Vol 2 Chapter 129: The Beginning and End of the Matter

While Sylutia was fighting the two knights, Lucas on the other side was struggling to hold off the ‘Bloodline’ warrior named Aru.

The opponent’s great axe, swung with tremendous force, was practically the bane of bone creatures. No matter what kind of skeletal remains Lucas summoned and commanded, they would be effortlessly cleaved and shattered by the other party. Under the constant pressure of the opponent’s advance, he also didn’t have much spare energy to cast complex and powerful spell abilities.

Once again, the bone creature in front of Lucas was chopped and shattered. He made up his mind and took out the ‘Dragon Bone’ fragments he had recently obtained.

He scattered these dragon bone fragments, then raised the pale skull in his hand. As if mustering all his strength, the skull spewed out a dense, snow-white, star-sand-like mist.

Lucas then chanted an intensifying incantation, his pupils shining brightly as the sigil of ‘Dead Embers’ manifested.

Within a few breaths, the star-sand mist not far away seemed to come alive, devouring the dragon bone fragments below and the scattered skeletal remains littering the ground.

Soon, a brand new bone monster appeared. It was humanoid in shape, but its two hands had sharp bone claws, its head sported sharp teeth and faintly visible horn-like bones, and its joints were covered in sharp, angular bone spikes.

[White Bone Graveyard School · Dragon Tooth Soldier]

This was a ritual secret method that required dragon bone materials to perform. The created Dragon Tooth Soldier was not restricted by the caster’s own tier, but only related to the ritual’s completion level.

If Lucas had been fully prepared, he could probably have used the dragon bone materials in his possession to create a Dragon Tooth Soldier close to the ‘Fourth Tier’. Unfortunately, the Dragon Tooth Soldier hastily created now was only at the Third Tier level.

The moment this Dragon Tooth Soldier appeared, it was struck by the attacking warrior’s great axe.

The heavy great axe, carrying a whistling sound through the air, smashed a gap in the Dragon Tooth Soldier’s head, sending it flying. It still seemed to be at a disadvantage, but Lucas’s expression relaxed.

It wasn’t dead, only lightly injured, and it had been completely passive, hastily responding to the enemy. Even under such circumstances it could withstand the attack, so he could finally rest easy.

Sure enough, the Dragon Tooth Soldier got up afterwards and charged again at the giant warrior before it. Even if it couldn’t match the opponent in strength, the opponent also couldn’t do anything to this unbreakable, sturdy Dragon Tooth Soldier.

After a bout of tangled combat, it even managed to open several bloody wounds on Aru’s body.

At this moment, Lucas finally had the leisure to survey the overall situation and plan his next moves and spells.

Seeing the warrior Aru locked in a difficult battle, Somerlin, commanding from the rear, changed his expression slightly and sent the two knights beside him forward to assist. He hadn’t expected that the usually powerful and unmatched warrior ‘Aru’ would suffer a setback against this scrawny ‘Bone Stitcher’.

If only the other side would finish quickly. Somerlin turned his gaze to the other side, wanting to see if that graceful and charming young girl had been captured yet.

But in that short moment, a thick expanse of flowers, plants, and shrubs had spread across the entire field, not only blocking his view but also ensnaring the surrounding soldiers who were shouting and struggling.

Another moment later, Somerlin watched with his own eyes as the two knights he had sent for support were pierced by several emerald spiral spear blades and fell into the deep autumn-colored grass. At this moment, he very much wanted to scream in terror and flee quickly, but unfortunately, his back was already pressed against an equally sharp emerald spear blade.

“Don’t, don’t! I have many secrets to tell you, don’t kill me yet.” Somerlin raised his hands, hurriedly begging for mercy.

Hearing his words, Sylutia thought for a moment. She did indeed have many things she wanted to ask, so she temporarily refrained from killing this new lord of Scorchstone City.

“Then speak properly. But first, you need to make your men stop.”

“No problem, ask whatever you wish. I’ll make my men stop right now.”

Soon, Somerlin shouted at the top of his lungs, ordering the soldiers surrounding and blocking them to stop, and telling the warrior ‘Aru’ to cease fighting as soon as possible.

Only then did Aru, focused on the fight, realize that his lord in the rear had been taken hostage. Unfortunately, he was too far away now to attempt a rescue.

Afterwards, Lucas and Aru slowly stopped fighting and retreated separately. Then Lucas walked over to Sylutia and Somerlin, using the bone monsters under his command to surround Somerlin. This way, even if the other party broke free from the spear blade in Sylutia’s hand, he couldn’t leave.

The situation finally calmed down at this point. Sylutia also retracted her ‘Autumn Garden’ and sat on a nearby rock, questioning Somerlin, who had his back to her.

“First, tell me how you obtained the position of lord of Scorchstone City.” She wanted to know the whole story from beginning to end.

“That’s easy to explain. Most of my subordinates actually know my background.” Seeing that this young girl didn’t seem like a personal enemy specifically targeting him, Somerlin felt slightly relieved.

“I used to be a merchant traveling with the Anty army, responsible for purchasing spoils obtained by the soldiers and selling them all sorts of things they needed, whether it was herbs, weapons, armor, enhancement resources, or forbidden items, etc.”

“Because I stayed with the army for a long time, I became exceptionally familiar with Anty army officers and their affairs. They would also entrust me with some private matters.”

“As time went on, I simply hung a nominal officer position in the army to avoid certain inspections, and my position slowly rose as well.”

“Anty has been fighting wars all these years, business has been good, and I saved up a sum of money. After conquering Regas, I negotiated with General Bett and bought this Scorchstone City as my own fief.”

