Chapter 440: Cut Ties

And it wasn’t exactly just some random, unrecognizable person either. It was a face that they recognized immediately. It was one of the elite knights from the other kingdoms.

But at that point, as they looked at the corpse that was being cooked not alive, mercifully, but being slowly roasted over the coals, they didn’t really care whether someone else came here before them or not. The sheer shock was too much to process.

The tribesman who had led them to this place sensed that they were no longer following behind him so he turned around to look at them.

"What?" the branded man grinned. "Not seen food?"

Anderson slowly turned to look at him. It took him exactly one second to make a decision.

He kept his eyes completely locked onto the tribesman as opened his mouth and spoke one single word.

"Run."

No one countered him and every single one of them simply ran.

Even though every single person ran at top speed, they could almost immediately hear the footsteps of people running right behind them. Anderson even saw a wooden spear fly right past his head, so fast that he couldn’t help but feel a spike of fear. Luckily for him, he was confident in his reflexes and his senses.

They continued running blindly. Even though they took the exact same path that they had used to get here, their attention wasn’t really on their surroundings anymore since they were literally running for their lives.

Because of this, Anderson suddenly heard a muffled curse and a snap coming from behind him.

Instead of stopping to look around, he just continued running. As he ran, he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Split apart! If fate allows it, we will meet later!"

He didn’t even look back as he sprinted. As he continued to run, four people blurred right past him. It was almost like a bunch of adults who were just playing around with a kid had suddenly decided to get serious.

Anderson looked at the four S-rank knights blowing past him and tried his best to keep up, but his A-rank body obviously wasn’t enough to match their speed.

Luckily for him, they still considered him their leader. One of the S-rank knights easily picked him up, tossed him onto his shoulder and continued running. It didn’t even feel like Anderson’s weight was impeding his speed in any way.

That was when Anderson was finally able to look back and see what was happening behind them.

The five remaining A-rank knights had clearly split up just like he ordered. Two had gone to the left, and two had gone to the right.

Anderson watched as the last knight landed on the ground and looking at the thick piece of rope that was tightly tied around his ankle, he could tell that this one had gotten caught in a trap. The other part of the rope was moving around, securely tied to a tree branch above.

Anderson could easily imagine what was about to happen.

Of course, this knight was still an A-rank knight. Even though he had been slowed down drastically thanks to the trap, he did manage to cut himself free and continue running. The tribesmen weren’t quite able to catch up in time or match his speed.

Seeing this, Anderson let out a soft, shaky sigh. As he felt the adrenaline rush slowly leave his body, and as he watched his group make more and more distance from that horrifying tribe, he finally began to speak.

He looked back at the side of the head of the knight who was actively carrying him.

"That person on the cross... that was a knight from Pinto, wasn’t it?"

"Yeah, I remember him," the S-rank knight panted slightly. "His partner should also be right there with him. If I am not wrong, his partner is none other than his wife. I can only imagine what must have happened to her."

Anderson just closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath.

"It’s fine, as long as it doesn’t impede us. It basically just means less competition."

The knight carrying Anderson did not say anything in response.

Anderson sighed heavily. "No matter what, we must succeed in this mission. If we don’t, considering the massive damages we took thanks to the recent events, we will not have a better opportunity like this to make the Empire better."

The moment he finished speaking, one of the other S-rank knights running beside them let out a scoff.

This specific knight was one of the two from Crestwall. The one carrying Anderson was the other Crestwall knight, while the remaining two running ahead were originally from the Avarice Kingdom.

The Crestwall knight running alongside them gave an offhanded, bitter comment.

"All of this wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for your dear brother."

Anderson gave him a sharp, venomous look. "My brother? I cut ties with him ages ago. The exact moment he divorced his wife, I cut all ties with him. I have nothing to do with his actions. How dare you blame me? He might technically have Sterling in his name, but I do not consider him a true Sterling."

The knight scoffed again. "Yeah, sure. He is an Emperor now, and you are just a Duke. You are acting as if you have the actual power or the right to reject him and his surname. But in reality, considering the current situation, I think he is the one who holds more power compared to you."

The knight kept running, his tone dripping with disrespect.

"He wasn’t exactly legally disowned, was he? You just cut ties with him. Cutting ties doesn’t mean that he is officially disowned from the family. You might be a Duke, but only your father had the right to properly disown him. And your father died. So you cannot legally disown him. He is not your child, and that is about it. All you did was cut ties. So why are you acting like you actually have power or right over deciding whether he’s a true Sterling or not? He is not your child, is he?"