Purge

The scene of the mangled bodies around me as I woke up continued to flash before my eyes, the looks of pain my mother and father had with arrows piercing their backs. I began to re-experience the life of Maximillian Crow the IV, but each heartwarming moment was interrupted with the scenes of my family's deaths.

I woke up screaming again, covered in sweat, with a gentle hand on my shoulder once again.

This time, however I was lucid, and I recognize the familiar touch and face.

"Gweneviere..."

I looked around the room and saw the other familiar faces.

White hair, and the spider tattoos.

'The Spiders.'

A group of children, all brought together and trained for the sole purpose of serving the next heir. Trained by the previous spiders who all served my father.

I hadn't seen them for several years, because they were in training, but they were all faces I recognized.

They would now be activated and stay by my side at all times, following my orders to the T. Unquestionable loyalty, and the skills to back it up.

As I looked at them, I pulled their status boards up.

'All of them have stat values of 20. They're ahead of me by a large margin, I need to catch up along with growing them into a powerful force...'

As I thought these things, Gweneviere coughed slightly and motioned at my hand that was holding hers. I retracted my hand, and stood up.

"Shall we call the servants to come assist Master in getting changed?"

I shook my head.

"No more servants... I will dress myself."

With that I removed my shirt, and put on a prepared shirt nearby. It must have been laid out for the servants to change me into, but I was capable of changing myself.

I failed to notice, but at this moment all of the spiders saw the giant scar on my chest. While it was faded, due to the healing I was able to receive, it still shone a light pink.

Indicating just how fresh the wound truly was. Anger appeared on the faces of all the spiders as they saw this. Their master had been attacked while they were in training, because they were not strong enough to accompany their master yet, he suffered a nearly mortal wound.

They all swore to get stronger in their hearts, and when I finished getting dressed we began to move out.

I first made my way to the guard house within the castle. I noticed the bodies everywhere, and took a moment to walk over to them. I ordered for a few bodies to be stripped, which the guards felt was odd, however the spiders immediately followed my orders without hesitation.

After stripping several bodies, I began to inspect them thoroughly, and was met with a pleasant surprise.

[Name: Denny Mescure]

I then began to inspect every body, and listed off their names. The Spiders quickly began writing all the names down. After we finished, I turned to The Spiders who were writing the names down. A pair of twins by the name of Korey and Karen.

"Find who those names are all associated with. Track Down all their information, including their families."

"Yes, Master."

"Yes, Master."

With that, they ran off together to begin collecting information.

The Commander Sir Reginald and the Nests all arrived before me, when I finished inspecting the bodies.

"Greetings, Duke!"

I signaled for them to rise.

"Did you find them?"

I asked, looking at the Nest knights.

They nodded, however their faces were extremely somber. A pair of bodies were on a wagon behind them, covered in cloths, however bloodstained were still evident.

I slowly walked over, and gently touched the two bodies. My hands shook, and my eyes watered as I looked down at the body of my two parents. My heart hurt beyond description, and the only thing that would appease me now was revenge.

"Gweneviere."

"Yes, Master."

"The Sparrow."

With those two words the eyes of all present went wide.

"We will collect their blood debt. Arm the men. Bring me a sword."

The Sparrow was a symbol of the Barnette family, a vassal under the Crows. They had been involved in shady business before, but were forgiven by my father in a show of leniency.

The tattoo I saw yesterday, was a tattoo that is given to each member of the family, as a sign of honor. However seeing it on one of the attackers, by mistake at that, gave me all the evidence I needed to enact my revenge on that family. They must have been the ones who sold me out, the moles. They also dared to attack me, in the middle of my city? Arrogant!

Within a few minutes, everything was prepared, and an army of 200 knights rode horses behind me. The remaining spiders also rode next to me, and with them all we began riding to the north, where the Barnette estate resided.

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the village of Estershire, the land managed by the Barnettes. With out intimidating show of force, the residents bowed and moved out of the way of the entourage.

*Knock knock knock*

Loud banging sounded out as Commander Reginald hit the wooden gate outside the Barnette estate.

However after a few minutes, there was still no answer.

"Blow it down, Commander."

"As you wish, my lord."

With that, Reginald lifted a giant Warhammer, and slammed it against the gate. The gate blew to pieces, and splinters flew everywhere. As I rode past the commander, I couldn't help but glance at his giant hammer. The amount of strength required to wield it was immense, and if a wall or door was not enchanted by magic, there was no way it would be ar to withstand a single hit.

