City of Sin

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"What? My Lord, we’ve endured endless torture! Our loyalty to you and the God of Valour are beyond reproach!” The two knights were steeped in disbelief, and started yelling. They even tried to get to the platform.

They turned into wild beasts, shocking Baron Forza into standing as he tried to get behind his chair. The judgement had caught his own guards by surprise as well, and they could not believe their ears. Unable to react to the horror of those words, nobody moved to stop the maddened knights. Only the loyal guard captain rushed to protect his lord, but he was knocked away by these two knights who were prepared to sacrifice their own lives.

Forza himself was only level 8, and he’d long lost his wits. He had absolutely no idea how to deal with the current situation, and just as he was about to get caught he heard the loud sound of a sword being drawn out of its scabbard.

The knights’ fingers had just been about to reach Forza’s sleeve, but the two were sent flying into the crowd, knocking down many of those in attendance as they fell to the ground. They were left unable to get up, crying in pain as they rolled on the ground. Blood continuously gushed out of their limbs.

Piersage seemed to move very little originally, but he took his time easing his sword into its sheath. It was as if he was worried that the rest would miss the sharp edge of his blade. In but an instant, he’d cut the tendons and nerves of the two knights, robbing them of their ability to move.

"How dare you attack your lord?” he asked, his voice cold and detached, “You deserve to be minced meat.”

Most eyes fell onto Baron Forza, who was known by many for his reputation. Only he could challenge Piersage’s authority here.

Forza’s face fluctuated between green and white, as he struggled in his mind. However, a faint tingling arising out of Piersage’s murderous aura told him that this was a baron he could not oppose. If he angered the moody fellow, the man would have no qualms about annihilating everyone in this hall and claiming that they were cooperating with the invaders.

Gritting his teeth, Forza spoke up reluctantly, “Baron Piersage is right. You first collaborate with the demons, and now you attack your lord. Either crime is worthy of hanging! Drag them out, and hang them on the gallows!”

Even as the guards dragged out the two knights, they were still cursing and screaming. Forza returned to his position once again, the torturous episode leaving him weak and breathless. The chair felt like it was on fire, and he was unable to sit still. The silent gazes chilled his heart beyond measure, for he knew that nobody would come under his wings ever again. The worst reputation a lord could possess was of being incapable of protecting his subjects.

And that was exactly what Piersage wanted to see.

He laughed cheerily, approaching Forza and speaking in a low whisper, “Sir Menta had a good relationship with me when he was alive, I could even call him a friend. With him dead at the hands of the invaders, I should naturally do something for him. I’ll be expecting his wife, sister, and daughters in my room.”

Forza nodded expressionlessly, his actions incredibly stiff.

A short while later, Menta’s wife, sister, and two oldest daughters were taken to a room at the corner of the castle. The guards here weren’t Forza’s men anymore, they were Piersage’s knights.

Menta’s daughters were twelve and fourteen, both quite pretty due to their youth. After the fright from that judgement, they anxiously looked at the room they had been brought to. It did not look like prison.

The door suddenly opened, and Piersage stepped in. He stood at the doorway, slowly taking off his gloves as he inspected the women within. Menta’s wife took a step forward in surprise, “My Lord! Have you come to save us?”

His youngest daughter flew to Piersage’s arms, calling out ‘uncle.’ However, she suddenly screamed in pain and fled, covering her chest with her arms. She had been pinched.

Menta’s wife and sister turned pallid with horror. “My Lord, you...”

The knight had been close to Piersage, at least in the past. Now...

Screams and cries rang out from the women in the room, but after some loud whips they were muted into low weeps. Piersage’s growls and pants, on the other hand, grew louder and louder. Two knights stood tall outside the door, just like metal statues as their cold eyes swept across the dark and gloomy corridor. They were ready to drive anyone who dared even come close away.

......

Back at the reconnaissance base, Richard was carefully inserting a magic needle into the lock on Essien’s diary. He infused mana into its body, causing the seal to glow with a green flame before it completely dimmed. A snap sounded out, and the lock was opened.

Richard smiled gently, satisfied with the results he’d had in a short period of time. He’d revised his theory on several special magical formations in the process, and also obtained a clearer understanding of the standard of magic in this plane. He also managed to grasp the differences between here and Norland, which would allow him to build runes with local materials in the future.

There wasn’t much in the diary, and it only recorded the most significant events in Essien’s life. The writing was vigorous and powerful, exuding an atmosphere of piety.

He’d recorded an incident that occurred when he’d first joined the church, fifteen years ago. An old level 5 cleric had fallen, seduced by the devils. He’d cast a forbidden summoning spell to save the life of a bastard child, building an altar to the devil in his own basement. However, he’d only just traded his soul away when he was caught by the church, eventually sent to the gallows. The child and her mother were put into the lord’s dungeons as well, tortured to death.

However, there had been an accident when they tried to destroy the altar. The devil summoned by the old cleric turned out to be very powerful, and although its main body could not pass through the portal it had tossed two imps out. These imps were not weak, and six knights were sacrificed to kill them. Essien himself had been bitten, but thankfully he had enough divine power to resist and eventually dispel the corrosive power. He’d thus managed to avoid his own fall.

Essien had noted his concerns at the end of that incident in his diary. Those imps were only the most basic of creatures in hell, but even suppressed by this plane’s laws they managed to make the church’s elites pay a heavy price. If someone managed to build a stable portal to hell, wouldn’t it spell a catastrophe for the entire plane?

Gods could not meet every worshipper’s prayers, and it was impossible to fulfill everyone’s desires. The old cleric was just one example.

However, Essien knew that there were more people who sold their souls for health, power, and money, not to mention eternal life. This was a temptation nobody could resist, not even him. It was just that his knowledge as a cleric was far more profound than that of the commoners. Devils themselves were not immortal beings, so how could they give other creatures eternal life? However, the worshippers of a god could enter their kingdoms after death, and that would be true eternal life.

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