Previously..

"Oh my god just in time, a regime guard! Quick, lemme hide somewhere! Tell them I'm not here or we're both fucked!"

"Wha- guard!? I'm not even on duty today and who are you!? Tell THEM? Who's the-"

"Guys look, a regime guard! Maybe he knows where that perv run off to!"

"Perv.. oh.. it's this type of situation.."

"E-Excuse me! Have you seen a young adolescent guy about this high with curly hair?"

"Hmm.. no not really sorry."

"Dammit we lost him.."

The girls eventually ran off back and went far enough for the man to reveal himself again.

"Phew my ass is safe! Oh ho thank heavens you're such a bro and not a snake!"

"Uhh mind telling me who you are first?"

"Oh shit of course. I'm Fhin Cooper, knight-captain from the Order of the Lotus!"

Benedict's eyes showed a clear state of shock. A guy like this being a knight-captain? More importantly, the Order of the Lotus? The literal scout suicide unit that goes outside the walls?

"No, no, no there has to be some kinda mistake. You're not fooling me with your deceiving deception! Nuh-uh, sugar!"

"Then how's this for the beautiful truth you yearn for so badly~?"

Fhin reaches into his chest pockets and shows an official ranking badge from the regime itself. It served as a pass and an ID for officers on high ranks.

"U-Umm.. sir, good afternoon, sir!"

".. you say that now? You know what, nevermind. I just wanna umm.. thank you for this life-saving and selfless act you just pulled off. You're a new recruit right? Every knight-captain needs their squire. What say you?"

"You mean.."

"Yep."

"I, Benedict Sephtis proudly and humbly accept your offer~!"

...

"Okay then that's wonderful I'll handle your appointments and I'll meet you tomorrow asap toodles!"

"W-Wait! Oh.. amazing."

It wasn't long before the spirit of laziness and sarcasm took over young Benedict's body and influenced him to go home and sleep. Looking drowsy and depressed, Benedict slouches while walking his way upstairs into his bedroom. Val even asked him what was wrong. His response?

".. I think I'm spaghetti deprived."

Benedict peacefully lies down his bed and covers himself up entirely with the blanket. No one really knew why he was acting like this. Renji explores documents in the regime office and notices important data. It was about a scouting group fighting a group of demicorpses. This seemed very odd because demicorpses rarely work together. Young Renji demanded answers immediately as he kept browsing the archives.

A feminine voice disturbs the young man's concentration as he restlessly reads through the books scattered all around his table.

"Excuse me. I believe break time has been finished already?"

Renji scoffs and thought the girl warning him was a librarian.

"Break? If you mean about a pass well I have one."

".. sir, if you do not mind losing your livelihood as my servant then I suggest you return to your duties at once."

"Could you not, lady? You can see that I'm very immersed and busy right now. This is pretty important. Who are you to command me around anyway? You're not the boss of me."

"Perhaps you should reconsider your poor choice of words. I firmly believe that I am indeed the boss of you."

"Really? You and what army?"

The girl slams her hand on the table. She was wearing very fancy clothes such as shiny jewelry, earrings, a white robe along with a colorful mix of orange around it followed up by a crown and he was disrespecting the one and only princess of the walled city all along whom he thought was just a grumpy librarian.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

"P-Princess Artemis!? W-Wait I'm sorry I thought I uhh you've got it all wrong-"

"No, you're the one who got it all wrong and is misled. I have a kingdom to run here but you decide to sneak in your personal obligations. Whatever shall I do with you?"

"B-But I'm just here to read I don't even have any responsibilities yet."

"Oh? So you are both lazy AND absent-minded. Not a good combination for someone meant to protect the weak from monsters outside the walls. I remember clearly instructing everyone to help the grand archivist to clean the archives. Ring any bells?"

"Y-Yes your highness! Of course! Right away!"