As I entered the opening, I noticed a small army standing prepared to fight. I also noticed the head of the Barnette family, Sir Terry Barnette, in full armor.

I simply shook my head. If they knew we were coming, they should have fled instead of staying and resisting. This stupid code of conducts of nobles. I'm telling you, it was trash. Even though they betrayed me, I could still pity them for being so stupid.

"Kill everyone except for Sir Terry Barnette, his daughter over there Priscilla, and that man standing over there with the bandage on his face."

[New Setting!]

[Determine Priscilla's true allegiances and use her in a beneficial way.]

My eyes opened slightly to this new screen, however I didn't focus on it for now. I already planned to try and spare Priscilla Barnette if she was innocent.

Priscilla was one of the few friends I had when I was younger. She would often come and play with me, and I would keep her out of earshot of her father's misdeeds.

She was a sweet child, and one I felt might not have something to do with the planned attack on my family.

But if I found out that she played a hand... I would use methods much crueler than what had been invented in this world so far.

Modern science had advanced modern torture to incredible heights.

Needless to say, after less than ten minutes of skirmishing, the Barnette forces were wiped out. Groans were sounding out here and there, so I hopped off my horse, and ordered for those alive to be brought before me, kneeling.

I retrieved a katana from my horse, and walked forwards toward the three I deemed to not be killed.

The first person was brought before me.

I looked down and inspect him.

[Name: Jordan]

"Jordan. Did you know your lord attempted to murder me last night?"

"FUCK YOU YOU DIRTY PI-"

*Swish*

I brought my sword back to my scabbard.

The eyes of the hostages went wide. I had simply beheaded the man while he was talking. No mercy, no final honor, simply disposing of a useless tool that had no more purpose.

They realized then that Maximillian Crow the IV was not some naive child. He was here to enact his revenge.

"Bring me the next one."

One by one, the bodies of the half head appeared before me, kneeling with their heads down, at the mercy of my blade.

I continued by asking the same question.

"Did you know anything about your Lord's plans to murder me?"

Those that showed willingness to talk, were promptly healed with potions and put in chains. They would be tortured later, for all the information they had. The rest of them, however, the ones who showed defiance till the end, were beheading by me. A single clean strike for each person. A strike devoid of emotion. It's purpose only to sever the head from the neck.

Sir Terry Barnette began to plead for his life as he watched the number of people in queue before him dwindle.

"Wait, wait okay! I can give you the money they gave for your murder!"

I slowly wiped the blood off my blade, with a cloth given to me by one of the spiders, before speaking.

"Do I look like I need money. Sir Terry Barnette, the only thing you can do is pay for your crimes against my family and me. If you tell me about the others involved, I will give you a swift death."

Sir Barnette's face became aghast, confusion evident that I wouldn't take the money, and left at a loss.

I noticed this, and simply signaled for the spiders to take away Sir Barnette and the man who had his face covered, while I walked towards Priscilla.

She shook with fear, as the sounds of my footsteps must have sounded like cannons being shot at a city from the sea, far away but immenent.

Her trembling eyes stared solely at the ground, as if trying to memorize what it looked like, but they visibly shook when my feet came into view.

I observed her behavior for a moment before talking to her. She clearly exhibited signs of fear, and there is a lack of rebellion in her behavior. So she could be a smart traitor, or truly someone caught in the crossfire by accident. I recalled how she was when we were children, a sweet and polite young girl who treated me with respect as the heir to the Duke her family served, but also never playing a political angle with me.

Someone who was friends first, before a servant. Perhaps that is someone who wouldn't respect hierarchy, though. As I looked at her, I continued to go through all the possibilities, however I eventually realized I was getting nowhere. I needed to get more information, and make a decision.

"Priscilla Barnette. 16 years old. No major accomplishments, no skills worth noting, and a lack of desire to socialize with the noble circle. You spend your days reading, and walking through the village... It all looks... Normal. However I don't believe this is the real you. What young lady chooses to read all the time, but fails to improve herself intellectually at the same time? It's impossible to read as much as you have and still not learned anything useful to allow yourself to stand out even in the slightest."

At these words, I noticed a slight shake in her shoulders, and the muscles on her face tighten ever so slightly.

I knew I was right about her lying.

"Who stands before me, the Priscilla of the Barnette family of criminals, or the young girl who once tried ever so hard to be my friend?"

"I-I'm not a rebel... I-I have always considered you a friend, Maximilian..."

"Hmm... That's good Priscilla, I believe you're not a part of this mess... But that doesn't really answer my question does it?"

