When a lumberyard owner walked into his boss's room, he was almost scared to death.

  On the ground lay a person who didn't look very human. Even arthropods don't have limbs that twisted, and it's more accurate to say that they looked like tree branches grafted onto his body rather than limbs. The bones on his face were completely shattered, and the skin looked like it was stretched taut over a pile of garbage, bulging out in strange ways, making it impossible to discern his original features. In the middle, where his mouth should have been, there was only a large blood-filled hole, and the dozens of teeth scattered on the ground had been knocked out from inside, while above, two small holes with blood dripping down held two eyeballs that had been pulled out of their sockets, leaving behind some torn nerves hanging inside, next to an ear that had been ripped off.

  But the man was not dead yet, still faintly trembling. Although his body and face were completely deformed, it could be seen from his black skin and lean muscles that he was the small worker who was still vigorous just a few minutes ago. He had been called in for only a few minutes.

  Klauvius's expression was one of impatience, but he had to admit that these plebeians' stubborn bones were quite hardy. Of course, he still had many tricks up his sleeve that he hadn't used yet, and he was curious to know if there were any bones that could withstand his methods. Apart from Duke Mlakar and his mentor Roland, the people he liked to consult most were the interrogators; he even knew how to slice a person bit by bit until they could see their own internal organs and most of their skeleton. However, now was undoubtedly not the time to show off these skills, and it was necessary to quickly extract useful information. His voice sounded like a demonic stone statue cursing: "Does this man have any family? Wife, parents, children?"

  "...He is a villager from a local village... and several others from the same village also work in our yard... they all live together, seemingly with some small children..." The owner of the lumberyard stuttered in response, shrinking into the corner.

  "Children?" Klauvius's face split into a vulture-like grin. "Bring them all to me."

  The owner of the timber yard ran away in a panic.

  "You... are not human..." Hunter Raven spat out a few words with great difficulty, his eyes bulging out of their sockets as he glared at Klaus with the venom of the dead.

  Klauvis seemed to be very satisfied with this description, and he smiled confidently. The man who had not spoken a word since Klauvis started interrogating him finally opened his mouth, which was a sign of surrender. The futile curses were evidence that the opponent's will was already broken. He scornfully furrowed his brow: "I deliberately left your tongue intact because I knew you would definitely speak up. You stupid and despicable lowlifes, after all, the outcome is always the same, I don't know what you're struggling for." He rarely showed a compassionate tone and said, "Speak up, while you can still hear and speak, tell me everything I want to know in detail. I know you don't want to hear those children's crying voices."

  Roderick and Asa marched into the city with a large entourage, their faces stern. In this situation, there was nothing more to be said, they forcibly took people away.

  Just now Asa didn't understand why Rodhart was being so cautious. With just the two of them, couldn't they handle a single Klaus? Even if he really was a disciple of Roland's, but such a narrow-minded man, no more than a duke's dog, how high could his skills be?

  But he also believed that Luo Dehart's judgment should be better than his own. Since he decided so, it means that going back to bring troops is more stable.

  Now, listening to the neat footsteps of the 500 heavy infantrymen behind him, Asa finally realized that this was the benefit of having power in his hands. Although he thought that the two of them had at least an 80% chance of beating Clavius up and taking him away, these 500 heavy infantrymen now had at least a 90% chance. Even if there were ten more Claviuses, they would all have to scram.

  But just after entering the city gate, they saw a bitter melon local official coming towards them with a smile on his face, saying: "The two adults are indeed returning to the barracks. The lower official has been waiting here for a long time. It's like this, the boss of the lumber yard earlier is that nobleman from Wangdu, the son-in-law of the Duke, the captain of the Holy Knights...". He seemed to think that these honorable titles were not to be neglected at all, and listed them all. "He sent someone to say that he caught a group of people who framed the two adults as wanted criminals."

  Asa and Rodhart looked at each other, their faces all changed.

