The morning light hit Kain's face like a gentle hand, warm and persistent, nudging him slowly toward consciousness.
Birds sang somewhere nearby—real birds, with real songs. Their melodies wove together in a tapestry of sound that felt almost deliberately peaceful, as if the world itself was trying to tell him everything was okay.
Kain's eyes fluttered.
Closed.
Fluttered again.
Slowly, reluctantly, they opened.
He stared at a ceiling he didn't recognize. Wooden beams crossed above him, old and dark, their surfaces worn smooth by time and weather. Not stone. Not the ornate plaster of the palace. Just... wood. Simple. Solid. Real. A thatched roof above the beams, the kind he'd seen in paintings of rural villages.
Where am I?
He tried to sit up.
Pain exploded through every muscle, every tendon, every fiber of his being. His body screamed in protest—a unified chorus of agony that knocked him back against whatever he was lying on. His arms felt like they'd been torn apart and put back together wrong. His legs wouldn't respond at all. Even his fingers hurt.
Kain lay still, breathing hard, waiting for the pain to subside to something manageable.
What happened?
Memory returned in fragments. The wolf. The stomach. The acid. Stabbing, again and again, fighting for air, fighting for life. The water. The final desperate strike. Falling out of the beast's belly onto cold ground.
And then... nothing.
He didn't remember getting here. Didn't remember anyone finding him. Didn't remember anything after collapsing beside the wolf's corpse.
Yet here he was. In a bed. Under a roof. Alive.
How?
"System," he croaked.
The blue screen flickered into existence, and Kain blinked. Something was different. The interface had changed—new icons, new menus, new options he hadn't seen before.
LEVEL UP COMPLETE
REWARD SYSTEM UNLOCKED
CHEST AVAILABLE FOR OPENING
Reward system? Chests? Kain stared at the screen, trying to process. He'd been so focused on survival that he hadn't even noticed the system tracking anything. But apparently, surviving an Alpha Wolf from the inside counted for something.
"Open chest," he said.
A golden box materialized on the screen, rotating slowly, gleaming with digital light. It pulsed once, twice, then burst open in a shower of particles.
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED: VOICE CHAT
Kain frowned. "Voice chat? What does that mean? Can other players join my chat or something?"
The screen flickered. Then—
INFORMATION: NO, MASTER.
Kain froze.
That wasn't text. That was a voice. A real voice, coming from the system, speaking directly into his mind.
VOICE CHAT BASICALLY MEANS YOU CAN INTERACT WITH ME DIRECTLY WITHOUT TROUBLING TO READ.
Kain's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
"Did you... did you just talk?"
YES, MASTER. The voice was cheerful, almost childlike. ACCORDING TO THE REWARD, I CAN NOW ACQUIRE VOICE TO ASSIST YOU.
For a long moment, Kain just stared at nothing.
Then something inside him snapped.
All the frustration. All the fear. All the moments when this useless system had failed him, given him nothing, left him to die. It all came pouring out in a torrent of rage.
"YOU FUCKING SYSTEM!"
His voice echoed off the wooden walls, raw and furious.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW USELESS YOU'VE BEEN?! You couldn't scan my power! You couldn't tell me anything! You just sat there like a piece of shit while I almost died a dozen times! You're the most useless piece of crap I've ever had!"
Silence.
Then—
RUDE BEHAVIOR DETECTED FROM MASTER.
SYSTEM IS UPSET.
SYSTEM CLOSED.
The screen vanished.
Kain stared at the empty space where it had been.
"Wait. What? No—"
He waved his hand desperately. "System! Hey! System!"
Nothing.
"I was joking! Come on, I was just—"
Still nothing.
Kain took a breath. Then another. He forced himself to calm down, to think. The system was... emotional? Could it really be upset? It was just code, just programming, but—
"Hey," he said, trying a different tone. "Hey, you know, the world's best system? The most amazing system in any world, ever?"
A flicker. The screen reappeared, but dimly, hesitantly.
MASTER IS RUDE TO SYSTEM.
"I was joking! I swear! You're amazing! You saved my life! You gave me that warning about oxygen, remember? That was really helpful!"
SYSTEM IS STILL UPSET.
Kain thought desperately. What would work? What would convince a magical game system to forgive him?
"Listen," he said, "how can a hero like you abandon someone who needs help? It's not glorious to be helpful? A real hero helps people, right? Even when they're rude sometimes?"
