[ Chapter 41 ]


    Romad swallowed hard, convinced that what was deemed advantageous for them would certainly not bode well for him and his group. The sight of Lantas’s body, severed at the torso, only cemented this belief further.


    As Romad and his party stealthily approached Repenhardt, theirplexions could have given zombies or ghouls a run for their money, seemingly more suited for a face-off in pallor than to any lively encounter. Even pigs headed to the ughterhouse seemed cheerier inparison.


    “Who are you?”


    “Excuse me?”


    Romad responded, visibly confused. A dense aura of murderous intent emanated from Repenhardt.


    “Who sent you?”


    No answer came forth. Romad’s group did not possess the mental fortitude to withstand Repenhardt’s imposing aura. They were evidently as fearful of Teriq as they were of facing Repenhardt’s wrath. Mentioning Teriq’s name was equivalent to sealing their fate, a fact they were all too aware of.


    Their misfortuney in not knowing that omitting Teriq’s name would lead to an equally grim oue.


    Repenhardt’s smile grew wider.


    “I figured it wouldn’t be easy to get you to talk. I thought as much.”


    Walking over to a nearby fallen branch, Repenhardt picked it up. Holding the stick, he generously offered:


    “I shall show mercy on you.”


    Why wield a stick if mercy was to be granted? The question hung in the air as everyone frowned in unjust treatment, yet Repenhardt stood unashamed, looking up at the sky without a hint of embarrassment.


    “Still, you’re just underlings, so I won’t kill you.”


    He beat them precisely as much as he deemed fit, not a stroke more, not a stroke less.


    A minuteter, he asked again.


    “Who hired you?”


    They were incapable of standing due to their shattered bones, yet their ability to speak remained untouched—a testament to the mysterious efficacy of this particr method of physical persuasion.


    “It’s, it’s Teriq, sir!”


    “He’s the current head of the Rolpein Trading Company!”


    “His residence is a mansion on the outskirts south of Zeppelin.”


    “To get there, head south through the southern gate and continue for about 10 minutes until you reach a triangr crossroad, then take the left!”


    The response was immediate. Indeed, Gym Unbreakable’s method of physical training proved to be an exceptional form of interrogation. What took mere ‘morning practice’ had them spilling every detail without the need for an ‘afternoon session.’


    “Teriq?”


    The name rang a bell. It was unmistakably the name of the middle-aged man who had tormented Siris for a decade in his past life.


    When Repenhardt had rescued Siris, he had intended to kill Teriq first and foremost. Even back then, Repenhardt was of archmage caliber, more than capable of exacting revenge on Teriq.


    However, it was all in vain, as Teriq had already died from fatty liver diseasepounded with diabetes by the time they arrived. It was said that he died of peritonitis on a ship carrying elf ves. The anger and emptiness felt at that time were still vivid.


    “Was it that bastard!”


    The resentment from his past life ovepped with his current anger. Repenhardt’s eyes fiercely ignited. Romad, startled by this reaction, asked,


    “Are you seriously thinking of going after them?”


    He thought mentioning the Rolpein Trading Company’s name would calm the young man down, even if he was a powerful aura wielder. Thus, he had hoped that by mentioning Teriq’s name, it might somehow resolve the situation.


    But his reaction seemed not only unresolved, but also intent on heading to the mansion!


    “It’s impossible! Even you…”


    He was about to say that the mansion had an aura wielder as a knight! But then he remembered that the mansion’s knight was none other than Lantas, who was now in ruins.


    Romad was taken aback. It seemed unlikely that this brutish monster would suffer any harm from raiding the mansion. Knowing how formidable an aura wielder’s power could be from seeing Lantas, he understood that storming Teriq’s mansion and taking his head would not be difficult, given the mansion’s usual level of vignce.


    However, he couldn’t just let Teriq die like that. Losing a job at this age would make it difficult to find another, especially for someone who had been living by the sword.


    “Lord Teriq owns the secondrgest tradingpany within the Chatan Principality! If anything were to happen to him, it would be a public disaster for the Chatan Principality!”


    His warning fell on deaf ears.


    “Yeah, I know all about it.”


    Grinding his teeth, Repenhardt muttered.


    “I know exactly what kind of person he is.”


    Repenhardt discarded the stick. Then, looking down at Romad and hispanions, who couldn’t even get up due to the ‘beatdown training’ and were just gasping like fishes, he said,


    “I won’t kill you, as promised.”


    Romad wore a look of despair.


    “Uuuuugh…”


    Even the mighty Repenhardt couldn’t move for a while after being beaten up like that. Leaving them out in this winter cold? They would freeze to death without the strength to crawl.


    Curses flowed involuntarily.


    ‘Just kill me quickly, you bastard!’


    But he was too scared to say it out loud. And that saved Romad and hispanions. Repenhardt truly intended to keep his promise not to kill them. So, he picked up the fallen men and neatly bundled them up.


    “Come on, you lot, huddle together for warmth. That way, you won’t freeze to death.”


    It was an act of cruelty or mercy; the line was blurry. With Siris and Sin in tow, Repenhardt left the open ground. As they moved away, an almost unbearable scene began to unfold behind the departing party.


    “Ah, don’t squeeze in! It hurts!”


    “Don’t press there! That’s where the bone is broken!”


    “Is there a ce that isn’t broken!”


    “Lord Romad, unexpectedly, you have a warm heart.”


    “Quiet! You brat! Don’t make me blush! Shut it!”


    Huddled together like worms in a fisherman’s bait box, the pitiful Romad and his group struggled to keep alive against the winter chill. It was indeed a self-inflicted predicament.


    * * *


    Zeppelin’s western outskirts, at the Rolpein Mansion.