To Renji's surprise, the princess wasn't a rich spoiled brat with a short temper and immature personality. She was just straight-laced and not a bratty princess while being reasonable.

According to the books, Renji has read, the king is currently ill and the princess is tasked to run the kingdom until he recovers. He was severely injured after a battle outside the walls. There was also a peculiar organization called the Weeping Rose. They are a group of demicorpses working together to enslave humanity. They are led by an unknown individual who seemed to have an extreme rivalry against the king in the past, and their battles are the ones responsible for scarring the land.

Other documents showed the known members and rankings of the Weeping Rose. Their ranks were divided through constellations. Each constellation has an agent. The agent of Aries, for example, was a woman named Eleanor Iroquois. She lived a peaceful life in the forest, hunting for her home tribe. They lived a nomadic life and were unfortunate enough to settle their last homes near the Weeping Rose. The supposed head of the Weeping Rose was an individual named Maddox Houston. He was always responsible for recruiting new major members. He did this by influencing young Eleanor to steal food and vanity from people and if she did this, Maddox promised her that he will give her everything she needs to escape the grasp of responsibility. After all that, Maddox exposed Eleanor's wrongdoings to her family and tribe, punishing her and feeding her to the cannibals. She was being eaten alive and her right ear was horribly disfigured. Maddox then proceeded to approach her and fend the cannibals off. Brainwashing her by telling that her tribe hated her and that she needed to exact revenge upon them, so he slashes his own arm, letting Eleanor drink his blood and become a demicorpse herself.

Her body barely survived the night long pain of the transmogrification. The cells and nutrients were too powerful for her weak state of the body could handle, but she manages to pull through as ram-like horns grew from the sides of her head and long, sharp nails with a shade of black and red went out replacing her old nails. She wreaks havoc onto the village, eating and biting every last tribe member that she was once helping to survive. Now, she is notoriously known as the agent of Aries of the Weeping Rose.

Just reading this, chills run down Renji's spine. There were also other messed up things this organization did like holding a ceremony where they abduct a bunch of humans with the highest blood quality and eat them all at once. Their main principle? Demicorpses are and always will be superior and humans should be nothing more than livestock. No one could bear to imagine what kind of horrific mind the founder of that group had.

Kaiyn was informed by one of Lorenzo's goons that they were going to have a jackpot amount of money. No one really knew why or how, but Lorenzo just said himself that luck is on their side. Finally, he rounds everyone up around a bonfire and made an announcement.

"Those fancy walled city people have their poor little prince on the battlefield and the king gave us orders to be additional reinforcements for their sorry little asses. They should be arriving here any minute now."

Everyone cheered and drank some more knowing that this will be the biggest money they will earn yet. Kaiyn simply snobs and shrugs because he barely cared for those materialistic things. It seems that an organization of demicorpses calling themselves the Weeping Rose was on the hunt for the prince's flesh and blood. It was the king's first mistake to send his only son who barely had any experience in the battlefield along with his personal butler. They seemed very close after all this butler was the one who raised the boy instead of his actual father because of a very busy working schedule.

"Alrighty-ho so Kaiyn! I want you personally to be the prince's bodyguard!"

"Huh? Why me? I really hate rich people. What if I cut off his balls or something?"

"Oh trust me. You two will definitely get along. After all, you two are the same age!"

"Keep your expectations low so you won't be disappointed."

The troops have finally arrived with the prince standing beside his personal butler. Instead of starting an inspiring speech, he shakes and hides at the back of his butler after making eye contact with Kaiyn who was eating a severed finger.

"A demicorpse within your men!? A-And we're supposed to be trusting you, lowlives, as our protection!? The king as gone mad at this point!"

"Easy there, Alfred. This kid only eats people who have died already. Don't worry as long as you don't piss him off he won't turn you into pudding or something I don't know.", Lorenzo replied.

"See what I mean by hating rich folk?"

"Ahem! Allow us to introduce ourselves formally first! I am Huxley Ellington. This is His Highness, Prince Apollo Fritzgerald."

