Chapter 44: Sneaking Into the Capital

None of the monster hunters seemed to suspect that Luke was still alive, considering none of them had reacted violently when carrying his body.

Luke would have assumed someone would notice he was still breathing or had a pulse, but there was no reaction from any of them. They just carried his body out of the forest and waited for a vehicle to pick them up.

Was it really that easy to fool them?

“Of course not. They probably know you’re alive. She’s just deceiving you. They’re going to lock you up in the church and experiment on you,” the evil god said.

He had thought the evil god had been strangely quiet after Luke had learned Deena was Fidall’s chosen.

Had the evil god hidden away because he was afraid?

Pain immediately shot through his body, making him spasm.

Fortunately, all the monster hunters except for Deena were looking away from him and didn’t see anything.

She gave Luke’s body a strange look as Luke mentally cursed the evil god out.

The evil god had done that on purpose. He had wanted Luke to be found out and be forced to kill the monster hunters.

“Why do you keep insisting on sparing them? They will do everything in your power to kill you. You should give up on the idea of not killing any more people,” the evil god said.

Luke bit the inside of his mouth as he held back his anger.

He had to ignore him. If he let himself give in to his emotions, then Deena’s plan to sneak him into the capital would fail, and he would lose his only chance to get into the capital without difficulty.

After what seemed like forever, a vehicle finally drove up the road to meet them.

The vehicle rolled to a stop, and the driver stepped out, saying, “I heard you’ve found and dealt with him. Is it true?”

Deena pointed a thumb at Luke’s body and said, “Come take a look.”

The driver walked up to Luke and scanned his body. Feeling the driver’s gaze on him, Luke silently prayed that they didn’t notice anything off. After several tense moments, the driver looked away.

“Thank you for your hard work. If it weren’t for all you, who knows how much more damage he would have caused?” the driver said.

A monster hunter held up their hands, waving them, and shook their head as they said, “We didn’t do anything. It was all thanks to Deena. She fought him herself and slayed him.”

The other monster hunters chimed in vouching for Deena.

The driver’s eyebrows shot up before they said, “Well, it’s to be expected. Deena is Fidall’s chosen. Of course she could defeat such an evil creature.”

The corners of Luke’s mouth twitched, but no one seemed to notice.

“Are you sure you wish to bring his remains to the church in the capital?” the driver asked hesitantly.

She crossed her arms and asked, “Are you questioning me?”

The driver frantically shook their head and said, “Not at all. If that’s your order, I’ll carry it out.”

“Good. I want to be in the capital before it gets too late. The body has to be brought into the church before anyone finds out, including the heroes,” Deena commanded.

Everyone hesitated.

“Shouldn’t we inform the heroes?” a monster hunter asked in a small voice.

The instant Deena looked in their direction, they immediately quieted down and looked away. No one else dared to speak up or look her in the face after that.

“Alright, drag him onto the vehicle. Let’s get out of here,” the driver ordered.

The monster hunters grumbled as they lifted Luke up again and carried him to the vehicle. They haphazardly shoved him onto the vehicle before getting on themselves while making sure to keep their distance from him.

Luke would have loved to complain about their treatment but kept his mouth shut.

As the vehicle started up, he dared to crack one of his eyes open slightly. He could barely see anything from his place in the trunk of the car and closed his eyes right away before anyone could notice.

The trip to the capital was unbelievably painful.

He hadn’t dared to move in case someone suspected something wasn’t right with him. Luke had to remain in the awkward position they had thrown him in, leaving his whole body aching and complaining.

What was even worse was listening to the chatter.

It would have been one thing if they talked about something important or useful, but they talked about things he didn’t care to hear about.

At first, it had been simple.

They had discussed what they would do after dumping his body at the church, which he wasn’t surprised about. It made sense they would talk about their plans, but then it veered into uncomfortable territory such as relationship problems.

There were simply things he didn’t need or want to hear about.

Luke swore that he felt Deena’s gaze turn to him when the conversation got explicit, like she was laughing at his misery.

Why had he agreed to the plan?

Actually, he hadn’t agreed to it. She had just forced it on him and expected him to go along with it, which he unfortunately did because he hadn’t had a choice.

When he finally heard someone say they had arrived, he nearly cried tears of joy.

He dared to take a peek again and saw the vehicle driving through the streets of the capital. Given his current predicament, it was hard to see anything clearly, and he closed his eyes again as they drew closer to the church. The moment the vehicle rolled to a stop, his breath hitched.

They had arrived.

Everyone got out of the car and helped drag his body inside before anyone else could see what was happening. His body jostled as he was dragged into the church, and he wondered what Deena planned to do to keep everyone distracted while he asked Fidall for help.

Would she come up with some kind of excuse so they would leave him unattended?

That seemed the most likely answer.

After all, she couldn’t just expect everyone to leave him alone without a good reason, right?