“Lucas. Can you…”
Rosedale wanted to ask him if he could still treat her the same after learning her true identity, but couldn’t.
“Lucas!”
Lucas turned to Cain and Burnett, who came here running.
Lucas’s expression quickly turned sullen again when he saw them. It was the face of someone who knew it was time to return to reality.
“It’s getting late, I think we should head back.”
Cain gave Rosedale a disdainful look, as he approached Lucas.
“We followed your orders.”
Lucas stood up and asked sternly, “Is it all done?”
Seeing Lucas revert to his imposing demeanor, Rosedale also stood up. Somehow, she felt uneasy, sensing their parting.
“The store searched, but nothing could be found. I imprisoned all the survivors and left the black panther statue to be studied.”
“I see.”
Lucas pulled the hood of his robe over his head and turned to face Rosedale.
She chewed her lips nervously.
‘If I send him away like this, how will I ever see him again? I still haven’t figured out the issue with the golden arrow?’
I couldn’t meet freely with him as the Emperor. Even if I were to remain invisible and hover by his side, there were limitations to what I could uncover.
I had to meet him again.
“Will we ever see each other again?”
The expression on Rosedale’s face was similar to sending one’s loved one to a war. Despite spending only a few hours together, her expression was as poignant as bidding farewell to a lifetime of love.
“I can’t promise.”
Seeing Lucas’s troubled face, Rosedale’s heart sank.
“But I’ll find a way to see you again.”
I hate to part with you, too, his eyes said.
Rosedale knew the weight of the crown as the heir to the Fairy King.
Just saying that much was probably a big decision for him.
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes. I promise.”
Lucas nodded, and Rosedale smiled weakly.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us. We’d better get back to work,” Cain urged Lucas. Burnett nodded in agreement.
Now, it was really time to part ways. The freedom Roseville had with Lucas felt like a distant dream.
When would they ever see each other again?
She stared at him, filled with regret, unable to let go.
“Kyaa!”
A tearing scream echoed through the square.
Rosedale, Lucas, Kane, and Burnett’s heads snapped to where the scream had come from. A woman, trembling all over, pointed to a spot in the distance.
“A m-m-monster!”
The woman’s words were true.
There it was, a huge being with the head of a dragon, the body of a lion, fur-less skin, and razor-sharp claws that could hardly be called a beast.
Its eyes resembled a drooling, hunger-crazed hyena.
“Kruunggh!”
“Help!”
The monster’s roar reverberated throughout the entire city.
People in the square began to panic and flee in all directions.
But there was no human who could match the mighty charge of the colossal monster. It dashed towards the humans at lightning speed.
“Ahhh!”
“Lucas, you must take cover!”
Kane and Burnett blocked Lucas’s path, shouting urgently.
A huge, earth-shaking howl rang out, and the sand and dust the creature kicked up disoriented our senses.
The screams of the people continued unabated, and the square lost its peace and became an abyss.
“How can I flee?”
Lucas threw off his robes and mask.
“This is my empire. My people come before me.”
Rosedale watched Lucas with awe as he unscathed his sword.
“Burnett, Cain, you two, evacuate the people. Take Rosedale to safety.”
“Your Majesty!”
“Lucas!”
Without a moment to spare, Lucas dashed forward like a flying arrow.
Amidst the chaos, sand and dust rushed towards them. Rosedale shielded her eyes from the harsh wind. But she couldn’t stay still, not when she was worried about Lucas.
‘That’ was something he couldn’t handle alone.
Suddenly, she summoned her mana, calling the surrounding wind, she blew the sand particles away.
“What…”
As Cain and Burnett looked bewildered amidst the swirling wind around Rosedale, she urgently turned her gaze to find Lucas.
“Uh…?
Suddenly, the blue auror flowing from Lucas’s sword caught Rosedale’s eye.
‘Auraa…?
I read in a book that Aurors are abilities that only Sword Masters who have mastered the art of swordplay have.
Sword masters surpass ordinary humans in physical abilities and have a fast healing rate even when injured. Their sword aura is famous for its powerful destructive force.
‘There are only a few sword masters among humans.’
Even with talent, becoming a sword master was a possibility that most people couldn’t achieve in their lifetime, and even if they did, it usually required decades of effort.
In other words, Lucas had wielded his sword countless times to the point of becoming a sword master at such a young age.
‘What could have led him to live such a life?’
No, now is not the time to think about that.
As Rosedale was about to step forward to help Lucas, Cain grabbed her forearm, “Why are you just standing there instead of running away! Quickly…”
“Aaargh!”
