After destroying the Mizalas army, the Duke was not done yet. He quickly arrived in front of the capital city, the soldiers cheering for their lord.
He smiled at them, "Men, you have done your best to protect the capital and I am proud to call you my soldiers. So, as a reward for the one to survive, you can take anything you can get your hands on from the battlefield.
Whatever loot you can carry will be yours," he told them, the cheering getting even louder from the proclamation.
"Captains, you are also entitled to the same thing but you must watch them. I do not wish for my men to fight over themselves for the loot, you hear me?" he told them.
"Sir, yes sir!" they answered vigorously.
"Good, as for the Genesis Sea experts, you will follow me to the Mizalas Duchy. We going to grab as many treasures as we can before getting away as quickly as possible. Grab some storage rings before we go as well," the Genesis Sea experts all saluted at the Duke before grabbing some storage rings for their... treasures claiming.
-x-
As the Duke and the Genesis Sea experts of the Kilrun Duchy went deeper into the Mizalas Duchy, they found themselves perplexed by what they found.
"Is it just me, or there are no people in any of the towns and cities we passed through?" the Marshal asked, looking at the Duke for an answer.
"It is not just you. I also could not sense any people using my Soul Sense," the Duke answered the Marshal, his senses telling him the same thing as the Duke's own did.
"Then, where are the people? It is not like they would leave their home for no reason, right?" the Marshal asked again.
This time, there is no answer as none of the Genesis Sea experts knew what to make out of this.
"I do not know about you I have a bad feeling about this," the leader of the Lur Family told them. The others did not reply, because they all felt the same thing as he did.
"While we could go look at the city, I think our best bet for the answer would lie inside the capital," the Duke said. The rest nodded, after all, any secret would likely be hidden inside the capital, the safest place in the entire Mizalas Duchy.
-x-
It did not take long for them to arrive, courtesies of the Duke. The Duke had summoned his Noble Tower and put them inside it and then flew as quickly as he could. Thankfully, they all are accustomed to fast flying but the Duke's speed was something else.
By the time they arrived, most of them combed their hair which looked more like bird nests than human hair at this point.
The formation was still intact, though it did not do anything other than being a nuisance to the Duke, who merely punched it, destroying it in one blow.
After destroying the formation, the Duke landed before dropping the rest of the Genesis Sea experts, all of whom looked around them with a frown.
"Weird, we are at the capital and there is no person here as well," the ancestor of the Lur Family said. The others nodded in agreement, unable to sense any sign of life in the area.
"Alright, listen up. We going to split our group. Marshal, High Captain, Grand Advisor, and Ryker would follow me to the mansion. The rest will look for any sign of life or if possible, people themselves.
Make sure to be careful as we do not know what is hidden here and what could cause such a thing to happen," the Genesis Sea experts saluted the Duke before going their separate ways.
-x-
The five people who went to the mansion of the Mizalas Duke found the place to be eerie, with the way no one was present, yet, they could sense something.
"Blood," Ryker said, his Soul Sense had prodded the area and found blood all over the place.
"What happened here?" the High Captain asked though he knew he would not get any answer from the people with him. The only one who could even answer them is the Duke or maybe some of the higher-ups but they all have already been killed by their Duke.
"Spread out and search for clues. There must be some written records of what happened here," the Duke ordered, the four quickly doing as he said.
-x-
Before long, the Grand Advisor, who had been searching in the office of the Duke, called out to the rest, saying he had found something.
The others quickly walked to his location, though by the time they reached there, they saw the Grand Advisor balling his face, his face twisted from pure rage.
"Grand Advisor?" the Duke called to the man cautiously. He had been one of his closest subordinates, serving even his father before serving him and he had never seen the man look so angry before.
Not talking to the Duke, the Grand Advisor merely handed the book in his hand. The Duke frowned but accepted it nonetheless.
10 minutes after reading the book the Duke faced was the same as the Grand Advisor. In fact, he looked like he was about to tear the book in half, prompting Ryker to take the book away from the Duke.
He then read the book aloud, so the other two could know what was inside,
"Looks like the technique works. With this, we can produce even more Genesis Sea experts. Destroying our enemies would have been a lot easier with the number of Genesis Sea experts we could create.
Unfortunately, we need bodies for the technique to work. Thankfully, there are a lot of bodies in the Duchy. We could sacrifice them and attain greater strength. The sacrifice of the people will not be in vain, as it would help strengthen our nation,"
Ryker was surprised he was able to maintain a calm face even though he was raging inside. The other did not look any better. While the Marshal and the High Captain are not that close to the common populace, focusing only on the fighting force of the Duchy, they still care for the people as it is their job to protect them.
Ryker continued reading, knowing there might be more that he could learn.
"Father wished to use this technique to ascend to the next realm. Unfortunately, we could not sacrifice enough people to help with that as it required a lot of Genesis Sea experts to achieve that.
However, father decided to first gather Genesis Sea experts before attacking the other nations. He seemed intent on targeting the Kilrun Duchy. Then again, the Duke of Kilrun is a peak Genesis Sea expert so it might help father achieve his dream,"
He turned towards the Duke and bluntly said, "So this is why the Mizalas want to attack us, they wanted to sacrifice the Duke so their own Duke will become a Noble expert,"