SPIRIT SOUL

"It feels like he was forced to attack…I had noticed his earlier expression before. But, I didn't expect that something like this could happen.

But that's probably why it happened."

Sven's explanation was not exactly helpful and didn't clear anybody's confusion.

In the end, there were only Gaby, Kyle, Selene, and a few other guards left who didn't belong to Dirk's group.

Those guards who had been affiliated with Dirk left the moment he had begun to act weirdly as he transformed into a monstrous being.

In the end, Kyle had to ask straightforwardly.

"What forced him? I..or rather we don't really understand what you mean..I noticed his expression too, and all of us knew that he was up to something.

However, he would have never acted that way without knowing how to come out of everything unscathed!

I always thought that he was too much of a coward to act openly, let alone suicidal…"

Earlier, Sven had been visibly enraged about their race's nobility being attacked.

Yet, when he looked at Selene, who was as confused as the others, he decided that it was necessary to answer Kyle.

Nevertheless, he was astonished to see Selene not be shaken due to the recent event.

She seemed to have overcome the assassination attempt much easier than he expected of her.

She was holding onto Kyle firmly, which Sven could only look at weirdly.

Despite not wanting Kyle near her he couldn't do anything.

After all, Kyle had protected Selene with his life.

They seemed to be close and as a commoner, he had no right to intervene in the business of a noble.

Even if Selene was only considered to be at the lowest rank, that is a Baroness, he was far lower in rank than her. Hence, he decided to answer instead.

"To put it simply, someone was controlling this guard, probably through a contract. My guess is that the guard's soul was a medium that was being controlled. This way, he was forced to obey, or face death."

To get straight to the point, Sven turned towards Dirk's corpse.

Only with his bare hands, he tore apart his chest armor, only to reveal a unique symbol on the left side of his chest.

After that he found the broken glass of the syringe whose content Guard Dirk had injected into himself.

Looking at the punctured spot on his body, Sven didn't hesitate to take out a small dagger.

Placing it on the spot, he pierced through the dark-blueish skin.

Tremendous heat was released from the corpse the moment the dagger pierced through the skin.

Following that a pungent smell permeated the air.

"Purified blood of Demonic beasts...mixed with multiple herbs to purify and strengthen one's bloodline…"

Sven added as he wrinkled his nose in disgust and placed a hand on his face.

Turning towards one of his Soldiers, Sven ordered,

"Investigate the corpse thoroughly. I don't know what he used, but increasing his strength from the Vitae stage up to the Krysal stage is not something a simple item can do… I doubt that he would have survived longer than a few minutes, either."

Kyle just listened intently though it seemed to him that Sven was speaking in riddles.

Even if he was not exactly sure what Sven meant, he tried his best to understand everything Sven said correctly.

'Does that mean Dirk made a contract with his soul as a medium, forcing him to fulfill the clauses written in the contract? Is that why he attacked Selene? Because the other party of the soul contract ordered him to do so?'

Kyle couldn't fathom what Dirk gained from the soul contract.

To him, it looked like a losing bargain.

Though he didn't know Dirk's intentions for accepting such a contract, he knew one thing for certain.

It was dangerous to make a contract by offering your soul.

Disobeying the clauses stated in a soul contract would mean severe injury to the soul.

In a worst case scenario, the soul could be completely shattered, killing one in an extremely painful manner.

Because of that, Kyle believed that Dirk must be offered something huge to consider signing the contract.

Dirk must have been greedy enough to accept being forced to obey someone else even in a situation that was suicidal.

From what he remembered, Dirk seemed rational, and someone who would always be in control of the situation.

As such, he should have known that the disadvantages of signing a soul contract outweighed the benefits by far and large.

What he had probably done was deadly.

This made no sense in Kyle's opinion.

But, it revealed the fact that there was someone bigger, someone stronger pulling the strings secretively.

Kyle found this piece of information highly important, and it made him feel uncomfortable to stay in Vila town.

In his opinion, it was weird for something like this to happen in an inconspicuous place like Vila town.

It was a quiet place where nothing special was located.

With that in mind, he felt weird about how the tragedy had befallen the hapless town.

But, at the same time, Kyle was not sure where it was best to head next.

Going to the Lahin kingdom could be even worse than staying inside the Sadorla Forest for the time being.

Not only were there fewer branches of the Guild inside the Lahin kingdom, but Selene would have to face her race, as a Baroness at that!

He was not sure if that was the best for her. The elevation of being a noble had done little to boost her self-confidence. She was still the timid-looking Lohar, he knew.

