Emperor of Steel

Within a while, Luke managed to arrive at a narrow alley.

Maybe it was the aftermath of the battle, all the buildings around the alley had collapsed, and there were blood spots on the ground very clearly.

One side were a few bodies whose faces were covered with handkerchiefs.

The groans of the men could be heard while they were being treated by Reina.

“Reina!”

“Ahh, you are okay!”

Seeing Luke alive and well, Reina rushed over to him with tears in her eyes and hugged him.

Luke took a close look at her to see if she had been injured anywhere, and when he was sure that she wasn’t hurt, he yelled at her.

“Didn’t I tell you to step back if something dangerous happened?!”

“But I was worried and I couldn’t stop myself.”

“Huh, Holiness is really a troublesome person.”

Victor and her escorts knights all nodded their heads in agreement.

Bertie, the young lady knight, spoke her heart.

“Your Majesty, Holiness almost treated you as dead. Even if all that was left of you was the body, she insisted on bringing it back with her, and there was no way we’re able to stop her.”

“Retrieve my body… hold on, can’t you at least believe in my skills?”

“They say that a Sword Master can be killed by a sniper arrow.”

“What do you think of me as?! My skills are a lot more than the Sword Master level!”

‘Uhm.’

Karen, who was dozing off along with the injured, opened her eyes at the loud noise around her.

After defeating Baymon, she ended up exhausting all the power in her body and decided to take some rest, and in that time, her father entered the scene and ended up fighting with her mother.

‘They aren’t going to get divorced because of this, right? They can’t!’

She was worried that the history would twist itself, but fortunately, the argument didn’t spread much.

It was because everyone was worried about everyone in the end.

“Well, those dead ones, did they die because of the sudden raid?”

“Some of them are those, but there were those who attacked us and we inevitably killed them.”

Luke was shocked by what Victor said.

“They were the raid team? The Saint Guard knights?”

The Saint Guards was the best division of the Holy Empire and were natural guards for the Pope.

And all the armors of the dead Saint Guards were the ones of paladins.

Then, why would they attack their own Pope?

“They belonged to the 4th squad who were dispatched and managed to survive, they spoke something about the Pope being fake and them serving the real one.”

And those, who were captured without being killed were told to have returned back to their normal forms.

It was because the one who performed the magic, Baymon had died, however, Reina and her party couldn’t figure it out.

“Wh- what all did we do…?!”

“El- El Kassel! Please forgive our sins!”

The paladins of the 4th squad Saint Guards, who remembered what they had done began to shed tears and wailed.

Reina went close to them and comforted them.

“Don’t blame yourself too much because of it. You were brainwashed by the wicked men. And now we need to head down to those who did this and solve this problem.”

Luke, who looked at Reina with a warm smile, soon found a girl who was struggling to move and was shocked.

“Karen! You are Karen, right? Right?”

Karen took a step ahead because she wanted to move and was held by Luke’s hands.

“Why did you disappear without even saying a word to me? And what are you doing here? Did Saint Nanda bring you here?”

Luke looked all over Karen’s body by asking questions one after another.

It was because during her stay in the palace, she looked like her existence was at stake and she would disappear someday.

However, looking at her then, she seemed normal and a little taller than before.

And he could feel a significant amount of Aether in her body, while Luke was taking a closer look at her.

“Her name is Karen?”

Reina suddenly asked and Luke nodded.

“Yes. She was the one who saved me when I was in the crisis that day.”

“I see. And this time she saved me. The man behind all this was attacking and she came here to help…”

Luke was surprised when she heard everything from Reina.

He was wondering who had managed to defeat Baymon and turn him to a mess, but for the person to be Karen!

‘No, it isn’t that strange either. According to Hwang Bo-sung, this child is a genius wizard who was considered as the only hope for the future.’

He wasn’t sure if it was because of Nanda, but Karen seemed to have gotten a little color back in her cheeks.

Maybe he knew what was going on, and that was why she was sent to save Reina.

The zombie incident which had happened wasn’t something which was present in the original timeline, but she was someone from the future, and had enough experience and knew about Arsene.

“Well, I am just glad that you are safe and healthy. You have no idea how worried I was.”

Listening to Luke’s words, Karen could feel herself fill up with joy and grabbed her father’s hand.

She felt it before, when she fought with her mother, that the blood bond was something which wouldn’t be broken, and under any circumstances, they would all come together.

Bang! Bang!

Luke, who was in a warm mood, went stiff when he heard sounds from a distance.

“What was that?”

At Reina’s questions, Luke spoke his thoughts.

“Maybe the Holy Empire’s troops fighting the zombies.”

“Even now? I ordered for their withdrawal.”

“You really think that Arch Duke Gregory would listen to that after what you did?”

From what Luke knew, Arch Duke Gregory was the kind of person who would enter the zombie lair or even the Devildom if it meant to find the Pope.

Thinking so, he smiled.

“This is fun. The Pope who doesn’t listen to her husband and the Chief Commander of the Holy Empire. Such a great match made in heaven.”

“You are being mean! You don’t have to say all that!”

“Hahaha. I guess it was too much. But, did I say anything wrong?”

Luke turned around and looked at Victor, Bertie, and the other knights, who nodded their heads.

“Well, I will go and take a look at the situation of the army, so stay here and wait. Do not move anywhere.”

“Okay, please come back quickly.”

“Karen, Reina, both of you please stay put.”

Karen nodded her head.

Luke stroked Karen’s head and flew to the south where the Holy Empire army was supposedly still in battle.