Chapter 1176: Angry

A moment earlier.

The grand duke came out personally after hearing the knock on his door. His expression was grim when he saw them.

He seemed to have sensed their strength. Since he didn’t know them and there were supposed to be no visitors, the grand duke was wondering why people he didn’t know had suddenly come.

Evelyn, on the other hand, noticed that the grand duke’s strength was similar to hers. Just from the aura coming from his body, she didn’t know whether she could win against him.

Nathan, on the other hand, smiled and politely greeted. "Good morning, Grand Duke Johnson. We have come here on the recommendation of the emperor. This is the letter."

"..." The grand duke didn’t have any change of expression. He simply grabbed the letter and opened it.

His eyebrows furrowed for a second before his eyes scanned them one more time.

"Come in." The grand duke finally opened the door. It looked like they had managed to convince him, so it was a relief.

But when they were inside, the grand duke let them sit on a simple couch in the living room. This was in the countryside, so his house wasn’t too big. It was a two-story house that had five bedrooms. This was the biggest house in the area, but it wasn’t too big to be considered the grand duke’s grandeur.

Without offering tea or other formalities, the grand duke simply sat across from Nathan while asking, "So, you are the travelers from across the ocean..."

His voice sounded sarcastic, and his gaze felt a bit condescending. It was as if he couldn’t trust them.

"It looks like the letter has mentioned it..." Nathan nodded.

"I need to confirm one thing. You want to crush the Death Society?"

"Yes, that’s why we crossed the sea in the first place."

"I can’t be careless about the sea trip. To think that they are sending a woman and a kid here just for revenge... Ridiculous."

Evelyn didn’t take his words lightly. Before the existence of the summoner, it was true that men were biologically stronger than women. However, due to ena, they were practically equal. The only thing that differentiated them was their individual talents.

So, why would he try to insult them with gender? At the same time, he even looked down on Nathan.

Although Nathan wasn’t an arcane level summoner, he had led the group with his wisdom and clever tricks the whole time. Even the duke should be able to sense that Nathan was stronger than his looks.

"Do you think the Death Society is a joke?" The grand duke gritted his teeth.

Nathan didn’t say anything yet. He didn’t know why the grand duke was so aggressive.

On the other hand, Evelyn started to lose her patience. They were looking for cooperation, not judgment. Besides, this was coming from the emperor, so the grand duke should be more polite.

Nathan frowned, noticing something weird. For some reason, Evelyn seemed to be more agitated than usual. She usually stayed composed, but just this time, he could feel some anger in her eyes.

"Do you think we’re doing this as a joke?" Evelyn was the first one to speak.

"!!!" Nathan was surprised, not expecting this reaction.

"Yes." The grand duke firmly confirmed. His body started to exude an aura as if he were trying to oppress them.

"Cap..." Nathan almost called her ’Captain’ as usual, but he hurriedly corrected it. "Evelyn. Please calm down."

"Shut up, you brat. Do you think a kid like you has a say in this conversation?" The grand duke snarled at him.

Veins bulged on Evelyn’s forehead. She ground her teeth before saying in a cold tone. "If you don’t want to say anything, then just reject our visit. Why did you have to invite us in and insult us like this? If this is a joke, it’s not funny."

Her body started emanating pressure as well, countering the grand duke.

The atmosphere turned tense, as a small spark might cause a fight between them.

"Do you think this is a joke?" The grand duke roared. "Since you want to throw your lives away, then it’s better for me to be the one who takes your lives!"

The grand duke released his massive energy as if it were an eruption of his anger.

"Do I look like a joke to you?" Evelyn didn’t back down.

The grand duke and Evelyn glared at each other. It was at this moment that the tension broke.

The grand duke stood up and summoned his familiar in hammer form. Seeing how the duke was trying to attack them, Evelyn also stood up and summoned her familiar in the gloves form.

"Haaaa!" The grand duke stomped the table and waved down his hammer.

Evelyn’s eyes turned bloodshot as she punched the hammer from below. The grand duke’s hammer released a burst of energy containing pure force, while Evelyn’s gloves distorted the gravity and dispersed that power.

The clash of their energies caused the wall to crack and the windows to shatter. The shock wave of that energy produced a loud sound as the ground trembled for a second, as though an earthquake had hit the area.

Nathan was protected by Evelyn’s power, so he managed to remain calm. He was still trying to figure out why the grand duke was so angry when they hadn’t even done anything.

’Is this a test or something?’ Nathan fell into deep thought. He couldn’t help wondering what the emperor had written in that letter. There might be something in that letter that angered the grand duke.

He was thinking about stealing the letter to see the content. ’Mae. Can you sneakily bring me the letter?’

’I can.’ Mae, who was still hidden in her illusion, gradually followed the letter that was blown away by the shock wave.

But as a result, she actually found something even more surprising.

’Master. I might have found the reason for him to be this agitated...’

’Really? Why?’

’Please take a look at the picture in the hallway on your left. You should be able to see it barely.’

Nathan glanced to the left while squinting his eyes, wondering what kind of picture it was. The moment he saw the picture, he understood everything.

"!!!"