CH 46

"Big brother, what about the promise you made regarding my father?!"

When Paladin heard the little girl behind him ask him a question, he turned around and shut the door tightly with his hand. A terrifying, gut-wrenching smile spread across his face. Looking at the girl with tears welling in her eyes, he laughed and said, "Your father? He’s been burned. Just like what you said to do, he’s been burned. He’s dead, understand? Your father is dead because of you! Hahahaha!"

"No way! it can't be! Brother, you were the one who said that Daddy would not leave us as long as he was burned!" the little girl remarked loudly.

In response, Paladin stepped closer and said, "Yes, I did not go back on my words. You and your father will be reunited very soon!"

As soon as he said that, Paladin casually threw Grundy's urn, which immediately fell to the ground, scattering the ashes. And then Paladin sneered and said, "Come and see, this is your dad. Your daddy who has been burned to ashes! Whoa!"

Seeing that Paladin's shadow was about to cover the young girl, the wife, who was on the floor, burst out with unprecedented strength and leapt to her feet. Grabbing the cross used for Mass on the table, she slashed it at Paladin's head.

But, why would Paladin be scared of her? The wife saw Paladin casually waving his hand. Three hundred magic elements that were surrounding him immediately poured into Paladin's cohesive magical constructs. In an instant, two chains made of golden light immediately shot out, tying the mother and daughter in a solid knot. Causing them to fall to the ground, unable to move.

Despite being illiterate, the wife was aware of the existence of magic. She witnessed the magic chain appear out of nowhere. That very moment, she realized immediately that she had underestimated this scumbag. Paladin’s magic power snuffed out the last vestige of her fighting spirit.

The wife looked at Paladin and begged him, "Father, please let her go. She hasn’t even turned ten years old! I'll do whatever you want, but please don't harm her!"

Paladin snorted in disdain. Ignoring her pleading, he directly grabbed the mother and daughter's hair, disregarding their miserable screams. He dragged them directly to the basement door.

The wife, who was wondering what Paladin wanted to do, saw Paladin stretching out his hand and pressing a very inconspicuous magic circle with his palm on the stone wall. In an instant, a tall magic circle the size of one person appeared in front of the stone wall. Its center was filled with countless strange runes arranged in an orderly manner. Very skillfully, Paladin raised his other hand and moved the floating runes in the magic circle, as if arranging some code.

The wife waited until Paladin lowered his hand. The magic circle disappeared. When the wall suddenly parted, a door came into view. Paladin pulled out a key and unlocked the door. She saw a long staircase extending into the deep darkness below. At this point, both mother and daughter had an extremely bad feeling. But before she could say anything, Paladin once again grabbed their hair with both of his hands and dragged them inside.

As the figures of the three disappeared into the darkness, the door was immediately slammed shut. The stone wall was slowly moving back to cover the door, making it seem as if there had never been one, like before.

The next time the stone wall parted, only Paladin leisurely walked out of there. Both the mother and daughter were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a bright red stone the size of a soybean in his hand. It was a beautiful untamed Philosopher's stone. However, Paladin didn’t rush to fuse with it. He waited silently for the night to fall by listening to the confessions of the common folks.

And so, the night fell.

As one of the richest men in town, Nari was lying comfortably on the bed in his home, preparing for sleepiness to come. He was exhausted from all of his activities during the day. Now, he just wanted to have a good sleep and talk about what's going on tomorrow. But obviously, he wouldn't even be able to see the dawn tomorrow.

Somehow, his bedroom window had been opened. Paladin, clad in black, quietly entered the bedroom. He looked at Nari, who was slowly but surely snoring. When Grundy confessed yesterday, Paladin remembered very clearly that Nari was one of Grundy’s colleagues. Now, all Paladin needed to do was to let Nari go to see Grundy. Carefully, he took out the alchemically refined drug. Gently opening the bottle cap, he let the powder inside fall on the tip of Nari's nose. As Nari’s snoring became more intense, the light green powder was sucked into his nasal cavity. Reaching his lungs and brain. It only took a mere three minutes for Nari to gradually stop snoring. He'd fallen into a deep slumber.

Paladin smiled faintly. He took the hemp rope he had prepared from his waist, hung it on the beam, and then tied a dead knot. He effortlessly lifted Nari to place his neck inside the noose. After that, he grabbed the other end of the rope hanging on the beam and pulled it hard.

Blink! Even if the drug was strong, being in such severe pain and unable to breathe made Nari wake up instantly. He awoke only to see that arrogant boy he saw during the day laughing and pulling a rope. The pain in his neck made him unable to breathe. Because of that, Nari's eyes widened, his tongue lolled out, and his feet kicked haphazardly. He wanted to shout but couldn’t. Reluctant and desperate, he glared intensely at the laughing Paladin. Eventually, his body went limp, hanging helplessly in the air. Nari’s face had turned blackish purple.

Paladin, on the other hand, calmly took the rope to tie a knot at the head of the bed. He went to Nari’s desk, took out a pen and paper, opened the records and diary written by this old thing, and began to write a suicide note imitating the way Nari wrote and form sentences.

This was not too difficult for Paladin, who had read too many miscellaneous books. At that time, he was very diligent in forging notes so that he could continue to own the books purchased by the association. It was also because of this that he was able to deceive the entire association and quietly take the expensive books they bought, the ones that weren’t in the association’s collection. As a result the real one wouldn't be available in the association. Speaking of his history of forging notes, it had been more than ten years since the first time he did it.

After finished writing, a triumphant smile appeared on Paladin’s face when he read what he had written in the suicide note. The contents were:

'My conscience was remorseful as I watched Grundy's trial today. Grundy died because of me. All this was the fault of the three of us: me, Chira and Dorren. We shouldn't have been obsessed with Prad's properties. I have to die.

Please forgive my selfishness, my son. I can't give you the family’s business, which is established by the blood and sword of our family. I plan to give it to the poor Grundy's wife and daughter. To make amends for them.'

Paladin carefully tidied up the desk after checking that the suicide note was written correctly. When he confirmed that there were no mistakes, he quietly climbed out of the window and carefully closed it. He then vanished into the night once more.