Chapter 145 - 99 : A Different world?

Chapter 145: Chapter 99 : A Different world?

"Where are we?"

Lucian blinked at the question. "You mean this forest?"

"The region." Ethan’s gaze remained calm. "What is this area called?"

Lucian hesitated for a moment before answering. "You’re in Veymont territory. This entire region falls under the authority of the Veymont Count family. Most of the surrounding lands are under my family’s control, and even the nearest city is governed by the Veymonts."

He expected some reaction.

There was none.

Ethan merely nodded. "I see."

Lucian stared at him for a moment.

That was it?

He had just explained that they were in the territory of the Veymont Count family, yet Ethan had reacted as though he had been told something completely ordinary. Perhaps the man really was from somewhere far away.

Ethan, meanwhile, was considering something else. A noble family controlling a region did not necessarily mean the region was independent. There could still be a kingdom above them, or perhaps one of the major sects held influence over the surrounding lands. If that were the case, then Ethan might simply be somewhere beyond the territories he knew.

He decided to test that possibility.

"Have you heard of the Azure Cloud Sect?"

Lucian’s expression changed slightly.

He thought about it for a moment, as though searching his memory for the name. The way Ethan had asked made it sound important, almost as though it should be something any knowledgeable person would recognize.

"Is that some kind of school?" he asked. "A gang, perhaps? Or a kingdom?"

"No."

Lucian frowned slightly. "Then some sort of organization?"

"Yes."

A faint note of interest entered Ethan’s voice.

Lucian thought again, but the slight lift in his expression soon disappeared. He slowly shook his head. "I’m sorry. I’ve never heard of anything like that."

Ethan watched him quietly.

Lucian did not seem to be pretending. There was genuine confusion in his eyes, along with the slight regret of someone who knew he had failed to provide the answer expected of him.

Perhaps the Azure Cloud Sect simply lay beyond this region.

That possibility still remained.

Ethan considered it for another moment before asking, "What about the Lunar Echo Sect?"

Lucian’s brows drew together. He searched his memory once more, then shook his head.

"No. That name doesn’t mean anything to me either."

Ethan fell silent.

If Lucian had never heard of either sect, perhaps he simply had not traveled far enough to know about them. Mortals could not move between distant regions the way cultivators could, and even an heir to a noble family might spend his entire life within the lands controlled by his family.

There was still one more question he could ask.

One that would tell him far more.

Ethan had been approaching the problem from the wrong direction. He had been asking about places and sects that might simply exist beyond this region. What he needed was something whose answer could distinguish between the two possibilities he was considering.

If this was merely another region of the cultivation world..

Ethan looked at him again.

Then there was one final question that might give him the answer he needed.

"Have you ever heard of cultivators?"

Lucian’s expression became even more puzzled.

"Like farmers?"

For a moment, Ethan simply stared at him.

Farmers?

The word struck him so strangely that he almost laughed. Cultivators, people who refined spiritual energy, tempered their bodies, pursued breakthroughs, and sought a path beyond mortality, being mistaken for people who cultivated fields?

The absurdity of it reminded him of an old comment he had once seen while reading a web novel. Someone had joked about how the word cultivator could literally make a person think of farmers if they knew nothing about cultivation.

He hadn’t expected to ever encounter something like that himself.

A small laugh escaped Ethan before he managed to suppress it.

Lucian seemed to realize that he had misunderstood. "I mean people who cultivate the land. Farmers."

"No." Ethan shook his head. "That’s not what I meant."

"Then I’m afraid I don’t understand."

Lucian gave him an apologetic look. "If you’re talking about some kind of martial organization, I may know it by another name. But I’ve never heard people called cultivators."

Ethan studied him for a moment.

Even Lucian, an heir to a noble family with enough influence to govern an entire region, had never heard the term.

"What about immortals?"

Lucian looked genuinely confused.

"Immortals?"

He thought about it for several seconds before asking, "Do you mean people who don’t age?"

Ethan remained silent.

