The man woke up from his sleep while coughing. His dry throat and the stinging feeling all over his body made him wince in pain. He wanted to check his own condition, but his eyes were difficult to open completely, leaving only a small gap for him to peek through with blurry and shadowy vision. The sticky sensation on his eyelids and the fishy smell that slowly wafted in made him remember what had happened to him.

Stiffly, he forced his head to look up. Turning his half-open eyes forward. “Y-you … after all this time, you still suck.”

"Oh? Are you awake?" a shaved-headed man asked a little too cheerfully, not fitting the tense atmosphere around them. From his position sitting on the ordinary chair he had made into a throne, he looked down on the man in front of him. "What took you so long? You're getting old, Warren."

His words were immediately followed by laughter from many other men standing nearby. Their voices sounded so disturbing that anyone who heard them might want to stuff their mouths with stones.

Warren jerked his shoulders violently, hoping to loosen the ropes binding his hands behind his back. Unfortunately, he ended up making the rope that tied him scratch his wrist even more. His back and shoulders also hit the pillar he was tied to.

The Deterville Chief took a deep breath. All the aches and pains that attacked almost every inch of his body almost took away his consciousness for the second time. Actually, fainting sounded much more comfortable than his current position of being injured and unable to move much. Only his head was free enough to move around, and that wasn't enough for him to cast any spell.

The sinister-looking bald man definitely knew how to knock out a mage. Warren shouldn't underestimate him.

“I would like to say the same thing to you, Ernesh, because aging should happen to everyone. However, I just remembered that you have indeed aged a long time ago and lost all the hair on your head," Warren mocked the big man who had been babbling all this time. “Your temperament is also very ugly and rusty. How could you suddenly come here and attack the innocent village chief? Are all Oxcross people like this?”

“Speak whatever you like. You can’t provoke my anger easily.”

“It will be fun to push your buttons. I can also try getting in your hair. If only you had it.”

The other men almost laughed out loud at Warren's attempt at humor. However, the sharp gaze Ernesh gave made them shut their mouths in fear.

“You useless old human!” Ernesh spat out. In contrast to his previous words, he seemed to be starting to get annoyed with Warren's very calm attitude. “Just answer me! Are these rumors true? That you, who were one of the most powerful mages, have lost your touch?”

Warren answered the question with just a weak laugh, while Ernesh snapped his fingers to summon a group of boys carrying what looked like a large birdcage. Gracelessly, the children carried the object and placed it in front of him. They quickly disappeared from the Chieftain's sight after completing their only task at the moment.

“You know, Warren. I always get annoyed every time I see you, you know why?”

The question hung in the air for a few moments. Warren didn't seem like he was going to answer Ernesh's question and was instead busy trying to free himself by squirming against the pillar. One of the Oxcross men nearby lost his temper and approached him while swinging his fist.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Answer him! You old fart!”

The sound of hitting was heard repeatedly, along with another that sounded suspiciously similar to the cracking of bones. Warren groaned weakly as the pain kept coming, until Ernesh signaled the assaulter to stop.

"Don't waste your energy," Ernesh said casually, acting as if he didn't approve of any violence that had or would occur. However, anyone who looked towards him would not miss the satisfied smile formed on his face. "It's okay if you don't want to answer me. Let me do the talking," he said again after looking back at Warren.

"Long before the plague hit this country, the King was kind enough to routinely invite the leaders of each village to his palace." Ernesh began his story. He deliberately adjusted the tone of his voice to sound like an adult reading a bedtime story. “Uh, wait. We don't need to start from there. So let me get straight to the point.”

All of a sudden, Ernesh got up from where he was sitting and walked angrily towards Warren. Every step he took caused a slight vibration emitted quite frightening thumps. Even the wind that usually cooled Warren's backyard didn't dare make a sound at this time.

"You! In all those meetings, humans who rely on magic like you are always tall and mighty with their chins raised almost to the sky! Don't want to mingle and just stand alone. I'm sick of seeing it!" Ernesh accused while pointing his index finger at the open wound on Warren's forehead. He dug his nails into the wound cruelly until the blood dripped to his finger. “I'm sure other regional leaders feel the same way, but they are too afraid to act because your title seems glamorous to them.”

Warren closed his eyes tightly, jaw clenching to endure his pain. His breath began to shake violently, but he forced himself to speak. “All this is just to satisfy your childish envy.” He said that and laughed for good measure.

Unexpectedly, Ernesh smiled faintly when he heard that. “I know no one will understand my hatred for arrogant mages like you. That's why I held it in all this time while waiting until my chance came. Who would have thought that your own people would give me that chance?”

"What are you blabbering about?"

"Shut up! I told you I'm the one talking now! You had your chance but you didn't make good use of it!" Ernesh's uncontrollable anger made his whole body heat up and turned red. Filling every vein and muscle with hatred until his hands seemed to move on their own to strangle Warren.

Before things got out of control, Ernesh stepped aside immediately and ordered his men to install the cages that had been prepared. In an instant, iron bars surrounded Warren's figure who could only watch everything. He tried to move the cage a little with the faint magic produced by one of his palms, but then he realized that the cage wasn't something he could fight against.

“Ever since the boundaries between regions were clarified, you isolated yourself more and more in your village, and I had no choice but to find an excuse to come. Lucky me, one of your two stupid villagers who came to my residence a few days ago with a letter from you decided to steal something from me." Ernesh kept talking from outside the iron cage which was now increasingly sparkling, reflecting every light around it.

With a mocking attitude, he grabbed one of the iron bars and casually inserted his other hand through the narrow gap. “I have to set a good example to my people. They should know that there will always be negative consequences for bad actions. Relying too much on magic will make nature angry, let alone stealing other’s charm? However, because I am good enough, I did not chase after the thief boy and came here instead to punish you as the village chief.”

Warren was too weak to digest the situation, let alone understand every long sentence Ernesh said. The few words that his tired brain managed to grasp were too difficult to connect with each other. All he knew was that Ernesh had always hated him and was always looking for opportunities to attack.

But, what did he say just now? One of the two Deterville residents who came to him had stolen something?

In the midst of his remaining consciousness, Warren tried to take as deep a breath as possible. Filling his aching lungs with air, hoping it could ease his pain a little. Even in a situation like this, he was still able to remain calm, choosing to rest for a while before thinking about how to solve this problem.

Of course, one of the reasons he didn't panic was Ernesh's last words.

“You will die slowly in this cage. But don't worry, I promise I won't touch your people as long as you don't try to do anything suspicious to me. You know that I’m a man of my word.”

***