The night was as dark as ink, and the sky was dim.
Eldenborg, Baron Cody District.
The Baron's Manor.
“My Lord, that Priest Leon's attendant has left,” the butler reported to Baron Cody.
“Mhm.”
The jowly Baron Cody sat on a soft bench in the main hall, giving a brief reply before picking up a piece of beef roasted crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, shoving it into his mouth.
Beside him, a blonde woman wearing very little clung to him, wiping the grease from his lips with a damp towel.
“My Lord, this priest from out of town really has no manners,” the blonde woman said as she wiped. “He comes to Eldenborg and doesn't even bother to ask around about who's who?”
“Never mind a common priest like him—even if Baron Pierce himself wanted to see you, he’d have to respectfully present a grand gift and send an assistant in person to make an appointment just to follow proper etiquette.”
“Who sends a low-ranking attendant without even a meeting gift and dares to invite my Lord to a manor!”
“If I were you, My Lord, I would have sent men to kick him out of your territory long ago!”
Hearing this, Baron Cody burst into laughter. He pinched the blonde woman's chin and kissed her sloppily before saying:
“These outsiders are just that ignorant.”
“However, it is his first time, after all. A little impoliteness is nothing.”
The blonde woman gently patted Baron Cody's chest. “You truly are too broad-minded, My Lord.”
“If it were me, I would have sent men to give him a lesson. Otherwise, that priest might harbor resentment and try to trip you up later!”
Baron Cody shook his head and laughed. “Trip me up? He's a mere official priest; does he even have the courage?”
“I'm telling you, these so-called priests are just opportunists!”
“As long as you're a bit firm, they get cold feet. They might look calm on the surface, but if I so much as raise a fist, I guarantee they'll piss themselves!”
“But My Lord...” the blonde woman said, “I heard that this new priest is from the capital. Do you think he has any connections there?”
“The capital? Someone from the capital doesn't mean a thing!” Baron Cody didn't care at all.
“Do you think your Lord doesn't know people in the capital?”
“Besides, if that worthless priest really had connections, would he have come to a church in a backwater place like Eldenborg?”
“People with connections would have stayed in the capital's cathedrals long ago and been promoted to high-ranking priests.”
“I see.” The blonde woman looked at Baron Cody with admiration. “You know so much, My Lord!”
Baron Cody gave a light snort. “Naturally. My Cody family originally came from the capital as well...”
Boom!
At that moment, a sound like a heavy object crashing to the ground echoed from the manor's outer wall, followed by the frantic shouts of servants inside.
Baron Cody's brow furrowed, his mood instantly souring.
It was already dark; who dared to make such a loud racket near his manor!
Did they have a death wish!
“Nate, go outside and see. Catch whoever made that noise and bring them in! I want to see who is so audacious!” Baron Cody ordered coldly.
The butler received the command and walked quickly toward the main hall's doors.
However, as he drew near, the butler heard the rustle of interlocking armor plates and the sound of heavy, rapid footsteps from outside.
The very next second.
Bang—!
The heavy door panels, made of fifty-year-old sandalwood, were kicked open from the outside. Splinters flew as the doors were blasted inward with immense force, grazing the butler and embedding themselves into the windowsill behind him.
The commotion gave the butler a massive fright, and Baron Cody, who had just finished giving orders, lunged to his feet, his face twisted in rage.
“Who! Who dares to trespass in my manor!”
Baron Cody was fuming as he grabbed a short sword kept under the marble table in the hall.
With a grim expression, he suddenly released his Bronze rank aura, pressing it toward the entrance.
In Eldenborg, no one had ever dared to provoke him, a Bronze rank bloodline warrior, like this!
However, the scene Baron Cody expected did not occur.
The intruders did not tremble or look as if they had lost their parents under his Bronze rank pressure. Instead, they ignored it entirely as a squad of heavy-armored warriors filed in, standing guard on both sides of the doorway.
Behind them, a figure dressed in priest's robes with black hair and black eyes slowly walked in.
Sensing the murderous aura emanating from these armored warriors and realizing that every single one of them possessed a Bronze rank pressure no weaker than his own, Baron Cody's furious expression instantly froze.
And when he sensed the Silver rank power carried by the black-haired priest leading them, Baron Cody's heart skipped a beat, filled with terror.
His expression shifted instantly from a fierce tyrant to a groveling sycophant.
“Th-this Priest... Your Excellency's arrival is an honor. Please excuse my lack of a proper welcome...” Baron Cody hurriedly bowed and cupped his hands.
“Lack of a proper welcome? When I sent someone to invite you to the Rose Cathedral for a talk earlier, why didn't you feel that way?” Leon glanced at him coldly and made a slight gesture.
“Break his limbs and take him away.”
“Yes!”
The Falcon warriors received the order and, without a word, raised their black spears and charged straight at Baron Cody.
Seeing the murderous intent in the warriors' eyes, Baron Cody shouted with feigned bravado:
“Wh-what are you doing! I am an Imperial Baron! You dare to strike a Baron? Do you want to lose your heads!”
But his words had no effect on the Falcon warriors. Four of them swarmed him, a flick of a spear knocking the short sword from his hand.
Then, the spears slammed down. Four bloody holes were blasted into Baron Cody's arms and legs, and the sound of bones snapping echoed through the hall.
Baron Cody let out a heart-wrenching scream, but he was completely unable to resist as a Falcon warrior picked him up and threw him out of the hall.
“Young Master, what about her?” a Falcon warrior asked, pointing at the blonde woman trembling in the corner.
Leon glanced at her. “A beneficiary. Take her as well.”
As he walked out of Baron Cody's manor, the situation outside was already under the control of the Falcon warriors.
Over forty people in tattered clothes, sallow and emaciated, stood uneasily at the manor entrance. Their feet were shackled, and the character for “slave” was branded on the back of their necks.
“Young Master, these are all slaves Baron Cody bought from pirates...” A Falcon warrior's eyes burned with fury at the sight of these people, who were so thin they were nothing but bone.
Leon's face turned as cold as iron upon hearing this.
The Heron Empire had completely abolished slavery a hundred years ago.
He hadn't expected that in the empire's Far South, so far from the capital, a noble would actually dare to buy and sell slaves!
It truly was the case that the more remote the place, the more audacious and inhumane the people became.
“Butler Hunter, see to it that they are properly settled,” Leon instructed Old Hunter.
Then, leading the remaining Falcon warriors, he headed toward the other “No Entry for Outsiders” zones in Eldenborg.
When a cockroach appears in a room, it means there are likely many more.
For these nobles and wealthy merchants who enslaved humans and their own fellow citizens, Leon had no interest in hearing any explanations or excuses.
Break the doors, arrest them, and execute them.
That was the only end they deserved.
Rate on N.U.
