DKIE CH43: Capital City

The two bodies were not warm, but the hand was almost sweating from being held, showing how much force was used.

Luka’s breathing was a bit rapid. Under the gaze of the gray eyes, he released his numb fingers.

“Sorry.”

When he sat up, his head was still dizzy.

Quill Pen turned and walked to the table. A moment later, he handed over a cup of warm tea.

The fragrance of the flower tea had a certain calming effect. Luka managed to take two sips and finally felt a little better.

Only then did Quill Pen speak, “Fainting and palpitations during the process of soul repair are normal phenomena. Don’t worry.”

Hearing the words “soul repair,” those complex images instantly lingered in his mind again.

Luka lowered his eyes and stared at the unfurling petals in the cup. He wanted to say something but didn’t know where to start.

He hesitated, but in the end, he still recounted what had happened while he was unconscious.

Quill Pen just listened without speaking.

The air was quiet for half a minute until Luka broke the silence, “You don’t seem very surprised?”

Quill Pen nodded, “I told you before, the virtual image is just a carrier of my knowledge and part of my memory, spreading knowledge through diaries over a long period of time.”

Luka almost wanted to applaud him. What a great way to have students all over the world.

“It’s like a sophisticated instrument. Every time I recover a part, I can return to a different level of reserves. But when we first met…”

Quill Pen paused. At that time, he couldn’t have been more surprised.

“The virtual image directly passed the faith cultivation method to you.”

There is no such thing as an unprovoked gift in the world. It was highly probable that there was some intersection between them in the past.

His only connection to this world was those manuscripts.

“But I’m a little surprised that you’re willing to talk about these things.”

In a sense, they were both extremely suspicious characters, more accustomed to keeping important matters to themselves.

Luka: “Yes, I’ve grown a mouth.”

“…”

After a couple of exchanges, Luka’s expression relaxed slightly, but his mind was actually in a mess.

He tried his best to sort things out.

That child must have been the original body as a child. The demon race had a large collection of books, and the child spent every day buried in books. It was not strange that he happened to see a diary of Alex’s.

The problem was that those who had read the diary before, no matter which race, had long since paid the price for their greed.

Otherwise, if Quill Pen were to rally now, there would be at least a hundred thousand death warriors.

Could it be that the child had stopped when he was ahead? He hadn’t offered his soul to unlock the later content.

Impossible.

Luka’s eyes darkened. He had desperately read books to solve his physical problems. He couldn’t have let this opportunity go.

Quill Pen had said that there was once a person who did not suffer a loss in a transaction.

Could that person be himself?

Luka suddenly took a sharp breath. Unconsciously, he had actually equated himself with the original body as one person.

There were some things Luka had always refused to think about in detail.

For example, how could it be such a coincidence that the transmigrator and the one being transmigrated looked exactly the same, and he happened to be an orphan in the modern world, with very vague memories before the age of ten.

Luka tried hard to recall, but his head was splitting.
…I don’t want to work hard anymore.

“Forget it. From today on, I will supervise your struggle,” Luka said, getting up and steadying himself, then firmly gripping Quill Pen’s shoulder. “Hurry up and restore all your knowledge and memory. Don’t be lazy.”

It was still the same sentence.

Turn back into your original self, Alex!

Quill Pen: “…”

Do you even hear what you’re saying?

Gurgle. Luka only heard his stomach say it was hungry.

He looked down in confusion. Mages could not reach the realm of fasting, but it was generally fine not to eat for three to five days. How could he be so hungry that his stomach was growling?

As if thinking of something, Luka swallowed and asked, “How long was I unconscious?”

Quill Pen: “Today is the seventh day.”

Luka took a breath, making sure he hadn’t misheard.

Then wasn’t the hunt about to end!

“During the time you were unconscious, there were a total of three assassinations by demon generals, two poisonings, and two plague attacks on the city.”

Luka counted on his fingers, “Not a single day was idle.”

Quill Pen said lightly, “Assassination was not the main purpose. You suddenly disappeared from the world, so they probably came to check the situation.”

Luka’s expression was subtle. It had been less than a week. How could he have evaporated?

Quill Pen simply put it plainly, “If you don’t cause trouble for three days, they think you’re dead.”

“!!!”

What are you talking about!

After simply casting a cleaning spell, Luka went out and called the guild hall staff to deliver a meal. He had only taken a few bites when the lord of Red Banyan City arrived.

Luka saw some surprise in his eyes.

