Arno’s tooth broke, and two hours later.
A table on the first floor of Lilac Evening was embedded into a wall.
With a loud crash, the wall collapsed and the table shattered.
The eyes of Jobs, summoned by Arno, trembled violently.
The table that had just been reduced to splinters was a four-person table, not something an ordinary human could throw alone.
However, in Ray’s hands, the table flew several meters and smashed into the wall.
Jobs, who knew the boy before him was the son of a knight but only now fully grasped what that meant, realized he was dealing with a superhuman capable of tearing someone absurdly in half with ease. That was Ray.
“Ray… Ray…”
Without warning, Ray swept his leg behind Jobs, causing him to stumble back.
Thud!!
The sound of a shin breaking echoed as Jobs’ body spun sideways.
Ray grabbed the back of Jobs’ head, which was heading toward the floor, and forcibly pulled it up.
Jobs tried to scream from the pain of his broken leg, but Ray was faster, slapping him across the cheek.
Smack!! Smack!! Smack!!
Ray’s arm moved mechanically.
Blood and teeth fell from Jobs’ mouth.
Ray tightened his grip on the back of Jobs’ head to prevent his neck from snapping.
Soon, Jobs’ limbs went limp.
Throwing the semi-conscious Jobs aside, Ray looked around.
Beside Ray stood the organization members, lined up with their heads bowed and arms clasped behind their backs.
Ray pressed his fingers against his temples.
“Why are you receiving money?”
No answer came.
Ray asked again.
“Why do we give money to punks like you?”
Silence continued.
Ray grabbed the nearby table.
The corner of the wooden table tore off instantly under Ray’s crushing grip.
Ripples of anger appeared in Ray’s calm eyes.
“Hey, you bastards.”
Boiling rage mixed with his voice.
“If you take the money, you should earn it, right?!”
A beast-like killing intent began to consume the space.
Everyone present started trembling.
Seeing this, Ray let out a hollow laugh and stood before the organization members.
“What did you do while my mother was being strangled?”
“Th… that…”
“You just sat there listening to her cries, too scared of offending the nobles to do anything, weren’t you?”
Thud!!
Ray struck the stomach below the ribs of the nearest organization member.
The man flew through the air and tumbled to the ground along with the table behind him.
“Guh…! Cough!!”
The man clutched his chest, coughing up blood.
Regardless, Ray grabbed another member by the jaw.
“Aren’t you scared of the nobles and think I’m easy prey?”
Ray clenched the man’s jaw tightly, almost shattering it, then swung his fist.
A scream erupted, and the man collapsed, his lower teeth shattered.
“Hey, I’m asking you,”
Ray turned to the remaining upright members.
“Do I look like an easy target to you?”
None of them dared to meet Ray’s gaze, cold sweat streaming down their faces.
Fury erupted once more.
“Answer me!! You bastards!!!”
Another table was sent flying by Ray, who picked up a rolling wine bottle from the floor.
“And you bitches—”
Clang!!
The wine bottle Ray threw collided with the wall where the women were standing, shattering into pieces.
Glass shards scattered everywhere.
The women who screamed initially quickly silenced themselves when they saw Ray slam the face of the loudest screamer into the wall.
“Was it your turn to clean up after my mother?”
While speaking, Ray gripped the bridge of his nose hard as a headache crept in.
The bruise marks covering Bella’s face and neck haunted his mind.
It was incomprehensible.
Even if Bella had willingly entered “that room,” these punks should have stopped her if they had any sense.
“Really, you bastards… Do you think the world is a joke because I spend my days smiling and helping you with your errands?”
Swish!
Ray drew his sword.
Rough emotions vibrated through his mana, emitting a bluish flash.
Grinding his teeth, Ray scanned his surroundings.
“This is our territory. Whether it’s gentry or nobles… no one can cause trouble in the baron’s territory without our permission. And yet, you’ve involved yourselves with the Jimy Family…”
A burst of sword aura exploded from Ray’s blade.
“While my mother was left to endure that fate!!!”
Kacha-kacha-kacha!!
Ray swung his sword in the air.
The extending sword aura split the ceiling.
Part of the ceiling collapsed, and a bed from the upper floor fell.
Jobs, who had barely regained consciousness and was crawling on the floor, stared in horror at the falling bed above him.
Thinking he was doomed, suddenly,
Jimy appeared and pulled Jobs by the leg.
Crash!!
The bed landed right above where Jobs had been.
Jimy shouted with furrowed brows.
“Everyone, get out! If you still have functioning limbs, help those who can’t move and leave quickly!”
Following Jimy’s order, the people inside glanced nervously at Ray.
Having witnessed Ray’s monstrous strength firsthand, they couldn’t simply follow Jimy’s words.
Fortunately, Ray remained silent and motionless after Jimy arrived.
Prompted by Jimy, the organization members and prostitutes hastily fled outside.
Once the building emptied, Ray sighed.
Jimy was the leader of the ‘Jimy Family,’ overseeing both the baron’s and count’s territories.