"Hey, Lorenzo I'm hungry. Can we keep going already? Didn't you also mention earlier that we gotta move fast because the Weeping Rose is hunting these guys?"

"T-The nerve of..! I was talking!"

"Yeah but y'know we gotta have formalities first and all that."

"We already know who they are already. Besides, we're basically sitting ducks around these parts and won't make any progress. Your men want their spoils of war, Lorenzo."

The butler got annoyed and used a shotgun to shoot Kaiyn. It hits the side of his face and half of his head was bleeding and got disintegrated by the spread shot.

"Hey, you've got some serious facial problems right now."

"Don't change the subject, cabbage head. I just wanna get going already."

Kaiyn continues to speak like nothing even happened. In a few seconds, his head quickly regenerates to its original form.

"Ugh fine. Well due to mister super patient boy here we'll have to step it up and get going already. Vamonos!"

"W-What in God's name..."

....

"Yo boss. They're all here."

"Excellent job, Maddox as always."

...

"Now tell me Aquarius.. how come you falling behind and struggling to chase a mere prince with barely any experience on the battlefield?"

"M-Master.. we tried our best but they just had more technology than us. If you could give me more ounces of your blood then I promise that I'll be bringing him here alive!"

"Who do you think you are giving orders like that especially towards me?"

"W-With all due respect master, you misunderstood! The prince still has manpower on his side-"

"I've heard enough. A scrawny and weak prince.. can't even be caught by the highest-ranking agents. His blood is the only useful thing about him."

The master snaps his finger and at a split second, the agent of Aries Eleanor chokes Aquarius and shoves her fingers into his stomach, pulling out his organs and devouring them on the spot.

"The best agents remain unchanged, yet you simpletons keep getting replaced because of your feebleness. Why?"

"....."

A crow flies around the gathering and drops down into the master's shoulder.

"Libra? What do you mean by... it's easy for me to say that? You have permission to speak."

"..!"

"You're fucked? Make a run for it? Tch, how pitiful."

Maddox laughs and claps in amusement like a little kid watching a birthday party as he witnesses the master's crows flock around Libra and leave nothing but his bones on the ground.

"When you witness a high ranked order of the lotus knight.. why is it that the first thing that comes in your mind is the escape? This will be your last chance to bring me that prince alive. Now, begone."

"Hey, boss do you remember that one time.."

"Yes. Clear as day. We could've gotten away if it weren't for that dusty old man.."

"Oh yeah, that cowboy guy.."

The leader of the Weeping Rose remains unnamed and unknown. Whatever his motives were, it involved dethroning the current king to enslave humanity. Yet he also had a personal mix of hatred into the king, not just simply a desire to survive like the other weaker demicorpses.

Going back into the past, the Weeping Rose and the Regime had a brutal battle. It scarred the land they knew as of today and caused the king to suffer injuries so severe that his daughter had to do his duties temporarily while also forcefully escorting his son into faraway lands with his personal butler and several soldiers so that the Weeping Rose wouldn't dare harm him. During this, the Weeping Rose already had a plan prepared for the future.

"Prepare yourselves. Fear not, the mud in our boots will cover the bloodstains."

"Yeah, of course, we'll be prepared! Yeah! Yeah! Uhh.. prepared for what?"

"Dearest Maddox. Do you know what animal waits for its own slaughter?"

"Uhh.. cows? Pigs? I dunno."

"Sheep.. and when you look at these.. people. There are wolves among them, correct? So why not release those wolves lurking in their hearts?"

"Mwahahaha! Right! I don't get it."

"We won't be attacking them to kill them. We are going to attack them to show them what they really are. If the king is all injured and unable to act, then they will lose morale and that will give us enough time to unleash our final strike. All of you! Follow my lead, AND I PROMISE YOU THAT YOU WILL NEVER BE HUNGRY ANYMORE!"

