Spirit Soul

Kyle felt a little bit uncomfortable and awkward because of his clothes.

Except for him, everyone else was clothed as if they were going to a grand formal meeting with some royalties.

Nonetheless, he gave his best to avert his attention from his shabby appearance towards forming a plan to enter the Lahin kingdom without being threatened, killed, or enslaved.

Despite his efforts to think about something else than his clothes, while the others didn't mind his appearance that much Kyle was also fully aware of the fact that his clothes were not suitable to live in a properly working society.

Nobody had paid attention to his clothes or appearance in the Sadorla forest.

But now, his clothing style was out of date, to put it simply.

The same could also be said about his hair that was messy and unkempt if one didn't want to insult him with the truth.

As such, only now did he realize his lack of decent clothes that could suit most occasions.

After all, he only had three sets of clothes in all which he had purchased from the old woman back in the Alsa village.

Now that his armor was reduced to shreds, he would also need a brand new one.

Even before Melin cut open the last thread of his leather armor that had held it in place, it had already been worn out and severely damaged.

Thus, purchasing a new armor was exceptionally important.

While searching for these shops, he could also take a quick stop at the blacksmith and a runemaster in order to figure out if one of them could mend the Silver serpent spear, whose grade had deteriorated by the curse of time!

That was his plan, but before any of that could happen, they would have to create a blueprint for the next few steps of their plan.

In a way, everything that had happened so far was because of Kyle as he was the only one who wanted to enter the Lahin kingdom.

However, at the same time, he never forced anyone to follow him, and even Beatrice was free to leave him if she wanted to.

What she did after leaving him, or how would she survive without his blood was, in fact, not his problem.

The same was the case with Yasmine. Nobody forced her to accompany them, but it was almost like she was forcing her way into the group.

As such, Lyon and Yelene were not even able to propose a different plan as Kyle's resolve was firm.

He wanted to enter the Lahin kingdom and search for Selene, a Lohar, whom he seemed to be responsible for.

After he explained the situation a little bit, the others only understood that he had helped her awaken her second cultivation vein, thereby promoting her to the title of a Baroness.

This promotion had been accidental and not something Kyle had intended to do.

As such, after having been separated from her due to the Tenux storm and some other incidents, which he didn't elaborate further, he now had to search for her.

It was not as if he was forced by a soul contract to do that, but Kyle felt still obliged to do so, just because of his own guilty conscience.

Everyone could, somehow, understand what he was doing, and why, but Lyon was unable to prevent feeling jealous, and a little bit worried.

First, he was worried about his daughter because Yasmine was way too excited to leave them and to enter the dangerous lands where war and treachery ran rampant.

This was obviously an issue, but Yelene, his beautiful wife, found his worries to be unfounded.

Because of that, all these days he had only tried his utmost to protect Yasmine from the threats and provide her with every single means that could support her once she left his side.

Meanwhile, his envy was distinct because Kyle had, in fact, three women by his side.

First, he seemed to hold Selene, the Lohar, quite close to his heart, almost to the extent that she was a member of his family…just not related by blood.

In the end, this could have many meanings, but Lyon knew that bonds like this would sooner or later change, the longer one spend time together, or the longer one was separated.

From the looks of it Kyle didn't seem to notice anything, and he was probably unsure of how he was feeling about himself too.

He had also said that they had not known each other for a very long time and that he had rescued her.

This also indicated to Lyon that Selene definitely didn't think of Kyle as just his savior and that Kyle was oblivious to it.

On the other hand, the relationship between Kyle and Beatrice was something that confused him. On one hand, there seemed to be some sort of special tension between the two of them, and considering that Beatrice seemed to be wanting his blood for some reason, Lyon was relatively sure that it wouldn't take long for something to happen.

It was equally intriguing that his blood was also the thing that seemed to hold her back a lot. Otherwise, she would have already pounced at Kyle, which didn't seem to have happened yet.

This helped Lyon infer that Beatrice and Kyle's blood pact was not as simple as he had previously assumed.

His eyes were not able to see everything, and the relationship between the two seemed special.

But, it was not yet at a degree that would allow Lyon to be reassured that nothing would happen between Kyle and his dear daughter.

And this was, by all means, not something he looked forward to happening, even if Kyle seemed like a nice guy.

In the end, he had simply too many women around him…which was what Lyon envied and feared at the same time!

Even if he didn't want to acknowledge it, Lyon had a very bad feeling about how Kyle would affect his beloved daughter. Based on the way he behaved, Kyle didn't seem to be interested in finding a single partner…or any lover at all right now.

Yet, the moment he would feel lonely and think of searching for someone to stay by his side, this might change. After all, he would have not one but three women around him.

And the worst was that there were most likely more than enough candidates who would readily volunteer to become someone special for Kyle!

Owing to all of these thoughts in mind, Lyon was fuming in rage, but he kept a poker face while trying to prevent anyone from figuring out what he was thinking about.

