Chapter 26: Immediate Discovery
In an instant, Seth's group found themselves in a large, luxurious room with beautiful white sofas in the center, making up much of the minimalist decor of this part of the Duke's estate.
Seth's people sat there without ceremony while the Duke, Felicity, Grace, the Duke's wife, and five other people sat or stood around.
"My daughter, tell me what happened." The Duke's wife said as she sat next to Felicity.
Felicity quickly summarized the events of that day up to the part where Atlas and the rest of the natives of the Giant Island had joined her and Grace.
She didn't talk about the powers Atlas had demonstrated that day, the way she and Grace had felt. Seth and his group had asked her not to reveal how strong they were. Felicity said the bald guy beside Dax had intervened and narrowly saved them.
"Then you are my Felicity's savior!" Duke Pennel stood up and quickly made a gesture of thanks as he bowed his head to Atlas.
"There is no need to thank me." Atlas smiled, but that was all the humility he had. When the Duke summoned something from his storage artifact and gave it to him, Atlas didn't refuse.
'This guy is really generous...' Atlas saw the platinum coin in a special glass case.
Such a coin alone was worth 50 times what he and his companions had collected in weeks of work in Lastwood!
"Please tell me a little about yourselves..." The Duke continued the conversation, curious about this strange group that had saved his daughter.
While Atlas and Emery answered the Duke's group's questions and doubts, Seth couldn't help but notice one of the guards in the room and a man dressed as a butler.
Why are these two wearing artifacts that change their appearance?' His eyes lit up as he saw through these two people's special tools.
Dax saw that Seth had something on his mind. Still, he said nothing, turning his attention to the two people who were distracted by the words of Emery and Atlas.
Seth didn't say anything immediately, wondering how these devices were made and what someone would use them for.
After a while, the conversation reached him.
"So you're the leader of this group, young man?" Felicity's father asked after hearing this from Atlas and Emery.
The two had obviously not been talking about their true origins, but about what they had agreed upon after leaving Lastwood. But they didn't have to lie about Seth being their leader.
"Hmm, I've known Atlas, Emery, Dax, and Levi for a long time. We respect each other and work well together. My position as a leader is only for emergencies. Most of the time, we make our decisions together." He said, smiling.
Felicity couldn't believe it. The four Seth companions treated him like he was some kind of monster, even though Atlas should have been a monster himself.
But the young blonde didn't say anything and remained silent while her parents talked to Seth and the others.
Meanwhile, the Duke's butler, who was Felicity's father's right-hand man, had a smile on his face, but inside, he couldn't help but curse these people.
'Damn them,' He thought to himself. 'If it wasn't for you, this brat would be in our hands right now!'
The guard, who also had an item that changed his appearance, had similar thoughts to the butler as he faced the people who had eliminated the last group their organization had sent to kidnap Felicity.
'We must tell our people to send people to deal with these five.' The man in silver armor thought to himself, 'Even though we're as strong as the Duke's group, these people seem strange. They might get in our way if we're not careful!'
Even though he couldn't mentally communicate with his companion there, a single glance from this guard to the butler was enough for them to understand each other and come to the same conclusion!
If they wanted to complete their mission, they must eliminate these five people!
...
More than an hour had passed since Seth's group arrived at the Pennel Manor when the Duke and his wife finished their conversation with Seth's people.
As Felicity had agreed with Seth, their group would be staying at the estate under the care of the Pennel family while they were in Rosecoast. After finishing their conversation, the Duke told her and Grace to show the five the estate while dinner was being prepared.
Felicity started to show the people in Seth's group their estate next to Grace when he suddenly asked her.
"Felicity, why do some people on this estate use devices to change their appearance?"
"Eh?" Felicity paused at the entrance to a hallway as everyone's eyes turned to Seth.
"Is that what was bothering you earlier?" Dax asked.
"Yes, I saw two men wearing devices in the room where we were talking to Felicity's parents. You probably saw a middle-aged-looking man dressed all in black and a young blond man in armor, right?
Both look different from what you saw. They look much older than elder Jothan." Seth got straight to the point, not noticing the increasingly shocked expressions on Felicity and Grace's faces.
"Is that so?" Dax was surprised.
"Yes, they hid their auras as well. They're a little stronger than Felicity's father." Seth said as he turned his eyes to the young blonde. "Why do your father's subordinates hide their appearance and strength?"
"Shit!" Grace ran when she heard such information, while Felicity turned as pale as a sheet of paper.
"Because they're spies! Quick, help us stop them!" Felicity said as she grabbed one of Seth's wrists.
"Spies?" Emery asked, never having heard that word before.
"These are not men from my family. They're infiltrators, probably enemies disguised as members of my family!" Felicity said without question.
Her family's people would never use such devices inside the family headquarters. At the same time, no one was stronger than the Duke at House Pennel.
The butler and the guard who were supposed to take their place couldn't possibly be stronger than the Duke in terms of age, talent, and actual level.
Seth became serious when he heard this, realizing that these two men were the same to Felicity as the enemies who had destroyed his tribe.
He looked at his companions and motioned for them to act. "Let's stop these two and find out what's going on."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone