CHAPTER 129: [THE DUKE WEARS A MASK]

Kael sat alone at a corner table in a quiet, mid-range inn—the kind frequented by modest nobles, rising merchants, and the occasional wealthy commoner who valued discretion over extravagance.

It wasn’t lavish, but the food was good, the wine better, and more importantly, the setting private enough for the meeting he had arranged.

This was the address he’d sent to Duchess Selvaris—for her daughter.

He wore a simple black noble’s mask.

Nothing ornate, but elegant enough to pass without suspicion.

In a place like this, anonymity was currency.

And for Kael, who now bore a title too loud for peace, it was a necessity.

The mask did its job.

No one recognized him.

To the others in the room, he was just another bored noble passing time with a menu and fine posture.

But the whispers still floated.

"Did you hear about the duel with the Crown Prince?"

"They say the new Duke crushed him with a spell no one had ever seen."

"And that business with the girl—what was her name? Lysaria? Last night was chaos."

Kael ignored them, eyes lowered to the parchment menu in his hand.

He wasn’t reading it.

His mind was elsewhere.

Still no mission...

That was what troubled him.

No message from the system.

No new objective.

Not even a status ping.

He had expected more.

After all, conquering a duchy should’ve been a major milestone—one that opened the path toward a kingdom, then maybe an empire.

Some grand campaign of conquest.

A roadmap.

But there was nothing.

Was he missing a condition? Was there a hidden trigger? Or... was the system simply waiting?

Am I being tested?

He didn’t know.

But the silence felt loud.

And for the first time in a while, he was navigating blind.

Kael folded the menu and placed it down gently, his fingers tapping once against the wooden table.

Outside, the bells tolled softly in the distance.

The city was alive.

The people were watching.

And fate, it seemed, was still playing coy.

He leaned back in his seat and let out a breath.

Whether the system wanted to guide him or not, he’d keep moving.

He didn’t need permission to rise.

He would simply rise anyway.

Then, from the front of the inn, the bell above the door chimed.

The door creaked open.

Kael glanced up, expecting the girl at last—the daughter of Duchess Selvaris.

Instead, a group of hunters entered. Broad-shouldered, dust-streaked, and dangerous-looking.

Their faces were drawn tight with something heavier than exhaustion.

They moved quietly and took the table beside him.

Kael said nothing, but he watched.

One of the nearby patrons, a curious older man, leaned over and asked,

"What happened, brothers? You look like death followed you in."

The hunter at the head of the group—his beard graying, his armor worn—let out a long breath.

"Three gone. Duskwither Forest."

The older man blinked. "Didn’t you lose one just last week?"

Kael’s fingers paused on the edge of the menu.

"Duskwither?" he murmured.

Yue, floating near his shoulder, frowned.

"What kind of Duke are you? That forest borders your own province, Kael. Western edge."

"Just confirming," Kael replied under his breath.

Yue sighed dramatically.

"This duchy is doomed."

The hunter leader continued, voice low and bitter.

"It’s not just us.

All teams are losing people now. No trails. No screams. Just silence and empty places."

He hesitated.

Then fell quiet altogether.

Kael leaned in slightly. "Go on."

The man turned to him, giving Kael a longer look—noticing the noble bearing, the fine dark robes, the quiet confidence behind the simple mask.

He straightened instinctively and gave a small bow. "Forgive me, my lord. I didn’t realize."

Kael nodded once, inviting him to continue.

The hunter’s voice dropped further.

"There are... things in that forest.

Wrong sounds. Wrong shadows.

We’ve heard cries that don’t belong to beasts. Seen lights where none should be.

The beasts are on edge, fleeing their own territory.

And people—hunters, travelers, even patrols—just vanish."

Another man chimed in, voice tense. "Why not inform the local lords? The guard?"

"We did," the leader said, jaw clenched.

"The earls ignored it. The barons laughed. One marquis told us to stop drinking."

"And the Duke?" someone else asked from across the room.

That stopped the table cold.

The air shifted.

Someone muttered, "Didn’t the Duke’s entire army get wiped out in that Devil incident?"

"What can he do now?"

"We need the King. Only the royal army can handle something like this."

Kael sat in silence, unmoving.

But dread had started to creep in beneath his skin.

Elara’s warning echoed in his mind.

Her words.

Her eyes.

That storm she had seen.

Yue’s voice came, hushed and uncertain.

"Do you think this is what the princess meant?"

Kael’s hand clenched the edge of the table.

"...I don’t know," he muttered.

And truthfully, he didn’t want to know.

This wasn’t his problem.

Not the forest, not the missing hunters, not the whispers of doom creeping in from the edges of the kingdom.

He hadn’t come here to be a hero.

He never was one.

Quite the opposite.

If Velmora fell, he could leave.

Quietly.

Disappear into the Empire.

Live in someone else’s chaos instead of being buried in this one.

Cowardice?

Maybe.

But to Kael, it was survival.

Practical.

Clean.

And far better than bleeding for a cause he never believed in.

But fate, as always, refused to let him rest.

DING.

The sound sliced through his thoughts like a guillotine.

Kael froze.

A sick feeling curled in his gut.

"...Don’t," he whispered to himself. "Don’t be what I think it is."

But the screen blinked into existence before him, merciless and bright.

###

[Primary Mission Unlocked]

[Change the fate of the doomed Kingdom of Velmora]

[Reward: Eye of the Fallen Fate Angel (??? Rank)]

###

Kael stared at it.

Blankly.

Then leaned back, eyes closed, and exhaled one word under his breath.

"...Fuck."

Because of course.

Of course this would be the next mission.

Fate didn’t care that he never asked for this.

Didn’t care that he was tired.

Didn’t care that all he wanted was to outsmart the world, not carry it.

And now?

Now it wanted him to save it.

He opened his eyes slowly, gaze sharp but distant.

Because there were only two options now.

Run.

Or rewrite fate.