“You don’t think I’m dead too, do you?”

The lord of Red Banyan City only said, “The newspaper headlines haven’t updated your news for almost a week.”

Apart from bad news, he couldn’t think of any other possibility.

Luka put down his knife and fork.

Thank you, but no news is not the same as an obituary.

“I asked a friend in the capital to inquire. It’s basically certain that you are the winner this time.”

The lord of Red Banyan City stated the fact that he still hadn’t fully digested.

He had a lot to do in a day. Coming over specially naturally meant there were other important matters. “It is estimated that tomorrow evening, the Blood Demon Guards will come to take you to the capital.”

The results of the hunt would be officially announced by the Demon King in the capital. Not just Luka, all participating princes had to be present.

The Blood Demon Guards were the most trusted and powerful team under the Demon King.

During the Demon King’s pilgrimage, this team accompanied him. It was the scene Luka had seen before he was struck by lightning: hellfire horses, fallen demonesses, and evil undead all rampaging in the sky.

Unlike well-trained and obedient troops, the Blood Demon Guards were lawless. They liked to torture prisoners of war and attack all forces that opposed the Demon King.

“Be careful,” the lord of Red Banyan City said, looking at Luka with some sympathy.

Outsiders could not enter the capital without permission, and the main city did not have a teleportation array open to the public. This meant that after teleporting to the nearest city to the capital, the other party would have to spend some time alone with the Blood Demon Guards.

“I will. Speaking of which, I haven’t seen my dear father king for a while.”

The last meeting was not too pleasant. I wonder how it will end this time.

The corners of Luka’s mouth were hooked up, but his eyes were filled with mockery.

The night passed quickly. The next day, the actual arrival time of the Blood Demon Guards was much earlier than the lord of Red Banyan City had expected.

Luka first went to find Berlanie, thanked him for his help during this period, and said the old saying, “See you in the papers.”

Berlanie, who was just about to give some instructions: “…”

His long, sharp gaze swept over, but Berlanie did not see Quill Pen’s figure. “Where is your personal bodyguard?” he asked, stressing the word “bodyguard.”

Berlanie was not at ease letting Luka go to the Holy City alone. He had long since discovered that Quill Pen’s aura was difficult to capture. During the explosion, Luka had not worried about the other’s safety at all, which meant that he subconsciously believed he had the ability to deal with a major crisis.

This time, it was Luka’s turn to be silent.

He’s right here.

“We will meet in the capital city,” he said.

Only then was Berlanie satisfied.

Early in the morning, there were not many pedestrians on the streets.

When Luka arrived, he found that the lord of Red Banyan City’s face was more solemn than usual. The other high-ranking officials of Red Banyan City were standing around, and the captain of the guard who had brought him over was also a bit unnatural.

Just as he was thinking about the reason, an impatient voice came, “What took you so long?”

The voice did not come from a person, but from a very spirited horse.

The steed’s tail was composed of countless protruding blood vessels. Within the entangled interior, one could see the flow of a lava-like liquid.

The giant horse, over three meters tall, looked down on people with a disdainful gaze. It was directly under the Demon King. Even a prince would have to give it some face. Towards an unfavored prince, its tail was even higher in the sky.

The lord of Red Banyan City said with a sigh, “Only one Blood Demon Guard came.”

He had thought that after Iliad had shown his value, the Demon King might look at him differently. However, reality was cruel.

In previous years, the hot favorite to win the championship was escorted by at least two major teams of Blood Demon Guards, entering the capital in glory.

Only one Blood Demon Guard was unprecedented.

Luka walked slightly in front of the hellfire horse. The scene looked very bleak.

When he raised his head, he smiled, revealing a row of small white teeth.

Without any warning, Luka raised his hand and slapped the horse’s butt heavily:

“You dare to be arrogant with just a single horse?!”

He had thought he would have to endure it all the way. Who knew only one Blood Demon Guard would come.

One.

Then he could knead it into any shape he wanted.

The butt was burning hot. The hellfire horse froze completely.

After a long while, it reacted. It had actually, actually been slapped on the butt by a half-breed!

The most terrifying thing about a hellfire horse was its flame. The entire process of spraying it only took a few tenths of a second. Just as the scorching heat was about to erupt, Luka’s speed was even faster. He had already started casting a spell when he slapped it.

Truth, launch!

The results of his recent shrinking spell practice were very good. The compressed light ball of faith shot straight at the hellfire horse. It stopped just in time, and the horse’s hooves retreated more than a thousand meters.