  "This official first called all the local officials, big and small, to come over. Alas, I know that such a daring and arrogant commoner has appeared, our local officials are also to blame, it's only right that we go over there to receive some instruction..." Bitter Melon didn't notice the expressions of the two officials, and continued speaking on his own. "The other officials have already gone. That official told me to tell you that the two of you must have returned to the barracks, and asked me to wait here for you, please come over together so we can investigate clearly."

  Luodahate's face turned iron-green, and he let out a long sigh. He waved his hand at the bitter melon local official and said, "You go first, we'll follow."

  As soon as the local officials left, Lord Hardheart turned around and ordered the commanding officer to take these 500 heavy infantrymen back to their barracks.

  "What? We can still take him away by force, right?" Asa asked.

  "It's no use." Rodhart sighed in a low voice. "Take away the person who framed us in front of all the officials in this area? Even if we are imperial envoys, we have such power, but it also leaves so many witnesses. With Duke Umruk's means, doing so is no different from looking for death."

  Asa understood. In such a situation, even Bishop Ronis couldn't cover up his own actions. This was the law of kings, politics, and the world of dukes.

  "I underestimated Klaus. I didn't pay much attention to him because he was just the Duke's assistant. But I forgot one thing - if he wasn't exceptional, why would the Duke make him his deputy? Look at how he managed to get all that information out of Hunter Leven in such a short time, and immediately judged that we two must be going back to bring troops to capture people by force. He deliberately made a big deal out of it, making it difficult for us to take action. His mind and judgment are absolutely top-notch, this person is definitely not easy to deal with." Rodhart's face finally slowly returned to normal, all his emotions were reined in behind those seemingly kind eyes, transformed into a firm glow. "Now we can only follow the situation step by step. Let's go see what he wants to do first."

  In the spacious great hall of the lumberyard owner's house, Levin lay on the floor like a trampled lizard.

  "Behold, it's this rascal." Klauwens pointed at the captive on the ground as if showcasing a remarkable trophy. "It was him and some other accomplices who framed the two imperial envoys, and it turns out he is a wanted fugitive for killing local officials and an imperial minister in Aili half a year ago. What do you all think, should we beat him up?"

  "That's it." The other officials said in unison, with some voices sounding a bit awkward. These local officials had limited vision and were seeing the tactics of the capital city officials for the first time.

  Asa suppressed his anger with great effort and did not rush up to punch Klaus's complacent face, mainly because of Rodhart. He himself could ignore everything, but Rodhart was different.

  Klauss's eyes were fixed on Asa as he walked over, bent down beside Levin and said in a butcher-hunter tone: "Alright, now repeat to these good people what you just told me. I remind you, be sure to say it exactly as you did before, you know the consequences of lying, don't you?" He spoke with confidence and warmth.

  "Almost half a year ago...". Hunter Leven struggled to open his mouth full of blood, and a pair of eyes that were only bloody sockets stared at him, looking at the invisible Rodhart. With a toothless voice, he whispered: "Rodhart, who studied in Elasia, has returned. He is our fellow countryman, and we kidnapped him back then because of poverty..." He spoke in a weak, blood-stained, and dying tone, briefly recounting the situation at that time.

  The hall was silent as a tomb. Every official listened very clearly, and they all knew about the matter at that time. From some angles and details, it didn't seem like a completely absurd and baseless frame-up. The officials couldn't tell what they were being called to listen to, but they could all sense that there was something unusual and ominous in the air. The hall seemed to have even frozen the air inside.

  Hunter Leven was undoubtedly wounded to the limit, and these words had consumed his last physical strength, with only outgoing air in his nostrils. Asa finally couldn't bear it, came forward and helped him simply treat those excessively serious injuries, using healing magic.

  "This is clearly a frame-up." Klauvis looked at Asa, who was pale with rage, and his words were full of the joy of victory, mocking. "Look, even to a humble commoner who has framed him, such a noble and virtuous god official can be so kind, how could he possibly be a criminal? Just based on this point, based on this noble character, can't we judge what's true and what's false? Right, gentlemen?"