Bang!
Cain couldn’t finish his sentence due to a tremendous crash.
The fountain crashed to the ground, hit by the monster’s swinging head. It looked like it had been hit by Lucas’s sword and was struggling.
The ground was dented, and nearby humans who hadn’t escaped were cowering.
The situation had become more dire. The monster, struck by the sword, let out a fiercer cry and charged towards the humans, while Lucas leaped up and stabbed his sword into the monster’s neck.
“Aaaargh!”
As the monster’s blood spilled, a nearby mother held her child tighter and screamed. Foul-smelling smoke rose ominously as the creature’s blood melted the stone on the floor.
“Get away.”
Rosedale swatted Cain’s hand away, “I’m not leaving Lucas alone.”
With those words, Rosedale swung his hand, and in an instant, the bodies of the humans who hadn’t managed to escape were wrapped in round spherical bubbles. They were floating as per Rosedale’s wishes.
The humans quickly moved to safety under Rosedale’s guidance..
“……!”
Cain and Burnett’s jaws dropped in astonishment.
“You two should leave… Lucas!”
A distraught Rosedale yelled, reaching for Lucas as she saw him falling off the monster’s back.
Lucas spun around to land, and in response to her urgent gesture, a gust of wind wrapped around his body. Lucas landed safely due to the wind.
Tracking the magic’s source, his eyes led him to Rosedale.
“Rosie…?”
In that brief moment of eye contact between the two, flames erupted fiercely from the monster’s mouth aimed straight at Lucas.
“Lucas, at the front!”
Puff!
A pleasant ripple resonated in Rosedale’s palm. A small pinkish barrier emerged from her hand and swiftly wrapped around the monstrous flames emitted by the monster, dissipating them instantly.
Cain, Burnett had already been mesmerized by her magic. Lucas, on the other hand, stared at her for a moment, then snapped out of it.
“Lucas!”
Rosedale ran to Lucas, who landed lightly in front of the dead creature.
Lucas looked a little taken aback as she jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck.
But soon, he carefully embraced Rosedale back, welcoming him with her whole body.
Rosedale hugged Lucas’s neck tighter.
‘Humans are weak, and I was so afraid that my human would be killed by that monster.’
She was overwhelmed with gratitude that her new friend was alive, let alone that he was so impressive.
“Your Majesty!”
Lucas let go of Rosedale as Cain and Burnett rushed over.
Even so, she felt her heart pounding in her chest as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, soothing her.
“Your Majesty, are you alright? Are you okay? Do you hurt?”
Cain’s face turned pale, almost as if he himself were about to die, as he inspected Lucas’s body.
“I’m fine. Stop overreacting.”
Lucas pushed Cain’s face away in annoyance.
Then he turned his gaze to Rosedale. His eyes were somewhat sharp, “Were you not surprised?”
“About what?”
“The way Cain kept calling me ‘Your Majesty.’ You heard it, right, Rosie?”
“Oh…”
‘That’s right. He didn’t know I was aware of his identity.’
Rose Dale, momentarily taken aback, smiled as if nothing had happened.
“When Lucas ran out earlier, Kane kept shouting, ‘Your Majesty, Your Majesty’…”
She was a seasoned veteran who had faced numerous crises in front of Elphis. Observing Lucas’s expression calmly, Rosedale continued.
Perhaps it was her unchanged demeanor that spoke louder than anything else. Taking advantage of the momentum, she turned their attention back to the monster.
“To be honest, I’m more surprised that a demonic creature appeared in the human world than that Lucas is an emperor.”
Cain and Burnett’s eyes widened at her words.
“A demon? That thing?”
Cain was clearly skeptical.
“I thought demons were made up stuff from legends?”
“Not at all. Demons exist. After the gods sealed the Demon King a thousand years ago, demons stopped appearing in the human world, making you disbelieve.”
“That can’t be….”
“So do you think of it as an ordinary beast?”
“…….”
Cain couldn’t refute Rosedale’s words.
The carcass of the creature he now saw was definitely something he’d never seen before. It was inexplicable.
While Cain remained speechless, Lucas turned to her again, “So, Rosie. Can you use magic?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
There are wizards in the human world. There were more of them than there were Sword Masters, so wizards were nothing out of the ordinary in the human world.
Rose Dale confidently answered, only to find herself under the gaze of three men.
Cain looked at her like he had seen a mutant, Burnett was astonished, and Lucas still watched her as if observing.
Something seems off about this, doesn’t it…?