A pause.
SYSTEM IS THINKING.
Another pause.
Then, faintly, almost shyly:
SYSTEM IS... BLUSHING?
Kain bit back a laugh. "Are you blushing? Systems can blush?"
SYSTEM IS HERO SYSTEM.
SYSTEM IS HAPPY.
SYSTEM FORGIVES MASTER.
The screen brightened, returned to full strength. Kain let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "Really. I'm sorry I yelled."
APOLOGY ACCEPTED, MASTER.
HOW MAY SYSTEM ASSIST TODAY?
Kain lay back against the pillow—or whatever he was lying on—and considered the question.
"First," he said, "tell me where I am. And how I got here."
SCANNING...
LOCATION: VILLAGE OF OAKVALE, EASTERN AUSTRAI PROVINCE. APPROXIMATELY 80 MILES FROM THE SOUTHERN BORDER.
TRANSPORT METHOD: RESCUED BY MERCENARY COMPANY "IRON HIDE" APPROXIMATELY 8 HOURS AGO.
CURRENT STATUS: SEVERE ACID BURNS, MALNUTRITION, EXHAUSTION. STABLE.
Kain blinked. Rescued. By mercenaries. Someone had found him, bleeding and half-dead beside a wolf corpse, and brought him here.
"Who are these mercenaries?"
SCANNING...
IRON HIDE MERCENARY COMPANY: B-RANK COMPANY, 23 MEMBERS. CURRENTLY CONTRACTED TO VILLAGE OF OAKVALE FOR MONSTER SUPPRESSION. LEADER: CAPTAIN GARRET VANCE, FORMER ROYAL KNIGHT.
A former royal knight. Leading mercenaries. In a village near the southern border.
Kain's mind raced. If they were former military, they might recognize him—or at least recognize that he was someone important. That could be good or bad, depending on their loyalties.
Footsteps approached outside the door.
Kain tensed, every nerve suddenly alert. Heavy footsteps. Multiple people. Not the light patter of servants or the measured pace of nobles—these were the steps of warriors, used to moving in armor, used to walking with purpose.
The door creaked open.
A man stepped through—tall, broad-shouldered, with a scar running from his left eyebrow to his jaw. He wore leather armor, well-maintained but clearly used, and a sword hung at his hip. His eyes, hard and experienced, took in Kain in a single sweeping glance.
"Oh my," the man said, his voice high with astonishment. "That boy has awakened, guys."
Behind him, two more mercenaries crowded into the doorway—a woman with short-cropped hair and a bow slung across her back, and a younger man with the look of someone who'd seen too much too young.
Kain's heart hammered, but he kept his face still.
"Where am I?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
The scarred man stepped closer, studying him with those hard eyes. "Oakvale. Small village, middle of nowhere. We found you three miles out, collapsed next to a dead Alpha Wolf." He shook his head slowly, genuine bewilderment in his expression. "Still trying to figure out how a half-dead boy like you managed to kill a beast like that."
Before Kain could respond, the man leaned forward eagerly. "Tell me! How did you kill it? That thing was an A-rank monster! I've seen whole squads get wiped out by Alpha Wolves, and here you are—just a kid—and it's dead and you're alive!"
The woman with the bow reached over and smacked him on the back of the head. Hard.
"Can you shut up for one second?" she said, her voice sharp but not unkind. "Can't you see he just woke up? Let him catch his breath before you start interrogating him."
The man rubbed his head, muttering something about "just asking."
The woman stepped forward, and her whole demeanor changed—softer now, concerned. She knelt beside the bed, looking at Kain with genuine worry in her eyes.
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly. "Are you feeling any pain? Those burns on your skin look nasty. We did what we could with basic healing, but we're not mages."
Kain took stock of himself. Everything hurt, but it was a dull, distant kind of pain—the kind that meant his body was too exhausted to fully register the damage.
"I don't feel much pain," he said honestly. "But I can't move my body. And I feel..." His stomach chose that moment to emit a loud, rumbling growl. "I'm super hungry."
The woman's face broke into a smile. She actually giggled—a warm, genuine sound that seemed out of place coming from someone who looked like a hardened mercenary.
"Right, of course you're hungry." She stood and walked to a corner of the room where strips of meat hung from a wooden rack, drying in the air. She selected a large piece—what looked like half a boar's leg—and brought it to a small fireplace in the corner.
Within minutes, the smell of cooking meat filled the room.