  "Yes, yes, it must be a frame-up, just nonsense." The officials who had found an excuse hastily nodded in agreement.

  "This presumptuous commoner should have been put to death on the spot. But I thought about it carefully, and that would be a bit inappropriate." Klavius's modulated voice indicated he was savoring the pleasure of having his opponent at bay, his eyes scanning everyone's faces. "You can all think about it: if we were to easily execute these chatterboxes or exile them to some other out-of-sight place, wouldn't that be giving others something to talk about? Others would think we're really guilty and hastily eliminating the evidence, which wouldn't be good for those two young and promising individuals."

  Asa and Rodhart both knew that these words were meant for the two of them. This was a demonstration, as well as a warning. If such a thing happened under Duke Mlak's hands, the two of them would not just be 'very bad'.

  But relatively speaking, such an ambiguous attitude also indicates that this is just blackmail and will not put the two to death immediately. As long as certain conditions are accepted, things are not irretrievable.

  As expected, Klaus's gaze swept across the two men's faces and he said in a benevolent tone: "So I've decided to bring these slanderers to the capital. Perhaps we can investigate clearly and thoroughly eliminate all doubts, clearing the names of both of your lordships. What do you think, is this acceptable?"

  "Good, good." The officials continued to nod along with the tone. Although these people's minds may not be particularly clever, their experience and skills in being officials are incredibly rich, always knowing when to express what attitude.

  "But the personal safety of these prisoners must be carefully handled, in case something goes wrong. That would be terrible and people would think we're haunted. So I think it's best if one of you two gentlemen accompanies me." Klauwens looked at Rodhart. "Yes, Lord Rodhart would be fine. You are more rational and calm. I think being rational and calm is beneficial for everyone at this time, don't you?"

  "Alright, I'll go with you." Rodhart nodded, his expression was very natural. It seemed like it was a very ordinary and peaceful affair, there was even a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. "I also want to know who is behind these villagers' accusations against me. But they were originally kind and simple people, now they've become like this, it's not their fault, so please don't make things difficult for them."

  "No problem." Klause nodded confidently. "As long as the result is as good as I expected, I don't need to worry about these minor details in between."

  Klauvius asked the local official for a small detachment of troops and prepared to set out immediately. Meanwhile, Asa and Rodhart had a brief consultation.

  A Sa said: "Do you really want to go back with him? Why don't we bring some soldiers and kill the guy halfway, and disguise it as if the heretics did it..."

  "What kind of pagan can take down the leader of a Holy Knights' squad? What about the soldiers who actually do the deed? Are we going to kill them off too, just to cover our tracks? Maybe doing this will make the Duke even happier." Every reason Rodhart listed shot Asa's plan full of holes. "And...even if the two of us join forces with the soldiers, he really wants to escape and there's no way we can stop him."

  "Are they just going to let him take all of Hunter Leven's party back to the capital?"

  Rothbart's contemplative face, warm and gentle, was all tortured into determination by the color of suffering. After a while, he nodded slowly. "No, there is a way."

  "What's the solution?"

  "He wants me to follow his lead, which means he wants to separate us. With the Emperor's order on our shoulders, we cannot both leave until the task here is completed. However, if you can quickly settle things here and catch up with us, there might be a turn for the better. I'll try to slow him down as much as possible along the way,"

  "Alright, I've got this." Asa replied with a lot of fighting spirit. He hadn't had this much spirit in a long time.

  After Luo Dehart left, A Sa immediately called the local official of the bitter melon place and asked: "Send someone to figure out all the details about the natural god, how to enter the church, and what's going on inside. I'll sneak into the natural god myself to investigate."

  "How can this matter be left for Your Excellency to handle? I will arrange someone immediately..."

  "It's okay, I'll go and find out myself."

  "No. Letting you get into danger is my dereliction of duty. And how can a noble and dignified god like you associate with filthy heretics?"

  "Cut the nonsense." The high-ranking official glared at Kogane with a fierce gaze. "Get it done quickly."