Emperor Charon had simply ordered him to support the Eastern Defense Forces. He hadn't offered any advice.

It was the expected result. Since when had that gentleman ever taken care of Abel's convenience?

He had simply told him to figure it out.

Of course, that didn't mean Abel could curse or criticize the emperor.

"It seems communication is not going well because the situation is so urgent."

"Then, wouldn't I have no choice but to go and see for myself?"

"That's a bit…"

No, it hadn't even been a week since Abel returned from the Duchy of Crawford. And now, they wanted him to head east again?

'Am I crazy?'

He could never do that. Suddenly, someone's name popped into his mind.

"Wouldn't you know something about Hugo Yeats?"

"Wait a minute. Who was that? Ah! The Marquis who fought the nobleman at the ballroom with his sword. The one who gave up the entire territory of Yeats."

As expected from someone with a military background, Trevor immediately remembered Marquis Yeats. Although currently serving a prison sentence, Yeats had once been the ruler of a vassal state. He was the man who controlled that region.

So, it was no wonder that the imperial people might not have known about the enemy's movements.

Abel jumped from his seat and nodded with a determined expression.

"I need to see him right now."

"It seems like we've reached a conclusion, so I'll take my leave now…"

Trevor quickly tried to slip away, clearly uninterested in accompanying Abel to the prison. But Abel grabbed the back of his neck and laughed darkly.

"What are you talking about? A military expert should accompany us."

"Ahaha! I have afternoon training."

"Isn't the Shugl team closed today?"

"..."

Who was this man trying to fool? All the teams in the Perias Football League were part of the Dapan Group. It was essentially like a company sports day. As the president, there was no way Abel wouldn't know the team's schedule.

"Don't think too hard and just follow me."

"…Yep."

A mountain valley northeast of Perias.

There was an infinitely deep pit there.

If one dropped a stone into it, the sound of it hitting the bottom wouldn't be heard for several minutes.

In Perias, it was the place where criminals deemed too vicious to be reformed were sent.

The official name was Imperial Prison.

But everyone called it the Abyss.

Because once you entered, you could never come out unscathed.

It wasn't only that brutal abuses happened daily.

'Because nothing is given here.'

In Earth's prisons, you were provided three meals a day, and groceries could be bought if you had the means. But the Abyss was different.

All prisoners were given was a pickaxe and a glowstone.

Food had to be earned by mining and selling minerals.

If that was the reality, then what happened at the bottom of that pit?

"It must be the law of the jungle," Trevor muttered.

Abel chuckled and shook his head.

"Not necessarily. Even if it looks chaotic, there's still a certain order."

"If I were trapped there, wouldn't I just steal minerals from the other inmates?"

"The guards are there to prevent that from happening. Of course, what you just mentioned isn't uncommon."

"So you're saying it happens secretly, avoiding surveillance?"

"Yes."

Why was it that people who were sent into the Abyss never returned unharmed? It was because fights between inmates were frequent. No matter how many guards were deployed, they couldn't monitor the entire pit.

Because this place was so unbelievably vast.

The bottom was like a basket full of poisonous snakes.

The hungry ones would always sink their teeth into their own kind.

Rumble! Rumble!

While Abel and Trevor were speaking, someone opened the iron door and entered.

"It's been a long time, Your Highness."

"You didn't have to come all the way here."

"If it's something related to corrections, how could I miss it?"

The one who arrived was none other than Baron Aiden Relbrandt, head of the Correctional Headquarters.

Normally, he remained in the capital prison and rarely visited the Abyss. But once Abel announced he was coming here, Relbrandt must have rushed immediately.

'This guy really hasn't changed.'

Like Vice President Xavier, Relbrandt was a trusted figure who had been with Abel for a long time. Once, he had nearly lost everything to his doppelganger, Theo. Abel had saved him from that fate, and perhaps because of that, he still showed unwavering loyalty.

"This is Hugo Yeats."

Following Relbrandt's gesture, Abel turned his gaze.

An old man with disheveled hair knelt behind an iron gate. His expression and lifeless eyes made him look as though his soul had been stripped away. His restrained limbs and thin frame suggested he had not been eating properly.

'So this is what becomes of someone who once commanded the battlefield when they're thrown into the Abyss.'

Finally, Hugo Yeats's gaze lifted toward Abel.

But at that very moment—

"Kwaaaaak! Eww!"

The old man, who had seemed broken and helpless, suddenly surged to his feet and went berserk.

There was madness in Hugo Yeats's eyes. The reason was simple.

Abel was the man who had beaten him when he was fifteen.

He must have been stewing in rage within the Abyss, consumed by his desire for revenge.

But Abel didn't even blink.

'Even so, he's still a criminal. A demon who kills people without reason.'

There was no justification, no legitimacy. Knife fights while drunk were not uncommon, but that didn't excuse him. Abel was not the kind of man to waste sympathy on such a person.

"Hugo Yeats, I give you one last chance to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor and the Empire."

"Kuaaaah! I'll kill you!"

Blinded by fury, Yeats's rage showed no sign of stopping.

There was only one cure for someone like him—remind him of what he feared most.

"If you don't want to listen, then say nothing. I'll throw you back into the Abyss."

"..."

At once, Hugo Yeats's mouth clamped shut.

As they say, there's nothing better than threats for anger management.