Chapter 55: Human? (1)

Elene and Aron tensed up, their eyes sharp with caution. Meanwhile, Ketal and Patrick observed silently, their expressions unreadable.

Before long, the bushes rustled and parted, revealing the figures approaching. Elene’s eyes widened in shock. The individuals wore armor tinted blue and green. Their coordinated outfits made it immediately apparent—they were knights belonging to an organized order.

The knight at the front looked at Elene and said. “So, here you are. We’ve been looking for you, my lady.”

“Lukento...?” Elene muttered.

The knight, addressed as Lukento, gave a respectful bow. “The Commander of the Blue-Green Order, Lukento Edenheimer, greets Elene Mavroch Lutain, First Princess of the Lutain Kingdom and heir to its great royal lineage.”

Lutain Kingdom?

The Tower Master quickly combed through his mental archives. Lutain Kingdom was a fair distance from here, a vassal state of the Empire. But that was all he knew.

So, she’s a princess. Is this some kind of romantic escape? And is her companion that old man? What peculiar tastes she has.

That was the extent of the Tower Master’s interest. Affairs of royalty held no value or meaning to him. He saw no reason to concern himself with the petty intrigues of the human world.

Lukento turned his gaze to Ketal. “Are you a mercenary?”

“Yeah. She hired me to act as her escort,” Ketal replied casually.

“Do you realize the person you’re escorting is the First Princess of Lutain?” Lukento asked, his tone pointed.

“I’m aware,” Ketal said nonchalantly. “What?” Both Lukento and Elene exclaimed in unison, startled by his calm response.

“You knew?” Elene asked, her voice laced with disbelief.

“Aron called you

princess

right in front of me,” Ketal said with a shrug. “It doesn’t change anything. I am still your escort.”

His relaxed demeanor seemed to catch Lukento off guard. After a brief pause, Lukento’s expression hardened, and he spoke coldly. “In that case, there is no need for further explanation. The princess is part of our kingdom, and we are her knights. We will take over from here.”

Ketal tilted his head. “Why is the princess here in the first place?”

“Because she ran away, taking Aron with her,” Lukento said with a small sigh, his sharp gaze shifting toward Aron. “A retainer who not only failed to stop her but also took the lead in escorting her away... this will not go unpunished.”

Aron flinched at the rebuke, and his silence confirmed the truth of Lukento’s words. There was no doubt now—these knights were indeed from Elene’s kingdom.

“You’ve come a long way. That must have been difficult,” Ketal remarked, his tone light.

“This is no concern of yours,” Lukento snapped sharply. “Mercenary, you’ve done well to protect her, and for that, we are grateful. However, from here on, this is our responsibility.”

Ketal stroked his chin thoughtfully before turning to the Tower Master. “Patrick, what do you think?”

Patrick’s tone was calm as he replied, “I’m not sure about the details, but if the story is true, there is no reason to refuse. Escorts are required to be informed of anything that could interfere with their journey. If not, the lack of disclosure is a valid reason for contract termination.”

“Is that so?” Ketal said, nodding.

Elene’s expression wavered. She wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. Patrick’s statement was irrefutable. She had genuinely believed there were no pursuers. Even if there were, she was confident they would have lost them long ago.

That was why she had waited for days in the Barcan Estate to hire a mercenary. However, Lukento had found them regardless. It was clear now that she had been wrong, and in essence, she had deceived Ketal.

Bowing her head in shame, Elene felt the weight of her actions. Seeing Ketal’s look of understanding, Lukento stepped forward. Instinctively, Elene retreated two steps.

“Come, my lady. Follow me. His Majesty is worried about you,” Lukento said, extending his hand.

“No!” Elene refused, backing away further. Her face betrayed a mix of primal fear and disgust. Lukento smiled as he closed the distance, but Ketal raised his hand, blocking his path. Lukento’s expression twisted with irritation.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“Before that I have questions for her,” Ketal said firmly. “She trusted me enough to agree to tell me the truth. That trust is a sign of sincerity.”

