Genesis Code: The Genetic Awakening-Chapter 145: Questioning (1)

It only took a little over an hour for the bounty hunters to return to the duchy’s capital city. Amongst their numbers was the tigerkin, lost in thought about what was happening.

He was still not sure if what he heard was real or just from his imagination. Was the plan of Jess and Caleb to be captured? If so, then why? He had too many questions.

However, there was nothing he could do at the moment. He needed to keep his head down and observe what happened next. Shifting his gaze to the side, he looked at their new addition.

’Belzac...’ He mused with narrowed eyes. There was nothing special about him, and his aura was genuine as any one of them.

It was just a feeling, but he couldn’t shake it off. Whatever plan those two were cooking, he hoped it wouldn’t bring too much trouble.

Sometime later, the large bounty party arrived at the duke’s castle. Similar to other ducal domains, the duke’s residence was separate from the main city.

While called a castle, it was more like a gigantic estate with many buildings and quarters spread all over the main castle – it was its own town in a way. The land was mostly covered with bits and pieces of white from the condensed moisture.

"We’ll take it from here..."

A group of knights met the bounty hunters once they entered the estate grounds. Orien had called ahead to inform the knights of their success.

The bounty hunters holding onto Jess passed her to the knights. The catwoman was cuffed and blindfolded for obvious reasons.

The leading knight eyed Jess silently until she was taken by one of his men. Shifting his gaze back to Orien, he gestured to a male servant standing a few meters back.

"This man will lead your party to a resting area. You can rest there as well as have whatever food you want."

"Yeah..."

The bounty hunters grinned excitedly. However, the knight was not done. "There will be no alcohol."

"What...?"

"We don’t know when that person would show up. It’s best to be prepared for anything." The knight explained calmly before looking back at Orien. "You have the artefacts?"

"Ah, yes..." Orien retrieved and passed the spatial artefact housing the poles to the knight.

"Good, I’ll see you all later..." With that, he turned around and led his crew towards another section of the estate grounds where they housed the prisoners.

"Please..." The servant gestured in another direction, drawing the bounty hunter’s attention. Crusher kept an eye on where Jess was being led for a couple more seconds before joining his party members.

......

While it could be said that Jess was magically cuffed and blinded, her senses were anything but. The magical cuffs had the function of dampening any attempts at casting magic spells or skills.

However, her domain sense was not touched. Just like the cuffs could not prevent her from hearing what was happening around, they couldn’t affect her domain sense that was now more of a physical ability than magical. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Jess was able to see most of the estate’s grounds and where she was being led. The limitations, however, were that her domain sense could not reach the main castle of the duke.

’Doesn’t matter... He’ll take care of that front.’

After several minutes of walking, Jess realised she wasn’t being led to the dungeons like she expected. Instead, the knights were leading her towards the barracks, where the knights of the castle operated.

’This wasn’t part of the plan...’ Jess thought with a frown. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t ask what the knights were doing as she wasn’t supposed to have vision.

’They’re leading me to the Commander’s office...’ She quickly deduced the path they were taking. She knew who the Knight Commander of this region was since she had seen him once.

’Commander Axel...’

Reaching the office of the Knight Commander, the knights forced Jess into one of the chairs facing the Commander’s desk and bound her legs to the chair.

"Weren’t you ever told to treat a maiden delicately...?" Jess complained about the rough treatment.

"Hmph, you lost that privilege when you decided to go after nobles." The leading knight snorted, personally stepping forward to stand by Jess’s side.

He roughly grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back. The treatment elicited a groan from Jess, making the knight grin. "I don’t even know why the commander wants to have a word with you here..."

Jess could clearly ’see’ the dislike on the knight’s face. ’Can’t say I blame him...’ She inwardly sighed, observing as the knight removed the blindfold.

"Ugh..." Jess shook her head slightly, clearing her vision and allowing her eyes to adjust to the light.

It was nearly evening, and the sun began to set over the horizon. The soft light from its rays filtered into the office through the windows, illuminating Jess’s face.

She turned and raised her head to glare at the knight. "You’re going to pay for that..."

"Right..." The knight scoffed and stepped back. "The commander will be here soon. You better behave yourself." He cast a last glance at Jess and gestured for his men to follow him.

Jess watched as the knights closed the door behind them, leaving her alone in the study. With a soft sigh, she turned her focus to the cuffs and then looked around the office.

The office was minimally decorated with only the necessary furniture; a main desk towards one end of the study and a central tea table with surrounding sofas. Scattered across the main desk were some books and papers; the usual.

A picture of the duke was hanging just behind the commander’s seat. The duke looked to be in his forties, dressed in white military robes with a monocle on his left eye.

The duke had brown hair with a little bit of white that was neatly trimmed, light emerald eyes that revealed the wisdom of age and experience. He was a perfect definition of what a noble was.

’I sure hope you’re not in this, Duke Coldmere...’ Jess stared at the image with an expressionless face.

A few minutes later, the sound of footsteps drew Jess out of her thoughts as she turned to look at the door. She already knew who was approaching via her enhanced senses.

The soft creak of the door welcomed the presence of the Knight Commander in a red military robe and with fewer decorations.

"Sorry for the wait, Lady Jess." The Knight Commander addressed Jess as he walked towards his seat. "I hope you’ll indulge me a little."