Ch 108: Remains Of The Divine Kingdom

Aguena selected a few elite soldiers. She didn’t leave immediately but took them to her basement.

“Lord Aguena, what is this?”

“Take them off~”

Seeing the soldiers’ confusion, Aguena decisively ordered them to remove their clothes. These soldiers had never seen such initiative, and immediately stripped down to their underwear.

“Hmm, nice young bodies~”

Aguena examined each one, then turned her back to the group of soldiers.

“Become my puppets~”

The soldiers tilted their heads in confusion, then they found themselves bound hand and foot by many invisible threads.

“Lord Aguena! What are you doing?!”

A soldier cried out in panic, but soon they were unable to call out. Aguena raised her right hand and wiggled her fingers. The invisible threads immediately burrowed under the soldiers’ skin. After a while, they stood stiffly on the ground.

“Very good, they are good pieces~”

Aguena gestured, and the soldiers silently put on their clothes and armor, following her departure.

“Lord Guda has ordered two carriages.”

The soldiers controlled by Aguena went to the station and requisitioned two carriages. The group immediately set off towards Guangyue Town.

————

The perspective returns to Bal.

After lunch, Bal went to work as usual. He still sat in the corner of the hall watching adventurers coming and going. Some powerful adventurers had already put on equipment sold by the Guild. Bal looked at the Guild, which was much livelier than when he first came to Guangyue Town, and smiled contentedly.

“Look at you, you look so stupid. You still don’t give me a good shoulder rub, what are you grinning about?”

Phia sat on Bal’s lap, having him massage her shoulders. Bal looked down at his kitten, gave her a loving kiss, and continued to rub her shoulders.

“I’m happy that this Guild is starting to get lively.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t this lively when we first arrived.”

Just as the couple were feeling sentimental, Randall rushed in. He glanced around, locked onto Bal’s location, and immediately went over.

“Master! Something happened!”

“Take a breath first, speak slowly.”

Bal poured a glass of water for the breathless Randall. After Randall drank it, he took a moment to compose himself, then looked up at Bal.

“We found a mutilated corpse in the forest. Although the person had been eaten by monsters beyond recognition, they had this with them.”

Randall took out a pendant and handed it to Bal. Bal knew immediately that it was the symbol of the Fral God Kingdom.

“How is the corpse now?”

“Still in the forest, Nick and Reynard are guarding it.”

“Let’s go there immediately.”

Bal lifted Phia down, and the two followed Randall out of the city and quickly headed towards the location of the corpse.

“Ugh…”

Upon arriving at the scene, Bal was nauseated by a foul stench. Seeing this, Phia immediately used Wind Magic to dispel the odor. Then, after walking a few steps, they saw Nick and Reynard.

“Master Buck（ Guild Master）, you’re here.”

The two greeted Bal together. They led Bal and Phia to the corpse. A mangled body met their eyes.

“Cause of death?”

“Attacked by a Ghost Tiger.”

Phia immediately recognized the pattern of the wounds on the remaining body. Bal snapped off a twig, held it in his hand, and turned the body over.

“I think it’s more than just a Ghost Tiger. There are scorch marks on this person’s back from being struck by lightning, and it’s winter now; the corpse shouldn’t be this decayed. It looks like they suffered other magical injuries as well. Randall, how did you discover it?”

Bal put down the twig. He stood up and questioned Randall. Phia took the twig and continued to examine it, hoping to find more information.

“We accepted a herb gathering commission from the Guild this morning. After going out, Nick said there was a cluster of herbs nearby, so we came to gather herbs. Then Nick’s companion, Sister Nina, said she needed to relieve herself, so she went to the nearby area. After she finished, she smelled a strange odor, took a look, and screamed, so we ran over to check. The scene was untouched.”

“Where are the others?”

“Katerina and Sera were scared by the corpse, and Nina accompanied them back first. After I accompanied them back, I came to find you.”

“I see…”

Bal looked around, finding no other traces. He crouched down and asked Phia.