...

"Your majesty, you can sit on a throne all you want but that will never mean that you are a king. It only means you have an arse."

"Enough of your nonsense. Let my people go, now! Before I use force!"

"Oh, how adorable. So you expect me to play fairly? Hmph, take a look around. We aren't even playing the same game."

"What makes you think that we deserve all this? We're all just trying to live and survive like your kind! I'm begging you.."

"Oblivious as ever. Pity stains the hand of the merciful, but not mine. Remember this.."

"It is always better to be feared than loved."

After the battle, the Weeping Rose did not kill the king immediately and just injured him to the point that he won't be able to do his royal duties. So in the end, the Weeping Rose succeeded and are on the prowl to exterminate the prince for good next. Either that or use him to forcefully claim the walled city then the whole world next.

All this information has been told by the prince's butler, Huxley. They were at the back of a truck the whole time. The butler noticed after he told the story, Kaiyn was already asleep.

"HAVE SOME RESPECT, WILL YOU!?"

"Calm down fancypants, I was listening. Well, barely. Ugh.. all this Weeping Flower mumbo jumbo made my head hurt. Honestly.. this always happens when I think too much."

Kaiyn notices the prince staring at him while still keeping a scared look on his face.

"Don't look at me like that princess. If there's something you wanna, say spit it out already. Did your rich dad teach you how to talk?"

"Mm.. a-a... t... The r-reason I d-don't talk i-isn't because I'm scared o-of anything.. I-I'm just c-c-c-cautious. I have to be cautious... I'm t-the only p-prince, I'm di-different from you!"

Everyone including Lorenzo's goons stopped walking as they hear the prince talk and stare at him with shocked expressions.

"My words will almost always have political repercussions, that's why I'm careful with the words I speak! Do you get it now!?"

Everyone was surprised and gasping in shock as they hear the prince speak and even scream a little after a long while.

"See how easy that was, scrubs? Anyway going back to you.. well that's not half bad for an excuse. At least you're smart enough for that, princess."

"H-How dare you! This is the first time that someone has threatened me like this!"

"Then you could say it was a golden experience wasn't it princess? I mean with that and your sorry ass excuse then you're definitely good to go."

"Take that back! It's not an excuse! You don't understand what it is like being in a royal family!"

"Jeez stop barking, siddown."

"I am not barking! I am declaring that I am the right one here!"

"What are you, some sort of SJW now? (social justice warrior)"

"What's wrong with that attitude of yours!?"

Huxley was amazed to notice that the young boy he has raised is finally talking to someone other than himself or his father. Better yet, a demicorpse. It had already been a couple of hours when they were trying to get the prince to speak. Even Lorenzo couldn't do it because the prince kept egging Huxley to speak for him. Now, Kaiyn helped him get out of his shell just by simply having rude manners and being an asshole.

The citizens within the wall celebrate as they witness the new squire in town, Benedict Sephtis. Though his face remains depressed and drowsy.

"Oh come on cheer up. Starting from now chicks are definitely gonna go crazy over you and your chances of getting laid will increase drastically!"

"Is there nothing in that mind of yours that doesn't involve putting penises into vaginas?"

"Of course not! How did you think I was promoted at my rank today? Now, go out there and smile as the protector of the people!"

Benedict lets out an awkward smile and waves his hand onto the audience in front of him. After the celebration, Fhin quickly grabs both Benedict and Renji into the meeting room where he assigns their first-ever mission together.

"S-Shouldn't we go under like training f-first?"

"PFftT nahhh both of you literally walked through hell already because of that exam. Since I'm such a kindhearted captain, we'll immediately be undertaking C or B rank missions together forever like best buddies forever! Sounds fun, right?"

"Spaghett..i..."

"That's the kind of enthusiasm I love to hear from our dearest soldiers! Now then let's look at the mission board to see any requests! Oh! How about this? Small demicorpse activity disturbing the people outside the borders of the walls. This should be a nice stepping stone!"

