“Aunt?!?!” Mason rolled on the ground after receiving Jeanne’s kick. He couldn’t believe that his beloved aunt was against him.
Jeanne was already angry with Mason after his strange confession on the battlefield, but finding out that he allied himself with mercenaries to hurt someone she took to the Guild was the end of her patience.
She prepared to continue beating him, but then Mason raised his hand to defend himself. “Did you forget the promise you made to my mother? Is this how you want to honor her memory?”
Jeanne stopped while remembering her late sister. She thought for a second then kicked her again. “Don’t use her name like that! She asked me to take care of you, and that also meant punishing you when you do something wrong!”
Lucien saw the second she hesitated and knew that her sister must be very important to her. He could understand why she was overprotective with Mason, and couldn’t help but respect her for still beating him.
He wanted to have a good relationship with Jeanne, and since everyone was fine even after being chased by Black Hand, leaving Mason in Jeanne’s “care” seemed the best option.
“AAhhhh!! Stop auntie!! Please, I already regret it!! Forgiveee meee.” Mason screamed like a pig being slaughtered while Jeanne kicked and punched him.
In fact, she has been through a lot of problems defending this stupid nephew, so she kind of felt like releasing all of the anger and frustration that had accumulated over the years in that beating.
Lucien liked the beautiful mature knight more and more as he smiled, seeing Mason being beaten. Lucien wouldn’t mind if Mason died, but if he was seriously injured, it would hinder the journey.
As Jeanne seemed out of control, Lucien approached her quickly and took her arm before she punched Mason again. “Easy, you’ve punished him enough now, but after we return, you can beat him more to your heart’s content.”
Jeanne was very focused on hitting Mason, so she didn’t notice when Lucien approached her quickly. He grabbed her arm firmly, but it was still a gentle touch. His pleasant scent attacked her nose while his captivating voice made her heart beat faster.
“I’m really sorry. The first time we met, I let him shoot an arrow at your wife, and then this… I feel like it is all my fault.” Jeanne still thought Lucien’s behavior was wrong, but she also knew that they were not right.
She tried to get away from him because her body was reacting strangely, but Lucien was quicker, pulling her into a tight hug. “Fine, fine, I was also wrong before. We will start again after I resolve this situation.”
Jeanne panicked when Lucien hugged her. Although she is wearing heavy armor and they do not have really physical contact, she still found it very intimate. “Okay, okay, we can resolve this, but first, please let me go.”
Lucien did not see Jeanne’s face, but he was sure she is flushed. He liked to mess with her feelings, but he also didn’t want to force her into anything.
“So let’s get ready to continue on the journey. Give some healing potion to him. The rule of those who do not keep the pace becomes tigress food is still in place.”
Lucien stopped hugging Jeanne and returned to finish his dinner. His mood had gone sour when he heard that Mason tried to harm him and Mia, but after Jeanne’s actions, he had a smile on his face again.
Mason’s wounds were only superficial, and half an hour after drinking a healing potion, he could continue running. But mentally, he was in trouble as his hate for Lucien only increased. Not only did he kidnap him, but he also turned his beloved aunt against him.
After the beating, the group finished dinner and prepared to continue the journey. Scarlett, Ghilanna, and Jeanne no longer saw Lucien as their enemies but had different thoughts about him.
Olivia still had a negative opinion about him. She understood that they were hostile to Lucien first, but she was still sure that he was the only devil there.
She was surprised that Glen was actually a woman, but that didn’t change their friendship. She found another reason to hate Lucien, seeing the way Ghilanna looked at him.
As soon as the group was ready, they started running through the forest again. Lucien said that he had to rescue a friend, but did not give further information. Olivia and Scarlett hated not having any control over the situation, but they are currently Lucien’s hostages.
Although they weren’t moving too fast because of Jeanne and Mason, Rose still managed to get Lucien to carry her on his back.
Lucien had nothing against pampering his girls; on the contrary, he was pleased to see the silly smile on the little vampire’s face. That wide smile made the other girls jealous, but they were on a mission now, so it was not the best time to compete for his attention.
Following the map and instructions from Angela, Marie, and Lena’s mother, Lucien headed south towards the Nunid Kingdom. They traveled through the forest for another five hours before reaching a crossroads, where one path led further south and the other west.
To the south was the Light Empire, and to the west was Nunid Kingdom city. Unlike Bluewind City, which was in the mountains, Nunid City was in a flat area not far from the forest.
The group headed west for another four hours before they stopped. It seemed like a short time to get from one distant place to another, but in fact, their speed was incredible.
Despite not being as agile as the others, Jeanne and Mason were still A-rank adventurers, so the group had high running speed compared to most people.
Lucien stopped by a tree, where they could see the walls of the city about two miles away. The group was exhausted, but he and his girls seemed ready to run for another ten hours without any problems.
