My Hero Life

Lorget's sudden entrance and subsequent outburst caught everyone's attention. It immediately silenced Sophia from saying whatever it was that she wanted to. Kace sprang from his seat to Lorget's side in the blink of an eye. Causing most of the monsters present to hold their breath at such a display of speed.

As Kace exited the doorway with Lorget in tow, Grugda and the two women also made their move. They were faster to react than anyone else because they had gotten used to the kind of dangers that lurked around every corner by associating with Kace. Well, except for Lilly. She just reacted to the fact that Kace was going off somewhere without her.

"Stay here! Prepare yourself in case we need to fight!" Sophia commanded as she noticed that several orcs started to react as well. Causing them to grumble out loud at being held back.

The trio exited the barracks and spotted Kace already halfway across the courtyard, moving towards the palace's entry doors. If he did not need to follow Lorget, then he would have already been long gone. 'What the hell is going on?' Sophia wondered, she had not had the time to talk to Kace yet, so she had no idea that he had sent an infiltration squad into the palace.

"Something. Is wrong." Grugda said to the two women, deciding to clue them in before catching up to Kace. "This whole city. Is not. How it should. Be. Don't you. Feel it?"

Sophia mulled over his words but failed to understand what he meant. Lilly, however, had a slight inclination. She had dismissed it as a strange feeling due to being in a new environment. She had a good connection with actual plant-life, so she connected the empty sense of the place to the lack of vegetation.

Seeing the two women's confused expressions, Grugda continued to fill them in on Kace's and his own thoughts. Eliciting surprised gasps from the two. Sophia was the most affected, mainly because she had been acting so casual in the city since her arrival. She had thought that the ruler just did not deem her important enough for her to gain an audience. 

She had literally allowed the Northern army to relax in what could have potentially have been a trap. Such a failure of judgement on her part would reflect poorly on her overall performance once it was reported to the council. The only saving grace was that Kace had immediately gone into action, taking it upon himself to issue a scouting party with orders. 

"What do you think they found?" Sophia whispered. Hesitation was evident in her tone.

Grugda frowned at the question. To be honest, he had no idea. However, since Kace was headed straight for the doors, he felt it was safe to assume that there was definitely nobody residing inside the palace. 'Who holds. The power. Here then?' Grugda kept this thought to himself. He did not want to alarm the women. 

They would definitely need to find a way to ropier the natives for their campaign to be successful. However, who did they have to approach to make it happen? Was it just the case that the ruler was indisposed? Was she currently residing in another city? Were the natives just trying to project an image of strength and unity in her current absence? 

There were too many questions and not enough answers at this point. It would not do Grugda any good to continue to guess at the actual state of things for now. When Kace was a short distance from the doors, he activated his Stampede ability, slamming into the doors without a care for the noise it created.

A resounding boom erupted in the courtyard like a cannon firing off its ammunition. Kace's charge splintered the thick doors as they caved inwards, revealing a large enough gap to pass through where the two doors met. Lorget quickly disappeared through the hole to meet up with Kace who was standing with a severe expression inside.

Now that he was inside, everything he already felt was wrong up to this point became magnified several times. The palace felt like an empty husk that was grieving at having been abandoned by its occupants. But there was something else. Something that he had not picked up on before.

There were undertones of quiet, seething rage. If the palace were alive, then he would have taken this feeling as a threat. Instead, it made him want to get to the bottom of everything as soon as possible. Lorget quietly stood by his side, he could see that Kace was thinking about something, but he did not want to interrupt him. Lorget frowned when he realised that Kace's gaze was suddenly drawn in the direction of the room where they found the lonely skeletons sitting on a throne.

'Can he actually sense something like that from this distance?' Lorget gulped as Kace displayed an uncanny ability to pinpoint something vital that he should not be able to. 

"Take me to the others," Kace demanded as he turned his gaze back to the central staircase.

He frowned when Lorget did not head upstairs as he expected. For whatever reason, his senses were telling him that he should go up there. He pushed the matter to the back of his mind. Lorget had already told him there was nobody inside that could stop them so he could check on it later. However, whatever Lorget had found in this direction, they obviously placed greater importance on it.

He marched through the halls behind the goblin, followed him down the staircase that led to the bowels of the palace, and meandered through the underground passageways until he stood before a half-open door. Lorget did not hesitate to cross the threshold, but Kace had a dubious look on his face. He had been hearing the screaming for a while now, but he felt a familiar presence behind this door for some reason.

"It almost feels like him…" Kace connected his current feeling to one in his memories as he crossed the threshold.