Ray had made it so, and therefore Jimy’s ‘authority’ needed to be upheld even more.
Open defiance in front of others wasn’t an option.
Jimy spoke, looking at Ray’s back.
“Did you cool down a bit?”
“Hmm…”
Ray dragged over one of the few chairs still intact, sitting down.
His furrowed brow remained deeply etched.
Jimy scratched his chin awkwardly.
“I’m sorry about Bella.”
“No, I… I already knew.”
Yes, he already knew.
The more ignorant and uneducated they were, the more they underestimated and overstepped when treated leniently.
“I wasn’t unaware that these bastards thought they could mess with me.”
Discipline should have been enforced regularly to keep them in check.
Still, Ray had tried to play the role of “Bella’s son” as much as possible within this red-light district.
He didn’t want to intrude on Bella’s relationships or social life.
He respected and loved Bella as an individual.
“Haa… Anyway, regarding today’s incident…”
Ray wiped his face dry and looked at Jimy.
“It was partly retaliation… Mom also decided it’s time to retire from this kind of work, so I reacted more strongly.”
Ray didn’t want to see Bella disrespected by anyone ever again.
If Bella had retired peacefully,
The organization members or brothel customers would likely have thrown careless, low-grade jokes her way whenever they met her on the street.
To them, a retired prostitute was an easy target.
So this time, he deliberately took action.
To leave a deep impression in everyone’s memory.
To ensure no one would dare disrespect Bella lightly.
“Also… We shouldn’t let women be abandoned due to fear of troublemakers anymore. I lost my temper a bit to reinforce family discipline and hierarchy.”
“You did well. And I’m truly sorry about Bella.”
“Do you know who the guy was who did this to Mom?”
“The report reached me late, and they escaped the count’s territory on horseback the morning of the incident, so we couldn’t chase them. If you want, I can send people after them…”
“That’s fine. Don’t bother.”
Ray waved his hand dismissively.
Within Phillips County, whether the opponent was noble or not, handling the situation would be manageable, but outside the county was different.
Chasing down the culprit would likely only put Bella, the actual victim, in more trouble.
“Let’s just let it go.”
“…Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
“I have to be.”
Ray ran his hand through his hair.
Risking Bella’s safety for revenge she didn’t seek would be foolish.
However, if the perpetrator ever returned to Phillips County…
Ray intended to tear them apart.
Ray stood up from the chair.
“I’m leaving. This place looks like it might collapse soon.”
“…Yeah. We might have to rebuild it entirely.”
Another expense arose.
Jimy shook his head slightly.
*
One day passed after completely wrecking Lilac Evening.
After running various errands, Ray returned home as the sun had fully set.
Since no one was home anyway, there was no one to nag him about coming back late.
Click!
Ray opened the door and stepped inside.
At that moment,
A sword enveloped in sword aura touched Ray’s neck.
Clank!
The still-open door was closed by someone else.
Ray scanned the interior.
Besides the unwelcome guest holding a sword to his neck, there were two more uninvited visitors.
Brandil, leaning against the wall, waved slightly.
“Sorry for entering without permission. But… don’t we know each other? We met at the Sigini Mountain Range.”
“…”
Ray remained silent, observing Brandil.
Brandil’s breathing was quite rough.
The smell of blood in the house indicated he was injured.
Sensing Ray’s gaze, Brandil gave an apologetic smile.
“We didn’t come here to harm you, so don’t worry too much. We just need to regroup briefly and then leave.”
“…”
Ray extended his fingers toward the sword charged with sword aura pointed at his neck.
His thumb and forefinger touched the sword aura, tearing the skin.
Unbothered, Ray made contact with the blade and channeled mana into it.
The clash of two manas intertwined in the single blade.
Clang!!
The middle of the sword broke apart.
The ranger who had pointed the sword at Ray jumped back in surprise.
Brandil and the ranger beside him drew their swords toward Ray.
Holding up the broken blade fragment, Ray bluntly asked,
“Planning to fight me here? Can you handle it?”
“…”
Witnessing Ray’s performance moments ago, he was at least an Expert-level fighter.
Absolutely not someone they could quietly deal with.
If a battle broke out here and was discovered by a third party, the rangers would find it extremely difficult to escape Phillips County.
Brandil sighed and lowered his sword.
“You concealed your abilities back at the mountain range.”
“I just didn’t need to reveal them.”
Ray walked into the kitchen, fetched a few preserved foods, and tossed them to Brandil.
“Your name is Brandil, right? Since you helped resolve the trouble at the Sigini Mountain Range, I’ll return the favor this time.”
“…Oh, much more generous than expected.”
“You have an hour to regroup and leave.”
“Understood.”
As Brandil and the rangers began gathering the preserved food, Ray added,
“It’s not free.”
“Something you want?”
“Tell me everything about why you crawled here looking like this.”
“Hmm…”
Brandil hesitated at Ray’s half-coercive demand for information.
“Underestimated you for being young, but you’re not easy to deal with.”
