Emperor of Steel

While Luke went out of the empty estate, a group of masked men crossed the wall of the Devil King’s castle.

Masked people in leather clothing which was clinging to their bodies, showed their slender shape and dark hair.

They entered the Castle, along with the burning incense in their hands.

“Hum! Why am I feeling dizzy all of a sudden?”

“Suddenly, i feel dizzy…”

As the sleep incense spread, the refugees who were patrolling the devil’s castle fell down.

Those who fell down were drifting into sleep.

‘Huck! This is…!’

‘The princess is in danger!’

Some of the soldiers who had worked for the princess in the past at the Volga knew that something was wrong, and tried their best to get up.

However, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t help but fall down.

The masked men after silencing the residents, began to search the castle earnestly.

And then, in one room, they found princess Reina.

“The great Lord El Kassel, mother of the Earth, Belize! Please make sure that the young Lord Luke doesn’t lose his path…”

Reina was looking at the night sky from her window and was praying.

Since the moment she had come to Rakan, she always prayed for Luke.

She wished that he wouldn’t be in any danger and that his people would be able to see peace once again.

Of course, she didn’t know if the gods and the goddess would look after him.

But never once did she abstained a day to pray for him.

It was right when she was praying.

Suddenly, a sweet smell entered her nose.

“Huh? this scent…?”

Reina, who looked over at the door due to the smell, fell asleep not knowing why.

When she fell, the masked men entered the room.

One of them took out a parchment from his hand and opened it.

The paper had the face of princess Reina in it.

“This is the woman.”

“Then, let’s take her.”

Reina who was asleep was carried out of her room and the castle.

Shik! Shik?

Their footsteps through the forest and the fields, all happened very fast.

Their movements happened for meters and they moved like a slender deer.

Moreover, even as they ran all through the night, they didn’t seem to be tired at all.

Running for two days to the north, they rested at the valley for the first time since their departure.

“Is the princess still asleep?”

“No, it is almost time for her to wake up.”

Reina groaned as she was waking up.

When she woke up, she looked at the masked men who were looking down at her, she was surprised but tried to retain her calmness.

An ordinary woman when kidnapped would have cried and screamed.

“Did Count Monarch urge you to do this?”

“You think we take orders from such lower-class nobles?”

Reina shook her head at the unexpected answer from the masked man.

“Then who are you? I’m not proud of it, but I have never had a special grudge with anyone till this time.”

She was called as the priestess of Lamer.

They would have favored her, but no one else had a grudge on her except for Monarch.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Then, where are you taking me?”

“I can’t tell you that either.”

“Then, are you going to kill me?”

“No. we won’t kill you, but I don’t know how you will be treated.”

The masked men’s attitude was cold and stern.

But, there was no malice in their words.

Reina was feeling stuffy as she couldn’t escape, and neither did she know the reason why she had been kidnapped.

“Eat.”

When she was on the verge of tears, one of the masked men gave her a plate with dry bread and fruit.

He loosened the rope a bit so she could eat it for herself.

“Don’t want it.”

“Then starve.”

Laying the plate right there, the others began to fill their hunger.

But there was something weird.

The others were different, but they were eating herbs, fruits, and nuts.

“Not an elf but we’ll have to fill our hunger…!”

Reina, who was watching them looked rather surprised. And she shouted at them pointing her finger.

“You, you are all not humans!”

They were obviously elves or dark elves. No, they were dark elves, because they had black hair.

“Why would dark elves…?”

As she figured out the identity of the people, her question just deepened. It was because she had no contact with the fairies.

While she was still in doubt, the masked men, who were done with their meal, got up and began to move again.

By day, they traversed the unused paths of mountains and forests, and at night they crossed fields and plains for fastest movement possible.

They were just heading all the time.

“No, Volga Republic?”

Continuing from the Baroque Empire to the North was the Volga republic.

Reina just spoke it out loud to confirm, the dark elves who were very cold to her twitched a little at her words.

She was right about the Volga Republic.

Sylvia, the chief of Volga intelligence have given them the orders to bring in Princess Reina for the Earth’s Tears.

As a result, they had to go to the faraway Rakan.

“No, I don’t want to! Put me down! I can’t die just yet!”

Reina who knew the destination was Volga Republic, thought that they wanted to take her life, and struggled.

There have been rumors that the Volga Republic had been kidnapping the Old Volga nations’ royal families and killing them after brutal torture.

Reina was just beginning to settle in with the refugees, she was enjoying the life with her people, she didn’t want to die just yet.

“You’re turning into a pain. Shut your mouth!”

As the words of the masked man were heard, another pulled a black cloth out of his hand.

This time they used it to close Reina’s mouth.

“Get your hands off. If you touch her with that dirty hands of yours even after saying this, you won’t be able to die even if you want to.”

The voice of a man could be heard from the sky.

He was none other than Luke.