Chapter 91.

“At last, we're finally back,” Lucas said as soon as they emerged from the fog and saw the huge figure of the city wall looming in the far distance.

“And let’s just hope that no one has noticed we've been gone for several hours,” Michael added sternly, as he appeared behind Lucas.

“Don’t jinx it,” Lucas warned. “We were only gone for two hours. No one should have noticed us missing in that short amount of time,” he said confidently, fully convinced that his thoughts were correct. But this conviction would soon be overturned.

As soon as they entered the mansion’s gate, they met Sir Kiel, who was looking at them with undisguised hostility and impatience.

“And where the hell did both of you go?” Kiel said.

“Ah, we were just walking around the city looking for anything wrong, so that once we returned, there would be less work to do,” Lucas replied, trying to hide the fact that they had gone out of the city during these trying times and exposed themselves to danger while his father and the others were away.

“LIES!” Sir Kiel shouted in anger, sprinting towards them before grabbing both of their shoulders.

“TELL ME, WHERE DID BOTH OF YOU GO DURING THIS TIME? DO BOTH OF YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD NOT KNOW THAT YOU WERE GONE FOR A FEW HOURS?” Kiel said, his face contorting with anger, causing both Lucas and Michael to flinch and cold sweat to appear on their backs.

“J-Just outside,” Michael stammered, but he was immediately cut off by Kiel.

“You know what? Never mind. We have more important things to deal with than reprimanding both of you for playing around.” He said, immediately bringing them to the city to face their people.

“Many people have been looking for the two of you to show yourselves, and I know that you've already roamed around, assuring everyone about their safety, but they still want to see all of us doing our patrol together with our regular soldiers,” Kiel explained as they walked and watched the people clean up the mess, the result of the attack two days ago.

Although they had indeed protected the city from the invasion of mutated creatures, the failure of their first defense line had resulted in the huge destruction of the outer circle of the city. Many buildings and houses were destroyed, razing a quarter of their city to the ground.

“Aren’t we going to help them with the cleanup?” Lucas asked as they passed people demolishing a building.

“We're already short of people, and as much as we want to help them clear the debris, the entire city is still a mess, and most of our soldiers are tasked with guarding the walls and patrolling the city,” Kiel said, his gaze turning towards the ruins.

“But I think this destruction is a blessing in disguise,” he added, causing Lucas and Michael to look at him with puzzled expressions.

“And what makes you say that?” Lucas asked in utter disbelief, his face showing shock.

“That’s not something we should say around people who just lost their homes,” Michael said, frowning.

This is also the time he heard the familiar voice of the child in his mind.

“I think this man has a few loose screws on his head, and by the way, is this your home? Why does everything look so primitive?” Milo, the metallic cube that had fused with him, said in his mind, causing him to pause for a short time.

“Milo, can you see what's around me?” Lucas asked in his mind, causing Milo to scoff at him.

“Pshh! Isn’t it obvious? Wait, do you think I’m blind? I’m not just a normal artifact, ok? You can’t see any other magic artifact around this world that has its own mind,” Milo replied.

“Of course not, I just thought that you needed to materialize the cube before you could see what was going on around me.”

“You don’t really have to do that, showing the cube to people would only increase the chance of me being discovered. I can just do it on my own using the feedback from the surrounding mana. Like this.” Milo responds as he releases a very small pulse of energy that interacts with the surrounding mana.

Only Milo and Lucas can see the detailed interaction ongoing in their field as Milo project it on Lucas mind. Like how a computer can show you holographic details of something.

“Wait, that’s weird.” Milo suddenly said as he goes silent.

“Did you find something?” He asks but Lucas doesn’t receive a response.

“Milo? Hello? Are you still there?”

Unknown to Lucas, Milo has detected something unusual buried underneath their city causing him to go silent mode as he scanned it with full power and investigate it. Lucas was about to continue nagging Milo on his mind but he was taken aback when Kiel shakes his shoulder.

“Master Lucas, are you still here with us?” Lucas heard as soon as he woke up from his stupor.

He usually goes into a daydreaming state as soon as he speaks with Milo within his mind, as time goes by differently in Milo’s consciousness. Because as Milo had said before, time goes 12 times faster in the cube's consciousness than in the real world. Causing some delays in Lucas response.

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As his brain is still not able to adjust to the conflict within the time difference between the two worlds.

“Ye-Yes, of course, I’m still here.”

Both Kiel and Michael stares at him with worried looked pasted on their face. It is unusual for them to find Lucas in this state, Michael was worried that it has something to do with the cube that they found inside of that frozen cave, and Kiel was concerned that Lucas is not on his right mind because of the absence of his father and the other knight.

Kiel knows how heavy the responsibility is currently on Lucas shoulders, and a young man like him isn’t prepared to face a challenge like this.

“I know that all of us here are worried about your father’s absence but being worried senseless about them would not help us in any way. What we all need right now is cooperation. That’s the only thing we can help your father.” Kiel strictly said to them, scolding them about their activities for this day.

“I’m sorry, I’m just not in my best state right now.” Lucas answered as Michael anxiously stares at him. Worried that the cube has something to do with it.

“I understand. After all, I’m also not happy that I wasn’t part of that mission but I also understand that each of us has our own part in saving the city. Your father needs to do that in order to end this invasion, and leaving you behind is his only choice to keep you safe from danger.” Kiel explains as they now enter the soldier’s barracks.

