Everything was over. The remnants of the Ur Kingdom had been defeated, Ash had also successfully defeated a Supreme Tyrant, and the tutorial had officially ended.
It was time for him to return to the Voidveil Empire's Capital - Darkness.
Ash knew that it was a dangerous decision because there would definitely be a lot of people there who hated him for being a troublemaker. But based on the current situation, it was also the best decision he could choose.
Ash needed to become stronger and gain quality comrades, so the Darkness Imperial Capital was the most suitable place for him to do so.
Furthermore, Ash was the Third Prince of the Empire after all, so he could use his power and money to take good care of himself and become stronger before setting foot in the Abyssal Realm.
And most importantly, Ash needed to go to Awakened Academy - the place where Serena was currently studying and where Ash would meet some of the playable characters in the game.
In other words, Awakened Academy was a great place for him to find quality teammates.
At the same time, it was also a place that could help Ash become much stronger.
'Hehe, with the authority of the Third Prince of the Voidveil Empire, I will definitely be able to get an admission ticket without having to take any tests.'
Having money and power was really great.
With that thought in mind, Ash immediately left the tent and headed straight to Serena - who was checking the horses to prepare for the return journey.
"How is it, Serena? Are the horses ready to go?"
"Yes sir, I've found the two best horses we have. And they're both in top condition so we can set off at any time."
Serena walked towards Ash with the two incredibly cool black horses.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."
"Wait sir, do we need to clean up everything before we leave?"
Ash paused and looked around. It was true that this place looked quite messy and had a lot of stuff, but if the two of them wanted to clean it all up, it would take them quite a while.
Besides, Ash and Serena couldn't bring everything back with them.
Hence, he decided that it would be a waste of time.
If his soldiers were still alive, Ash would have thought differently. But right now, he was racing against time because in about a month - that was, July - he would have to enter the Academy.
"No need." He shook his head indifferently and jumped onto one of the black horses.
Serena had no intention of disobeying him because she had jumped onto the other horse right after.
Then, with a speed that tore through the wind, both black horses carrying the two people galloped straight towards the Imperial Capital without stopping unless necessary.
***
Ash and Serena had been traveling for nearly 5 days, and they were almost back to the Darkness Imperial Capital. According to Serena's calculations, the two of them only needed to travel for a few more hours before arriving there.
During these 5 days, both of them had been sleeping outside, and worse, for some reason, the weather was always cold even though it was summer.
Furthermore, all the places they slept at night were full of bugs. And Ash hated bugs.
That was why Ash could barely sleep at all. However, Serena could still sleep soundly without paying any attention to her surroundings.
Perhaps it was partly because she had been born and raised in the slums before being found by The Useless Prince, so she was used to sleeping in places like this.
During this time, Ash had also tried to ask her for all the information about Ash "Worthless" Voidvei, hoping that she would give him some useful information.
After all, she was the Third Prince's closest confidant.
But no, since she had spent most of her time at the Academy and didn't see Ash often, she didn't know much about him.
All she knew was that Ash was a troublemaker, and because of that, he had made many enemies and even some members of the Royal Family hated him.
'Damn it Ash! What the hell did you do!?!?!' He wished he could punch Ash hard right now.
It had been a while since they had continued their journey, but no one had said anything to each other. It was simply because they had no topic to talk about.
But that was fine, Ash didn't really care about the silence because it gave him more time to think about other things - how he could return to his old world.
In False Horizon, when the protagonist defeated the boss, he had received a wish that could grant anything he wanted.
And of course, since he was the protagonist, he wished for all the dead to come back to life.
But after the main character stated his wish, the game ended abruptly, without even telling the player what the real ending would be.
Maybe that's the developer's strategy from the beginning? Did they want the players to use their imagination to come up with their own desired ending?
But back to the main point, Ash was not the main character and his purpose of killing the boss was also extremely different from the protagonist.
If Ash could kill the boss, no, he had to kill that Abyssal Creature, then he would definitely wish to be allowed to return to his old world.
But what if that wish didn't come true?
Ash paused, but his black horse still moved normally.
'To be honest… I don't know…' Ash thought dejectedly and slowly raised his head to look at the False Horizon.
It was still so vast and majestic today.
***
Exactly 5 hours later, Ash finally saw the Imperial Capital, or rather, the giant, sturdy walls that protected it.
Even though Ash had seen this place more than a hundred times when he was a streamer, when he actually saw it, Ash still couldn't help but be amazed even though he had only seen the walls surrounding it.
A strange feeling of excitement suddenly arose in his heart.
He wanted to see with his own eyes what the place he had once seen would look like in real life, not through a computer screen.
The two black horses carrying Serena and Ash then stopped in front of the giant gate, waiting for it to slowly lower.
A few minutes later, the giant gate finally opened completely, revealing a luxurious, magnificent city, with an ancient European style, along with many people and soldiers inside.
However, they did not show any joy when they saw Ash and Serena.
The soldier was having a look of surprise and amazement, not expecting Ash to be able to return alive even though when he left, his army was full of death row inmates.
Meanwhile, the citizens were looking at him with eyes of hatred and disgust, as if they were looking at some kind of deadly disease.
'Really Ash…why do even the citizens hate you? What the hell did you do?!?!?'
Ash tried to suppress the disappointment that could burst out of him at any moment.
Just like that, Ash and Serena slowly advanced inside the Darkness Imperial Capital, riding on the backs of two horses and heading straight towards the Royal Palace.
There were no cheers or praises, no beautiful fireworks display, no great welcome for the returning heroes, and no one to escort him.
It was truly tiring.