“Then you should be aware that many of the policies you implemented were unreasonable. Scorchstone City has clearly declined a lot now. What exactly is the reason for this?” Sylutia asked about her previous doubts.

Hearing this, Lucas on the side slightly shook his head, feeling this junior schoolmate was worrying about too many things. This was probably just a young person’s curiosity, he silently evaluated.

“I didn’t want it to be like this at first, but the locals were very uncooperative with me. They didn’t treat me as a noble lord at all, spoke ill of me behind my back in various ways, and tried every means to evade taxes.” Speaking of this, Somerlin also became angry.

“They were already conquered, so why wouldn’t they obey properly? I came here not to be their nanny, but to be their lord. Since they didn’t cooperate with me, why should I cherish these fools?”

“So, you started trying every possible way to collect taxes and make money?” Sylutia slightly shook her head.

“What else could I do?” Somerlin answered angrily.

“I have so many soldiers under me, and quite a few knights. If I have no money, how can I support them? If I can’t support them, the residents here would devour me in seconds.”

“A steady, long-term approach was impossible. If I foolishly disbanded the army, I would have been assassinated long ago.”

“It’s not that I’m cruel and wicked, but the world is just like this. I was only forced into a corner.” He thought this young girl was the kind of naive youth fresh out of the gate, upholding righteous values.

“How much money did you spend at the time to buy the position of lord of Scorchstone City?” Sylutia knew there was no reasoning with this kind of person.

“It cost about 10,000 gold coins. That was all my life savings from the first half of my life.” Somerlin answered resentfully.

Ten thousand gold coins. This number wasn’t huge for Sylutia now, but for other Third Tier Transcendents, it was indeed an unimaginably large sum.

“How much do you have left now?” Lucas on the side couldn’t help but ask.

“I still have some, but if I give it all to you, I’m afraid I won’t be able to survive.” Somerlin’s mind raced.

“I know the two of you don’t have a great grudge against me. Afterwards, I won’t report today’s events to the Anty high-ranking officers. As for the dead, I’ll say they were caused by an accident in the mine.”

“I can give each of you a large sum of money. I only beg you to let me live.”

“Rest assured, I will disband most of the soldiers afterwards and return a stable life to the residents of Scorchstone City. If you don’t believe me, you can come find me anytime in the future.” His attitude and tone were sincere at this moment, making the two somewhat half-convinced, half-doubting.

Sylutia decided to ignore his proposal for now and continue the interrogation.

“How much mineral did you discover in the mine, and what did it produce?” She always felt that this lord before her cared too much about this mine and had paid a great price for its output. Such behavior must be supported by some huge profit.

“This… it produces some iron ore, and occasionally there are special Netherfire Gems, which are quite rare.”

“Netherfire Gems? No wonder there was that strange scorched sensation in the mine.” Lucas nodded.

“What kind of gem is that?” Sylutia was hearing about it for the first time.

“It’s a relatively special ‘Dead Embers’ Aspect gem. It can be used in learning many abilities and in necromantic creation rituals.” Lucas explained.

“If I had ten such Third Tier gems, I could probably make and summon three Netherfire Hellhounds.”

It seemed this Lord Somerlin must have gained considerable benefits from it, otherwise he wouldn’t care so much about this mine. Sylutia roughly understood the sequence of events.

“Do you know the whereabouts of the previous lord, Viscount Xuefeng?” Sylutia finally asked.

“I don’t know. When I arrived, the Anty army was already in control here. The previous lord probably fled to another country.” It seemed he came here relatively late. Sylutia recalled that was true; Viscount Xuefeng and Scholar Hyde had left a few months after the occupation, while Somerlin probably came here about a year ago.

Seeing that the two had finished asking questions, Somerlin felt the opportunity had probably arrived.

“Rest assured, you two. I will give you the gems I’ve mined afterwards. In the future, if new gems are mined, I’ll also leave half for you two.” He was very clever, trying to depict some kind of long-term benefit to persuade the two to spare his life.

It must be said, this person was indeed skilled at observing and deducing people’s hearts. If it were anyone else with a bit of greed, they would probably have agreed.

Unfortunately, the young girl behind him wasn’t very concerned with this bit of profit, nor was she greedy for the wealth he would leave behind.

“If only your character were a bit better, it would be fine.” Sylutia’s voice was faint as she spoke. These words made Somerlin’s heart feel something was terribly wrong, and a nameless panic rose within him.

“Actually, I really wanted to let you go, because if you die, your successor might not be any better.”

“But then, those innocent people who died do not agree.” Poisonous thorned vines coiled up from the ground around Somerlin’s feet. He began to struggle violently, preparing to escape.

“Aru, quick, save me!”

He shouted to the giant warrior in the distance, but unfortunately, the toxin had already spread upwards from his ankles. Soon, this lord fell to the ground with a blue-purple face, motionless.

In the end, Sylutia still felt a sliver of pity and didn’t give him a too painful death.

Regarding this, Lucas originally wanted to stop her, but his raised hand paused for a moment before lowering again.

He had originally intended to squeeze more benefits and profits out of this lord before dealing with him, not expecting this young girl to be so decisive.

After experiencing this event, Lucas’s perception of this seemingly serene young girl changed considerably. There was an indescribable feeling, as if this girl wasn’t the kind of naive, innocent, ignorant-of-the-world girl from a greenhouse he had imagined, but possessed a mysterious quality that made her somewhat unfathomable to him.

“What should we do with the remaining soldiers, Tia?” Unconsciously, he began to actively seek this young girl’s opinion.

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