Lord of the Oasis

"We only detonated half of the bomb. That means we only destroyed the stern." Raphael replied. "And we left life jackets for them in the storage cabin. Whether they can escape or not depends on their luck."

Kant looked at Raphael with a confused expression.

He did not quite understand the thought of the person in front of him, but the only thing he could confirm was that this person had no respect for life, and he liked to play tricks.

"Who instructed you? Who were the people who saved you?" Kant continued to ask.

"Many people." Raphael replied. "As I said, the situation on this island is very complicated. It cannot be generalized."

"Then you at least know who their leader is, right?" Kant took a step towards Raphael.

Raphael looked at him warily and replied, "We are only laborers who work for people. How could we possibly know who the 'King' is?"

"King?" Kant was puzzled.

"The name of the leader. All the people who have dealings with me call him that." Raphael explained.

"Mm." Kant stood where he was and thought for a moment. He turned to Elf King and said, "Your Highness, since these people have already betrayed Elf Kingdom, I believe that their actions have nothing to do with the Elf Kingdom anymore. I will not interfere with how you want to punish them. But can you lend this person to me for a few days?"

As he said this, Kant pulled Raphael's collar without a change in expression.

Raphael was pulled to his side by Kant, but he kept his head down and did not try to resist.

"Yes." After a long silence, Elf King nodded and said, "However, I hope you can still bring him back to the Elf Kingdom. After all, even if he dies, he is still a part of the Elf Kingdom."

"Okay." Kant promised softly.

Then, Kant let Raphael follow behind him and walked out of the palace gate.

"You are very useful now, so I didn't kill you." Kant's voice had become very different from when he was in the hall. If Raphael was not standing behind him but standing in front of Kant, he would have been able to see the expression on Kant's face, which was filled with tears and gnashing of teeth.

Raphael felt his entire body turn cold. His tightly clenched fists were drenched in cold sweat.

When Kant had pulled him over in the hall earlier, he had noticed that Kant's entire body was trembling.

He did not know what kind of anger or grief would cause a person to tremble like that.

At that moment, a surge of guilt surged toward Raphael. It made his entire heart fall into an abyss.

"But you have to cherish this opportunity." Kant exhaled and continued, "Otherwise, you will die a death that is a thousand times more painful than the deaths of the Caradia soldiers."

"... Yes." Raphael replied.

Kant did not say another word to him. He walked straight towards the military camp.

Bunduk had been waiting at the entrance of the military camp for a long time. After seeing Kant's figure, he quickened his pace and greeted him.

"Your Highness, why are you back so early? Who Is this person behind you?" Bunduk asked curiously.

"Devitt and the others were murdered by him and his men." Kant replied. "I asked him to come and help me find the mastermind. We have to rush to Cumberland tomorrow."

After listening to the first half of the sentence, Bunduk paused for a moment. He turned his surprised gaze to Raphael, who was walking behind him.

After taking a deep breath, Bunduk confirmed with Kant, "Your... Your Highness, what did you say? You said that our people were murdered by the elves?"

"They betrayed the Elf Kingdom and followed the forces on the island. In fact, they are no longer considered as people of the Elf Kingdom." Kant glanced at Raphael and stated, "They used the bombs provided by the people on the island to sink that ship."

"You..." Bunduk turned around and threw Raphael onto the ground. He punched Raphael's body one punch after another.

An average person's physique would not be able to withstand a few punches of the leader of Caradia soldiers

Raphael was powerless to fight back. He was beaten until he vomited blood.

"Stop hitting him. You crippled him. When we are on our way tomorrow, don't we still have to let our people carry him?" Kant observed for a while and said.

"Ptui." Bunduk spat on the ground, stood up, and said to Kant, "Why do we need to keep him? We can investigate the mastermind behind this. I don't even want to see him, let alone carry him."

Kant shook his head and said, "This investigation won't be that simple. The island's factions are complicated. Without an insider, we won't be able to deal with those ruthless people.".

"After we obtain the information from this sc*m, we'll kill him and throw him into the wilderness." After beating Raphael up, Bunduk still looked very angry.

"Take him to the medical station." Kant glanced at Raphael who was lying on the ground and ordered.

Then, he turned around and left.

The moon rose high. Kant dreamed of the steamship burning in the fire.

The next morning, Kant got up early and brought his men to Cumberland.

"We need to enlarge the searching area. If we don't have enough manpower here, we can ask the Elf Kingdom for support." Kant ordered the minister of Cumberland.

"Yes, Lord." the minister answered.

Kant and Bunduk boarded a fishing boat and went to the sea outside the port to check.

"It is said that the current of the ocean has been rising in the past few days. All the fish in the sea have gathered here." Kant looked at the bottomless sea and said in a low voice.

"I interrogated Raphael last night and heard him say that the plan of the elven soldiers was foiled by Devitt. They originally planned to set a fire when they were close to Cumberland. But unexpectedly, it happened one day earlier." Bunduk rubbed his temples and said, "So when they arrived at the shore, they were already close to exhaustion."

"But they just happened to deceive everyone." Kant said with a smile.

"I don't know what he said is true or false." Bunduk shook his head and said.

"It should be true." Kant looked into the distance and said, "Although Raphael likes to play some small tricks, he's not a bad person. You can tell by his hesitation in the whole process. He's just a clown who was pushed onto the stage to perform."

"But now his hands are covered in blood.." Bunduk let out a long breath and said, "Who would like to watch such a circus? Even he himself wouldn't like it."