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Volume 5 Chapter 3 Part 4

「So reliable… 」

Yana leaned enchantedly on Salvador’s shoulder.

Having never dealt with one of her fellow Witches, Salvador quickly persuaded her to become a patron of the Rossini family, and had an affair with her.

As a Witch, Yana is skilled at making potions, and having sexual relations with her was an intense experience due to the aphrodisiacs she was concocting for him. If Salvador was not an experienced man himself, he would’ve definitely drowned in pleasure long ago.

That Witch was Salvador’s favorite mistress.

「You seem to have a grudge against them. If we find them, then I’ll leave dealing with them to you. 」

「Really? I’m so happy! 」

Yana had her face shine just like a young girl’s.

makes her face shine like a girl.

「By the way… 」

Salvador turned to Boltz, one of his man who suddenly spoke up

「What exactly are we supposed to do if we find the fugitives? 」

Boltz corrected his posture nervously.

「Burning the village that’s going to be sheltering them down. 」

Salvador answered coldly.

「We’ll show them what happens to those who’re trying to hide Theo Cornero and his gang from us! 」

Boltz frowned at Salvador’s words, as if he didn’t understand them all that much.

「However, Theo Cornero’s group has not appeared in any villages so far. So what do we do now? 」

Boltz asked Salvador another question, and his tone ended up irritating Salvador even more.

「That’s exactly why they must be hiding in some village, right? 」

「But I thought that’s not what was decided… 」

Residents of Sistina know what to expect if they ever did anything that’d go against the Rossini family. That’s why an informant should appear sooner or later without fail, because they know that it’s the Rossini way to reward those who’d give them information about the whereabouts of their enemies.

「They can be hiding in literally any village. That’s why we need to search thoroughly. And if we burn a few villages and drive out their inhabitants in the process, then the rumors will start spreading on their own. 」

Sarvador said proudly while putting his hand on his thin beard.

「I know… but isn’t that overdoing it too much? I mean, when backed into a corner, even the most docile of beasts will start attacking to defend themselves. 」

「I was the one whom father entrusted with handling the matter of Theo Cornero, so all that you have to do is to follow me around and do as I say. 」

「Understood. 」

Boltz nodded his head and left with his men and soldiers.

After witnessing this, Salvador hugged Yana and kissed her passionately. After all, it would be such a loss if they didn’t enjoy their time alone until Boltz and the others returned.

* * *

「We have received an anonymous report that Theo Cornero and his men are being sheltered by this village. Is that true? 」

When Boltz entered a village, he gathered the villagers in the middle of it and called out to them.

Behind him was a line of soldiers with lit torches in their hands.

The villagers looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces.

「A person named Theo Cornero has not come to this village… 」

A middle-aged woman who seemed to be the representative of the village said these words with a flattering smile.

「… and if that person never came here, then we cannot be possibly hiding him. Is this some kind of mistake? 」
At her words, even the villagers nodded without looking at each other.

「So you have committed a crime, and now you’ve decided to lie about it… 」

Boltz said coldly, turned to his soldiers, and gave them a short signal. The soldiers scattered, breaking windows and throwing flaming torches into the houses.

「W-What are you doing?! 」

The woman’s complexion changed in an instant. The villagers also screamed and tried to return to their homes to save whatever they could from the fire, however, the soldiers attacked the villagers who tried to enter their houses. The villagers cried and tried to flee, and soon the surroundings of the entire village became chaotic.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Boltz slipped behind the village representative and slit her throat with his knife before she could make a single sound, and she fell onto the ground, dead on the spot.

「Burn all the houses to the ground. Let them know what will happen if they side with Theo Cornero. 」

「Death to those who take Theo Cornero’s side! 」

Soldiers started shouting in unison as they continued their unjust acts of burning the village houses down.

The villagers had no choice but to flee the village.

Boltz simply stared at the situation as it unfolded without changing his expression. But on the inside, he felt an indescribable emptiness.

(Murder is a sinful act. That’s why if you have to commit it, it shouldn’t be in vain.)

* * *

After leaving The Forest of Webs, Theo passed through the active volcano of Dorso in Sistina about five days later, when they came to the south side of the island.

The Volcano of Dorso is also one of the many Demonic Realms present on Sistina, and every time when the active volcano erupts, the dragon that has made its nest in the middle of the volcano wakes up from its slumber and attacks everything and everyone in the volcano’s vicinity. Therefore, there are no villages near the foot of the mountain.

However, as long as it was still asleep, the dragon was nothing that Theo and the others should be afraid of. At the current moment, their most pressing concern was the necessity to remain cautious after safely escaping the volcano area and entering the area where people live.

First thing’s first, Irvin, Luna and Emma have been sent ahead to perform reconnaissance and check the movements of their pursuers. They learned that the Rossini family’s soldiers were often frequenting the highways and nearby villages in groups of five, searching for any information on Theo’s whereabouts.

The information about Theo’s declaration must’ve already reached even the farthest corners of the island. It was exactly what Siluca was hoping for, but that didn’t change the fact that she was still feeling uneasy about how the villages and their inhabitants are going to be treated because of it.

And so, when the Rossini soldiers were not patrolling the highway, Theo and the party decided to enter a small village where no more than several hundred people lived.

「Are you Theo Cornero and his gang? 」

As soon as they entered the village, the villagers gathered one after another and called out to them from afar. The atmosphere in the village quickly changed to a dangerous one.

「That’s right! I am! 」

Theo shouted loud enough for the whole village to hear him.

The villagers were frightened for a moment. Theo moved on to appeal to them to help him with the overthrowing of the Rossini family, but the reaction of the villagers was not what Siluca expected.

The men kept shaking their heads to the sides in refusal, children started crying and the women were openly cursing him. No one welcomed his words or was willing to listen to them.

「Did you know? Because of you guys coming to the island, the village on the northern side was burned down. Many villagers lost their homes because of it. 」

A man raised his voice, interrupting Theo’s words.

「The village in the north was burned down? 」

Siluca was shocked to hear that.

「But why?! The people of that village were not hiding us from the Rossinis! 」

「All it took was a suspicion of them hiding you! That was enough for them to take punitive action! I don’t know what will happen to this village when they’re going to learn that we’ve been involved with you by talking with you like this!! 」

In response to Siluca’s words, a thin-looking woman with gray hair shouted.

「I had no idea… 」

Next to Siluca, Theo muttered dumbfoundedly.

「They didn’t do it because they were suspecting the people of that village of harboring us. I guess the did that simply because it would serve as a good example of what is going to happen to anyone who would try to help us or cooperate with us in any way. 」

「It’s because you came to the island! 」

Someone shouted, and the others caught onto that and began to shout as well.

「Shouldn’t you be blaming the Rossini family for what they did, not Lord Theo? 」

Siluca still tried to reason with the villagers.

「No, this is definitely our fault… 」

Theo shook his head.