Going back in time to the moment after Aaron ducked under a branch and lunged between the bushes running with all his power to escape the ambush.
Main Story-Line Quest : Half-Blood Rises. Quest Requirement (Phase 1) : Capture Rodd the Rapist. Quest Reward : Unlocking the Inventory window. Quest Difficulty : Diamond-Rank.
Host is Punished with (1) Level deduction and a permanent loss of (10) Ability Points.
(2) Ability Points from every main attribute.
'For fuck sake are you that desperate for my demise?' He thought while stealing a look backwards to estimate the danger he's in.
What the boy saw was Pio unleashing an arrow at his target before making a funny-looking evasion to dodge the sword from his third victim.
'Chance!' The boy thought to himself once he noticed that all eyes were focused on his bodyguard instead of the "prize" which is himself in this scenario, with a demonic smile at the corner of his mouth... he quickly made a sharp turn and intentionally kept his small body hidden behind the shrubbery.
Aaron never felt joy like he did that time since it was very easy to move unnoticed with this tiny body, his feet were light, agile, and quick.
Seconds later he was in the blind-spot of these four men, unfortunately Pio's reaction was exaggerated and the expression on his face almost ruined the opportunity.
******
Moving a bit forward in time to when both Lucas and Rodd were firmly tied up by Pio.
Main Story-Line Quest : Half-Blood Rises.
Quest Requirement (Phase 2) : Deliver Justice to Rodd the Rapist.
[Justice must be delivered in Public]
Quest Reward : Unlocking the Inventory window. Quest Difficulty : Diamond-Rank.
Host is punished with (1) Level deduction and a permanent loss of (10) Ability Points.
[(2) Ability Points from every main attribute.]
'Damn son! This system must really hate your guts,' He thought while checking the updated quest, 'You can eat a bag of big dicks and I still wouldn't feel sorry for you, I'm not going to lose that Level today son. You bet your ass I'm going to make a scene, I don't care whoever stands in my way... you're still getting punished for what you did. You should've kept it in your pants son, now the odds are that you're probably going to lose it. It kind of hurts for me to see a fellow member of the gents lavatory loses his pride and glory but, it's fair when something you cherish dearly is taken from you against your will after what you did.'
*****
Fast forward to the time Aaron fearlessly declared his intention to the crowd in general and specifically to Todd.
System : Quest Available.
Aaron immediately willed the quest menu to appear once he received this notification.
Optional Quest : Camila's Bliss Quest Requirement : Provide long-term stability and security for Camila's family. Quest Reward : Beginner-Title [Hope in Justice] Quest Difficulty : Gold-Rank Quest Availability : Until Host reaches a verdict on Rodd's punishment.
'Now this seems like a tricky thing to achieve,' He thought while frowning deeply because the system didn't specify the border which separates success from failure in this quest, 'Looks like it was intentionally made this way to test the limits of how much I can provide this poor girl.'
Seeing the expression of worry on Todd's face and the shadow of fear within his eyes whenever he looked behind Pio and Aaron, specifically whenever he looked at Sera who did her best calm Camila who sat next to her.
Aaron opened his arms widely and shouted while looking towards the crowd, "Everyone here is my witness. Your grandson's crime towards Camila is punishable by one of two things, either death or castration. What's taken by force is returned by force they say! How do you return innocence? Purity of heart and soul is tainted here people." Noticing that he's managed to rile the masses enough with these words, Aaron continued to say : "Don't get me wrong, the only reason I didn't mention his crimes against myself is because I don't consider your grandson a threat to me at all.
"I don't mind letting him live and I don't mind giving him ten more chances to scheme all he wants to take my life with whatever means, he's just useless and a shame to all men if he's helpless against a boy less than five years old... I say he's still got no chance if his opponent is a baby!" This time Aaron received an uproar of laughter from the crowd.
After letting these men, women, and children laugh for a few seconds while giving Rodd looks of amusement and Todd looks of pity.
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Aaron raised his hands to calm the audience, "So far we know about the first victim, poor Camila. What about the other girl? Shouldn't we investigate what happened to her first and make a complete case before we judge him for his crimes?" This time the crowd felt slightly ashamed of themselves after almost missing this important detail and Aaron continued to say : "Camila. Who was the other girl? Where can we find her?" Silence followed and all eyes fell on the pregnant girl in rags who timidly hid her face beneath her hood and messy hair.
"It's alright sister, no one in this village can hurt you with me here. I promise to burn the Soul of those who dare lay a finger on you or your child." Sera gently patted the girl on the back while saying these words, even Aaron felt a scorching burst of air hitting his face out of nowhere!
"O-over there." Camila finally gathered her courage and pointed towards somewhere outside the village and all eyes followed her to look outside the south-gate.
"The burial pits!"
"You don't say! Did that beast have her killed afterwards?"
Todd lost all color on his face when he heard the crowd speculations and felt his heart drop in his boots from dread while looking towards his grandson, only now did this old man regret spoiling his only descendant all these years.
Rodd gawked from surprise then the expression on his face shifted to extreme anger and he shouted while feeling indignation : "Lies! I never killed Rain, that stupid girl kept coming to my door everyday to threaten me of killing my child if I don't take both her and Camila as my women."
"Sniff... s-she wasn't pregnant. Rain was doing all of it to protect me... sniffle... s-sister... I-I kept telling Rain not to do anything stupid but she knew that Rodd had no feelings for me and that my father would ignore me if he knew that I'm with a bastard child, one day they found her hanging from a tree at the pits and Rodd didn't even care about her death." Camila was crying her eyes out in the embrace of Sera who glared at Rodd with a pair of eyes that burned with wrath.
