CHAPTER 64: NEW FOLLOWERS

After everything was over, Arthur pulled his hand back and wiped the blood off it. Calmly, he took out a low-grade healing potion and poured a bit of it on his wound. It was a very good disinfectant, and it would only take an hour or less to fully heal the injury.

"Well then, you’re now officially my subordinate. As I was saying earlier, forget everything that happened today. Arvan is still alive, and from today onward, you follow him."

Thorne was stunned when he heard that; he didn’t understand the meaning of it and awkwardly asked, "What do you mean, my lord?"

To make things clearer, Arthur took off the hood from his head, then removed his mask, and calmly said, "I am Arvan."

Thorne’s astonishment turned to shock. He quickly looked at Arvan’s real face and noticed some resemblance between them. He didn’t fully understand what was going on, but it didn’t take him long to realize what he had to do. Slowly, he knelt on one knee and politely said, "My lord Arvan, I offer you my loyalty."

He himself couldn’t believe what he was doing, but he was forced to go along with what was happening. These were his master’s orders, and he had to follow them.

Behind them, the real Arvan had stopped crying, and his body froze. The fear he had felt disappeared, and all that remained was a stupid look on his face. Everyone knew that black hair was rare and only the Ravenshade family possessed it. As for the rest of the people, they mostly had brown or golden hair and occasionally other colors like dark blue and muddy green.

His experience was very limited, so he didn’t even consider the possibility that what he was seeing was a magical illusion. The only thought that crossed his mind was: "Is he my brother? An illegitimate brother? That? That’s impossib—" He couldn’t complete the word "impossible," because he knew that it was possible.

High-ranking nobles weren’t exactly disciplined people, and some of them were quite indulgent, which resulted in mistakes like illegitimate children. But nobles always got rid of mistakes when they knew about them. Even so, some children slipped through, which sometimes caused problems in the future.

These possibilities rushed through Arvan’s mind, and due to his stupidity, he began to believe them even though he hated the idea. At the same time, he felt a kind of joy. Maybe his illegitimate brother would be merciful enough to let him live.

He started shouting, letting out a loud, humming noise.

That drew Arthur’s attention. He looked at him and noticed that his gaze had become very strange. ’Did that shock him?’ he mocked inwardly. After a moment of thought, he felt a bit curious to know what he would say.

He moved his hand, and Arvan’s mouth was freed. Without any delay, Arvan began to beg: "Brother, please release me. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about you. And if you want, I’ll support you with everything I have so you can reclaim the status you deserve."

Arthur felt a kind of shock and at the same time, disgust. He moved his hand and bound his mouth again, then sighed. ’I don’t know what this bastard was thinking, but it seems really weird. Why do people always misunderstand?’

Arvan screamed at the top of his lungs, but it was pointless. Arthur completely ignored him. He looked around and examined the battlefield with some excitement. Fortunately, the carriages filled with Arvan’s belongings remained intact, suffering only a few arrows and breaks.

A wide smile appeared on his face. ’Time to collect the loot.’

"Thorne, make sure if there are any survivors. Kill anyone who’s breathing. Understood?"

"Yes, my lord." Thorne quickly picked up a random sword from the ground and began inspecting the corpses one by one. At the same time, Arthur turned and walked toward Arvan, saying, "Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. But you’ll remain my guest until I decide what to do with you." Without waiting for a reaction, he struck him hard on the head, knocking him unconscious.

Then calmly, he removed the roots on his hands and took all his rings, including the storage ring. After that, he bound him again.

He held the storage ring and looked at it greedily. ’This is valuable. If I sell it, I’ll get a lot of money. But that’s not an option. I’ll think of a use for it later.’

"My lord, come. You need to see this."

While he was busy, he heard Thorne calling him. He turned to him and found him standing in front of the white carriage. He let out a long sigh because he knew why he was being called.

With a heavy heart, he walked to the carriage and looked inside. Three beautiful girls filled with bruises. He knew they were just simple girls that Arvan had taken by force because he liked their beauty, making them his slaves. Their beauty had been their sin.

The girls’ faces were filled with terror, and none of them could lift their heads to meet his eyes. Their bodies trembled, and upon seeing their state, Arthur wished he could help them—but he couldn’t.

Sigh.

He shook his head in deep sorrow and sincerely apologized: "I’m sorry." Without any hesitation and with a heart as hard as stone, he activated the magical artifact. Dozens of roots came out and pierced their hearts and heads. They died quickly, quietly, and with as little pain as possible. That was the only thing he could do.