Why did she leave so late at night from the Barcan Estate? Why did she avoid the main roads? Why did she go to such lengths to avoid being seen? Why did she leave her kingdom?

Ketal thought. These questions remained unanswered. He turned his gaze to Elene.

“You had something to tell me, didn’t you, Elene?” he asked.

“Huh?” Elene looked up, startled. “You’re not leaving me?”

“I already know everything. There is no reason for me to leave you. And since we have an audience, why not share your story openly?” Ketal suggested, his tone calm.

Elene’s eyes clouded. Her thoughts, suppressed for so long, began to overflow. She clenched her teeth tightly.

“Who are you...?” she asked Lukento, her voice trembling with emotion.

“What do you mean?” Lukento replied, frowning.

“I asked, who are you?” she repeated, her tone sharp.

“I am Lukento Edenheimer, Commander of the Blue-Green Order, the kingdom’s premier knights. You know this well, my lady,” Lukento replied, bewildered.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I don’t know you!” Elene shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “I know who Lukento Edenheimer is, but

you

—you’re not him! Who are you?”

Her voice grew louder, releasing the storm she had kept bottled up.

“Who are you? Who are all of you? You infiltrated the royal palace without anyone noticing. You’ve taken over my friends and my family. My father, my mother, my little sister—they’ve all disappeared! Who are you people?!”

Interesting,

Patrick thought. With a subtle gesture, he released a thread of mana, invisible to the others, to probe Lukento’s body. The results came back quickly.

They’re human.

Patrick tilted his head, puzzled.

A mysterious flow coursed within Lukento–a quiet, steady Aura. Whatever else he could be, Lukento was certainly human.

Elene’s expression twisted with anger as she shouted, “You’re trying to devour me too! You want to take over our kingdom and make it yours? Don’t be ridiculous! I won’t let you do it—I’ll have my revenge!”

Her cry, steeped in despair and fury, rang out like a raw wound laid bare. Lukento sighed, his exasperation evident, before turning to Ketal.

“You heard her, didn’t you? The princess has succumbed to delusions.”

“What? Delusions? Don’t spew nonsense!” Elene snapped.

“Then prove it, my lady,” Lukento said coldly. “Prove that His Majesty—or I, for that matter—have been replaced by something else.”

His words left Elene speechless.

Lukento softened his gaze, looking at her with pity. “We know everything, my lady. We know you hired a mage through Aron. But that effort led to nothing, didn’t it?”

“That... that’s...” Elene stammered.

“Think logically,” Lukento continued. “You’re claiming that everyone in the palace has been taken over, except for you. Do you really believe that’s possible?”

The royal palace was a seat of power, filled with the kingdom’s most influential figures. It was a fortress, fortified against any threat. Replacing its residents entirely, as Elene described, would be an impossible feat.

“Everyone except you has changed? Isn’t it more likely that you’re the one who’s changed? That you’ve fallen ill?” Lukento said.

“That is indeed the more reasonable explanation,” Ketal chimed in, nodding. Elene’s face fell into despair at the thought that her allies could no longer believe her.

“Step aside,” Lukento said firmly, advancing a step closer. “The princess needs urgent treatment.”

Elene instinctively stepped back, but Ketal didn’t move.

Lukento scowled. “If you won’t step aside, I will have to use force.”

At that moment, Lukento lunged, his fist aimed directly at Ketal’s chest.

Crash!

Lukento was sent hurtling backward, slamming into the ground with tremendous force. The knights behind him gasped in shock.

“Commander!”

“

Cough!”

Lukento spat out blood. His breastplate had been completely crushed inward.

Ketal flexed his hand with satisfaction. “Perfect control.”

