Emperor of Steel

With Karen’s disappearance, the entire palace turned upside down.

Returning to the palace after being contacted by Erwin, Luke summoned Hwang Bo-sung, the Guard Knight’s commander, and the other chiefs of the East Wing.

“How can such a thing happen here? A kidnapping happened in the palace itself?!”

When the king screamed at them, the knights of the palace were all scared.

“W-we are at fault, Your Majesty.”

“We were all standing on full alert like steel…”

There was a reason why Luke thought it was a kidnapping.

In her current state, Karen couldn’t have acted alone.

‘Who could have kidnapped her? Lich Arsene?’

Considering what happened in the Southern Continent, Arsene seemed to be the most likely one.

At that time, when Luke dealt with the Undead, Arsene himself appeared to attack the Zegal clan.

‘I don’t know if this is the same. Since Hiros failed, he went out and tried to deal with me, but maybe he ended up feeling a strange energy from Karen and decided to take her…’

Luke’s heart was only turning unsteady with his doubts.

“Right away, inform the 1st squad knights to surround Brandon city. She must be unconscious. Keep all of your eyes open and search everywhere.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

As everyone left the room, only Hwang Bo-sung remained.

Luke glanced at him with a snarl.

“What is it, Commander? Is there something you know?”

“Master, maybe Miss Karen disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“The history has been changed, and Miss Karen was born and raised in the time where…”

“Enough!”

At Luke’s shout, Hwang Bo-sung went quiet.

With anger on his face, Luke spoke, “Don’t tell me what you aren’t sure about. Karen saved my life. I plan to think only optimistically till the end when it comes to her.”

“Sorry, Master. My thoughts were narrow.”

Hwang Bo-sung immediately apologized.

He thought that Karen’s existence might have been erased based on the information he received from his future self.

However, that couldn’t be all. Maybe he judged the situation too quickly.

‘Just like His Majesty, I shouldn’t give up so quickly. And until Princess Karen’s whereabouts are confirmed, I need to keep her identity to myself.’

As long as there was even a 1 percent chance of her being alive, he couldn’t go and speak the truth that could jeopardize her entire existence.

Hwang Bo-sung, who thought so, no longer mentioned anything and went out of the room.

‘You shouldn’t disappear just like this, Karen. I haven’t even paid my debts to you.’

Luke truly wished for Karen to be safe.

If not for Karen, Luke wouldn’t have been able to get a hold of the Aether in his body.

If the child hadn’t interfered, he would have been damaged, as in the original history, and would have been defeated by Hiros.

Considering that, Karen didn’t just save Luke’s life, she was someone who changed the fate of Reina and many others.

He wanted to pay her back by treating her as his daughter since the child was all alone in a time that she didn’t belong to, but she suddenly disappeared!

‘This shouldn’t happen, not like this. I need to search for her myself.’

Luke, who stayed calm for an hour, waited for reports to come. However, he couldn’t wait any longer.

However, a report came from the knights of the 1st squad.

“What? Someone witnessed a strange bald man with a girl who looked like Karen?”

“Yes. We asked the farmer who lives outside Brandon, who said he saw them on his way to the field in the morning, and he was sure that it was Karen.”

At the same time, the knight gave Luke a parchment that had the image of the people the farmer saw.

“Base on the color of their skin and their bodies, he was presumed to have come from the Southern Continent.”

‘No, he is…?’

The old man with the parchment.

The others weren’t away, but Luke was able to guess the man at one glance.

The Arahan monk who suddenly appeared and saved his life when he almost died in the Zegal clan.

It was Saint Nanda.

This man had the ability to enter Karen’s room without tipping off the guards and take her away.

He was someone who had the power of God.

‘But why would Saint Nanda do this?’

Why would he need Karen?

Have they known each other? Or did he feel something from Karen and decided to take her on purpose? Or…

‘Enough! Whatever the reason, Karen needs to be found first. That is the only way I can pay the grace of the child back.’

Luke, who thought that, sent a letter to Symphonia Kingdom asking to find Karen and Nanda.

He called Hudson and ordered them to trace the whereabouts of the two.

In the process, he heard an unusual report from Hudson.

“What? Reina fainted? Was it serious?”

“Yes. She lost consciousness when she was traveling around Bless. Seniors of the palace thought of it to be a simple overwork problem to prevent any agitation…”

Even before Hudson could finish what he was saying, Luke disappeared using teleport magic.

Hudson, who panicked after seeing his king disappear, quickly regained his composure.

He was able to guess where his king was headed to.