Chapter 142: The Vanished Girls

“Hahaha~”

The soldiers of Nightfall Domain burst into laughter.

“Is this guy trying to assassinate me?”

Phield remained calm, unmoved by the man’s ridiculous behavior. Earlier, he had noticed that the man’s left hand barely moved and had been kept hidden at his side the whole time. He was probably concealing a weapon. But Phield was already a second-tier knight, so he wasn’t the least bit worried.

“My lord, we are willing to compensate for your losses. And if you just give us a little time, we will leave this place.”

“Oh? Do you have some unspeakable difficulty that forces you to act on your own? I’ll say it plainly—another corpse tide is about to arrive. If you don’t come with me, staying here will only feed the rotting corpses.”

Phield snorted coldly in irritation.

“This…”

The burly man fell silent for a moment. Gritting his teeth as if making a painful decision, he let out an awkward laugh and waved his hand behind him.

Two villagers dragged a woman forward by her hair, hauling her across the ground like a dead dog. Seeing that Phield made no move, the burly man crouched down and grabbed the woman’s chin, forcing her to raise her head.

“Look, my lord. This woman is quite beautiful. We offer her to you. Please let us go.”

One of the villagers spat into his palm and smeared it across the woman’s face a couple of times, wiping away much of the dirt and mud before forcing out a flattering smile.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

The woman struggled desperately. She wasn’t particularly beautiful—she simply hadn’t done farm labor, wore a decent dress, and had somewhat better skin. Perhaps in the villagers’ eyes she counted as a rare beauty, but to Phield, who had seen countless attractive women, she was nothing more than a random passerby.

“My lord, save me! They’re all madmen—bandits!”

The moment the woman clearly saw the knight before her, hope instantly returned to her eyes. She tried frantically to crawl toward him, but since she was tied up, she instead toppled forward and fell face-first into the dirt.

“What do you take me for, a bandit? I’m only here to bring you under my command.”

Phield frowned. He despised this sort of betrayal of one’s own people. His patience quickly wore thin as he swept his gaze over the crowd and casually twirled his cavalry lance.

“I hate this sort of thing the most. I’ll give you a second chance. Tell me who you are, then submit—or die.”

Several villagers’ legs trembled so badly that they urinated on the spot, yet none of them ran away.

The villagers stammered, “We…”

“My lord! My name is Grolova, daughter of Baron Mountain Ape! They are a group of rebellious bandits. Kill them quickly!”

The woman stumbled forward and rolled to a stop beneath Phield’s horse, nearly startling the animal. Fortunately, Phield steadied the warhorse in time, or she would have been trampled to death.

“Hahaha! Brothers, our kidnapping of the noble girl has been exposed. If we don’t fight back, we’re dead anyway! Charge them!”

The burly man’s face turned pale as he burst into manic laughter, as though he had made up his mind about something.

With a furious roar, he suddenly pulled a dagger from his trousers and lunged straight forward.

He was determined to resist to the end.

“My lord, be careful!”

Before Phield could even move, a demi-human knight beside him thrust out his spear with lightning speed. The cold gleam flashed forward in an instant.

Long against short. High against low.

“Pfft!”

There was no suspense whatsoever.

The spear pierced straight through the man’s dagger-wielding left arm and burst out from his back, punching clean through his heart. A spray of blood erupted from his chest, drenching the villagers behind him in a sudden crimson shower.

Carried forward by momentum, the warhorse advanced two steps. The knight casually flicked his arm, and the burly man’s corpse was tossed aside like a ragged cloth.

It twitched twice on the ground before going still. The entire process was effortless—almost as casual as taking a sip of water.

“Oh my god!”

The villagers had never seen such a scene before. The brief spark of courage they had mustered instantly vanished. They collapsed in terror, crying loudly as they tried to flee.

The cavalry drew their blades and prepared to charge, but Phield raised his hand.

Kai instantly understood his intention and shouted at the villagers:

“Drop your weapons! Kneel and you won’t be killed!”

The villagers acted as if they had received a royal decree. They scrambled to throw themselves onto the ground, raising their backsides high while trembling violently.

The soldiers of Nightfall Domain rushed forward at once, kicking away the weapons and grabbing them like chickens, capturing them all.

“They only cooperate once blood is spilled.”

Phield held his spear and casually flicked the tip, spinning a small flourish in the air. Being a lord really was easy—he had so many subordinates that he barely had a chance to act himself.

Still, Phield felt extremely satisfied.

Until now, Nightfall Domain had always been the weaker side. Whenever they encountered other forces, they had to stay cautious. This was the first time he had faced an enemy this weak.

“Good! Good! These filthy peasants deserve to be killed! You’ve done very well.”

Grolova stood up excitedly, her face full of delight. She spat fiercely on the ground and began kicking the villagers viciously.

“Disgusting animals! How dare your filthy hands touch me!”

“That’s enough.”

Phield glanced at her.

Grolova lifted her chin proudly.

“Kill them all. My father will reward you!”

“Alright. Take this young lady somewhere safe.”

Phield waved his hand and smiled politely at Grolova.

“Please cooperate with my soldiers.”

Grolova pouted, her face full of displeasure, but she didn’t dare say anything more. Reluctantly, she followed the soldiers away.

“Now then, you can explain where you came from.”

“I—I came here to escape the heavy taxes of Baron Mountain Ape,” one villager said with shifty eyes and a trembling voice. “My lord, I truly couldn’t survive anymore. It’s not that I didn’t want to pay taxes.”

“Hmph. I’m not afraid of death. I’ll say it plainly—the bastard wife of Baron Mountain Ape took our daughters away. We kidnapped his daughter in return. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

Another villager stood up and spoke bluntly.

“Oh? What about the rest of you?”

Phield nodded slowly, confusion gradually appearing on his face.

This situation sounded strangely familiar.

When the villagers saw that Phield didn’t erupt in anger and was actually listening, they immediately began talking over one another, explaining why they had fled to Nightfall Domain and everything that had happened.

It turned out that this group was rather complicated, consisting of three different types of people.

Villagers from the Bull territory, villagers from the Mountain Ape territory who had kidnapped Baron Mountain Ape’s daughter, and a number of criminals.

The man who had just been killed by the cavalry was the leader of the criminals—and also the leader of the entire group.

But they all shared one thing in common: their daughters had been taken away by Baron Mountain Ape.

“No wonder they dared to resist. Kidnapping a noble’s daughter is enough to get you hanged a hundred times over, even if you never harmed her.”

Phield tilted his head and thought for a moment before asking,

“Kidnapping daughters… why does that sound like something I heard about back in the Bull territory?”

Then he remembered.

“That rumor came from the Bull territory. Ever since Baron Bull visited Baron Mountain Ape, this damn nightmare began!”

The first man who had spoken honestly waved his fists angrily. The more he spoke, the more emotional he became, until he finally began roaring.

“I will return tooth for tooth!”

“What are you shouting for? Show respect to the lord!”

When the soldiers of Nightfall Domain saw him yelling at their lord, they immediately flew into a rage. One of them rushed forward and slapped the man so hard that he spun in a circle before collapsing onto the ground.

Phield looked at the man, who had finally calmed down.

“Did you get any information from that young lady you captured?”

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