SPIRIT SOUL

Kyle hadn't wasted any time to appear in front of the town's gate.

A large crowd had appeared in no time and they had already begun discussing the arrival of the soldiers of the Lahin kingdom.

Some guards frowned upon hearing this news, while others were gloomy.

However, there were still a few guards who seemed to be happy about the news about the arrival of the soldiers.

These mixed reactions caused Kyle to be confused, making him wonder what was going on.

As soon as he had regained consciousness, Kyle hadn't wasted any time as he had shot straight to the gate.

Gard and Mell had been astonished about his sudden appearance in the dining room as they expected him to be unable to wake up for a few more days.

But, before they could enquire about his health, he zoomed out.

The two could only stare at each other as he left without a word.

His mind was buzzing with the thoughts of the battle at the Nasga tribe.

Unfortunately, Kyle didn't know what had happened during the last few days.

Picking up every single piece of information he could acquire in an instant, Kyle was able to comprehend most of the things that occurred.

Yet, it was exactly those things that he learned that made him feel both nervous and glad.

There was only one fact that worried him.

It was the commotion that seemed to have happened inside the town only a few minutes ago.

Kyle had heard some guards talking about it, but they didn't seem to know much about it either.

A few guards had just been sent out to take care of the matter, after all.

Most of the guards stayed near the town's gate, awaiting the Lahin kingdom's soldiers.

Looking around, Kyle questioned himself what he was supposed to do here, to begin with.

His entire being had just screamed for him to appear here, right at this instant!

Meanwhile, Arashi had merged with his body once again, resting within him.

But that didn't necessarily help him figure out why his gut feeling wanted him to be here.

Was he supposed to wait for the Lohar soldiers to arrive?

Suddenly, he heard two familiar voices shouting his name.

Turning around, he looked in the direction of the town's center.

"Kyle?!"

"Kyle!!!"

He had not expected to see Gaby and Selene there.

But, Kyle was glad to find them nonetheless.

A smile appeared on his lips to see them both.

And, before he could even ask anything, Selene rushed towards him, hugging him tightly.

This confused him even more, but noticing that she was rigid, it was not hard to tell that something had happened.

Thus, his hands automatically went around her as he embraced her tightly.

She relaxed visibly in his embrace while his mind was busy connecting the dots.

He immediately recalled the commotion and thought that it had something to do with Selene.

At the same time, he recalled the expressions of the guards that had mixed emotions.

The arrival of the Lahin kingdom's soldiers had made them feel uneasy.

He could also distinctly recall the horrified expressions of some of the guards.

Their pale faces made it look like they were looking at a ghost and not Selene.

Kyle didn't even need to ask a question because he had heard a lot of things while rushing to the gate.

The news about the conflicts between the Aldras and the Lohars wasn't exactly a secret.

A large group of the citizens felt that they were receiving unfair treatment, something he had already heard.

However, what he didn't expect to see was, in fact, the reaction of the majority of guards.

Because of that, Kyle turned around a little.

He was trying to read the expressions and demeanor of the other present guards.

There was one particular guard who seemed off to him.

The said guard looked oddly familiar and appeared from an alley, brushing something with his leather armor.

But, the reaction he saw of the guard made him truly doubt the his intentions.

Seeing that Selene was fine, this particular guard's hand instinctively moved to his sheathed longsword.

Yet, seeing that she was not alone, he immediately stiffened.

Only a moment later, he returned to his seemingly normal expression.

"Dirk…" Kyle said as he realized who the guard was.

The name caused Gaby, who had slowly approached them, to look at him with squinted eyes.

Selene was still hugging him tightly, and she shuddered as a single tear trickled down her cheek.

Just when Selene had begun to feel safe amongst Aldras, somebody had attempted to kill her.

Luckily, she had survived an attempted assassination that was targeted at her.

Thus, Kyle didn't even think of pushing her away.

Instead, he simply continued to hug her, ignoring the gazes that were thrown towards them.

He turned his attention to Gaby and shared his observation with her.

"I don't know what happened, but the moment guard Dirk saw Selene, he instinctively went rigid.

Dirk moved into an aggressive stance, with his hand laid on the handle of his weapon!"

Hearing this, Gaby instinctively turned her head towards Dirk, who behaved as if nothing had happened.

She was still confused, but after thinking about it, she recalled the change in his behavior.

Ever since she had declared that she would investigate him properly, Dirk was being weird.

The more she thought of it, the clearer the blurry picture in front of her seemed to become.

'The three dead guards had been friends of Dirk...and everyone was looking at Selene in shock. The guards or even those that glared at her, belong to Dirk's group...Does that mean that he tried to assassinate Selene?'

Though she thought of this to be probable, she had no credible proof to attest to her theory.

Hence, she couldn't simply declare Dirk as the perpetrator.

However, with Kyle's intel, she was one step closer to the truth.

While she was deep in thought, she saw a group of armed Lohars marching forward.

They were far away from the town gate but would reach soon. Seeing them made her smile lightly.

'They won't be able to do anything to Selene anymore!'

With that thought in mind, Gaby pulled back Kyle.

He was still holding Selene as she didn't let go of him.

After ensuring that they were well out of earshot, Gaby explained what had happened to Kyle, who listened intently.