Fhin kept dragging both Benedict and Renji around like a mother forcing the two of her kids to go to a Sunday morning church. They signed up for the quest and geared up. Benedict's reason for the loneliness is both of the shocks of things happening too quickly and lack of spaghetti, but mostly lack spaghetti while Renji was still desperately trying to research about the Regime or any cures for the infection.

"Alrighty, first things first we gather information and extract and uhh analyze, yes!"

"According to the request note given the demicorpse likes to prey on pregnant women the most. Talk about a picky eater."

"Right ya are, Renji me boy. So it'd be best to ask married citizens as possible witnesses~"

Our heroes split up and gathered what they could from the villagers on the outskirts of the walls. From what they could build-up, the suspect seems to prefer feeding at night, where everyone is asleep and sneak into the roofs of the houses of its prey. While the pregnant woman is sleeping, the suspect attacks, killing the woman and carving the baby from the inside.

There was only one pregnant lady remaining in the whole village. The trio agreed on protecting this lady and guarding her house to put a stop to this demicorpse threat once and for all.

It was nighttime.. the silence on the streets was almost deafening and the moonlight shines bright. Benedict and Fhin guarded the sides, exit, and entrances of the little house while Renji concentrates and sharpens his katana on the rooftop.

The three conceal themselves into the darkness, blending in as they notice a troubled looking man struggling to have a peek into the house's window. He salivates at the sight of the pregnant woman sleeping on her bed. He creates a small hole on the wall and sticks his tongue inside. Later on, the tongue extends, increasing in length to the point where the moist tongue was at a point-blank range on the woman. Renji opens his eyes and immediately appears inside the woman's room somehow and cuts the tongue with his blade.

"W-What the!?", the demicorpse uttered in pain and bewilderment as he did not expect sudden guardians of this home.

Fhin comes from the outside, bringing out his chained mace for the first time and flails at the demicorpse's head, sending him flying away into a wall.

"Now, Ben! Finish it!"

Benedict appears from the side of the demicorpse and slashes the neck with his sword, but the cut was too shallow to make the swift kill. The demicorpse responds by kicking Benedict away and regaining balance.

"Tch.. to think the Regime would respond to a remote area like this..."

"Renji, wait!"

Renji goes in without warning and jumps on the demicorpse. They both struggle to keep the blade out of the demicorpse's heart. Renji tightens his grip and his eyes widen in anger and frustration, violently and desperately trying his very best to kill the demicorpse at once.

"WHO IS THE LEADER OF THE WEEPING ROSE!? ANSWER ME!"

"Oi be careful there, kid!"

As if Fhin hasn't said a thing, Benedict comes in next after Renji got knocked away. This time, Benedict charges in with his shield in front of him. The demicorpse simply wraps his tongue on Benedict's feet and knocks him down.

"Tch.. these little brats are no better than toddlers, how the hell did they pass the exams!?"

Luckily, Fhin managed to keep the pace against the demicorpse. Sneaking in a few vital hits of his spiky mace yet the wounds kept regenerating in a few minutes. Unfortunately, the burdens of their tasks simply doubled when they hear the woman grunting in pain from the house about to start delivery.

"A newborn child.. tastes better... than one that is still in the womb...~!"

With the demicorpse's keen sense of smell, he became fueled with hunger and strength as he salivates and takes down Fhin in a single claw strike.

"N-NO! HE'S COMING FOR ME! GOD PLEASE! HELP MEEE!!"

Benedict suddenly woke up from being knocked out earlier and gets up. Fhin notices this and tried to stop him, but Benedict lightly shoves his hand away and gets a good grip on his sword and shield. The Demicorpse pounces on the pregnant woman but this pounce was blocked by a young man with a shield with shining, bright purple eyes.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you!? Fine, I'll eat you first myself!"

"KID, GET BACK!"

"And he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit."