After taking care of some business along the way that yielded no fruit, Tsunami found himself standing several meters from a massive 20-foot-tall, 6-inch metallic door.
At the entrance, four guards were present, fully armed. The guards were throwing at him weird glances filled with ridicule and disdain. They wanted to laugh out loud.... but controlled themselves, saving it for the upcoming fun.
'Strange...'
"Let me in."
The gates were opened for Tsunami, and two guards took the liberty to escort the crown prince, while he was momentarily captured in his own thoughts.
Before reaching the dungeon, he had stopped at the head maid's office. His goal was simple: ask for two or three maids to follow him and pick up Daria.
But he got vehemently rejected.
The head maid informed him that just a few minutes before his arrival, Princess Ariana released an announcement that her accession ceremony would be held in a week.
And she, as the head maid, was responsible for organising the event.
That being said, she couldn't lend extra maids at the moment. She was going to hold an assembly and start making necessary arrangements.
...
'Weird... From what I have come to learn, the former crown prince had no interest in dual cultivation. He even turned down all advances and requests to participate in her accession ceremony.
'But now she just gave out an announcement without even my consultation'
'Is it because I'm weak?'
'But still at the end of the day it's just sex.'
'Why was he so opposed to it?'
'Set aside the ceremony, maybe the public setting was what he was against.'
'Then why not engage in any dual cultivation even behind closed doors?'
'Also, how did he become a 2nd Step favourite without practising dual cultivation?' he scratched his head in confusion.
'I guess I'll have to search and see if he had any hidden dairy or something about his secrets.'
'As for that ceremony...'
...
Tsunami was descending, a spiral stairway, the only way in and out of the royal dungeon. Its walls were made of strong reinforced concrete, capable of stopping the strongest ammunition rounds.
Occasionally, they would encounter a guard on a post, and they would salute in his direction. The new sense of authority gave him a weird feeling; one he would have to get used to over time.
But as he kept descending, he couldn't help but feel that he was being watched.
There were several instances in which he tried to figure out why he had such feelings. But whenever he took the liberty to bait the fish, he ended up catching nothing.
The place was well-lit, with powerful lights on their entire journey. The intense luminosity made him feel that it was enough to make a normal person go blind, and without a doubt, no shadows were in sight.
Surprisingly, his eyes adapted well to the environment. He found himself having no trouble whatsoever navigating the blinding lights as he kept descending.
His nose, on the other hand, started to pick up a horrible stench filling the air.
He observed the two escorting guards, but they were nonchalantly marching forward. Downward.
'Don't they ever clean this damn place?'
'Could it be... Corpses!'
He now had a better picture of what the old man was telling him.
...
After descending for about 30 minutes, the two guard escorts came to a halt.
"We have arrived, Crown Prince."
The two guards nonchalantly took out their keys, one each, and placed them on different locks.
They then simultaneously opened them and pushed open the heavy metal bars aside.
Tsunami stared at the large overhead sign that read 'Level 1A inmates' and slowly made his way, staying close behind them, per their instructions.
As he made his way into the corridor, he was met with cells occupied by male convicts.
The place reeked so horribly that he had to lift his right hand and use his imperial robe to cover his nose.
When the inmates saw the imperial robes, the handsome face, and his majestic presence, all hell broke loose.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!...
"Yo! Everyone, look... today we are honoured to be in the presence of a noble slut."
A middle-aged man whose cell had a bucket overflowing with faeces was the first to recognise Tsunami.
When more people had his attention, he added fire to the fuel.
"My mistake, my mistake, he's no noble slut... But the virgin prince."
"The only virgin favourite in the entire world"
The sarcasm elicited loud laughter from the inmates.
Some of them started taunting him by flashing their dicks in his general direction, telling him that if he was unwilling to devour the princesses, he could send them over and see what real men are made of.
Some began pissing outside their cells in his general direction, while others engaged in activities that made Tsunami resolutely shut his eyes.
...
At the moment, Tsunami and his two guard escorts had arrived at another level, 'level 1B' confinement chamber.
This was a variant special for keeping female convicts who were facing light sentences.
The contrast was quite perplexing.
Just one level above them, the atmosphere was so inhumane, no toilets, overpopulation, corpses here and there...
But here it was quite the opposite. Each cell only had two inmates. There was a sit-on toilet, a shelf of books, and neat, good-sized beds.
Every inmate looked very clean and well taken care of.
'Interesting!'
The two guards stopped in front of a large office, welcomed by the sight of their captain being laid by one of the female inmates.
Unfazed by what was going on, one of the guards coughed a little before speaking.
"Ahem! Captain, the Crown Prince wishes to retrieve Daria."
PAH! PAH! PAH! PAH! PAH!...
The woman was going hard in the cowgirl position, sweating all over... but the captain was not invested in what was happening.
He just lay there on the makeshift bed, not meeting the woman's needs or helping out.
"Ahem! Capta-"
"Fuck off!"
The man, annoyed, pulled the woman onto his chest, held her back firmly with his left arm, then lifted her ass cheeks with the other and began to thrust his hips with ruthless, reckless abandon.
PAH! PAH! PAH! PAH! PAH! PAH!...
"Ah Anhhh~... Da-Damian... slowdown,"
PAH! PAH! PAH! PAH! PAH! PAH!...
"Y-You're hurting me."
SLAP!
Damian smashed her ass cheeks hard, leaving a red imprint of his right palm on her right buttock. He then swiftly moved both his hands and held firmly her ass cheeks, while continuing his ruthless intrusion.
PAH! PAH! PAH! ~
"Shut up, woman, you live-," Before he could finish, a powerful kick connected to his left leg, twisting and breaking it in the process.
Arghhhhhhhhh!...
Tsunami was over them in a heartbeat.
He pulled the woman away, took out his outer coat, and covered her.
After setting her aside, he approached the shrieking captain, raised his right foot, and crushed his nuts in a rampage.
....
Everything happened so fast. One moment, the room was filled with the sound of flesh hitting flesh, moans, whimpering pleas and then the next, shrieks and nut carnage.
In short, Tsunami was very irritated.
He, himself, was surprised by how he responded. He just found himself more irritated than when Daria was slapped half to death during his lunch meal.
From the lunch event, Tsunami was not pleased by how the situation was handled... but still managed to keep his cool.
This was a new world after all, and people here had magical powers. He couldn't yet distinguish who was an ally and who was a foe.
He hadn't yet marked those he couldn't afford to offend before having the necessary power to confront them.
In his previous world, he learnt from history classes about the treachery and bloodshed that royal families typically endured.
And he really wished to tread carefully, but now that road was gone.
***
The two guards paled from witnessing the display. For a moment, they believed the old Tsunami was before them.
A monster who shouldn't be provoked.
Cold sweat rolled down their spines as fear took hold in their hearts. It was unknown who started first, but they both found themselves kneeling, pleading for their captain in fear.
"Crown Prince, please spare his life."
"He is usually not like this."
"He treats every woman in this chamber well; you can visit and ask them if you don't believe us."
"The recent orders are at fault."
"Please, Crown Prince, spare his life"
The startled inmate was taken aback.
That was not how today's events were supposed to unfold at all.