“Look, It’s them. Sir Kiel finally found them.”

“It’s sir Michael and master Lucas. They’re finally here.”

The soldiers said around them as soon as they enter the barracks, relief can be heard from their voices.

“Are you guys looking for us?” Lucas said to one of the soldiers, concerned that their disappearance have caused some trouble for them.

“We thought something bad happen to both of you. Sir Kiel has ordered us to secretly search for you young master. We thought that you secretly followed your father in the enchanted forest and sir Kiel is contemplating whether to look for the two of you.”

Hearing his answer caused Lucas to frown, he never expected that people would find them going missing in just a short time.

“My father strictly forbid me to never leave the city and besides he asks me to guard the city while he was away. So, you guys have nothing to worry about I’m not going to leave you all.” Lucas said in response to soldiers worry.

But his sentence didn’t earn him any positive looks from Michael and Kiel as both of them stares at him with scrutiny. Kiel knows that Michael is just covering up their absence and he doesn’t have the plan to reveal that to these soldiers who was worried sick knowing that they had gone missing.

Kiel thought that they must have done something important during the short time they have gone missing, like a secret mission that only his lord and these two boys knows.

“I think it would be better if you guys can stay on the city wall, in that way people would see your presence reassuring them of their safety. I alone would not be enough to calm them all down.” Kiel recommends as they finished the briefing with the soldiers.

In the Briefing Lucas finally knows important details and events, Like how many buildings were destroyed during the invasion and how much fresh and dried food they have in storage.

“3,000 barrels of beer? 500 barrels of wine, 11 tons of dried fish and 5 tons of blocks of cheese, and a few dozen acres of fresh vegetables. This is our most abundant supply as of right now? Lucas questioned with an incredulous look on his face.

“Why do we have so many alcoholic beverages in stock?”

Which, Kiel answered immediately. “During the first week of the invasion, it seems like the farm have a sudden case of growth spurt causing our crops to mature earlier than usual allowing us to harvest them several times, but now that we have an excess supply of these crops we now risking it spoiling in our storage. So in order to lessen the loss we have come up with this plan, ferment them all to convert them into alcoholic drinks.” Kiel said proudly of their achievements.

“This also says that a quarter of our city is now totally destroyed and needs to be rebuilt. That’s right, you mentioned earlier that this is a good thing, but can you explain to me why. I don’t understand how the destruction of our city is a blessing in disguise.” Lucas asks Kiel as they now stand at the top of the reconstructed city wall overlooking the city.

“Because we could show this as proof of how hard our life is during the fog invasion. Do you think that people from the outside would leave us alone once they find out that we are safe, despite being trapped inside this fog for 2 months? Of course not.” Kiel explains as he stretches his right arm to present to them the Florentine city.

“Just imagine this scene in your mind, the fog was gone and the city was completely intact without any damage during these two months of invasion from the fog and mutated creatures. Surely, the kingdom would have doubts about how we can survive this, they would definitely send someone to investigate. And that would not be fine for your father, because that person would definitely compete for the authority of this land.”

“I see. So, that’s how you figure out the kingdom would respond to us surviving this invasion.” Lucas affirmed as Michael nods his head.

“That is just one of the possible scenarios to happen once this fog is gone. I just hope that they could return safely from their mission.”

“I have hundred percent trust that your father would go back with us today, together with the other knights dragging the trophy of their victory.” Kiel said determinedly and as soon as he finished, the fog trapping their city started to banish.

“SIR KIEL!”

“SIR MICHAEL!”

“YOUNG MASTER!” The soldier calls their name at the same time.

“LOOK! LOOK AT THAT, THE FOG, THE FOG IS BANISHING.” Announced by one of the soldiers in a loud voice causing some commotion on the soldier guarding the wall.

“They did it, they won, and they finally managed to find an end to this fog.” Kiel said happily as they now await for the return of their lord and his knights.

“We should announce this in the city and let’s prepare a grand welcome for their return.” Lucas ordered as soon as they finished celebrating the banishment of the fog.

“I told you, Lord Hubert would never fail us.”

“He is the strongest knight for a reason dealing with this fog is just easy for them.”

“Yeah, that’s right. The Turox kingdom didn’t even send us any help to solve this problem, only sir Hubert managed to resolve this issue.”

“We also have a lot of strong knights in the territory and with all of them going on a mission to solve this invasion, only prove how difficult this fight is.”

“I believe that sir Hugo would finally allow us to celebrate and drink to our heart's content. Two months ban on alcohol is already driving me crazy.” An old soldier said as he happily raise his hands.

This is just one of the few things that Lucas heard from the soldier said around him. Praising his father and his knight for their contribution to ending this madness.

The only thing that Lucas wants to do now is to wait for their return.

“I can finally rest my worry at least now we know that they are successful with their mission.” Lucas said towards Michael standing beside him.

“And we better prepare ourselves for both of us would definitely receive a scolding from him. I have no plans to hide what happens in that cave so you better prepare a good explanation of that cube.” Michael warns.

“I know, and Father would definitely understand the importance of our discovery in that frozen cave.” Lucas whispered as they now gazed at the huge ruined land surrounding their city.

Even the soldiers who are happily celebrating the banishment of the fog have now gone quiet, solemnly staring at the devastation it has caused to their territory.