37 – An Eye for An Eye

"My first question to you, Ritor." I folded my arms across my chest, staring intently at the minotaur general. "Why didn't you inform me that Emily was with you?"

"It's just…." He gulped, still staring down. "I just thought she was irrelevant to my mission."

I brought my face closer to his. "You know that I want to recruit her, right? With you meeting that woman, then there is a chance to recruit her or make her hate us."

"I am truly sorry, my lord."

I looked at Ritor and Garthur alternately. The two-horned creatures did not dare to look at me. "And how could you not find Emily? Don't you think she might have been crushed by that giant monster's corpse?"

"We thought she had run away, my lord." Garthur chimed in. "We're not looking for her because we don't care..."

"I ordered Garthur not to look for her." Ritor interrupted his subordinate, finally raising his face. "All of this is my responsibility, Your Majesty."

Matthias, Lana's father, approached me with a tense gesture. "Please, don't be so hard on them, Lord Vorn. We know about Miss Emily's presence too but didn't take the initiative to look for her when she disappeared."

"With all due respect, sir. I appreciate your humility, but they must be punished, so they don't make the same mistake." I answered in a firm tone.

"Let me take the punishment, sir. I am the general who should make the right decisions. Garthur is just following my orders." Ritor continued.

Garthur was about to protest, but Ritor nudged him in the stomach.

It's good that Ritor has this kind of nature. He is a gentleman for admitting mistakes and thinking about his subordinates. However, as I said, he should still be punished.

"I won't be giving you any missions for a while until I say enough." I delivered my verdict in a cold tone. "As per your request, Garthur is free for only obeying your orders."

Ritor's mouth opened. He was clearly taken aback by my words. Yeah, he doesn't like some of my missions. However, I knew that it was better for him than standing still.

Matthias took a deep breath. "Then we offer sir Ritor to stay until his punishment is over. I'll tell the Chief. I'm sure he'll agree."

"Good idea. He can also guard you guys from other attacks." I nodded, then looked at Ritor again. "Remember, Ritor. I'm not doing this because I want to torture you, but I want you to reflect on yourself."

Having said that, I left the two minotaurs to approach Emily. The former keeper was already sitting, fixing one of her broken hands.

"You are very wise, Lord Vorn. You don't pass judgment carelessly." Mathias, walking behind me, made a comment. "I wonder what it would be like if you were the king of this country."

"Hopefully, I can achieve more than that, Mr. Forker."

"My eyes!!!" Emily was hysterical, then rose to her feet and approached the fire that was burning the goblins' corpses. However, after only two steps, she fell. "Shit! I haven't fixed my legs properly!"

She rotated the knee of her right leg to the correct position, and it triggered a terrible crack sound that made villagers cringe.

"What happened? Did…." I also cringed seeing that woman's condition. Apart from burns on more than half of her face, her closed left eye looks sunken, indicating no more eyeball there.

"My left eye came off when I was crushed, and now it's in that fire." Emily massaged her forehead. She then asked the villagers who were still there. "Is there anyone in this village who died at least three days ago…. No, four days is fine. If I may, I would like to ask for that person's eyes. My limbs, apart from hair, cannot grow on their own."

The villagers shook their heads in unison.

Emily rose from the ground, finally able to stand up straight. "Well, even if someone recently died, their family wouldn't give their eyes so easily."

"I hope you don't mind this." I then moved my hand to my own left eye.

"My lord, what are you doing!?" Ayre called out to me, but her face showed no significant change in expression.

People screamed as I tugged hard at my left eye. I could even hear a girl-like scream from Garthur.

However, what I'm doing doesn't affect me. As usual, I didn't feel any pain, only vibrations.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Emily grimaced as soon as I managed to release my sight organ. "Well, I guess I'm too late to ask that."

"Here." I put my left eyeball into Emily's hand.

"Can your eyes grow again?" Emily looked at my bloodied organ.

"Don't worry." I smiled, could only see with one eye, and felt the blood flow down my left cheek. "I hope you will use that."

I'm not too worried because my eyes will grow again, even if it takes a long time. It's not my real sight, anyway.

Emily sighed, shaking her head. "Well, if it's like this, I certainly won't be able to refuse."

Suddenly Ritor knelt beside me. With tears in his eyes, the minotaur general screamed. "I don't deserve this light punishment, your majesty!!! Because of my mistake, you made a huge sacrifice!!! I'm willing to pay with my life!!!"

The minotaur pressed his forehead to the ground, prostrating to me.

My gaze turned to the villagers, Garthur, Ayre, and Emily. They were all silent.

Good. I can use this moment to attract their sympathy.

I knelt before one of my generals. "Stand up, Ritor. You were wrong, but you don't have to pay for it with your life."

I could hear some of the villagers starting to sob. With this heartwarming scene, their worship level will increase. My flow of darkness points will increase as well.

"Come on, big guy." I tapped the minotaur on the shoulder, then helped him to his feet. "I still need you as a partner. You have proven to be able to do your job well. I wouldn't have been able to get this far without you."

Ritor held my hand, still crying.

"Vorn….No, Lord Vorn." Emily called me. She put my eyes on her socket as I looked at her. Then, that woman knelt down. "I thank you for this priceless gift. And I, with this, swear allegiance to you, Your Majesty. Please accept me."

I put on a smile but kept myself from showing my overflowing joy.

"Emily, the keeper of the undead cave." I approached the woman with pale purple hair. "I hereby make you one of my generals."

[Name: Emily]

[Race: Supreme undead]

[Rank: General]