“Ahaha, you really like to joke.”
“I've been on the border for so long, yet I've never seen this blood-sucking devil you speak of.”
Whether out of guilt or because Ichikawa's words had struck a nerve, Will laughed awkwardly.
“By your logic, if there really were some blood-sucking devil, my little city would have been destroyed long ago.”
As he spoke, Will's eyes kept darting toward the magic arms that were continuously playing with the Magic Crystals.
Combined with Ichikawa's glare, which felt like an interrogation of a criminal, a thin layer of sweat began to break out on Will's forehead.
“What are you saying? You know, on our way here, we saw how dilapidated this city is. The commoners are practically lifeless.”
“If it's not because of those devils, could it be because of your inaction?”
“Why are you so nervous?”
As he spoke, Ichikawa smiled and reached out to pat the sweating Will on the shoulder.
“Ahaha, it must be those damned demons slipping in again without my knowledge.”
“To resist those wretched demons, I have truly spared no effort.”
“Spared no effort?”
Ichikawa sized Will up. With his bloated build, there was no way he looked like someone who had spared any effort.
How could this guy live like a local tyrant on the border with such shoddy acting?
Of course, that was impossible. He glanced at Lin Ling, who was still playing with the magic ore.
“Oh, right, right! I haven't even properly hosted you two yet. Why don't you wait in the reception room first?”
Seeing Ichikawa look at Lin Ling, Will hastily blocked his line of sight with his own body.
At the same time, he made a welcoming gesture.
“Why? I think it's very comfortable here.”
“Ichikawa, look at this sofa! It's even softer than the beds we usually sleep on! And look, look at this gem.”
Lin Ling used her magic arms to hand the neatly arranged Magic Crystals on the table to Ichikawa.
Just then, the magic arms dissipated.
Clatter—
The gem previously held by the magic arm fell directly onto the floor, making a crisp sound.
Will, who was about to say something, froze instantly.
“This, uh... this is...”
Looking at the fallen Magic Crystal, Will's speech became incoherent.
When he looked at Ichikawa, the latter still wore a strange smile.
“These are military funds, right?”
“Ah, yes, military funds! They're military funds.”
Since the Hero had provided an excuse for him, he might as well use it.
“But...”
Wait, what is this girl going to say now?
Will turned his gaze toward Lin Ling. Every time she spoke, the two of them treated him like a plaything on a stage.
“Baron Will, I would like to ask, if the demons can barely protect themselves, what reason would they have to launch an invasion?”
“As far as I know, before the royal succession in Camillaya, you had some dealings with the demons, didn't you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Lin Ling's words once again struck Will right in his core.
“Are you implying that I am the so-called devil you're talking about?”
“Oh? What are you saying? We didn't say that, did we?”
Hearing Will's words, Ichikawa looked at Lin Ling with a smile.
By now, Lin Ling had stood up from the soft sofa. Along with Ichikawa, they had surrounded Will.
“How could you possibly be that devil? You are Baron Will, the defender of the border.”
Yet as she spoke, Will could feel a heavy concentration of magic on his shoulder.
At some point, Lin Ling's magic arms had appeared on Will's shoulder.
“Baron Will, do you know what we saw on our way here?”
“Uh, haha, how could I possibly know what you saw?”
“You really don't know?”
“What about this, then?”
A furious voice suddenly rang out from outside the door.
Hurni had appeared at the doorway of the room at some point, bringing the maid with her.
“Furni?”
Seeing Furni appear, a flash of surprise crossed Lin Ling's face.
Moreover, Furni's face was filled with extreme rage.
Ignoring the shocked duo, Furni walked toward Will with the healed maid in tow.
“Hey, where did you come from... mgh.”
Before Will could finish his sentence, Furni, who seemed to have teleported, grabbed him by the face.
“Do you remember what you did now?”
Will caught sight of the maid right before he was grabbed, and combined with the massive force on his face, his mind raced.
“Mmph—mmph!”
But even if Will wanted to speak, he was pinned down tightly by a hand that... seemed to have scales?
“Do you remember now?”
