Chapter 38: The Prisoner’s Clothes and a Glimmer of Hope

Ketia gazed at the prison carriage, nodding faintly.

“Colonel Ketia, regarding that…”

Before Deboli could finish, Ketia interjected in a composed voice: “I will speak to His Majesty about your matter. You needn’t tell me so many times; I haven’t grown so muddled that I’d forget a pile of things in less than a day.”

“You are absolutely right to rebuke me, Colonel Ketia. It was presumptuous of me.”

Grasping the implication in Ketia’s words, Deboli hastened to apologize.

“Hmph.”

With a cold snort, Ketia turned towards the prison carriage.

His gaze deepened as he observed the three individuals, now shackled and bound to the prison carriage, their faces etched with a faint trepidation.

Ailin, his face shadowed, lifted his head. Upon recognizing the approaching figure, his expression grew grave.

“Boy, do not look at me with such eyes.” Bending slightly, Ketia allowed a faint smile to play on his lips.

To Ailin, however, that smile carried a different, more derisive meaning.

If Ketia had known Ailin’s inner thoughts at that moment, he would surely have scoffed. After all, what right did a mere prisoner have to be teased or insulted? Besides, he held no particular fondness for mocking or demeaning others, least of all a captive.

‘In short, do not overestimate your own importance.’

“Very well. Now that matters are largely settled, I shall return to report.” Straightening his posture, Ketia folded his arms, turning his head to look at Deboli behind him.

“A safe journey!”

Deboli respectfully bade Ketia farewell.

Ketia offered no reply, simply accepting the reins of a white horse from a nearby knight.

It was the very steed he had ridden here.

Once a knight had secured the prison carriage’s ropes to the horse, linking them together, Ketia prepared to mount.

With one foot on the stirrup, Ketia glanced back at the prison carriage, falling into a brief silence.

“Colonel Ketia, is something amiss?” Deboli inquired, puzzled by Ketia’s sudden pause.

“Did you not claim that everything was prepared?” Ketia countered, not directly answering Deboli’s question.

“Colonel Ketia, I… I don’t understand…”

Ketia’s words perplexed Deboli. What could he mean? Why the sudden assertion that he hadn’t prepared everything properly?

Ketia remained silent, merely extending a finger to point at the three individuals inside the prison carriage.

Hesitantly, Deboli followed Ketia’s gaze towards the interior of the prison carriage.

‘So, what’s wrong? What happened? Isn’t this perfectly fine? All the captured individuals are here, aren’t they?’

“…I ask you, where am I taking them?”

After a few seconds of silence, seeing Deboli’s persistent confusion, Ketia could not help but speak.

“To escort the prisoners to Candillac’s Imperial Capital, to meet His Majesty, and await His Majesty’s judgment!” Deboli replied almost without thinking, having heard Ketia’s question.

“If that is the case, do you still not understand?”

“Uh… what?”

“Is your intellect… akin to that of goblins, those beasts who merely follow their instincts?” Ketia’s voice was light, yet piercing, as he gazed at Deboli.

Deboli’s neck flushed crimson at Ketia’s comparison of him to a goblin.

“Colonel Ketia, please do not jest with me by likening me to a lowly race like goblins!”

“Very well, then. Let me ask you this: if *you* were traveling to the Imperial Capital, what would you prepare?” Ketia asked again, meeting Deboli’s gaze.

“I would arrange my attire and prepare items for the cold…”

As he spoke, Deboli trailed off.

He glanced at the prison carriage, and as his own words echoed in his mind, he immediately understood Ketia’s meaning.

“Ah, my foolish brain! Colonel Ketia, I apologize; I was indeed inconsiderate.” Deboli slapped his forehead, then quickly bent into a thirty-degree bow towards Ketia.

“Knowing this, why aren’t you hurrying to prepare clothes? If they freeze to death on the way, will you take responsibility, or will I?” Ketia’s voice deepened, his brows furrowed.

“Yes, yes, I’ll go prepare the clothes right away, Colonel Ketia!”

With that, Deboli, flustered and heedless, rushed back into the fortress.

The knights standing guard at the main gate and those patrolling the fortress perimeter could not help but suppress their laughter upon seeing Deboli’s frantic state.

Fortunately, Deboli did not notice the knights’ expressions; otherwise, once Ketia departed, he would undoubtedly have made them run two or three laps around the entire plains.

Time flowed silently, and half an hour slipped by.

From a distance, Ketia spotted Deboli hurrying back, arms laden with a pile of clothes.

“Hoo-hoo~” Breathing heavily, Deboli placed the clothes on the ground. “Colonel Ketia, the clothes you requested!”

Ketia nodded nonchalantly, then picked up the clothes and tossed them into the prison carriage.

Qi Lin and the others were buried beneath the garments, a testament to the sheer volume of clothes.

“Alright, I’m leaving.”

Mounting his horse, Ketia looked down at Deboli.

“Yes, yes, Colonel Ketia, may you have a smooth journey!” Deboli rubbed his hands, offering a fawning smile.

With a brief glance at Deboli, Ketia tugged on the reins.

*Neigh~*

The white horse snorted, then began to gallop forward.

After running a few meters, a pair of snowy white wings unfurled phantom-like from either side of the horse’s flanks.

The wings began to beat, and almost instantly, the horse, pulling the prison carriage, ascended into the sky.

Watching Ketia fly into the sky, Deboli remained lost in thought for a while before returning inside the fortress.

****

High above,

Riding the white horse, reins in hand, Ketia gazed intently into the distance, his eyes profound.

“What do we do?”

Nia, her pointed ears twitching as she peered out from the pile of clothes, looked at the cage and Ketia’s retreating back ahead, asking the person beside her with a worried expression.

“Nia… we can’t escape. This guy is too strong. Even if we could break out of this cage, we wouldn’t get past him.” Ailin sighed, shaking off the clothes that had buried him.

Ailin’s words plunged the anxious Nia into silence.

“Not necessarily, we…” Qi Lin, beside them, spoke with a hint of reluctance.

But her words were cut short by Ketia, who turned back from the front.

“Do not even think of escaping. You… will not evade the Empire’s pursuit.”

To contend with a powerful nation was nothing more than a delusion.

“That’s not necessarily true!” Qi Lin retorted.

“Little sister, your thoughts are rather naive…” Ketia shook his head slightly, his gaze returning forward. “Do you truly believe you can withstand a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses?”

Qi Lin pressed her lips together, falling silent. Although she longed to refute the knight’s words, she knew her own capabilities. To resist a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses, especially those capable of wielding magic through demonic energy… ‘Perhaps it’s best to simply give up and sleep,’ she thought.

Clenching her jaw, a reluctant Qi Lin lowered her head.

‘She had no good ideas either… Damn it, why did things turn out this way!’

With a creak, the door was opened.

Hearing the sound, the three silent figures looked towards the prison carriage door.

Seeing Ketia open the cage door, Ailin stood up, his gaze intently fixed on Ketia.

Stepping into the prison carriage, Ketia knelt on one knee beside Nia.

“What do you want?” Seeing Ketia approach Nia, Ailin moved to shield her, but a rope tied to the cage around his neck yanked him back against the iron bars just as he was about to reach Ketia’s side.

“Stop it!”

Seeing Ketia reach out towards Nia, Qi Lin shouted, simultaneously attempting to summon her scythe to block Ketia’s movement.

Just as she was about to summon her scythe, intricate runes illuminated brightly on her shackles.

Powerless, Nia tightly closed her eyes.