Lucian seemed to think about the idea for another moment. "Is that even possible? Isn’t something like that supposed to be nothing more than a myth or a legend?"

There was no mockery in his voice. He genuinely seemed to regard the idea as something that belonged in stories rather than reality.

After another brief pause, he gave a small shake of his head. "In any case, I’ve never heard of anyone like that."

Ethan lowered his eyes.

That was enough.

He finally had the confirmation he had been looking for.

A noble heir who had never heard of cultivators. A man who did not recognize the existence of immortals except as something that might belong to myths and legends. For someone like Lucian, living in the heart of a territory governed by a count family, to know nothing about either was more telling than any unfamiliar place name could have been.

The pieces were beginning to fit together.

The strange spatial journey. The almost nonexistent spiritual energy. The absence of every major sect he knew. And now this.

A small world.

The thought returned with far more weight than before.

Perhaps he had not simply fallen into an isolated region of the cultivation world. Perhaps the spatial rift had carried him somewhere completely different, somewhere separated from the world he had known.

Ethan did not share the thought with Lucian. There was no reason to reveal a conclusion that he still could not prove. Even if this truly was a small world, he knew almost nothing about it yet.

He needed information.

He needed time.

And above all, he needed to recover.

Only then could he begin to understand where he had truly ended up.

Ethan’s gaze shifted toward Lucian. "From what you’ve told me, you’re the heir to a noble family, and this entire region falls under your family’s authority. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up in a situation like this? You were being pursued when you found me alone in the forest. What happened?"

Lucian was quiet for a moment. His fingers rested against his knee as his gaze drifted toward the cave entrance.

"I was travelling on family business. One of the families under our protection was attacked recently, so I was sent to investigate. It was a baron family under one of our viscounts, and the attack was unusual enough that my family wanted to know what was happening. I was on my way back after looking into the matter when we were ambushed."

Ethan’s expression tightened slightly.

"By whom?"

"I honestly don’t know."

Lucian’s voice remained calm, but a trace of hardness entered it. "They were organized, though, and they clearly knew what they were doing. My guards fought them while I escaped, which bought me enough time to get away."

Ethan’s brows drew together, genuinely puzzled. "Who would be bold enough to attack the heir of a count family in the middle of its own territory?"

Lucian gave a faint shake of his head. "That’s what I have been wondering about. And besides this there have been several incidents along the borders recently, not just against families under our authority. Other noble houses have been targeted as well, and the situation has become increasingly unstable."

He paused before continuing. "Our kingdom has also been having problems with the neighboring Kingdom of Varell. They’ve been pushing against our borders and stirring unrest in the neighboring territories. That makes them an obvious possibility, but I can’t say they’re responsible for what happened to me though . There are other possibilities, and until i get back to my family and investigates further, we won’t know who was behind these attacks."

Ethan listened without interrupting.

Lucian was silent for a moment. His expression softened, and a trace of grief settled in his eyes as he thought of the guards who had stayed behind. They had given their lives to buy him the time to escape.

"I only know that my guards gave me the chance to escape." His voice was quieter now. "Without them, I wouldn’t have made it out of there."

There was nothing more to add.

Ethan understood. Lucian had already told him more than most people would tell a stranger, especially when family matters and possible enemies were involved. There was no reason to press him further.

Instead, Ethan studied him quietly.

Twenty-six, perhaps.

Young by Ethan’s standards, but old enough to carry responsibility. Yet despite being pursued himself, Lucian had still stopped when he found someone being attacked by wolves. His own guards had already been fighting to keep him alive, and he had still turned back.

That told Ethan more about him than his family name ever could.

Lucian noticed Ethan’s gaze and looked back at him. "What?"

Ethan was silent for a moment.

"Your family must be proud to have you as their heir."

Lucian’s expression shifted slightly.

Ethan looked toward the fire again. "Not many people would have turned back in your position."

The words were simple, without flattery or exaggeration. Ethan was merely acknowledging what he had seen for himself.