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‘What the fuck is this?’ Noah grimaced inwardly, his figure taking two steps back at Erolia’s announcement.

“It’s this same shit,” he muttered making sure the young lady didn’t hear him, or he would have shattered something within her. Not that he cared much. At least he didn’t at that point. ．

“Look, kid,” Noah tried to speak, but she cut him off. Annoying, but he let it.

“I promise to serve you forever. I’ll be your personal servant if you want,” she announced trying to make her offer enticing, but her strategy failed, even if they were sincere.

“I don’t need a servant. There’s nothing I can possibly need from you,” Noah explained blank-faced, waving off her offer.

“Th… then… I’ll serve you how a woman does a man,” she stammered even if her tone contained the exact amount of determination she began with.

“I don’t need sex,” Noah dismissed blatantly.

“Not from you. There are thousands of women who are to my liking. And they would do the same and more without asking anything of me in return.” He explained, surprised that he could make that sentence without batting an eye.

His words openly caused Erolia to fall into confusion as she didn’t know what to say anymore.

“I… I-” Her potential words were cut short by Noah’s.

“Look, Erolia. I don’t want anything to do with the bandits. I’m sorry that your brother was taken by them, and truly I am. But I simply do not feel the need to get involved.”

“Your town’s head seems to have everything under control…”

“No!” She yelled. “He doesn’t. He’s the one that sent him there. He’s the one who picked us as a scapegoat,” she explained, her voice shaky and he could even hear an incoming sob.

Erolia raised her head, and Noah gazed at her teary eyes. A deep sigh exited his mouth at that point. The more she spoke the more inclined he was at considering getting involved.

“I don’t understand any of what you said. But my decision still stands,” Noah explained in a tone that sounded unsure, but also firm.

He himself was a tad bit confused about his reluctance to the matter. He would have jumped into helping them only a few months ago.

‘I guess I just want a bit of peace and quiet for a short while before returning to the guild,’ he concluded inwardly.

“Please,” she begged, tears now streaming down her face adorned with features that even Noah admitted were adorable. For someone her age she looked far above average in terms of cuteness, but her slightly underfed body could eventually become more evident and swallow up her features.

Noah shook his head in both pity and firmness, after which he disappeared from her line of sight. Returning to his lodge in the main town.

Noah paid for another night and reclined in the room. His hours of thought were about Erolia and her words.

The part that the town’s head had used them as scapegoats really got his attention. He had now begun to doubt the beauty and friendliness of that town. All because of one girl’s words.

Noah heaved a deep sigh at some point and returned to the tavern he had been to the other day.

Diro had been glad to see him. The other individuals he had spoken to were glad also. Funny how they were already there even if it was only In the afternoon.

He lost himself in the conversations they started, even if he mostly listened. The low leveled men were glad to share their different stories with him.

Apparently, there had been a time in the town, when situations were lighter than they were. No bandits had them in their grasp and they were free to do whatever they wanted as a town.

Most of the stories were about adventures some of them had embarked on, and the types of women they had encountered also.

The latter topic had been the most discussed; unsurprisingly.

Noah listened to their stories of fantasies fulfilled, and couldn’t help but shake his head at how vain they were. But he wondered if there were any differences between them and him.

Noah had to bring the topic to something he was truly interested in, and that was of course the other side of the town.

The air around the group of talking men suddenly went dark, leaving him wondering.

They had been reluctant to say anything about that subject, but Noah persuaded them, and his view of the town underwent another change.

The group talked of that part of Lilua like a curse. Everyone within it were unwanted based on their tone, but none of them said anything concerning the reason for that hatred.

They all expertly steered away from the topic, and Noah knew better than to probe. So he didn’t.

Their talks eventually returned to light and mundane topics, which Noah was completely uninterested in, so he excused himself and left the establishment.

Taking a light stroll of the area he tried to get a breath of fresh air. Which he did, but Kius appeared before him when he casually sat on a rooftop staring at the gradually darkening sky.

“What?” Noah asked completely annoyed by the intrusion, and his tone didn’t fail to possess the required intensity to inform the expert that he wasn’t welcomed there.

“I have only come to see how you are doing, sir George. Nothing else,” Kius revealed simply standing on a platform of condensed flames.

“There’s nothing that can hurt me here,” Noah proclaimed confidently not even straightening his position to face the town’s head properly.

“I’m totally fine.”

“I can see that. And I hope that doesn’t change,” Kius bowed immediately taking his leave.

Noah hissed at the leaving man swearing that if not for his position he would have injured the man.

Noah spent a bit more time there, but Kius’ visit had ruined his mood since he knew what the man’s goal was.

He returned to his lodge and fell on his bed to dive into a light sleep. That town was becoming more and more interesting each day, and the next day would prove to hold similar surprises.

Noah woke up to bangs on his door, and he cursed before answering the person.

He had been informed that a group of youngsters requested that they saw him. He immediately, without doubt, knew who it was. But felt surprised that she would come all the way there, and with a group at that!

Noah had been reluctant to go, but when the man had mentioned that they were in trouble he had been forced to check it out.

As they went down the three-story, Noah quite clearly began to hear the sound of people, and it sounded like a big commotion.

He arrived at the front of the lodge, and what he saw made him want to bring the whole building down in fury.

Noah laid eyes on group of four individuals. One girl and three boys.

Their figures lay, bowing before the building’s entrance; as it had a transparent one, with their heads touching the ground.

But that had not been the most shocking detail.

“Why are they being flogged by a group of fully grown people?” Noah muttered seeing nothing less than twenty men and women raining down merciless strokes of thin wooden canes on the backs of the bowing children. But they refused to yield to that treatment.