a black flare?

There was only one answer.

"RUN CANIS! THAT’S NOT LUCIAN!" Ash shouted loudly, but... it was too late.

Lucian’s face was distorted, and he was smiling so disgustingly that it could even scare an adult.

"It’s been a while since we last saw each other, PRINCE!?"

Lucian’s face slowly melted, and now, it had become an unfamiliar face, that of a man in his twenties with messy black hair and emotionless eyes.

"VAN! YOU BASTARD!"

Ash immediately pulled the trigger, but unfortunately, the flare was no longer in his hands.

At this moment, Van had taken back what should have been his.

Realizing that the situation was not going well at all, Ash ordered Canis despite it was all in vain:

"RUN CANIS! RUN!"

Without waiting for Ash to remind him again, Canis started running with all the speed he had.

However, it was almost impossible for someone who was carrying another person to run faster than a psychopath who didn’t feel tired at all.

Unless it was someone with a speed-related Ability.

Unfortunately, neither Ash nor Canis had such an Ability.

Therefore, just 5 seconds after Dragon Slayer’s steps started to operate at maximum capacity, both of them were immediately pressed down into the thick and cold snow.

Van nonchalantly stepped on Ash and Canis’s backs, as if they were his foot-wiping rags.

This was truly an insult.

If Ash hadn’t been paralyzed, he would have definitely used the Sword of Dawn to attack him.

’Damn it!’ Ash gritted his teeth so hard that unpleasant noises began to ring out.

At the same time, snow had already started to fall, as if the world was mocking Ash’s helplessness and misery.

"Oh, it’s snowing?" Van said.

Each snowflake touched Ash’s uniform and skin, causing his entire body to shiver from the cold, the warmth slowly vanishing.

He felt as if the connection to his body was gradually fading away. Was this the end of him?

Everything was so... hopeless. There was literally no hope at all.

But just when Ash thought that everything was truly over, he heard a familiar voice, a voice of hope.

It seemed that the heavens weren’t that heartless.

"Hey, what the hell is going on here?"

That was Lucian’s familiar cold voice, and this time, Ash could be sure that the owner of that voice was indeed the protagonist of the game False Horizon.

After all, Van was stepping on him and Dragon Slayer.