’I can’t leave any witnesses.’ His fear was justified. At least he could trust Thorne and Thalia due to "ancestral right," and also because they were half-beasts, making them unwelcome people whose words no one would listen to. Arvan’s slaves, on the other hand, were the opposite. He couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t speak.

He wiped his face with his hand and calmed his heart with difficulty. ’Killing innocents is really hard, and it should stay that way.’

Thorne watched him from the side. Unexpectedly, he couldn’t smell Arthur’s emotions. He didn’t know why, but from seeing his facial expressions, he realized he felt sad and guilty.

’At least he has a living heart, unlike many others. Maybe becoming his follower isn’t a bad idea.’ Despite thinking that, he wasn’t sure. People aren’t that simple for him to understand their personalities from a single situation, at least not without relying on his sense of smell.

After a few minutes of strange silence, Arthur suddenly asked, "Did you check all the corpses in the area?"

"Yes, my lord. There are no survivors."

"Good. Now gather all the weapons and armor leave nothing. Then collect the corpses and burn them."

"Understood, my lord." Even though it was exhausting, Thorne didn’t complain and got to work. The first thing he did was prepare a simple bed, moved his sister onto it so she could rest better, then immediately began gathering everything valuable armor, weapons, arrows, money—and stacked them beside the carriages. By nightfall, he had collected the corpses in a certain spot in the forest and burned them.

As for Arthur, he just sat near the carriage and watched the flames devour the people, turning them to ash.

’It’s finally over. I got rid of my biggest problem. With this, I’ll get a month of rest. I’ll use it to develop the barony in preparation for the upcoming disasters.’ The goblin attack wasn’t the only problem that would appear in the coming months. The entire continent was going to undergo several changes: wars, plagues, and even worse. That’s why he had to invest all his effort in developing himself and his barony in preparation for what was to come.

’Amidst all this chaos, I forgot I have a home on Earth. I don’t know if I’ll ever return to it, but if there’s a way, it’ll show up in the end.’ Because of the many pressures he faced, he no longer thought of Earth the way he did at the beginning. Unfortunately, his role-taking had gone too deep. Who knows maybe he wouldn’t be able to escape it.

By dawn, he had thought of many things and organized his thoughts. He didn’t sleep despite his exhaustion.

He watched the sun rise over the battlefield with a clear heart.

But then he suddenly heard faint footsteps approaching him. He slowly turned and stared at Thalia and said indifferently, "You’re awake?"

"Yes, and all thanks to you. You saved me."

Arthur turned back and stared at the beautiful sunrise. "It wasn’t for free."

Thalia nodded her head respectfully and bowed slightly. "Yes, but that’s your right. And you deserve it. I believe my foolish brother didn’t thank you properly, so I want to say thank you."

"You’re welcome. You can go now. Your injuries still haven’t fully healed."

"I appreciate your kindness." Thalia turned and was about to leave, but Arthur stopped her and tossed her a healing potion. "Take this. It’ll help you."

She caught it calmly and stared at it for a moment. With reassurance, she replied, "I appreciate your help, my lord." In her final words, she expressed her loyalty. She returned to her place, drank the healing potion, and slept. She knew what he said was true. She still needed a lot of rest.

An hour later, Thorne woke up, having recovered from the exhaustion of the previous night. The first thing he did was check on his sister, then he went out to hunt something. He was skilled, so it only took him an hour to return with a large deer. He wanted to skin it and cook it, but Arthur stopped him he didn’t trust the kind of meal someone like Thorne might prepare.

Sternly, he ordered him to erase the signs of battle, bury what was left of the corpses’ ashes, clean the white carriage, and load it with the valuable items it was time to return to the castle.

But he didn’t just sit and wait for Thorne to do all the work. He was hungry, so he skinned the deer and cut it up. Because he had brought the essentials needed to survive in the wild for a good while, he possessed many tools and cooking materials in his "Dimensional Storage."

After nearly two hours, he prepared some delicious dishes. To him, they were of average quality, but that wasn’t Thalia and Thorne’s opinion—they were very impressed and praised him, saying: "He’s the best cook they’ve met, and what he made is better than dishes sold in taverns and restaurants."

Naturally, Arvan was forced to eat the food and drink water too. Arthur didn’t want him to die of hunger or thirst.

After that, he claimed the ancestral right from Thalia. As sunset approached, they departed back to the castle.