Unfortunately, his wife knew him the best.

Thus, Yelene looked at him with a faint smile that seemed charming. Yet, upon taking a closer look, the gaze she gave Lyon was ice-cold and terrified him.

Swallowing nervously, he was barely able to keep his calm in front of the youngsters.

They had already finished their dinner and were stating all the ideas that flashed through their minds.

Some of them were plain stupid, while others were worth considering, but none of the ideas were truly something that allowed everyone to be reassured about their safety.

There was one idea Yasmine had just blurted out in frustration without really thinking about it, and Kyle liked it even though it was quite dangerous.

Despite the dangers, it was also one of the best plans he had heard during the last few minutes.

As such, while looking at Yasmine, a trace of hope could be heard in his voice.

"I think your idea to fly to the Sadorla forest's demi-human garrison is really good! If the Anadra kingdom and the Lahin kingdom have one settlement in the Sadorla forest which they constructed together to make use of, it might be the perfect place for us to be!

Its not unlikely for specific missions from Lohar nobles to reach the garrison, and if we befriend some Lohars, it might even be possible to create a mercenary team.

With their help, we might be able to enter the Lahin kingdom without any problems.

On the downside, the Sadorla forest should currently be extremely dangerous, even if the borders of the Anadra- and Lahin kingdom were to be close to the garrison.

Soo, we will have to figure out a way to enter the garrison without an issue and to leave it as quickly as possible.

However, at the same time, it is important to have thorough intel about everything before we make any further plans!"

Kyle had much more to add, but everyone looked at him as if he was crazy. Even Yasmine couldn't help but feel a little bit flabbergasted, questioning herself why Kyle was considering her reckless idea.

Yet, the more Lyon and Yasmine thought about it, the better the idea sounded.

The dangers close to the borders were not that high, and the garrison of the Anadra and Lahin kingdom hadn't been attacked for several months.

Owing to this and multiple other factors they felt that the idea was better than initially expected, which surprised them for a moment.

They were sure that Kyle didn't know about most things which they considered to be an advantageous factor for this plan.

As such, he was just using his knowledge about the two kingdoms that was not much to make it seem as if the plan was something that could truly be considered.

'Maybe his gut feeling tells him that it's the best?' Yelene wondered, looking at Kyle with a glint of interest. She then averted her attention back to Lyon, with whom she had been discussing things to come up with some sort of plan.

After they had come up with a rough plan, they shared it with everyone.

In the end, they didn't divulge specific details but based on how confident they were made everything seem fine, somehow.

Beatrice was also satisfied, only for her to remember what Lyon had said when she and Kyle first encountered him.

As such, Beatrice felt like she had to ask now, or she would never muster the courage to ask about it again.

"I'm sorry if I change the topic right now, but I was curious about one thing!"

She took a pause and her eyes flicked at Lyon, who nodded his head, understanding that she had a question for him.

Gathering her courage, she took a deep breath, feeling that this question was extremely important as her voice rang out.

"What exactly is an old race, and what kind of race do I belong to?!"

Somehow, Lyon was both not expecting the question while and at the same time hoped to hear the question from Beatrice.

However, after looking at her, he didn't feel that she knew enough about the Old races.

To be precise, Lyon was sure that Beatrice was oblivious to anything revolving around the Old races. And, from the looks of it, age was the only thing she had acquired during the last few tens of thousand years.

Maybe she was also knowledgeable about a specific topic, but her intel about her race was not one of such topics.

As such, he had to think of an answer that wouldn't jeopardize Beatrice's future, or the safety of Kyle and Yasmine.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm quite sure that you are not yet ready to get to know more about your race, let alone the Old races. That is not something you can take lightly, even if you had decent strength.

If someone kept the truth from you, they were smart and wanted the best for you. My advice is that you follow Kyle, and become stronger…as strong as possible before even thinking about getting to know the truth.

Once you are ready, I don't think you need to come to us because you'll get to know the truth, but if not, we can tell you the little things we know!"

Perceiving how serious Lyon had turned all of a sudden, not only Beatrice, but also Kyle and Yasmine furrowed their eyebrows.

At this instant, the began to thought that the situation was far more complicated than they had thought.

However, the moment Lyon took a look at Kyle, he immediately knew that his words were not only directed at Beatrice but also at him.

It was crystal clear that his knowledge was too shallow. In fact, he knew that he was clueless about most of the things, which was certainly not something to look forward to.

Yet, he had no time to invest in increasing his knowledge and broadening his horizon. Time was something he seemed to have the least for now.

At least that was the case if he were to trust his gut feeling that caused his intestines to feel as if they were being twisted.

Everything was a mess, despite having received tremendous help, and Kyle, who knew the dangers that awaited them more than anyone couldn't help but mumble one simple sentence.

"I hope we won't encounter any Old Souls for the time being…"