Thus, Kyle couldn't help but feel that their current situation was rather unique.

As such, he averted his gaze towards Gaby.

She was standing motionless and was blankly staring at Dirk's corpse.

This made him almost curse out only to shut his mouth as he thought inwardly.

'Right...she wanted to take revenge for her family...and now he is already dead...that's…'

Kyle couldn't even feel sorry for Gaby as his attention was drawn to Sven.

He was mumbling softly but Kyle had heard him.

"Why would someone capable of making a soul contract make use of someone in this puny town...that makes no sense!"

While Kyle had the same doubt, his mind was drawn towards the rather important question of finding the real culprit.

Having a soul contract meant that Dirk wasn't the mastermind behind the assassination attempt.

Thus, he was curious to know who was targeting Selene, and so desperate to attack her twice in a row!

Whoever was behind this wanted Selene dead by all means.

His urge to kill her must be so strong that he had tossed Dirk away as a use and throw tissue.

With this thought, Kyle realized that Dirk had been a mere pawn to this mysterious culprit.

As such, this foe was much more dangerous than anything they had ever encountered.

Kyle's guess told him that he could possibly be even more savage than the chubby merchant.

Selene's death could have served as a reason for war to break out between the two seemingly neutral kingdoms.

Her status as a noblewoman would have made the Lohars thirsty for blood.

Thus everything was more complex than one could assume at the first glance.

'Just who could have benefited from a war between the Lahin kingdom and the Thunderclaw kingdom…?'

While he was trying to solve this puzzle, his fingers curled around Selene's hand. The urge to become stronger was even greater than before. The quicker the better.

There was no time for them to retain a low profile. This reminded him about the rewards of their mission. But, he overcame his greed and shook his head a moment later.

'It is not yet time to ask about the double awakened vein cultivation technique…'

At that moment, Kyle made up his mind as he mumbled,

"I need to be much faster... Arashi...I will let you evolve soon!"

He was quiet enough to not be heard by anyone other than Selene.

His words made her look at him with uncertainty. Yet, at the same time, her eyes flickered with determination.

Selene had come to the same conclusion as Kyle.

She knew that she could no longer depend on others to protect her every single time. If she didn't grow stronger as soon as possible, she would very well endanger those she cared deeply about.

Thus, she wanted to become stronger, the faster the better.

While thinking about the best solution to achieve this made her feel uncomfortable, it also strengthened her heart.

'Lahin kingdom…is that where fate leads me to?'

While Selene was deep in thoughts, the others were already headed towards the district in which the Lohars were currently residing.

Kyle was dragging Selene with him, only to see the Guildmaster from further away. She was rushing towards them as if something had happened, only to look at Gaby's disappointed expression.

Ignoring his curious gaze, Laila searched for Selene, and the moment Laila saw her, she sighed in relief.

Initially, Laila had planned to welcome the Soldiers of the Lahin kingdom personally.

But that plan had evaporated into thin air when the three guards had been murdered.

Even if it was not something she was supposed to take care of, a few guards had attempted to force her to stay at the crime scene the moment she passed it.

This had been weird, but she didn't think much about it.

To her, it was only logical for the guards to be infuriated by the death of their comrades.

However, when a vile aura radiated from the entrance of the town, Laila ignored everything.

She simply rushed towards the town gates worriedly.

But, she had been relieved to see that everyone was fine.

She had assumed that something bad must have happened.

The Guildmaster had considered the worst possibility of Selene getting murdered.

Because this didn't happen, Laila paid no heed to Sven's existence.

He was the only one, who looked at her intently with a sad expression on his face.

However, his expressions turned serious, the moment she regained her senses.

When their gazes locked, the Guildmaster stiffened for a moment.

It was as if she had been petrified. Looking at her, Sven remarked,

"One of this town's guards, Dirk, or whatever his name was, took a demonic blood drug, and attacked the Baroness, almost killing her.

Because he seemed to have been under a soul contract and the Baroness was saved by an Aldras, I won't consider this as an offense of the Aldras race…

But let me warn you, if something had happened to her, not a single life of an Aldra would have been spared!"

At this moment, Kyle expected a fierce retort from Laila.

But contrary to his expectations, she turned into a meek woman.

Her expressions and demeanor reminded him of how Selene had behaved when she was still a slave.

Looking into Sven's eyes, she hesitantly replied,

"Yes...I'm sorry for the inconvenience, brother…"

'Brother?!'