“Can you ask using Spirit Communication Magic?”

“No, this person’s soul is also damaged, so I can’t communicate spiritually. But I found this.”

Phia found a metal card from the remains; the card was damaged and only a portion remained. Bal picked up the card and looked at it.

“KEN? Ken? Is this his name?”

“I’m not sure, but he doesn’t look like a local resident. Look at his clothes; they’re typical God’s Country clothing. He must have come from God’s Country.”

“An exile from God’s Country?”

Randall glanced at it and voiced his guess.

“It shouldn’t be. Exiles wouldn’t dress like this. His clothes are high-end goods with excellent magic conductivity. Generally, exiles wouldn’t be allowed to wear such clothes when exiled.”

“Could it be a spy?”

Nick also began to guess the person’s identity.

“Possible, but not very likely. Spies are mostly thieves, but he’s clearly a magician. And why would a spy be attacked here?”

Everyone was at a loss for a moment. Bal then suggested.

“Let’s burn him; otherwise, if he’s affected by the monster’s magic and becomes an undead creature, it’ll be troublesome. Take anything useful.”

“I guess so.”

Phia agreed with Bal’s statement. This was in the Northwest of Guangyue Town, near the Death Mountain Range, where the monsters were extremely ferocious. The corpse would be corrupted into an undead creature by the magic if left here.

Everyone quickly gathered anything of investigative value, then Phia used Flame Magic to quickly burn the body. Seeing that there was nothing else around, they returned.

After work, Bal told Anda to remember to lock the door, and he and Phia went home first. Upon returning home, they called Nia and Grey to the study, letting Xiaoyue accompany Philia.

“How much do you know about the people of God’s Country?”

After Bal made the arrangements, he entered and began to ask the two.

“What do you mean?”

The two looked quite bewildered. Why were they suddenly talking about God’s Country? Bal placed the damaged metal card and clothing fragments in front of them.

“Randall and the others found a mutilated corpse this morning. The corpse had been magically attacked; these are his belongings.”

Nia picked up the card and looked at it; she remembered someone.

“Ken? Could it be Kenny?”

“You know him?”

Phia and Bal saw Nia’s reaction and immediately leaned in.

“Not particularly well, but I know him. Kenny was a Grand Archmage serving in the Great Temple. He was a kind person; he shouldn’t have ended up like this.”

“Can he use Teleportation Magic?”

Phia continued to question.

“I remember he could use Teleportation Magic, but he shouldn’t have been here, right?”

Nia thought for a moment, then stated the fatal flaw of Teleportation Magic: It wouldn’t work unless the caster had been to the destination.

Phia also knew this, so she sat back in her chair.

“Kenny… I remember he seemed to have a connection to Guda.”

Grey recalled his past memories. He remembered that he seemed to have heard Kenny’s name when he was eavesdropping on Guda.

Grey’s words put everyone in the room on high alert.

“Then it seems like we have a big problem.”

Bal sat on the sofa, his head down in thought. He felt that Kenny’s death here might attract people from God’s Country, and then he remembered something.

“Could it be that Kenny was the one who helped Philia escape? What did Kenny look like?”

“He had black hair, but not black eyes.”

Bal began to guess that Kenny had betrayed Guda for some reason and escaped God’s Country with Philia, but was seriously injured by Guda’s subordinates during the escape. He used some method to take Philia to the forest Northwest of Guangyue Town, hiding her to protect her, and luring away the monsters himself. The reason Philia calls him Father might be because she recognized Kenny’s hair color and mistook him for Kenny.

After Bal stated his thoughts, Grey spoke.

“If that’s the case, people from God’s Country might investigate here in a few days; you must be careful. I remember Guda has many powerful subordinates; he will definitely send people secretly to investigate.”

“I understand. It seems there’s a lot to do lately.”

Bal got up and went out; Phia followed. Nia sat on the sofa, watching them leave, and shouted.

“Where are you going?”

“To cook!”