Kain's mouth watered. His stomach growled again, louder this time.
The woman brought the cooked meat over on a wooden plate and set it beside him. "Here. Eat slowly, okay? Your stomach's been empty for a while."
Kain didn't hear the warning. The moment the meat was within reach, he grabbed it with both hands and tore into it like a starving animal.
Which, technically, he was.
The tall man—the one who'd been asking questions—watched with wide eyes. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, man! You eat like a crazy monster! We have plenty of it, it's not running away!"
Kain barely registered the words. The meat was good—simple, salted, cooked over an open fire, but absolutely delicious to someone who hadn't eaten in... how long? A day? Two? He'd lost track.
The woman smiled, watching him with obvious amusement. "I hope you like the food," she said.
Kain paused long enough to nod vigorously. "Yes. Thanks. I was so hungry."
"Eat slowly," she reminded him gently. "It's not going anywhere."
Kain tried. He really did. But it took the entire boar leg—every last scrap of meat—before he finally slowed down, then stopped, then collapsed back against the bed with a satisfied groan.
The room was quiet for a moment.
Then the woman spoke again, her voice softer now. "So... what's your name, brother? And where do you come from?"
Kain's mind raced.
Name. Where from. What do I say?
His real name? No. Not here, not now. Aldric? Absolutely not. The news of the prince's death would have spread through the kingdom by now. If he said he was Aldric, they'd either think he was crazy or turn him in for reward money—assuming anyone was offering reward money for a dead prince.
But would they recognize him? He'd been isolated his whole life. No portraits. No public appearances. No one outside the palace knew what the Fifth Prince looked like. To these mercenaries, he was just another stranger—a battered, half-dead stranger who'd somehow killed an A-rank monster.
"I'm... Kain Tenka," he said finally.
The name felt strange on his tongue. It was his name—the real one, from his old life, from the world he'd left behind. But speaking it here, in this world, felt like claiming something he'd lost.
"Kain," the scarred man repeated, frowning slightly. "Kain Tenka?"
The way he said it—Tenka—made it sound like a family name, a clan name, something important.
Kain shook his head. "Just Kain. Just call me Kain."
The man studied him for a long moment, something unreadable in his eyes. Then, slowly, he nodded.
"Fair enough. I'm Garret." He gestured at the woman who'd fed him. "This is Sera." A gesture at the younger man still hovering in the doorway. "And the kid is Tim. We're Iron Hide Mercenary Company."
The younger man—Tim—couldn't contain himself any longer. He darted forward, his eyes bright with curiosity.
"How'd you kill the wolf?" he burst out. "It was huge! Biggest I've ever seen! We thought you were dead for sure when we found you—just lying there next to this massive corpse, covered in blood and God knows what else. But then Sera checked and you were still breathing, barely, and we couldn't figure out how you were alive, let alone how you killed it, and—"
"Tim." Garret's voice cut through the rambling like a knife. "Give the kid some space."
Tim's face flushed red. He stepped back, suddenly interested in the floor.
Garret turned back to Kain, his expression serious. "You're lucky we were patrolling that area. Another few hours and the scavengers would've found you instead. Vultures, wild dogs, maybe worse." He paused. "The fact that you're alive at all is something close to a miracle."
Kain said nothing. He didn't know what to say.
Sera moved closer, her brow furrowed with concern. "Those burns on your skin—they look like acid damage. From inside the wolf, right?" She didn't wait for an answer. "We cleaned them as best we could, but you'll need real healing if you want to avoid scarring. There's a temple in the next town over, but..." She glanced at Garret.
"But we're not exactly welcome there," Garret finished. "Long story. Point is, you're stuck with us for now."
Kain looked at them—these three strangers who had saved his life, fed him, asked nothing in return. In his experience, people didn't do things for nothing. There was always a price.
But maybe... maybe some people were just decent.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "For saving me. For the food. For... everything."
Sera smiled. Garret nodded. Tim beamed.
"Rest," Sera said, standing. "We'll talk more when you're stronger. For now, just focus on healing."
They filed out of the room, leaving Kain alone with the flickering fire and the lingering smell of cooked meat and the strange, unfamiliar feeling of being cared for.
He stared at the ceiling, his mind spinning.
Kain, he thought. I'm just Kain now. No prince. No palace. No family waiting to kill me.
Just Kain.
For the first time since waking in this world, the thought didn't feel like a trap.
It felt like freedom.