Chapter 1175: Meeting the Grand Duke
"What? You’re going?! Already? But you haven’t finished..." The marquis was dumbfounded.
"Sir Nathan... Have I made you feel displeased or something?" Amelia panicked.
Nathan shook his head. "I have finished my job. You can actually ask the blacksmith about the job.
"The most important part is the ball. All 3,000 balls have been manufactured. All that is left to do is make the device. The blacksmith can do it themselves, so there’s no need for me to remain here."
"Ah!" As someone who had been the connection between Nathan and the blacksmith, Amelia already knew about the device having no problems functioning as long as the ball was completed.
But she didn’t expect that Nathan would be able to finish all of them in such a short amount of time.
The marquis panicked. He had to stop Nathan from throwing his life away.
"How about—!"
When the duke tried to persuade him, Nathan immediately cut him off. "Marquis Lindwurm. This is my decision. No matter what you say, I won’t change my decision. I’m leaving.
"I don’t do my work half-heartedly. This is a contract between me and the emperor, so I know I will be hunted down by the dynasty if I play around with my work."
The marquis opened his mouth, his lips trembling as though he wanted to say something.
But seeing Nathan’s solemn face was enough to tell him that Nathan would leave with or without his permission.
The marquis could only look down, feeling defeated. "I understand."
"This is the rest of the money." The marquis walked to his desk and took out a card from the drawer. "You can withdraw the money from all banks affiliated with the dynasty."
"All right." Nathan nodded. "Thank you for everything, Marquis."
"I should be the one to thank you." The marquis lowered his head. "On behalf of the citizens, I would like to express my gratitude. Thank you very much."
Amelia followed suit.
Nathan smiled and extended his hand. They ended their cooperation with a firm handshake.
After bidding their goodbyes to the marquis and his daughter, Nathan and Evelyn immediately followed the direction the letter gave them. The letter included the map, so it wasn’t hard for them to figure out where he was going.
But because they were using teleportation, they didn’t know the exact location, so they had to teleport multiple times just to find the location.
Still, teleportation shortened their time.
In just two days, they finally found the village.
The village itself was quite big. Even though it wasn’t comparable to a city, the population alone should be near one thousand.
The village was located at the foot of a mountain. There were many paddy fields scattered around the village.
However, the biggest reason for this village to prosper was none other than the grand duke. The grand duke was a summoner at the Crystal Fusion Stage. In other words, he could be considered one of the strongest in the dynasty.
In order for him to live peacefully while searching for information, he had to make the village flourish.
He invited low-level summoners and personally opened the sky, allowing the village to grow food not only for themselves but also for the surrounding cities or territories.
Nathan and Evelyn entered the village casually. As expected, they stood out because of their clothes. The people were giving them a judging gaze, as if they were trying to find out whether Nathan and Evelyn were people like the beloved grand duke or tyrants that just wanted their food.
However, amidst their judging gazes, Nathan and Evelyn could sense a few piercing gazes.
Because the grand duke was searching for information, this village was basically the base of his information network. So, it wouldn’t be weird for high-level people to be around the village or even blend in with them.
Considering the people’s feeling toward the grand duke, Nathan and Evelyn had a hard time finding him. Whenever he asked the villagers about the grand duke, they would escape from him. However, it didn’t stem from their disdain for the grand duke, it was their loyalty.
However, the moment Nathan took out the letter with the royal seal and even mentioned the emperor’s name, they had a change of attitude.
The villagers immediately revealed the grand duke’s house.
Nathan just wanted to find out about the Death Society. The grand duke should be happy to find that the emperor was finally helping him to take down the Death Society.
Yet, it didn’t happen... The peaceful and cooperative conversation didn’t happen.
They managed to meet the grand duke. Nathan, in fact, sat across from the grand duke... just for a few minutes.
What he saw bewildered even him.
The grand duke was a muscular man. His hair was short and had grown white due to his age. But he heard the grand duke was supposed to be a middle-aged man in his forties. Yet his face suggested he was already at his retirement age.
Experiencing the loss of his family had caused him to age faster. Yet, his body was still brimming with energy fueled by the rage in his heart.
He had one horizontal scar from one cheek to the other and one vertical scar from his lip to the right side of his forehead. His right eye was covered with an eyepatch, increasing his intensity.
And this man suddenly stomped the table in front of him while raising his fist.
"Do you think this is a joke?" The grand duke roared as a big hammer formed in his hand. The massive amount of energy caused the windows to crack.
"Am I a joke to you?" Evelyn also stood up, her gloves already changing to her familiar.
The grand duke swung his hammer while Evelyn punched forward. The collision of their power cracked the wall and shattered the glasses.
Their energy produced a massive shock wave big enough to cause the ground to tremble as if there were another earthquake.
Nathan could only sit there with a wry smile. The grand duke aside, it was rare for Evelyn to get so worked up. ’How did it even come to this...’