Thunder rumbled like the evening bell.
The Lord of Rossi City was startled awake by the heavy, continuous thunder outside his window.
He had been having a nightmare—a memory from more than ten years ago, when he and his son Edward were rejected in the Imperial Capital.
At that time, the army was downsizing, and he faced being discharged and sent home.
So he went to the capital, lowering himself everywhere, just hoping to exchange the military merits he’d risked his life for a government post, to find a way out for himself and the old brothers in his unit.
Later, guided by a High Personage, he emptied his family’s coffers and took out a huge loan, gathering rare jewels and a Rare Attribute Magic Crystal, which he presented to the powerful Grand Sorcerer Antonia.
Grand Sorcerer Antonia was very pleased and rewarded him with the lordship of the border city of Rossi.
From then on, he was aboard the Grand Sorcerer’s ship.
In the dream, he returned joyfully, wanting to share the good news with his son.
He pushed open the door—
Only to see his son hanging from the ceiling beam.
His son’s delicate neck was strangled by a rope, his face purple from suffocation, his body convulsing weakly as he reached tremblingly toward him.
The tear-filled, hopeless plea in his eyes shattered his heart to pieces.
Outside, the evening bell tolled, as heavy as thunder.
His son’s face shriveled, then rotted, then weathered into bone.
He stared dumbly at the process, an overwhelming sorrow rising in his heart, yet stifled in his chest, blocked by his slick exterior, unable to escape.
He jolted awake.
It was already the fourth watch.
The Lord of Rossi pushed aside the bare, jade body in his arms, tugged twice on the thin cord by the bed.
Bells chimed in the servants’ quarters on the other side of the mansion.
Before long, the aged butler and six young, beautiful maids in black stockings arrived.
“Master,” the butler greeted respectfully. “Are you feeling cold? Shall we stoke the fire?”
The Lord of Rossi shook his head, spreading his arms and remaining still as the maids dressed him.
He faced the butler.
“It’s not cold. I’m just a bit uneasy in spirit.”
Once dressed, he left the bedroom and wandered the mansion’s rear garden, the butler at his side.
After circling the artificial pond twice, the Lord of Rossi frowned.
“Something feels off. Where’s the Hero? After all that’s happened, he didn’t come all day to question me?”
According to his plan, after the disaster victims’ remaining grain was confiscated, the Hero should have flown into a rage and come to confront him.
At that time, he could pretend ignorance, then weep bitterly, kneeling to plead:
“Sorry, the Princess issued the order without my permission, but it’s my fault for failing to control her. I’m ashamed beyond words. Please kill me to avenge the disaster victims.”
That way, he could shift all the blame onto the Princess.
Given the Hero’s temperament, if he stood his ground, he would die for sure; but if he righteously admitted fault and offered his life, the Hero would hesitate and soften.
Then, he would bring over the tax officials and execute them in front of the Hero, appeasing him and giving himself a way out, then persuade the Hero to plot against the Princess together.
With a “co-conspirator” and a “common enemy,” the Hero would only trust him more over time.
This way… he could both profit and leverage the Hero’s strength.
The Lord of Rossi was confident in his scheming.
After all, the Hero was a mere commoner, uneducated, lacking experience and cunning, with no reliable advisors around him.
By comparison, he was already the one providing the most ideas by the Hero’s side.
Unfortunately.
The Lord of Rossi hadn’t foreseen that an “Anonymous Strategist” had already shown the Hero another path—and exposed his true nature.
A single misstep led to the abyss.
“Any news from the disaster victims’ side? What is the Hero doing today?”
He asked.
The butler replied, “He selected dozens of young people from among the disaster victims and took them out.
I don’t know for what purpose.”
The Lord of Rossi breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled.
“Must be he hasn’t given up and came up with some new wild scheme to try, which explains why he didn’t come to question me. But it’s useless. Even if he could cleave the earth with a sword, could he conjure hundreds of thousands of kilos of grain from nothing?”
As they chatted, the Lord of Rossi thought back to his days commanding troops, feeling a pang of nostalgia.
“After all, destruction is always easier than creation.”
“Master, wise words,” the butler said in admiration.
“Just experience,” the Lord of Rossi replied modestly, then recalled the nightmare.
“By the way, where’s that good-for-nothing brat of mine? Has he been behaving himself lately?”
“This…”
The butler hesitated, looking uneasy.
“Master, the young lord summoned that boy to the Secret Fortress again for a banquet today, and also brought several succubi.”
Previously, Young Lord Edward had threatened him with incriminating evidence, forcing him to hide the boy’s involvement in a murder.
He thought that since the boy wouldn’t survive anyway, he might as well comply.
Fortunately, the Lord of Rossi’s attention was focused on his son Edward, not noticing his guilt.
“Ah… A misfortune on the family, truly a misfortune. I worked so hard to earn money and send him to study in the capital, and what did he learn? Human sacrifice, Demon Drug, and now he keeps Male Pets!”
The Lord of Rossi sneered.
“I deliberately sent that little bastard over today just to let the Hero kill him, saving me the trouble and avoiding harm to our father-son relationship.”
“Master! Brilliant! Too brilliant!”
The butler gave a thumbs-up, perfectly playing the role of the loyal sidekick.
“Brilliant, huh?”
The Lord of Rossi shook his head with a wry laugh, then unfastened his pants and whipped water into the pond.
“Tell me, don’t we all live for just a few things? Letting our parents live well, letting our children live well, and—tsk—enjoying a few good days ourselves. That’s fulfillment.”
“That brat, he doesn’t understand a thing, only knows how to ruin the good things I worked so hard to get for him. Sometimes I really want to beat him to death.”
“Children really are here to collect debts from their parents.”
When speaking of Edward, the Lord of Rossi cursed and laughed in the same breath.
After relieving himself, he pulled up his pants, glanced down at his increasingly plump thigh, and chuckled silently—whether in pride or loneliness, even he couldn’t tell.
“The heroic general of those days, bold enough to make rebels cower, has grown old~”
The night wind rustled.
The Lord of Rossi whistled at the moon, then returned to his bedroom, startling the lover in his cold bed.
—
Dozens of miles away, at the Secret Fortress.
At that moment, all the castle guards had been knocked out by Jon, then tied up by the disaster victims and fitted with Magic Shackles.
Jon began organizing everyone to move the grain.
It was a massive operation.
Even the soldiers sent by General Folco joined in.
Trained in War Class military tactics and magic, they worked dozens of times more efficiently than the disaster victims.
Seeing this, Jon couldn’t help but sigh.
“If only all War Class could farm, the nation’s grain harvest would be amazing.”
Nearby, the Village Chief’s Second Son, Loki, couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Hero, that’s just too inhumane. If you can’t use Magic, you have to farm, and if you learn Magic, you still have to farm—then what’s the point of learning Magic?”
“How could it be pointless? Farming gets faster.”
“Sigh… Forget it. Hero, don’t you feel like something’s missing here?”
Loki leaned in mysteriously.
“Missing? Missing what?”
“Of course—treasure! Gold coins!”
Loki gestured excitedly.
“Hero, think about it. Such a big castle, heavily guarded—how could it only be for storing grain? The lord must have hidden the looted gold and treasures somewhere too.”
Jon was suddenly enlightened.
You’re right, Loki.
That helps a lot.
I’ll go look.
That way, we’ll have funds for winter clothes and fuel for everyone.
“Eh—Hero… Hero…”
Loki hesitated to speak, but the Hero was already walking too fast for him to stop.
In the end, he could only watch Jon’s back fade into the distance.
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