Leonidas ripped his tunic from his torso, revealing a terrible gab of dried blood and split skin. He looked down toward the shivering Beccerth, his gaze only deepening with disgust. As Beccerth began to sweat profusely, the smell only became worse, the humidity of the surroundings not helping in the slightest.

“I wonder how long you’ve been keeping this up.”

Beccerth trembled, not daring to look upward.

“Hiding your real face behind all of that makeup. Gorging yourself until you weighed as much as a bear. Then even going as far as to not shower and clean yourself, and for what? So you could avoid getting fucked and used like all the other women you’ve exploited to reach your station in life?”

Beccerth froze. Of all the words she expected Leonidas to speak, these were the very last.

“What? Are you very surprised? You see, you might have seen me as nothing more than the bastard child of a dead Ogre and a Half-Beast whore who was quickly running out of her usefulness, but to me, you were a dragon I had to slay.

“In the beginning, it was for my mother. When I foolishly fell in love with another whore, it was for both my mother and her. And, after she found happiness in the arms of an average man, it was just for my mother once again.

“But, as I’m sure you’ve heard, my mother is dead. Now, I have all this information in my head about an obese House Lady who smells like a garbage dump and I don’t know quite what to do with it.”

Leonidas’ sneer only deepened, his hands reaching for his waist to loosen his pants.

“I wonder if it was worth it for you. You didn’t just throw away their lives, you threw away your own too. How much longer do you think you’ll live at that weight? You can’t take any more pleasure in your beauty, in your hygiene. No one but your guard can even stand to be around you, so you have no relationships to speak of.

“So what exactly do you have?”

Leonidas’ words were like knives twisting into Beccerth’s chest. For a moment, she seemed to lose her rationality, looking up toward the boy she had always thought was a useless waste of space with reddened eyes.

“Oh? Did I strike a nerve? I guess you do have money and status.” Leonidas nodded. “Yet, even with that, aren’t you still naked on your knees, waiting for me to pull my cock out?

“How does that feel? You always gave me a hard time because you were jealous of my mother, weren’t you? She had everything you didn’t. Even if it wasn’t perfect, she had a family in me. Even if it wasn’t ideal, she was popular and well-loved by many. Even if she didn’t have money, she could still feel happiness.

“And now, in her death, she’s propelled her son to a higher status than the likes of you could ever imagine.

“Ask yourself again, was your sacrifice worth it?”

One could almost see the light in Beccerth’s eyes shatter as the realization overwhelmed her. She sunk into despair, her body going limp. If it wasn’t for the bedside she still had a hand on, she would have fallen completely, her legs bent beneath her body.

Leonidas’ gaze flashed, his entire demeanor changing on a dime. His gaze blazed, his hair grew a size and a baleful aura rose out from him.

“Who saw the most value in my mother’s life?!”

The question was sudden and a complete shift of tone from the previous conversation. Even Anabel, who stood at the open doorway with her back facing these matters, the one who seemed to have the best read on the situation outside of Leonidas himself, was caught completely off guard.

But, shattered and listless, Beccerth responded almost on command, the pressure of War Cry bearing down on her fragile mind until she had no resistance left.

“The Rardin—!”

BANG!

The shower of blood was so explosive that it caked the entire room, so violent that even Anabel’s back was completely covered.

Standing amidst the rain of crimson and flesh, Leonidas’ pupils constricted. He realized right that moment that he had made a small miscalculation. Unfortunately, this small miscalculation could lead to big problems. It seems that as rational as he often was, he was still dictated by his emotions all too often. He couldn’t do anything that impugned on his pride and, quite apparently, when it came to his mother… he was still too rash.

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Leonidas rose a palm to his face, wiping the blood away and allowing it to splatter to the ground with a whip of his wrist. Beccerth’s now headless corpse tilted over, slouching to the floor.

“Anabel. Let’s go.”

Leonidas didn’t linger. Soon, he was already on the first floor, ignoring the gazes of horror that followed his blood-drenched body, picking up his saw blade and stepping out of the door without a word.

“Leonidas…”

“Anabel, we don’t have much time. As you can see, there was a seal or protection placed on the House Lady of some sort to protect whoever is pulling the strings in the background. The truth is pretty clear, but oftentimes, the truth doesn’t matter if you’re strong enough. So right now, I need you to ask less questions and focus.”

Anabel bit her lip hard but still nodded.

Leonidas’ mind whirred. Would he be fast enough? It was unlikely. He might be able to gain a small advantage because of how unpredictable his initial actions would be, but ultimately, it would all lead back to the same place.