"Forget castration I say death."
"Aye! Let's hang the fucker."
"Hang! Are you mad? I want to tear him from limb to limb with my own teeth."
"That beast in human skin should be burned... burned I say!"
Todd felt the world spinning and he was about to faint until he heard a voice shouting : "Everyone. Death is too easy! Even if it's death by a thousand-cuts... I say it's still too easy." The childish and immature voice always felt like thorns poking his body yet now Todd felt like it's heavenly-music instead! Of course the owner of this voice was Aaron.
"The worst punishment this kind of person can ever receive is getting to live." Aaron said.
"What!"
"What's going on here?"
"I thought little Ron wants Rodd dead more than Camila."
"I don't know what's what anymore!"
Aaron smiled at the confused crowd and repeated himself, "Yes. You all didn't hear me wrong, he needs to live and spend the rest of his life atoning for his crimes towards late Rain and Camila.
"But he needs to be restrained and forced to comply with every whim and thought of poor Camila, I'm only saying so because I know that spending the rest of his life serving the woman he once raped and the mother of his child is the worst kind of torture someone fake and arrogant like him could receive.
"Not to mention that I feel like it'd be unfair to the unborn child to come to this world without a father-figure in their life, even a scarecrow has some use in the field and I'm not going to be the one to rob an innocent child from that blessing.
"Of course the one who should decide Rodd's fate is not me or anyone of you guys, it should be poor Camila's decision and we all need to support her and her child with all of our power." Aaron turned and pointed towards the pregnant girl and looked towards her with sorrow in his eyes, he understood that it must feel heavy to hold the life of the father of her unborn child in her hand but it must be Camila.
*Clap clap clap*
The eyes of the crowd shifted from Camila towards the source of these claps, soon afterwards the masses parted way for a tall and sharp-eyed old man in clean and tidy clothes who walked in front of a group of thirty-something strong and well-armed men who followed two middle-aged men.
Both of these men had similar traits to the old man, clearly close relatives... possibly direct relatives like sons or much younger brothers!
"Chief Peter."
"Even the Chief is here, this beast is certain to receive his judgment today for sure."
"Even Roger and the elite squad are here, Rodd and Lucas can stop dreaming about escaping."
"Teacher Sen is here too, he's the smartest person in Pine-Breeze Village so it wouldn't be that difficult to decide an appropriate judgment."
While the gathering of people talked among one another, the Village's Chief arrived in front of Aaron and looked at him from above with admiration.
"I never would've imagined that I'd ever meet a junior like you, listening to you talk so courageously made me regret not being born a few decades later." Peter shook his head before looking back towards his two sons and said : "You two better groom this talent, or my spirit would roll in the grave." Afterwards his eyes sharpened and he looked towards Camila and kneeled while saying : "Child. Please forgive this old man, you've been wronged under my watch yet I was as blind as a bat."
Roger and Sen also fell on their knees after their father and apologized without expressing a single emotion of unwillingness or frustration on their faces, both middle-aged men felt ashamed of their own incompetence above all else.
Camila gawked before hurrying to say : "Chief please stand up. Me and my father have always been in your care, the tanner would've run out of business long ago if it wasn't for grandpa Peter's secret assistance."
Peter sighed while shaking his head, "Alas little Stan still ended up working himself to death."
"No. It wasn't your fault for ordering our products, father always prided himself in being the best craftsman in Pine Breeze village when it comes to tanning leather... actually his heart broke when he knew that Rain killed herself to force Rodd to take care of me and my child. Once he saw no hope for his grandson to not live as a bastard, father kept working the tanner day and night to hide his grief from the world and his helplessness and shame from me." Camila seemed much calmer when she voiced her emotions.
Todd glared at his grandson and stomped his way towards Rodd before shouting : "You bastard!" The old man kicked his most beloved descendant before continuing to say : "How many people suffered because of you?" Then Todd slapped Rodd who gawked in disbelief since his grandfather never hit him before.
Camila and everyone watched the elder discipline his junior apathetically and in silence.
The only person feeling a foreboding dread of imminent danger in this situation was Lucas.
Especially when the gang-leader saw Aaron looking at him and smiling widely like a mink who noticed an interesting prey! 'What is this kid planning to do with me?' Lucas thought to himself.
"Grandpa Todd. Don't hit him anymore, even after what he did to me... I still don't wish for our son to live without a father." Finally Camila spoke.
"But I still want break his legs!" Todd was gasping for air after all the kicks and slaps yet he still felt like Rodd was getting away from his crimes.
"I have a way to bind his Soul to Camila's, the seal would practically make Rodd her slave if she wants him to bark he would bark and never to disobey an order from her or have wicked thoughts towards her until the day he dies." Sera looked towards Camila and asked : "Do you want me to do it?" She had a serious expression on her face.
Camila kept looking back and forth between the one who forced himself on her and the one who offered to hand her his freedom before blushing slightly and nodding.
Sera raised an eyebrow when she noticed the shy attitude from Camila and leaned closer then whispered in her ear : "Don't tell me you actually have feelings for him!" She sighed inwardly once she noticed the shadow of panic fleet across Camila's eyes because it confirmed her worries.
'At least she have feelings for him, it would've been a nightmare if she doesn't. After all this technique is set for life!' Sera thought to herself before walking towards Rodd while dragging Camila behind her.