He had managed to restrain his strength perfectly this time. Lukento, clutching his chest and trying to calm his internal injuries, glared at him in fury.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

“As an escort, it’s my duty to repel any threats approaching my client. Your reasoning may seem logical, but I have no reason to believe you,” Ketal replied calmly. “Don’t be ridiculous! The princess is sick!” Lukento shot back.

“And isn’t it possible she’s right, and you’re the ones who have changed?” Ketal said, his voice light, but his gaze unwavering.

Lukento’s expression twisted with disbelief. “Do you truly believe that nonsense? That we’ve all been taken over by some force? That’s insane!”

“Why not?” Ketal replied with an almost playful tone.

The idea seemed impossible: the people from the royal palace were taken over without anyone noticing, with only the princess spared. But this was a world filled with magic and fantasy. What seemed impossible in one world could be entirely plausible here.

Lukento’s face darkened. “It’s clear now. You’re just as misguided as the princess.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say,” Ketal said, feigning sympathy. “But I still see no reason to trust you. After all, Elene only used one method to verify you were human—magic. Can that alone guarantee anything with absolute certainty?”

“Preposterous!” Lukento snapped, his voice rising with barely contained frustration.

“Perhaps,” Ketal said with a laugh, “but that doesn’t make your claims any more credible. You’ve offered nothing but impossibilities.”

Turning to Patrick, Ketal asked, “Patrick, is it normal for knights from a foreign kingdom to move this freely?”

“Absolutely not,” Patrick answered without hesitation. “An order of knights of this size would be considered a major threat. No nation would permit foreign knights to roam freely within its borders unless they were part of an alliance.”

“That makes sense. Knights are walking weapons. An order this large could easily devastate a few estates if they chose to,” Ketal remarked.

“Exactly,” Patrick confirmed. “To allow them entry without supervision would be a breach of national security.”

“Are the Gehentra Kingdom and Lutain Kingdom allies?” Ketal asked.

“Not to my knowledge,” Patrick replied.

Ketal chuckled. “Yet here they are, roaming around. Strange, isn’t it?”

Lukento paused, his lips pressing into a thin line before he finally responded. “We explained our mission to find the princess and received permission to enter this territory.”

Ketal raised an eyebrow. “Then where’s your escort? Surely a force this large wouldn’t be allowed to travel unsupervised.”

His question, though delivered with a smile, hit like a dagger.

“And how did you track us so easily?” Ketal continued. “I’ve been careful—meticulous, even. There’s no way you found us through ordinary means.”

Lukento said nothing, his silence betraying him. He glanced at Patrick. “We had a person inside feeding us information.”

“It surely wasn’t me,” Patrick replied immediately, shaking his head.

Ketal grinned. “Lukento, your lies couldn’t be more obvious. If Patrick were your collaborator, you’d have caught us back in the Barcan Estate. You wouldn’t have needed to come this far.”

Ketal dismantled Lukento’s arguments piece by piece with logic. Lukento, who had confidently dismissed Elene’s claims earlier, now found himself unable to respond.

Turning back to Elene, Ketal said, “You believed that there was no one following us here, right?”

“Yes... but they found us,” Elene replied, her voice tinged with confusion.

“No, you were right. There

was

no pursuit,” Ketal said firmly.

“What?” Elene asked, startled.

Her wide-eyed expression silently questioned how the Blue-Green Order could possibly be here if no one had been tracking them.

“It’s simple,” Ketal said, his grin widening. “They didn’t track us—they appeared out of nowhere.”

His tone was light, but his words carried weight. His smile never faded, and his expression radiated excitement, as if he was thoroughly enjoying the situation.

“Truly out of nowhere,” Ketal added, his grin deepening, as though he relished unraveling the mystery.

Ketal’s extraordinary sensory awareness allowed him to detect any movement within his range, as perfectly as though he could see it with his eyes closed. Yet Lukento and his knights had appeared in his detection range without warning—as though they had been conjured into existence.

“How did you get here?” Ketal asked, his smile growing sharper.