The side effects of this move still existed. Luka’s cheeks were a little pale.

But he took the initiative to walk towards the horse.

This approach, on the contrary, made the hellfire horse not dare to act rashly.

The two were soon at a very close distance. Although it could burn a person to a skeleton with a single breath of fire, the hellfire horse did not move for a long time.

Three seconds ago, it had been locked on by a terrifying aura.

Looking down, a quill pen dotted with blood was pointing at its heart and lung tube position.

Luka had long since thought of an excuse to prevaricate, “The dragon race gave it to me for self-defense.”

“Remember, without a team, you will be beaten to death.”

Hellfire Horse: “!”

This was completely different from what he had imagined!

Shouldn’t it be the neglected prince who followed him in fear and trepidation, all the way to the capital in a cowardly manner?

Not to mention that’s what it thought, but the surrounding high-ranking officials and demon generals also thought so.

The dazed expression didn’t last long before it turned into astonishment. They saw Luka step on a wind vortex, leap onto the horse, and then whistle.

“Fly! My horse~”

The hellfire horse twisted its body crazily.

Luka said softly, “Want to try the taste of explosion again?”

On the other side, the quill pen easily broke the skin.

With the dual threat of the explosion and the quill pen, the hellfire horse’s struggles gradually subsided.

“Just you wait,” it seemed to be struggling, but it had actually secretly sent a message to its kind, preparing to gang up on him a hundred times over when they reached the capital.

The horse trod on fire, like a meteor streaking across the daytime sky.

Because of the previous explosion, the originally deserted street now had many figures.

“Look, a hellfire horse!”

“There seems to be a demon on it.”

The slender figure could have been ignored, but the demons living in the central city had high magical levels and extremely sharp eyesight. They saw the figure above at a glance.

Although they couldn’t see the face clearly, they had already roughly guessed.

“It’s His Highness Iliad.” The hunt was about to end, and the princes would all be taken to the capital.

A child looked at the sky excitedly, pulling on his parent’s sleeve and shouting, “Ahhh, so majestic! I want to be as powerful as His Highness in the future!”

High in the sky, Luka was responsible for his own life safety, “We’ll borrow a teleportation array from a random city later.”

Of course, the hellfire horse would not listen to his command. It even tried to throw him off several times.

“My good grandmother tampered with the teleportation array and sent over a hundred suicide bombers. What, do you want to be barbecued?”

Princess Mary’s reputation for being crazy was well-known. The hellfire horse weighed its options and chose to follow its heart.

When arranging the route, Luka’s gaze downwards froze for a moment.

The wind howled, and the morning sun was rising.

Since ancient times, looking down on one’s territory was the easiest way to breed ambition.

A strong thought suddenly emerged in Luka’s mind. He wanted to one day walk freely on this land, no longer threatened by any force, and have his name sung under the stars.
…

The same ambition was also breeding in the hearts of the other princes, and it had been for quite some time, over a decade.

In the past ten years, the princes had been summoned to the capital more than once, but none of them had been more irritable than now.

The third prince was in a relatively good mood.

“Fortunately, I agreed to make a deal with Alec to exchange wealth earlier.”

At least this hunt was not too much of a loss.

Thinking of Alicia, who was still immersed in her grandmother’s story, and Alec, who had lost both the lady and the soldiers, he was happy again.

The fourth prince, who was traveling with him, was about to say something when a strong demonic aura made the rest of his words get stuck in his throat.

From behind came waves of laughter that were enough to make one’s bones melt. The wheels of a carriage rolled over the ground, the sound heavy and hard. The two different sound waves began to intertwine.

They turned around one after another. A treasure carriage exuding an extraordinary aura was coming towards them.

The body of the carriage was completely forged from rare magic stones, and the cost was high. The family crest was carved on the side.

“There are actually a hundred fallen demonesses escorting.” Among the Blood Demon Guards, the fallen demonesses had the highest status.

Such a standard was far beyond the treatment of an ordinary prince.

The third prince recognized this as the crest of Alec’s family at a glance.

Even for Alec, wasn’t this treatment a bit exaggerated?

Suddenly, his ears twitched. He heard a faint, low cough from inside the carriage.

The third prince’s expression changed, and he whispered a few words to the fourth prince.

“What? You said Prince Nordin is here?”

The third prince made a shushing gesture.