“There is an army outside the walls. There is the sun emblem on shields, armor, and flags.” Lucien saw the Light Empire army two miles away with his incredible vision.
Everyone in the group will understand who the army with the sun emblem was, but no one could think of a reason why they were in Portgreen territory.
“I’m going to try to finish this as fast as possible, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be that simple, so you have to be ready for anything.”
Lucien heard some pretty bad things about the prince. He wanted to try to rescue Lena quietly without having to kill any, but he had nothing against killing to complete his mission, after all he was raised so by his “Evil” father.
His women understood the situation, but the rest of the group were very confused. Lucien said that the prince could create problems for them so that a battle could happen. There was also the Light Empire army outside the city, but that wouldn’t stop Lucien from rescuing Lena.
Olivia and Scarlett knew the Nunid Kingdom as a vassal kingdom of Portgreen. Even if the level of power there was not great, it would still be difficult for a small group like them to win a battle against an entire kingdom.
Of course, if they acted stealthily, they could get out of there without having to fight a battle to the death. Everyone concluded that this was Lucien’s intention.
Then the group headed towards the city gate after putting on their classic hoods. Lucien only had the thought of rescuing Lena and going back to Bluewind, but Olivia wanted to find out why people from the Light Empire were there.
Scarlett, as one of Porgreen’s leaders, should have been curious about the Light Empire army, but in fact, she already knew that something like this would be happening.
Lucien noticed that she didn’t have a worried expression like Olivia. He also remembered the sun emblem on her group’s mercenaries, but now it didn’t seem like the ideal time to discuss it.
The Light Empire army appeared to have more than 1000 soldiers. They were camping in the southeastern part of the walls, so the way through the south gate was still free for anyone to enter the city.
Lucien’s group looked like ordinary adventurers or mercenaries. They approached the guards at the gate. As it was almost dawn, the movement should have been minimal, but in fact, there were many guards everywhere, probably because of the Light Empire people.
“Wait! Who are you, and what do you want here?” A guard approached Lucien while asking standard questions for new visitors. They had to be careful at night, and there was still the issue of the Light Empire, which made them worried.
“We are just adventurers looking for a place to rest.” Lucien showed the ID card he got for joining the Guild, making Olivia make a face. Jeanne also showed an ID card to validate Lucien’s story, and the guards wouldn’t create problems for them.
“You can go in, but this big tiger looks dangerous.” The guard knew that many adventurers had beasts as companions, but Oya seemed like a really big problem, and he couldn’t help but worry.
Lucien winked at Oya, and she stood on two legs, resting her front paws on his shoulders while he patted her head.
“How dangerous can this big fluffy cat be? She’s a good girl!” Lucien spoke in a playful tone as everyone in the group remembered the brutal and bloody scenes in which they saw the “big fluffy cat.”
Lucien’s performance did not convince the guard, but the gold coin he threw to the guard did. So the group could go through the gate without problems.
Nunid City was similar to Bluewind City in terms of the number of people. Well, it was nighttime, so there weren’t many people walking the streets, but Lucien could deduce that the city was not as big as Portgreen by the number of buildings he saw.
They could spend the rest of the night in an inn while planning their next steps, and study the place carefully before taking any action. But Lucien seemed too confident in his power and his women, so he headed for the big castle in the center of the city with the intention of rescuing Lena as quickly as possible.
It wasn’t like he was doing things without thinking, on the contrary, he was always thinking of what to do, and was already planning everything while using his ridiculously incredible hearing to get more information.
Lucien had a simple plan in mind where he caught Lena, and they fled the city while Rose’s earthquake prevented anyone from following them. The vampire did a great deal of damage to Portgreen before, but after getting stronger from Lucien, she had a lot better control of her earth magic.
She could cause a huge earthquake slowing down guards, while also focusing more on the gate locations creating fissures. That would allow them to escape while only causing minor damage. If she used the same earthquake attack she used at Portgreen it would cause massive damage to a city like Nunid.
Of course, he wouldn’t mind killing the prince who has annoyed his wife so many times in the past. Maria told Lucien about how the prince always tried to marry her, and her father also tried to convince her that it was the best.
Angela also told Lucien that the Nunid family has always hated the Olsen family, and tried to dominate Bluewind. So Lucien couldn’t help thinking that killing the prince and any other member of their royal family would be a good way to improve his relationship with Angela, Marie, and Lenna; after all, they would be part of the same family.
The group arrived at the main square, which was in front of the great castle of Nunid City. Many guards and people were walking around the big castle, but Lucien had already heard things that could help them enter the castle easily.
They approach the castle gate. Then two guards came in front of them, asking standard questions. Lucien pulled on Scarlett’s hood as he spoke animatedly.
“We came to bring the dancers. Do you really want to keep the Light Empire captain waiting? Wouldn’t that make the prince angry?”