In just a few steps, Leonidas had made a decision.

Sliding the saw blade from his shoulder, he handed it over to Anabel who was forced to take it on with both arms.

“Do you know where Lady Eve lives?”

“Ah… Yes. Yes I do.”

“Good. Because I don’t. Bring this to her and tell her what happened in the brothel just now. She can consider this weapon hers to do as she pleases with.”

Anabel didn’t ask any questions. The moment she heard these words she chugged a Speed Blessed Potion and shot off, leaving Leonidas to continue walking alone.

If Anabel had known the history between Leonidas and Lady Eve, regardless of her Lord’s words, she would have definitely asked questions. Lady Eve had tried to kill Leonidas in his own room just months ago, but now he was sending Anabel off to her with a message? Any sane human being would think that he had lost his mind.

Leonidas cut across Violet Waters, entering familiar lands very soon. The large field was quite empty as the grazing animals had already been brought back in for the night, making his journey toward the patch of dead forest at the edge of the property very easy.

This was none other than the very same place Leonidas had buried his mother. He had left her on that cliff’s edge for far too long without much of another choice. It seemed ridiculous for him to be thinking about something like this now, but he did so anyway.

Compared to the last time he had been here, his tail no longer dragged along the ground, his steps were long and steady, and his back was tall and straight, allowing him to cover large distances with nothing more than a few strides.

Leonidas entered the patch of forest just as the final light of dusk finally vanished over the horizon. His tail swished about, leaving a slight whistling sound in the air as it shattered the burnt tree trunks in his wake.

Soon, he had made it to where he had buried his mother. Shocking enough, the hole had been filled. Unsurprisingly, though, the corpses of those two servants Leonidas had killed were nowhere to be seen.

Leonidas pushed past, stepping toward where the cliff’s edge had been, fully prepared to start his climb down. But, at that moment, his body completely froze, a shock of electricity running through him as though he had just been struck by lightning.

The Violet moon above played with the shadows across his features, painting a vivid image of his surprise.

His mother’s corpse… it wasn’t there.

Leonidas didn’t even get a chance to think about what might have happened. A surge of powerful auras began to converge to his back. With a flickering expression, he brought a hand to the wrapped head that still hung to his hip. With a thought, he used the 3 Blessing Units he had remaining and it vanished into thin air as though it had never been there.

“Apostle Leonidas!” The familiar sound of Apostle Maw’s voice traveled to Leonidas’ ears. When he turned back, he found that there wasn’t just her, but many Apostles and Paladins had been deployed, a large percentage of them coming from the Rardin family. “Many witnessed the death of House Lady Beccerth at your hands today. In addition, it is also suspected that you are linked to the murder of two servants of our Rardin family as well.

“You are a disgrace to the title of Apostle! You will be charged and put under trial. When your title has been revoked, you will be executed as an example to others!”

Apostle Maw only seemed to be relaying the law as it was. The so-called Trial was a Sub-Shrine-wide matter that involved all Apostles. Those deemed to have done wrong would be judged and punished accordingly. Considering how much manpower they had brought and just how quickly they had found him, Leonidas already knew that there was no getting out of this.

Without a chance to say a word, Leonidas found himself restrained from all sides. Not only were his hands bound by a rope he couldn’t snap even with his strength, but even his tail had been forcefully wrapped around his torso and tied down.

Whether it was Maw or Milon, the sneers on their faces were prominent for all to see. They didn’t think their chance at revenge would come so quickly, but this fool had played right into the palm of their hands.

Leonidas was pulled toward the Church, his expression giving nothing away.

It was then that something that caught them all off guard occurred.

The dark night sky was suddenly lit up as though the sun had risen again before the BOOM! of a sonic quake threatened to shatter their eardrums.

Before anyone could react, Yves’ Church blazed with its own light, a pillar of energy blazing upward and intercepting what had caused the explosion in the skies.

When it all cleared, gorgeous northern lights hung in the skies, giving the light a slight sheen all its own. However, rather than being vibrant greens or blues, they were paintings of crimsons and dark violets.

‘This timing… isn’t the worst, but it isn’t perfect either…’

Leonidas watched on with a narrowed gaze, his mind swirling with unknown thoughts.

He realized then that the spirit must have helped him hide the death of the Rardin family’s Apostle back then. The reason he concluded this was because that sequence of lights in the sky just now was a declaration of war between two Sub-Shrines. And, if there were no coincidences, that declaration had definitely come from the Lower Ogre tribe and it was almost certainly because they learned of the death of their Apostle at Leonidas’ hands.

It seemed that Violet Waters would be embroiled in war very soon.