Chapter 124: There Are No Good or Bad People, Only Reasons

Magna, hearing the footsteps and rustling of clothes coming from behind the high walls of the garden, instantly realized what it was.

He had already gotten quite used to it, ordinary hunters and villagers, people whose identities didn’t matter, regularly trying to sneak into the Winterborne Estate to spy for information.

He had also noticed yesterday that an even larger group than usual had been moving around, which Titus had handled, killing all of them wherever he found them.

Now, for them to come back again right on top of yesterday was quite strange, but also understandable.

’Something must be happening because of the Golden Sunberry farm incident. ’He immediately understood the growing conflict.

While he was thinking, Titus suddenly asked. "There seem to be only 11 of them this time. Do you want to handle it? It could be good practice for you."

By "handle," what he was asking was to kill them.

So far Magna had always shown ruthlessness and coldness during their sparring sessions, which had made Titus very satisfied with his character.

But he had never seen him take a life before, so he was just curious if he was the kind of person who could take someone’s life without blinking when needed.

And when he looked at the boy’s face, waiting for an answer, he actually saw hesitation.

Magna, though, didn’t feel anything wrong inside about the idea of killing people, but his mind still belonged to civilized Earth.

So some of his old logic and learned ethics were making him hesitate.

Especially when he thought about why these spies were here.

They were just ordinary people throwing their lives away just to earn a little wealth for the families they left behind.

Thinking about it that way, it was sad, but also an honorable sacrifice on their part.

"Why do you always have to kill them?" He even asked, wondering if there might be another way to prevent this periodic carnage.

Titus looked slightly displeased by the question but still answered. "If they don’t die, even more will come back again. The only thing that keeps their numbers at this level is the fear of death."

He was right.

If not for the extreme risk of death attached to these missions, the guaranteed pay was something none of them could resist. In the end, the entire Winterborne Territory could suddenly be flooded with spies.

Going even further, this could drag the whole city into chaos, as after a while they might get even more out of hand and start attacking and looting civilians in the city and nearby villages as well.

"Magna, you will face many enemies in your life, not all of them evil, and some even good people," Titus spoke with a heavy, advisory tone. "But if you grow a soft heart, it’s not a probability but a certainty that it will one day be the reason you die."

In the end, even the most evil-hearted person did evil for a purpose, and so did the most good-hearted one.

Titus sighed and added, "The only difference is, if the person who ends your life is a good person, hearing an apology like ’I’m sorry, I did it for my sick mother’ won’t bring you back from the dead."

Magna finally understood that his ethical values held no worth in this world.

To make himself completely forget them, he finally nodded. "I will do it."

Sooner or later he had to learn to kill people cold-bloodedly, so it was best to start tonight.

—

Outside the Winterborne Estate, a figure fully clad in black approached the high garden wall with slow steps.

His steps were quite soft, and he made good use of the corners, meaning he was a hunter quite experienced in staying hidden.

But he wasn’t so calm, as he kept murmuring something.

"Vespera, Valen, Kaelen..." The three names kept spilling from his lips over and over again, like a chant to ease his mind and give him courage.

These were the names of his wife, his daughter, and his newborn baby boy.

They were the only reason he was here, so far from his village, about to try to sneak into a powerful Witch’s property.

He looked at the tall wall in front of him as he slowly took the rope with a hook on its end from his shoulder.

’Just one look. Anything useful, and that’s it.’

So far he had never heard of anyone coming back after coming this far, but he still had hope inside him.

He had promised his wife before leaving that he would return safely, so he wasn’t here to go all the way.

He would just climb the wall, look at the garden behind it, and whatever he saw, he would burn it into his mind and run without even looking back.

Even that would be enough to earn him enough money to bring his fields back to life, land that had produced no crops since last season.

"Vespera, Valen, Kaelen..." he chanted the names again as he swung the rope and threw it.

With a clinking sound, the hook caught onto the top of the wall.

He pulled the rope firmly once, twice, and after making sure it had taken hold and could bear his weight, he started climbing.

"Vespera... Valen... Kaelen..." With every breath, the names also slipped from his lips, until finally he reached the top of the wall.

He felt his heart beating so hard it seemed like it would break through his ribcage, and his breathing had grown quite rough.

Still, he kept chanting the names as he forced his racing heart to calm, slowly raising his head above the wall.

What lay before his eyes was a vast, magnificent garden, and beyond it, a huge, wealthy mansion that matched it.

’Anything, just anything.’ His eyes searched desperately over everywhere he could see, under the bluish moonlight.

He looked at every tree scattered through the garden, every flower lining the stone paths, every lit window on the mansion.

He didn’t even know what he was looking for, but he still looked at every detail, trying to burn it into his mind.

Until he could no longer look.

He only heard a soft whistling sound ringing in his ears, and then his body fell heavily from the wall, a dagger embedded right in the middle of his forehead.

He left the world so suddenly, so unfairly, that he couldn’t even find the time to say the names of his beloved family one last time.