"Young duke!"

"Seriously? What are you?"

Robert shouted after he carried the two weak knights who couldn't even defend themselves from the attack of the strange being.

The roof of the mansion is almost gone now as the exchange of attacks destroyed anything it landed on.

"You fucking worthless knights! hide somewhere that won't hinder me!" Robert exclaimed while he threw the two knights into a safe area of the mansion.

The knights admired their commander for thinking of them even if Robert was in a pinch.

They nodded their heads and hurried away from the fight scene.

"Can't he talk because he does not have a mouth?" Robert mumbled while he looked back to where the strange being was flying.

It stopped attacking after Robert had distanced himself for a few meters, as if he could not be seen by it.

"Is he some kind of defective mutant? chimera?"

Robert starts to wonder what kind of being he is against. He needed to know for him to plan what kind of attack and fight he needed to do, but no matter how much he thought about it, he could never figure it out until he gave up and chose to attack once again, but this time he was not using his aura anymore.

Clang!

His sword clashed with the strange being's arm again, as if it were solid steel.

"Are you a man of steel? hmm!"

Simultaneously, he kicked the strange being on its stomach, but his boots became stuck to it, as if its stomach were made of slime.

"Fuck!"

Robert hurriedly removed his foot from his boot and flew far away again to the strange being, causing his boot to be eaten by the strange being's stomach.

"He absorb the boot? Wait? If he is the type to eat and destroy, why the hell would he murder the former duke and duchess like that? Isn't it him who did those?"

Fortunately, the strange being doesn't move to its place once Robert has made his distance from it. That gives him time to think. After wondering through some scenarios, Robert slowly approached what he considered a dangerous distance and asked the strange being.

"You obviously have an ear, so you could hear me, right? Woah! Wait!"

Robert was planning to just talk, but the strange being attacked him again with its magic spells, causing Robert to activate his aura again to shield himself.

"Wait! I only want to know if you're the one who killed them?"

"N.... n...."

Robert was shocked when the strange being started to rip off his mouth part that originally didn't have a mouth just a while ago.

"N...no!"

It finally answered after struggling to rip open its mouth.

"No? Then there would be no reason for us to fight! If you are innocent, let's stop!"

Robert shouted, and that made the strange being halt its movement. That made Robert stop moving as well. Robert stares at the strange being, acting shy as it looks like it is fidgeting in the air.

"What's wrong? Is there somet- Ah!"

Boom!

Robert thought he had finally convinced the strong opponent not to fight, but the strange being sent out another black mass of mana without warning, directly engulfing Robert.

"Commander!"

The two knights watching everything in a hiding shouted, but then they didn't come out and waited for the strange being to leave the area.

They then ran toward where the explosion happened and cried for the death of their commander.

"Sir Robert! I am sorry we are too weak. We could not even help you!"

"I am sorry! Please rest in peace!"

The knights loudly cried, and that made Robert's forehead form multiple lines.

"What the fuck are you two doing? Help me up!" Robert shouted, but the two knights continued to mourn in front of him.

The black mass of mana sent to him carved a small crater in the ground, clearing out everything it exploded into.

Robert had his aura activated on time and only received minor injuries.

"What happened here?"

Two other knights came rushing toward the grieving knights and checked on them.

"This weak knights! Why did you leave your post! you should be guarding the door!" Robert forgot about his aching body and stood up to chastise the knights, who were not only bad at combat but also bad at acting like knights.

Smack!

Slap!

"Are you all fucking ignoring me?"

No matter how much Robert hit the knights, they were not listening to him. They acted as if he was just a strong wind that struck them, or blaming the other knights for smacking them as if Robert didn't exist anymore.

The knights returned to the dining room's door they were guarding, and the nine knights started to argue about whether they should continue to stay at guard or return to the duchy and report the death of the former duke and duchess, with their commander losing his life from fighting the culprit.

Robert was confused, and he looked at his hands while asking to himself, "Is this one of the spells cast by that strange being? or someone else?"

Robert's disappointment became immeasurable and he shouted, "What's wrong with your brains? I know everyone of you is not as skillful as the top rank knights, but I never thought everyone of you were idiots! Tonto!" He huffed after shouting in annoyance. He felt tired and pain from his injuries, indicating that he was still alive. That is why he only wanted the knights to remain guarding the door, rather than have the knights go back to the duchy to scare Christoper with fake news.

However, Robert had nothing he could do and that he had no choice but to just follow the stupid knights back. He only wished that the spell of not seeing him was only effective for the nine knights, and of course, that was not the case. After entering the territory, Robert concluded that the spell was cast on him and not on the seers' eyes.

"Young duke! We apologize for going back like this!" The knights start to report to Christopher.

Robert perspires and works hard to come up with a solution that will not exacerbate the problem that the young lord is dealing with. Christopher Esclamado already has a lot on his plate, from starting to manage the duchy at a young age and recovering the territory from the rampaging of the dragon. The succession of the crown was also a heavy problem for the young duke. That is why Robert didn't wish for Christoper to be emotionally affected by his death.

But then the knights reported back without a filter.

"We went to Duchess Rebecca's villa, but they were murdered. Actually, everyone was murdered!"

Christopher jumped off of his father's office chair, which was still too tall for him.

Even if the late duke was not a combatant like Mila, he still had a large and tall stature that made the thirteen-year old young lord tiny whenever he was with his parents, even if he was taller than most people around his age.

Christopher is now using his father's office to study the work that his father has left. The child decided not to spend his time crying over his father's death, especially since his mother was missing and their territory might be attacked by enemies if they continued to go weaker.

Christopher moved closer to the knights and glared at them.

"My grandparents were murdered? By whom?"

Christopher plays strong in front of the knight and hides his emotions from the heartbreaking news.

"We don't know, young duke. We don't have a chance to know after the commander was defeated by them." The knights responded emotionally.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Christopher grabbed the knight's armor and pulled him closer to clarify his words.

"Commander Robert Aston was defeated and died! young duke!"