Chapter 182: The Hidden Observer
For a brief moment. The prisoners simply stood there in disbelief.
"..."
"..."
Then one elderly merchant suddenly fell to his knees.
"T-Thank you, Sir!"
A young woman hurriedly bowed as tears welled up in her eyes.
"You saved our lives."
"We’ll never forget this kindness."
Soon one after another.
Everyone bowed deeply toward the silent armored knight.
"Thank you!"
"We’ll always be grateful!"
"You truly are our hero!"
They thanked him again and again. Because he didn’t only save them, But now he was also allowing them to take the loot, which was so generous. That they thought they had find an Hero.
Which was typically right.
About the hero part, but not the loot part.
"Damn it, I didn’t bring spatial rings with me." Luke cursed, because he only have one large ring with him, which he got from Early golden knight assassin and others are in territory treasure.
So his dopplenger could only kill, but not loot...
"..."
’wait that’s sound wrong. But who cares.’
Luke shook his head before letting out a small chuckle.
Below the freed prisoners happily walked along the road.
Some carried sacks of grain. Others held bags of coins.
Several merchants even pushed recovered carts filled with goods.
Their exhausted faces had long been replaced with relieved smiles.
"Haha! We survived!"
"My wife will be so happy."
"We can finally go home."
One elderly merchant wiped away the tears in his eyes.
Luke quietly watched them disappear into the distance.
A faint smile appeared beneath his helmet.
"Well."
"I’m already rich."
"So it’s fine."
He wasn’t lying. Compared to the wealth stored inside Blackstone’s treasury. These bandit camps were insignificant.
With that thought. He mentally issued another command.
"Continue the mission."
Instantly.
All ten dopplegängers acknowledged the order.
Each clone began constructing its assigned watchtower.
Before moving on to clear every remaining bandit camp nearby.
Luke had deliberately selected each construction site with care.
Not directly beside the main road.
Instead.
A short distance inside the surrounding forest.
Far enough to remain concealed. Yet close enough to monitor the road perfectly.
That way the stationed soldiers could observe caravans without exposing themselves too easily.
If enemies attempted an ambush. The guards inside the towers would often notice them first.
Combined with the towers five-kilometer detection range.
Every section of the trade route would eventually overlap with the next.
Leaving almost no blind spots.
"A continuous surveillance network."
Luke nodded in satisfaction. Exactly as he had envisioned.
While his ten dopplegängers busied themselves with the hard labor.
He looked down and listened to the gossip of two peak silver rank knight people.
Yes, when he teleported, he appeared above them on the tree branch, while they were hiding on the below tree branches.
And were looking toward the Blackstone Territory through telescope-like light artifacts, allowing them to clearly observe every movement within the territory.
Surprisingly.
Not a single one of them heard anything.
Not even when Luke cursed loudly.
All thanks to **Null Veil of Nyx.**
"Absolute Stealth." Luke nodded in satisfaction, the corners of his lips curling upward into a pleased smile.
Then.
That smile slowly faded.
Instead, his brows furrowed, while a hint of annoyance flashed across his face.
The reason?
"It seems quite a few forces are spying on my territory."
He paused for a brief second. His sharp blue eyes narrowed.
"Or"
"At me."
Luke slowly swept his gaze across the surroundings.
Left. Right.
Then farther into the distance.
Soon enough, more figures entered his vision.
One. Three. Five. There were quite a few of them.
Each possessing Bronze or Silver Knight cultivation, while holding telescope-like light artifacts in their hands, their eyes fixed on Blackstone Territory as though some grand festival was unfolding before them.
"...Seriously?" Luke let out a helpless sigh before clicking his tongue.
"Don’t these people have anything better to do?" He couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
From what he could tell, the surrounding Baron Territories had dispatched their people solely to monitor his every movement, likely fearing that he would suddenly march his army over and seize their lands.
Which Luke was both right and wrong.
Yes, there were people from the surrounding Baron Territories.
However there were even more observers from the Viscount Territories.
The reason was simple.
The news of Viscount Aldaric—a Mid-Golden Knight—mysteriously disappearing had spread across the region that very night.
The moment they heard it. Every Viscount’s heart skipped a beat.
They couldn’t help but recall the massive explosion that had occurred beside Windmarch Reach.
One coincidence?
Perhaps.
But then another piece of news arrived.
Hero Luke aad killed a Mid-Golden Knight with a single punch.
Not only that—
He had also dealt with four Early Golden Knights with astonishing ease.
"Impossible."
That was the first thought that crossed almost everyone’s mind.
Yet the reports came from multiple sources.
Which was exactly why they couldn’t simply ignore them.
As a result not a single Viscount managed to sleep peacefully that night.
Some paced around their rooms.
Others immediately summoned intelligence officers.
While many secretly dispatched scouts toward Blackstone Territory, wanting to verify the truth with their own eyes.
Naturally Luke became the center of everyone’s suspicion.
However the more they compared the information they had gathered. The more confused they became.
First.
Luke had remained inside the fortress the entire time. Many people had personally witnessed it.
Logically speaking, there was no way he could have traveled all the way back to the Viscount Territory in such a short time.
Unless...
He possessed some incredibly fast movement artifact.
Second.
According to every report, the battle near Windmarch Reach had lasted for quite some time.
However at the very end of the fight—
A terrifying explosion erupted.
Its power had already reached the Peak Golden Knight level.
And that was exactly where the contradiction lay.
Because no matter how talented Hero Luke was.
He simply shouldn’t have possessed that level of destructive power.
Then another piece of information surfaced.
Luke had the ability to create clones.