49.

"What the hell!?" Looking and Balor, Thorne, and Darius who were wearing tattered clothes with whip marks all over their bodies, both Lucius and Eldric almost shouted in disbelief.

They couldn't understand why these three would enter here to work in this miserable condition, unless...

"Was it the old butler?" It was Lucius who asked with some hesitation.

But the three of them didn't seem to have heard him as they walked painfully to the piles of stones and began to separate them.

"Who do you guess did it?" Since the other party wasn't willing to talk about it, Lucius could only discuss it with Eldric.

"Other than the people from City Lord's castle, who else could it be?" One doesn't need to be a genius to figure this out.

Just a few hours ago, the three of them were laughing and having fun, and yet here they were, miserable and beyond recognition. If such a thing happened on the outside, then they would have at least changed their clothes. But since they were still wearing them along with the fresh whip wounds, it was pretty clear who did this.

"Was it because they were late?" Muttering while looking at the three of them working, Lucius couldn't understand why such drastic actions were taken. They could have simply warned them or cut their pay, but why go to such lengths?

"I CAN HEAR YOU." It was at this time that Balor spoke while gritting his teeth.

With red eyes filled with anger and a fuming nose, he looked at both Eldric and Lucius with a wicked expression. His distorted face which was filled with the whip marks looked particularly terrifying at that moment.

"Oh, good. I thought all that whipping made you deaf too." Lucius sneered at this sudden outburst of Balor.

"You..." Furious, Balor pointed his finger at Lucius as his anger grew. If not for reason, he would have rushed to tear that bastard into pieces.

And while the tension between the two of them was boiling, Eldric slowly coughed before speaking gently.

"We were just worried about you." After getting whipped and humiliated, it was pretty normal for Balor to be seething with rage; that's why Eldric wanted to calm him down before the situation could get any worse.

"I don't need your pity. Keep your worries to yourself."

Eldric's words were like adding fuel to the fire, enraging Balor even further who saw this as an insult.

"I don't need your goddamn pity, especially not from some trash who completed his trials in ordinary difficulty." Balor didn't even think for a moment about the words that he was speaking.

Words spoken in anger are only meant to hurt others. This was the exact case with Balor who after getting whipped was now trying to say anything that he could to perhaps feel better about himself.

"Sigh..." While Lucius narrowed his eyes at this statement, Eldric just let out a sigh. It seemed that whatever happened outside hurt Balor deeply, not only physically but also mentally.

And for people like these, he had nothing to say. Right now, Balor wasn't ready to listen to anyone, so arguing or speaking words of comfort was equal to picking up a fight with him. He was like a powder keg, waiting to be ignited.

Signaling Lucius to stay silent, who was about to go on a rant, Eldric focused back on the stones in front of him. But throughout the time, his eyes would occasionally look at Balor and the two others.

Compared to himself and Lucius, the three of them seemed to be attracting large quantities of red wisps. And within an hour, all their wounds healed. The only thing left were the marks of whip which were soon beginning to disappear too.

The other four beside him noticed this change too. While Balor and the two others got excited after finding out their wounds could heal here, Eldric and Lucius got a bit wary. In their eyes, there was no such thing as a free lunch. They would have stopped breathing if possible just to avoid letting red wisps merge in their bodies.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was already evening. After the initial scuffle with Balor, no one spoke in the room again.

Walking out of the castle, while Eldric was wondering whether to go home or roam a bit, Lucius came near him before expressing his thoughts.

"How about we go to the market first?"

Eldric thought for a moment before nodding in reply. He could also buy some dinner for both himself and Aria.

Both of them sat in the carriage before heading towards the market.

Looking at the leaving carriage in the distance, Balor gritted his teeth as his face twisted with anger.

Why was it that only the three of them were humiliated while those two useless bastards were happily chatting?

The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't control his anger. Often when faced with injustice, one tries to take a stand and fight back. But when the opponent is strong, this same injustice would turn into anger towards other people. At that time, a man won't think how he should fight injustice. Instead, he would focus on why others beside him didn't go through the same pain and humiliation. And that injustice would fuel his anger towards those innocent people instead of the perpetrators.

This was the exact case with Balor. Instead of being angry at the City Lord's people, he was angry at Eldeic and Lucius, and the fact that these two didn't go through the same pain as him.

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Half an hour later when the carriage left both Eldric and Lucius in the market, Lucius let out a sigh of relief. Inside the carriage, none of the two dared to speak in fear of the driver ratting them out. But now that they were here, he could finally relax.

"Where should we go?" Eldric asked Lucius about their destination who after some hesitation signaled Eldric to follow.

After taking some twists and turns, both of them were sitting on a wooden bench in front of a marble fountain. Looking at small children running around, laughing, trying to catch butterflies and small birds, surrounded by the large old wooden buildings with a constant flow of people and noise, Eldric found himself lost in the scenery. It was something straight out of a children's fairytale.

Sensing the changes in Eldric's mood, Lucius didn't speak too. He too looked at the scene in front of him in silence, but unlike Eldric, he didn't see the beauty, instead just saw a normal day.

Almost half an hour passed before Eldric came out of trance. All his worries seemed to have disappeared into the thin air.

"Feeling better?" It was Lucius who spoke first.

"Umm..." With a nod, Eldric stretched his body and let out a mouthful of air.

"It's peaceful here." Still looking at the scene, Eldric muttered softly.

"Indeed it is."

Both of them went silent for a while before Eldric spoke first.

"I never wanted to work there in the first place." The meaning behind his words was obvious. He was still looking for a chance to get out of his damn city.

"Then why?" There was a tinge of surprise in Lucius' voice. Till now he had always thought that Eldric pulled some strings to get this job. But judging from everything that he said from the morning till now, this didn't seem to be the case.

"Beats me." Eldric just shrugged. He too didn't know why Garric was hell-bent on him working there.

"Umm..." Realizing that Eldric didn't want to tell him the complete story, Lucius shook his head.

"I found out what happened to those three."

As soon as Lucius spoke these words, Eldric narrowed his eyes. "Was it when you went out in the noon?"

Even though they had to work from morning till evening, they had the choice to leave the room. Eldric didn't go out because not only it was their second day but also because he wasn't in the mood to explore.

"Hmm..." Replying with a nod, Lucius spoke further. "It's because they were late. And were given punishment according to the rules.*

As soon as he spoke these words, Eldric let out a snort.

"What a joke. They are acting like they own us. Why make such a big deal over something so insignificant?"

"Heh..." Before Eldric could even finish his sentence, Lucius let out a desolate laugh.

While Eldric was still looking at him with a face filled with confusion, he shook his head and spoke softly.

"Tell me. What do you think about this city?"

Eldric who wasn't expecting such a question was stunned for a moment before thinking about it.

He didn't have memories of this city. His memories start from the day he arrived in this world. As for the memories of the previous body owner, other than a few, most of them were blurred and forgotten.

So, in his eyes, there wasn't much to say about the city. He had no friends or family here. The only time he goes out is to either test his skill or get food for himself and Aria. His interaction with this city was slim to none.

"No idea. Looks decent."

In the end, this was the only answer he could give to Lucius.

"It's not decent." With a brief pause, Lucius spoke further with a bitter smile on his face.

"This city is anything but decent.

This city is rotten to its core. It is filled with filth, corruption, lies, and deaths. This place is anything but decent."

By the end of his sentence, Lucius was almost screaming. His face which was peaceful a moment ago was now filled with hate and anger.

Eldric on the other hand was taken aback. He didn't expect the cool-headed Lucius to suddenly burst out. He could only look at Lucius patiently, waiting for him to give him an explanation...