She turned her head upwards to meet my eyes, however what met her was an incomparable coldness and indifference in my eyes as I stared down at her.

"Gweneviere, remove her right ring finger. Next time she lies, cut off her tongue."

"W-wait no-"

"Yes, Master."

Gweneviere cleanly sliced off one of Priscilla's fingers, before getting into position to cut off Priscilla's tongue.

"AHHH! Maximilian please! I swear I am not behind your assassination attempt or the murder of your parents!"

"Who are you, Priscilla, this is all you have to answer. If the answer is adequate, we can move on and you may live. Refuse to answer, and I will no longer be interested in the truth. Rather I would feel better knowing an unknown element was simply a rotting corpse. Decide whether your secret is worth dying for, however you only have 30 seconds."

I nodded to Gweneviere, and made my way to the bodies of the deceased nearby. I began shutting their open eyes, and offering a small prayer. I was not a religious person, however I thought perhaps I would be able to gain a minor blessing or perhaps a new skill.

Skills seemed to be able to be gained through specific, or repetitive actions. The only reason I thought this was because of the Pain Immunity skill I had in my interface. From my memories of Maximillian's life, he really didn't experience much hardships, so he must have gained this by enduring the pain from the near death experience.

He wondered if skills and stats could be improved through training, which seemed highly likely because others in this world do not have a status screen to go off of. As I brought myself back to the present, Gweneviere sounded out.

"That's 30. Rest in peace, Priscilla Barnette."

...

As Gweneviere raised her sword, Priscilla gritted her teeth, and closed her eyes.

The sword began to swing, when suddenly.

"STOP! OKAY! SHIT!"

Gweneviere's blade stopped a few inches from her neck.

I finished the prayer I was doing, and turned slowly towards her. My eyes indifferent.

*Sigh*

"I am not Priscilla Barnette... I am a demon who is inhabiting her body... She made a pact with me five years ago, to obtain some sort of achievement. She wanted me to do anything impressive, to gain the love of her father, so I've been slowly regaining my strength while helping my Sir Barnette... However! I really didn't have anything to do with the attack on your family! I swear on the Demon Lord, I have nothing to do with it.

[New Setting!]

[Priscilla has been identified to be a demon, she will become a useful tool in the future, depending on how Maximillian Crow the IV uses her.

[Reward for changing a setting!]

[Trait - Mind Reader (E) has been obtained.]

[Mind Reader (E)]

A trait that enables the user to hear the thoughts of others.

'Mm? The ability to read minds? Interesting.'

I immediately activated the trait.

'Oh Great Demon, please let him believe me! This human is a wolf is sheep's clothing! He massacred everyone here without showing a hint of emotion or or even anger!'

"Interesting..."

I murmured to myself, however it was loud enough for Priscilla to hear.

"So, as a demon, you must have something worth offering me, right?"

I asked, looking at her with amusement. To her, however I must look like an evil spirit, the only time I smiled so far was when asking what she could give me.

Shivering, she asks if she may reach into her pocket, and I nod.

'Okay, if I give him this perhaps he will let me go. Then I can drop off the rest of the goods at the safe house.. '

"Priscilla."

She froze.

"I hope your gift will not disappoint me. I should have you know I have no use for someone who doesn't understand etiquette."

'Oh SHIT! OKAY! Good thing I didn't take it out yet. Okay, I'll just give him this... It's valuable but only in a monetary sense... Thank God I have this magic bag otherwise I wouldn't be able to hide all these things.'

"You know, Priscilla, I was just thinking about how I needed some things, and now I can have you get them for me. I'll have you act as the new Matriarch of the Barnette family, rebranded as the Castigliones, and stay serving me. First thing I need is.. hmmm... let's see... Aha! A magic bag."

I said, smiling gently towards her. To which her eyes shook.

'Can... can he read my mind? No surely not...'

She glanced up at me. To which I simply nodded. Causing her to shake again.

"I understand, my lord..."

"You can keep the items. I don't care."

The entire conversation was only heard by the spiders and Priscilla, so once we finished talking about that business, I told Priscilla I would be communicating with her privately in the future. She understood that this meant she needed to procure a magic device to communicate privately, which was expensive however she began to see the young man in front of her differently.

'He is dangerous... Much more ruthless than many Demons I have met, and he does not lack decisiveness. Perhaps he will be a valuable ally to us in the future...'

These thoughts were private to Priscilla, as I had already left to head back to the city of Arcannea, with two individuals set for torture and subsequently, death.

The feeling of accomplishment didn't evade me, as I smiled the whole way back to my castle. Tonight had been a good night.