The pressure she emitted was just about enough to drop me to my knees even if she hadn’t asked. It seems like I had gotten cocky because I can’t die, but there are other ways to restrain me other than death after all. I need to change my attitude right now or else I could actually end up locked up somewhere deep underground. I willingly decided to go with the flow and kneeled to the princess, she didn’t even look like she was 20. That made it a bit infuriating because I was older than her, yet I was bowing without hesitation. This is where my newly dulled emotions came into play.

My mind was more calculating and it didn’t pay attention to my feelings as much. Sure, sometimes little things got on my nerves, but it wasn’t as common as when I lived on Earth. It was still too early to conclude if this was a good or bad side effect because of my revival skill. Back to my current situation, the princess was looking down at me kneeling at her feet. It was a bit unpleasant having to kneel to someone I didn’t even know, but I guess that’s just a part of this weird world.

“That fits you better villager. Why are you not paying the tax fee?” questioned princess Lila in an impatient manner.

Unfortunately for her, the pressure around her was still too great that I couldn’t even speak. It was a bit embarrassing to say that, but it’s the truth. Princess Lila noticed that I wasn’t talking and was still on my knees, so I think she realized the issue. At once, the weight on my shoulders was gone and I could move freely again.

“Now that my power is concealed, talk before I send you to prison.”

“Princess Lila, I am not from this town and am not subject to the tax payment,” I repeated politely.

“This is your last chance!” declared Princess Lila, “Pay now or be sent to prison!”

What kind of unjustifiable reason is that? I don’t pay because I’m not from this town, not even this world! And now I have to be sent to prison because I just happened to be wandering in this town on the day of tax collection? That’s some bullsh*t right there. I intend on convincing this princess, even if I don’t have money!

“Princess, you think that someone looking like me would reside in Sheldor?” I asked carefully, “Why else would I be wearing these types of clothes?”

I planned on using my appearance to get out of this situation. I was still wearing that pair of t-shirt and shorts, so I was unusual looking. This outfit doesn’t match up with what the other villagers wear, so this should be convincing enough. If this doesn’t work, I’ll need a witness to show that I’m not from here. But there’s not a single person here that saw me enter this town other than that bald guy--- but he’ll probably rat me out cause he thinks I’m a monster.

“That has some merit. Merit in making you seem more suspicious that is,” said Princess Lila while tilting her head.

What!? Did that just backfire on me! I’m screwed now. The knights are even coming to apprehend me just because the princess said that I was suspicious looking. Damn, am I gonna spend my new life in this world wasting away in a dungeon? Not going to happen, I guess I have no choice but to run. The moment I thought of escaping and started to sprint away, a familiar pressure pushed down on my back. Which forced me to me knees once again.

“Oho, so it seems like we caught a fugitive here. Why would you run if you weren’t guilty?” accused the girl.

She’s right. I should've thought about the outcome of me trying to run away. I guess I made a foolish choice in the heat of the moment… how could I escape from the pressure that princess is emitting anyways?

“Knights, bring him with us to be locked away in the underground prison,” ordered Princess Lila. “We’ll torture him until he spits out some information.”

Uh oh, am I going to spend the rest of this life in a torture room? And if they find out that I can’t die… who knows what kind of experiments they’ll conduct on me. I disregarded my option to fight before, but it really seemed like I had no choice anymore. I didn’t want to be tortured for eternity after all. My heart started beating a little faster as I started my escape attack.

“Slash!” I yelled while swinging my arm at the knights moving towards me. knocked all the swords out of their hands, but it wasn’t powerful enough to knock them out. They just picked up their swords and continued on their march.

[5 MP used. 10 Remaining.]

didn’t work, but luckily I have dig. It might just come in handy right now. “Dig!”

I dived towards the stone ground with arms in front. The stone parted and I started disappearing underground, but the joy I felt at almost escaping was crushed. My arms and legs were forced to my sides, and the control over all my body parts was stripped away from me. I couldn’t move a muscle as I flew out of the deep hole I had dug. What surely caused this was the princess, because her hands held out in front of her like she was the one controlling me.

