Niko was suspiciously watching her when Nafız started to walk towards the door, bowing respectfully and completing her words.

"Come down; we're done here!"

The female orc, speaking in her blood-curdling voice, slowly exited the room. As Niko shed the happy man role he had been playing for all these years. In the living room of the small stone house, Nafız looked at Niko's blue eyes, which were destroyed by crying, and said, "Sit down!"

"Since you got the answer to the first question, it's time for the second; yes, I can heal your daughter, but the price will be hefty!"

"I'll give you whatever you want, including my own life!"

At the mention of his daughter, the gray-haired man revived as if he had brushed aside the pain with his hand.

"I've told you before; I'm not interested in the lives of you and your loved ones. I want you to provide me with a detailed report on the City Lord."

Seeing that Niko was looking at her with confused eyes, Nafız continued.

"City Lord Astute is solely responsible for the death of your wife and the current condition of your daughter!"

Niko saw that the symbol on the ceiling and the tattoo on Astute's neck were the same, but he couldn't connect the two.

"The Black Lily Clan has been cursed by the Holy Blood Sect, one of the Six Great Sects of the Hell Realm. The clan leader's lineage and all the followers who have sworn allegiance carry the black lily tattoo, which is the evidence of the crime!"

The painful man could not stand still; he was sitting and getting up. He was confused by the names he heard for the first time.

"What does my daughter have to do with this? We are a simple merchant family!"

When Nafız gave a short pause to what she told in one breath, the blue-eyed man intervened.

"Your daughter and wife are just victims. The real target was you and your bloodline. The people love your family, and if they're living in such prosperity right now, they know it's because of you, not the city lord. You were not guilty of anything, except that you were an obstacle standing in the way of absolute power!"

Nafız, who started to explain to Niko the point her deductions brought her, continued her words seriously.

"It was the City Lord's Soul Binding Technique that caused your wife to die. This is the technique that caused the death of the person my master loved most in her life and the curse of the Black Lily Clan!"

Nafız reached the point where she could not control her escalating anger. As the items inside the room were shattered by the aura it released, the dust that had accumulated on the ceiling covered everything like a drizzle.

Niko was listening to him without moving an inch. The middle-aged man had also burned the ships. Not that the room was shaking, he didn't care if the place was split.

"My master devoted her life to the cure of this curse and finally found the cure, but it was not possible to bring back the one who was gone. You will secretly bring your daughter into this house in six days. Where the curse falls on her, I will put an end to this nightmare!"

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While the man, who has been seeking a cure for his daughter's illness for years, should have cried out with joy at the good news, he was silently shedding tears where he was.

"Niko, you mustn't say a word to anyone. The City Lord's spies could be anywhere in the house!"

Physically here but mentally in another world, the man nodded in agreement.

"During this time, I have to kill many people in the mansion and inside the city. I better get the report I want before dark!"

The leader of the Partheni family was shaking his head with teary eyes at what was being said. Although it was challenging for him to digest what he heard and saw, time was limited, and he had to pack up quickly.

"You'll get what you want before the sun goes down, but there's something on my mind. Why are you helping me?"

Nafız continued her words with a bitter smile while looking at the man who was slowly recovering himself.

"The Orc Steppes are on the eve of an inevitable change. Consider it as a payment we make for you to play the role that has been assigned to you!"

With his head down, the gray-haired man realized that he was being pulled into a series of events out of his control, but there was nothing he could do. He had three questions on his mind when he came, and he still hadn't asked one. To ask the last question, he turned his eyes to the place where Nafız was.

Niko had the feeling that he was experiencing déjà vu because, as it had been night, the female orc had disappeared in an instant. He sat for a while longer in his seat, then got up quickly and headed for the door.

The garden looked neglected—the sadness of the flowers in the weeds combined with the gloomy atmosphere of the house. Not caring for any of them, Niko spread his arms wide and drew a huge breath into his lungs.

For years he lived by deceiving himself. He had buried his pain in a place that no one knew or even himself could reach. Now he was at the head of the place waiting with a pickaxe in his hand. His eyes were determined, and his heart was fearless.

Another man on the other side of town was busy refilling the glass he had been holding all night. He had lost money before because of his warrior, but he was first to be in this situation because his school won the struggle.

Yesterday, he greeted the warriors returning from the arena at the school entrance and ordered the orc to be crucified and whipped, a first in the arena's history. Orcs were no more than trash in the house of Augustus as they were in Parthenia.

While the guards walking among the gladiators watching with bewildered eyes were about to take Alyon, someone would come in front of them.

"Morrison, what do you think you're doing? Get out of our way!"

The bodyguard, who tried to push the gladiator trainer off his shoulder, was shocked when he grabbed the man's wrist.

"As long as I am here, I will not allow a winning warrior to be punished. First, you have to trample on my corpse!"

The guard, who made his move to move his sword after his friend's capture and the words he heard, suddenly saw that other gladiators surrounded them. Instructor Morrison was disciplined, brutally tough, but no one could question his integrity.

The bodyguards formed a circle around Alyon, Morrison, and their friends, immobilized by vise-like hands. Their opponents only had wooden training swords, but these men had survived the harsh environment of the arena.

"Oh Morrison, you and your old-fashioned thoughts. Guards, withdraw to your posts!"

The tense atmosphere dispersed after Quintus' words. It was a gladiator school, and all of them were his slaves.

"Stupid orc, you made me lose a huge amount of gold. Each fight will be much more difficult. I hope you don't lose any of them, or all these people will have to die with you!"

Pointing to the gladiators surrounding the guards, Quintus had signed their death warrants as he turned around. The guards returned to their post, and the gladiators lined up behind the trainer Morrison.

"The orc who made history! It looks like we'll have to feed you well now!"

Morrison spoke as he looked into the eyes of the burly orc, whose hand he had placed his hand on his shoulder. When he finished, the gladiators behind him would burst into laughter. Alyon was shocked by sight, unable to utter a word.

"We are people who make love to death. Did you think such threats would frighten us?"

The trainer joined in the laughter of the others after wildly shouting in the face of the enormous orc.

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I want to be the person I could be but never was.

Robin Sharma