SHK CH 650 (Patreon)

In an inn, the merchant dwarf family that had entered Lustburg earlier was at the ready. They were not covered in black. Simply wearing their usual clothes for they knew that the best way not to be noticed was to look like everyone else.

After a little research, they managed to understand the whereabouts of Theresa. Theresa was not particularly elusive or hiding her location.

After the war, she would either spend her time in some bar or stay in the Hermes mansion.

Duke Hermes had the blood of dwarves running in his veins and had kept many connections with Greed Dike. Even now he was one of the main emissaries when lobbying for peace between the two kingdoms.

In their initial plan, they would have met Duke Hermes at his mansion under the guise of a messenger from Greed Dike, and with a blitz attack, they would have either captured or eliminated Hermes.

Hermes might have also reached the Duke realm in terms of personal power. But there was no way he would be a match for them.

Their first and main objective was to eliminate Theresa. Capturing her was only to be done if there was a possibility.

At least that was the initial plan. Now though, things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse before they even made a move.

“How is the situation?” Mother Dwarf asked. Her expression was tight and her hand was languidly resting on her dagger.

The deathsworn of Greed Dike worked in ‘family’ cells. Mother/father were the leaders. The children were the second rank and the guards represented the third rank. They were obviously not related by blood. But this was extremely useful when it came to infiltration.

“I do not know what happened. But that explosion of power was definitely from the Birth of a new King Realm.” Father Dwarf scowled as he looked at the direction of the Hermes mansion.

“Theresa?” The daughter asked.

“Impossible. Theresa is not even in the Duke Realm. She has not managed to advance in years. Even if she did have some epiphany. She would at most become a Duke.”

Only those who reached the Duke's realm could understand how far away the King's Realm was. It wasn't something that could be attained with effort and time. It was a power only those supremely talented and blessed with luck could hope to reach.

In every generation, the number of King Realms that were not Blessed was extremely small. In some generations, no such person would even exist. As long as one didn't count the witches.

This was how large the disparity was and how small the probability of success was.

“For Theresa to become a King from nothing in one night. She would need to realize her Truth, build her legend, and find her…” The more he talked, the weirder his expression became.

Realizing her Truth? Theresa was without a shadow of a doubt one of the most self-serving women he had ever read about.

Build her legend? Even if most people did not know the name of the creator, the Rangers were currently building a true legend. Everyone in the world knew about them. After all, this was the first time in history someone created a way for a mortal to actually face Duke.

Even before that, Theresa was a household name in Greed Dike. She had so many feats to her name, he wouldn’t be able to count them all.

“This…Really?” He asked out loud. Though the probability was minuscule…It wasn’t zero.

He closed his eyes. “We abort the mission for now. Tomorrow we will go to the guild and take our certificate then act like normal merchants. We will find a way to determine whether she is really a King now

There was no need to hurry. Deathsworn they might be but this did not mean they should mindlessly throw their life away. They needed to succeed and even if they failed, confirming Theresa’s current realm would also be a great service.

“Well. I thought you guys were only third-rate at best. But I see you are not so incompetent.” A feminine voice reached them.

The ten dwarves were elites, the ones with roles of Father, Mother, and Daughter were all in the Dukes realm. The seven guards were also very close to it and could put up a fight if they joined force.

The very moment they heard the voice close to them, they all realized that the intruder was largely above their level. In such a situation the first action should have been to flee. But they knew it was not the best option.

Attack!

They all moved simultaneously. The three Dukes were already prepared to release their Zone. No matter how strong that person was, as long as he wasn’t a King there should have been some effects. But—

“How cute.”

They found, to their horror, that they were completely unable to move. They did not know when, but shadows were slowly climbing up from their legs and covering their bodies.

The shadow did not just paralyze them, it was also completely devouring their mana, making them entirely powerless.

The mission is a failure. Father Dwarf thought calmly.

Once they accepted that there was no escape possible, they only had one option left. All of them bite on their molar, breaking down the poison hidden in their mouth, and swallowing it.

No one could ever say that they would stay silent in the face of torture. This was why all deathsworn had poison on them. In fact, they had more than one poison. Just in case they were stopped from taking the first.

The poison was very effective, and Father Dwarf could feel death slowly coming for him. He only had one question —

But why did she not stop us?

Those were his last thoughts as the ten dwarves slumped on the ground, their bodies now devoid of life.

While all of this was happening, Milia leisurely watched them as she sat on the bed. She had no intention to stop them. There was no need to.

After all,

“I will leave everything to you. Miss Isis.”

They had a necromancer in their rank. Death was never an escape in front of Isis. Far from it.

It was the road toward eternal enslavement.