“I warned you boy. I can’t believe you forced me to use one of my skills just to capture you,” sighed Princess Lila as she glared at the knights that had failed to capture me. “You think I’d stand by and do nothing while you escaped from our grasp? What a dumb decision you have made.”

My floating body controlled by Lila slowly started descending, straight towards the captain of the knights who had a thick coil of rope in his hands. I tried to break free, but the invisible bonds around me didn’t lessen at all.

“You can’t break free from my lady’s grasp. She is most well known for her Telekinesis, she’s the best in all of the Northern Kingdom after all,” said the knight in gold armour. His voice was deep and he had a beard on his face. “You shouldn’t have tried to run, now we have no choice but to put you in prison and torture the information out of you. If you hadn’t ran, you might’ve been given a trial, but alas, you ran.”

I don’t know if this captain of the knights was sympathizing with me or what, but I ignored him. There is no use conversing with someone that was about to lock you in a cell. The man in gold also said that he was surprised that I was capable of using , which was a skill that knights commonly had. There goes the chances of me being the only one in the world with unique skills. I had really wanted that kind of plot to unfold, but whatever. Still controlled by the princess’s telekinesis, the captain started binding me with physical restraints instead of a skill and after that was done---I got thrown into the wagon along with the money.

The princess got into her carriage that was parked a little bit farther from the town square, and the wagon I was in started rumbling along with the carriage. Marching beside the two moving objects were dozens of knights led by the one in the golden armour. As I left Sheldor, I saw several parents confronting their children with hugs and other greetings. I even heard one parent say to their child that if they didn’t want to end up like me, they had to pay their taxes on time. It was a bit infuriating to see, but everyone mostly just looked relieved from my point of view, I experienced first hand what it’s like if you got into an argument about money with someone. Both in this world and on Earth. I guess wherever there’s money, arguments and problems always follow with it.

BADOMP!

Ow! That bump hurt, can’t they drive a little more smoothly!? The farther away we got from Sheldor, the more rocky the terrain started becoming, presumably due to the lack of road use. Also, not a single person talked to me, due the the fact that the princess ordered them not to. It was getting kind of boring and I just wanted to curl up and take a nap. Unfortunately, the frequent bumps kept me from doing so. I wish I was persuasive enough that I could escape by talking to one guy. The princess surely thought of that, so that explains the silence. Now that I think about it, it’s going to take some time to get to the capital city. This town is pretty isolated from what I can see, so the capital must be a good distance away.

Darn am I going to be uncomfortable. I tried to position my tied up body in a sitting position but the uneven movement of the wagon kept interfering with my balance. I ended up deciding to just lie my head on the wooden floor, after having struggled to sit for several minutes. My mind was exhausted from the events of today and the moon was already shining in the sky. Wait, this place has a moon? That’s… I’m too fatigued to think. I’ll just sleep for a little bi…

Soon enough, I had fell asleep in that wagon in an awkward position. I was basically human luggage now, lying limply beside a giant sack of coins.

***

When I opened my eyes, I could see many buildings, shops, and even a castle in the far distance. I think I had finally arrived at the Capital City of the Northern Kingdom. As I passed by many travelers and merchants while lying in the wagon, I happened to catch the name of this city and a little bit of info about it. Gardia it was called, a prosperous city known for its military strength and the strongest Telekinesis user in the north. Damn, I didn’t know the princess was that strong, otherwise I wouldn’t have even thought about fighting back.

After another few minutes, the wagon stopped and the carriage door in front of me opened up. It wasn’t the princess that got out, it was the captain of the knights. I noticed Princess Lila talking to many residents of this city through a window in the carriage— I guess royalty is always popular, huh. The captain moved towards me and came to a stop near my face with his decorated silver sword in hand.

“We’ve arrived. Time to head to the underground dungeon,” informed the captain.