Hurni's voice echoed around Will like the whisper of the Grim Reaper.
If this was because of that damned maid, then next...
The moment Will recalled what he had done not long ago, the hand gripping his face slammed his head down onto the table piled high with Magic Crystals.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A series of heavy impacts echoed from the table. The magic arms around Lin Ling had already dissipated.
But she didn't understand why Furni was so angry.
With that in mind, she looked at the maid Furni had brought back to the doorway.
The wounds on the maid's face had been completely healed.
Even so, the maid's body still trembled subconsciously upon seeing Will.
“These maids were obtained through slave traders.”
Ivelia quietly appeared behind Lin Ling, explaining the reason for Furni's anger to her confused Saintess.
“Yes, slave traders!”
Thud!
Hurni ground her teeth as she continued to slam Will's head.
“You two might not know this, but this wretched system was abolished when Camillaya was founded.”
“And now, these bastards are repeating what happened back then.”
Thud!
Hurni slammed him down once more after speaking.
When Will was finally pulled back up, his face looked even more gruesome than the maid's did initially.
“Is he dead?”
Held up by Furni as she walked toward them, Will showed no signs of movement.
“He's barely hanging on. I still have things to ask him, so I won't let him die so easily.”
Hurni looked at Will, her expression like she was staring at a pile of the most disgusting trash.
With that, she cast a top-tier spell on Will, instantly restoring him to his original state.
As his vision returned, Will's expression instantly collapsed.
“I was wrong! I was truly wrong! Who on earth are you people?”
When his gaze fell upon Ivelia, who was holding Lin Ling, his eyes were immediately drawn to the horns on her head.
“My lords of the demon race, it's my fault! I shouldn't have slandered the demon race's name!”
Combined with Lin Ling's earlier question, Will naturally assumed these people had come because of his supposed resistance against the demons.
However, Ivelia merely cast a cold glance at Will before turning her gaze entirely back to the girl in her arms.
It was as if she were cleansing her eyes with something beautiful after looking at something utterly repulsive.
“It seems you still don't realize why you've attracted a Hero.”
Hurni's voice rang out again beside him.
“Ah, wait, no—”
Crash!
Another series of heavy slams followed. This time, Furni did not hold back, and the battered table finally collapsed under the repeated impacts.
Another healing spell struck Will, restoring the dying man once more.
“I was wrong! I was truly wrong! I really don't know what I did wrong!”
Once restored, Will fell straight to his knees before Furni, his entire body trembling violently.
“I will ask you one more time. If you say you don't know again, I will torture you endlessly until the end of this century.”
Hurni lifted Will from the ground, extending a hand covered in dragon scales.
Seeing these fine blue scales, Will finally realized what kind of existence he had provoked.
“Great guardian dragon, this really isn't my fault! This, this was all, all...”
Will seemed terrified of something else, but compared to that, the being in front of him was by far the most terrifying.
“It was Duke Rozaku! Yes, he was the one who restarted the slave trade.”
“His Highness Keith approved this! I had no choice! To preserve my title, I simply had no choice!”
Will trembled uncontrollably, but no response came from Furni.
Stealing a glance upward, he saw Furni looking down at him with cold, indifferent eyes.
“Did you listen to their pleas for mercy when you treated them like that?”
“You didn't, did you?”
Hurni gave Will absolutely no time to speak. She glanced at the trembling maid behind her, then placed the magic ore Lin Ling had been playing with into Will's hand.
“Take this ore. Didn't you like using this to buy maids? Hold onto it.”
Watching Will reluctantly take the gem, Furni began casting a teleportation spell on him.
“Goodbye, never to meet again.”
Hurni had a smile on her face, but Will's face was filled with pure terror.
Because he could feel a terrifying amount of magic swelling within the ore in his hand.
In the next instant, his surroundings shifted to the open sky, and the Magic Crystal in his hand continued to grow burning hot.
Before Will could even throw the stone away—
Boom—
After Furni softly muttered the word back in the room, a violent explosion echoed from high above their heads.
Rate on N.U.