Prince Nordin, Alec’s biological father, was seriously injured in a battle many years ago and had not yet recovered. Under his seemingly polite appearance was a demon with a gloomy disposition.

Thump thump thump.

The demonesses suddenly stopped their strange, charming laughter. The two princes stopped talking at the same time and saw a hellfire horse descend from the sky and gallop past them.

The hellfire horse was actually being ridden!

The commotion seemed to have startled Alec as well. He lifted the window to look.

In an instant, Alec’s eyes went wide.

There were no reins, but the quill pen served as the best reins. If it didn’t cooperate, it would be a direct stab to the main artery.

The hellfire horse’s thick and overly long mane concealed the threatening weapon. To anyone looking, they could only see Luka leaning low, riding the horse with a飒爽 air.

Flying was forbidden within ten thousand meters of the capital, just like the Boulder City. They could only travel by land.

Having been ridden all the way, and having gone to a city in the middle to borrow a teleportation array under countless astonished gazes, the hellfire horse was now numb.

Luka’s demonic whispers sounded from time to time, “My demon domain, my horse.”

The hellfire horse’s lungs were about to explode with anger.

It had already sensed the aura of its kind, ambushing nearby. It would pay him back a hundred times over later.

Just as it was thinking, a sharp pain suddenly came from its butt.

Luka had, at some point, taken out the arrows he had used before from his storage ring and stabbed forcefully to the side.

The hellfire horse’s defense was very strong, but unfortunately, the power of faith specifically countered hellfire. The arrow, wrapped in the power of faith, pierced in. Under the pain, the hellfire horse was stimulated to its most instinctive reaction, running wildly like a storm.

Beasts often had a stronger group. The group that was still in ambush immediately rushed out upon seeing this.

Capital City.

The guards were proudly checking the identities of outsiders one by one when they suddenly felt a terrifying tremor in the ground.

A demon in the long queue at the back suddenly showed a horrified expression, “What is that?”

His body had already dodged instinctively before his mind could process it.

“My god!” More and more demons noticed the terrifying scene and moved aside.

The royal relatives and nobles who had just cut in line also saw the situation behind them, and their faces all changed.

A thousand meters away, a youth on a horse was leading the way, leading tens of thousands of hellfire horses, galloping towards the city gate.

The entire city gate was trembling with the ground.

Riding against the wind, the horse’s mane stood on end, or more accurately, it stood up due to anger.

Luka regretted not getting a powerful laxative from the pharmacist. Otherwise, he would definitely have left a strong and colorful scene for the capital.

“Have the humans invaded?”

This thought instinctively arose in the minds of the queuing demons, but it was quickly overturned.

This was the capital. Hellfire horses were even less likely to be the vanguard of the human race.

Suddenly, someone remembered something, “Today is the day the princes enter the city. Could it be one of the princes…”

Before his voice had finished falling, he saw that the black-haired youth had already arrived at the city gate.

It was Iliad!

Rubbing their eyes to make sure they weren’t mistaken, the demons were all dumbfounded. Was he this cool?

Finally reaching the destination, the hellfire horse roared, “You’re dead.”

“Am I?” Luka was not nervous at all. He dismounted calmly amidst the angry glares.

After leaving a harsh word, he suddenly bolted, rushing towards the safe zone not far away.

The Blood Demon Guards were directly under the Demon King. Before the hunt ended, they were of course also constrained by the rules and could not attack him unless he struck first.

The thousand or so hellfire horses were probably trying to block him outside the capital, thus preventing him from entering the city.

At that time, he would become the laughingstock of the entire capital.

The hellfire horse brandished its lava-like tail threateningly. Behind Luka was like a sea of fire.

He just waved his hand gently and, without turning his head, recited the famous line, “I wave my sleeve, not taking away a single cloud.”

The roaring became even more terrifying. For a moment, the ‘background wall’ turned even redder.

Luka: “See, I’m truly of good and honest stock.”

The quill pen, temporarily tucked in his sleeve: “…”

Luka entered the city first, and the princes behind him were unlucky. A large number of hellfire horses were blocking the gate. This race had strong combat power, but their intelligence was much lower.

They felt they had lost face by leaving and wanted to regain it but hadn’t figured out what to do yet.

At the city gate, the traffic was severely congested.

Even the prince’s beast carriage couldn’t get in.

__

Author’s note:

Excerpt from Luka’s diary:
There was originally a road in the world. After I walked it, there was no road left.
Alex: …