He might have just awoken and maybe was still recovering from his injuries.

But, Gaby felt the need to let him know what had happened.

Hearing that Selene had almost been assassinated made Kyle's eyes turn ice-cold.

With a deadly glare, he stared at Dirk as if he would kill him then and there.

Dirk behaved as if he had nothing to do with the assassination attempt.

However, he had given himself away in the split second when his haste had made him reach for his weapon.

It wasn't quite difficult to connect the incident of the guards' death with that of Dirk's appearance from the alley.

Gaby was also eyeing him, but her eyes were extremely calm.

She did not let her emotions show on her face after Kyle had shared his observation with her.

However, that was exactly what made Dirk more uncomfortable because he was unable to figure out what Gaby would do about him.

Unable to be a step ahead of her, Dirk could only use uncertain facts to think of possible outcomes.

The amount of uncertainty around him made him more and more uncomfortable with the entire situation.

His brain began to smoke owing to the overlapping unforeseen events that were happening.

Being out of control fueled his anger and rage, which made it even more difficult for him to retain his facade of a calm outer appearance.

'Should I just leave with Milli and Nina?' He suddenly asked himself.

The situation was spiraling out of control for him and the intent to kill emerged in his eyes.

'As if I would give anyone the chance to force me to leave MY TOWN!! I would rather die while taking as many lives as possible with me than accepting being a loser!'

While Guard Dirk was slowly losing himself in the fear of having been exposed, Kyle had finally calmed down.

Dirk was growing increasingly worried about the possible scenarios that played out in his mind.

The thought of being exiled, losing his lover, the child he had accepted as his own, and everything else that belonged to him made him look distressed.

The moment Kyle noticed how Dirk seemed to be embroiled in an internal battle, he couldn't help but feel a premonition.

However, Dirk quickly pulled up his mask of indifference and calm again.

It was only when Kyle heard the galloping sound of more than a dozen hooves that he tore his eyes away from Dirk.

The noise was coming from the direction of the town gate.

There, he could see that more than a dozen three meter tall beasts stepped through the wide open gate.

The beasts slowed down to reveal a muscular and red furred Lohar.

He was wearing a blazing red armor, protecting his most vital areas.

His muscular arms were clearly visible, displaying his brute strength.

It was only a moment later that he used his loud and crispy voice to announce his arrival.

"Sven Larn of the Blazing Legion has arrived with his Soldiers as promised!!"

Once the red furred Lohar said this, he turned towards Selene, who was still in Kyle's embrace.

Kyle noticed that the Soldier Captain was glaring at him, which caused him to gently push Selene away.

Or he tried to do so, only to notice that she was stronger than him.

"At least show the Soldier Captain some respect, otherwise, I don't know if he will behead me later…"

This was only a joke, but after having said so, Kyle couldn't help but rub the back of his neck.

His fingers lightly touched it as if he wanted to reassure that his head was still attached to his body.

Turning around reluctantly, Selene looked at the Soldier Captain.

When their eyes met, his expression brightened up.

He was delighted to sense her movements that were intertwined with faint traces of both mana and primordial energy.

Leaning forward, he gave her a light bow as he politely addressed her.

"Greetings, My Lady!"

A moment later, the Soldiers followed suit and chorused.

"Greetings, My Lady!"

Their voice reverberated through the entire town, and Selene gave a startled cry.

She could only grasp Kyle's hand that gave her comfort as she nodded her head faintly.

She was completely overwhelmed with the situation and couldn't understand why she was suddenly referred to as 'My Lady.'

It was completely different from what the other Lohars had said, creating her confusion.

This was noticed by Kyle and the others, but they refrained from commenting.

It was only after Selene nodded that Sven got down from the large beast's back he was sitting on.

Kyle's eyes instinctively flicked to the beast.

He observed the beast intently and couldn't help but be astonished.

He would describe them as heavily built lizards with a height of around three meters.

Their length was more than seven meters with a short tail and a single horn protruding from either side of their short heads.

By looking at them he grew certain that they could run for several days at a stretch without being exhausted.

The last was just what Kyle assumed because it wouldn't make sense to use these lizard-like existences as mounts.

It would be even more cumbersome to cross the distance from the borders of the Lahin kingdom to Vila town in a matter of a few days on them.

Even if he found it interesting to use beasts as mounts,, Kyle felt that it could be quite dangerous.

The beasts appeared to be at or near Krysal stage so they were powerful beasts.

He only shuddered at the thought of these beasts going wild if something were to go wrong.

He had yet to figure out the cultivation stage of the Soldiers.

But from the looks of it, they were older than most Aldras living in Vila town.

However, their outer appearance made them seem relatively young.

Thus, their cultivation base must be at least at the Vitae stage, if not at the Krysal stage. Kyle deduced this fact based on their confidence.

They didn't even spare a single glance at the town guards who were glaring at them in contempt.

Furthermore, they entered the town as if it belonged to them.

This didn't sit well with Kyle, considering that he and Selene had wanted to stay longer in this town.

At that moment, a doubt flashed in his mind, which caused his eyes to widen.

'Wait...they won't ask, or even force Selene to leave with them for the Lahin kingdom, right now….right?... I wanted to spend some time exploiting the Guild with the Jars….is that not possible anymore or am I already thinking too far ahead?'