    In arge bedroom strewn with gold-threaded bedding, two young elves stood shivering in the nude. They were just over forty, equivalent to about ten-year-old human children. These young children were beingsciviously toyed with by two adult elf women.


    From one side of the bedroom, Teriq and Beret sipped their drinks, enjoying the lewd spectacle. Both were dressed only in thin silk robes over their naked bodies. Suddenly, Beret asked,


    “Why did you buy such young elves? They’re too young to be of any use, aren’t they?”


    While asking, Beret gestured, and another elf ve quickly fed him a grape. Teriq took a sip of his drink and smirked.


    “It’s fine. It’s Sir Lantas’s sry, after all.”


    “Huh? You mean we can dip into someone else’s sry like that?”


    “Sir Lantas doesn’t care if they’re virgins or not, as long as they’re young. He won’t say anything even if we y with them a bit and then hand them off.”


    “Huh! What a pervert.”


    Beret genuinely criticized Lantas’s perversion while being in the midst of such debauchery himself. Amazingly, Teriq sincerely agreed.


    “Exactly. What a perverted old man. I mean, what’s the fun in defiling young ones who aren’t even virgins?”


    “Exactly. He doesn’t know the first thing about refinement.”


    As if to prove they were cut from the same cloth, both men shared the same thoughts. The saying ‘birds of a feather flock together’ didn’te from nowhere. Both were firmly convinced that their current actions were far removed from perverted sexual desires. Their belief was as strong as a high priest’s faith, truly beyond redemption.


    However, there was no one at the scene to condemn those two. Suddenly, amidst enjoying the debauched feast, Beret tilted his head in confusion.


    “By the way, when is that returned elf femaleing?”


    Teriq grimaced and replied.


    “Exactly. Why is she sote, what is Romad doing?”


    Currently, Teriq had specially invited Beret to boast about his ability to tame an elf ve. Beret had dly epted the invitation, eager to see Teriq suffer the same humiliation he had experienced. One might wonder what kind of friendship this was, but to the wealthy of the Chatan Principality, this was considered quite a close rtionship.


    “Hmm, should we try tasting this in the meantime?”


    Growing tired of waiting, Beret approached a young elf child after taking off his robe. Despite being in front of Teriq, he unabashedly revealed his naked body. However, neither of them showed a hint of shame. The child screamed in terror.


    “Aaaah!”


    Shivering, the child looked desperately at the ‘adults’ for salvation. However, the other elves deliberately ignored the child’s gaze. This was a despicable situation of attempting to rape a child who didn’t even look ten years old, but there was nothing they could do.


    In the midst of it all, Beret suddenly perked up his ears.


    “It seems somewhat noisy outside, doesn’t it?”


    True to its luxurious nature, the bedroom was equipped with perfect soundproofing. Teriq had spared no effort to ensure that their activities were not interrupted by noise. As such, Beret could only faintly recognize some sounds.


    Teriq lifted his ss as if it was nothing.


    “What, as if the people downstairs haven’t caused amotion before?”


    “Indeed, haha.”


    Ignoring it, Beret looked back down at the elf child. A look of terror had surfaced on the child’s face.


    * * *


    Three robust men wielding swords and shields dashed down the hallway with fearsome expressions.


    “Uaaaaaaah!”


    Their shouts turned into screams as they were flung backward.


    “Aaaagh!”


    Repenhardt twirled the spear in his hand and clicked his tongue.


    “Really, it’s harder not to kill them.”


    After effortlessly knocking down the three guards who had attacked, Repenhardt looked around. As befitted the residence of the second-ranking tradingpany of the Chatan Principality, the Rolpein mansion was extraordinarily spacious. It was the sort that could easily cause anyone to lose their way inside.


    However, Repenhardt navigated through the mansion as if he had lived there all his life.


    “This way leads to the stairs going up to the third floor.”


    He had once lived in the imperial pce of the Antares Empire, a ce so vast that this mansion, no matter its size, seemed like nothing more than avatory inparison. The structure of a noble’s mansion was so predictable that having seen the exterior, he had already grasped most of itsyout.


    “Now, Sin. I’m counting on you.”


    “Yes, yes.”


    Sin approached the felled guards and prayed.


    “O Phnence, watch over your young servants and erase their painful memories.”


    A divine power flickered above the heads of the fallen guards and then vanished. With that, they would remember nothing of today’s intruder.


    Originally, it was a divine spell used to blur the memories of a spurned lover, but with Sin’s tremendous divine power, it could also be used for memory erasure. After all, they were ‘painful’ memories.


    Repenhardt admired Sin’s work with a word of praise.


    “That’s convenient.”


    Manipting the mind belonged to the realm of high-level magic, and Repenhardt, in his current state, knew the theory butcked the power to cast such spells. Sin shrugged.


    “It doesn’t work for offensive purposes. It only works on those who are unconscious. But, if I weren’t here, what were you nning to do about the witnesses?”


    Even with Repenhardt’s aura abilities, there was no guarantee he would escape unscathed after killing the master of the Rolpein Trading Company. Of course, killing all the witnesses was an option, but the Repenhardt that Sin knew wasn’t the type to go that far.


    Repenhardt smiled faintly.


    “The n was to sneak in and take only Teriq’s head.”


    “Then it’s fortunate that I can use memory-erasing magic. I definitely want to see that bastard get what he deserves!”


    Sin gritted his teeth.


    When Repenhardt was on the verge of rushing to the Rolpein mansion to beat Teriq to death, Sin didn’t try to stop him. There was no reason to; Sin had nearly been a victim too. It didn’t matter whether it was a man or a woman; no one would graciously forgive someone trying to imnt something strange into their body without permission. Far from stopping him, Sin eagerly egged him on.