Chapter 46: You Can Kneel and Bark Like a Dog

In the inner fortress of Silvermoon, the conference hall was quiet.

The Silvermoon Viscount sat alone, rubbing his temples as he sighed deeply in frustration.

Since the emergence of the evil spirit incident, he hadn't had a good night's sleep.

The ignorant common folk believed that Lord Kubero's estate was haunted, treating it as mere gossip for idle chatter. Yet, only he knew how dire the situation truly was.

That was an evil spirit!

A legendary undead creature!

If mishandled, the entire Clockstone City could turn into a domain of ghosts!

To combat the evil spirit in the estate, he had already lost a major knight and five others, leaving him feeling like his heart was bleeding.

Despite such sacrifices, the evil spirit remained alive and even more ferocious, having consumed the souls of six knights.

If they didn't eliminate this evil spirit soon, the situation would only worsen!

Thinking of this, the Silvermoon Viscount couldn't help but feel a deep-seated hatred for Kubero, who was already imprisoned.

If it weren't for that fool being unable to keep an eye on his own wife, letting her be seduced by the Starfire Church and bringing that evil blood-colored flower into the estate, and then later trying to suppress the news out of fear for his reputation, things would never have escalated to this point.

Such a self-destructive fool, even killing him ten times wouldn't quell the anger in his heart!

Taking a few deep breaths, the Viscount finally calmed his rage and turned to the secretary beside him. "Have all the recruits arrived?"

"They're all here, my lord," the secretary replied, bowing. "They're waiting in the reception hall."

The Viscount nodded and stood, heading outside.

To eliminate the evil spirit, his own forces were definitely insufficient; he needed to recruit some mercenaries or wandering knights.

Every additional knight's strength would be valuable against the formidable evil spirit.

If only he could find a wizard.

Not those charlatans pretending to be wizards, but real ones.

Wizards were the true experts in dealing with evil spirits.

Unfortunately, wizards were notoriously secretive, and the Viscount had no idea where to find one.

"I heard the second son of the former Baron Shining has become a wizard; I wonder if that's true or just a rumor?"

Lost in thought, the Viscount reached the reception hall.

He scanned the room and saw over twenty men seated—mostly armored, robust men in their thirties or forties.

Non-noble knights typically had poorer quality breathing techniques and scarce resources, often only becoming knights in their thirties or forties.

Generally speaking, knight was the endpoint for them; unless they had extraordinary luck, they could never advance to the rank of major knight.

Thus, among those seated in the hall, having even one peak knight was considered good; major knights were out of the question.

However, one person's appearance stood out, drawing the Viscount's attention.

This individual wore a thin gray robe and a night owl mask, making him particularly conspicuous among the armored knights.

Yet, everyone present had passed initial assessments confirming their knight-level prowess, so the Viscount didn't comment further. He took a seat at the head of the table and waved to the secretary.

The secretary stepped forward, glancing around before speaking. "First, thank you all for attending the recruitment. The details have been outlined in the recruitment notice, but I must remind you again: the evil spirit in Lord Kubero's estate is extremely powerful, even stronger than knights. A moment's carelessness could lead to death. Even so, do you all still wish to participate?"

The crowd remained unfazed.

The news of the knights who had perished at Kubero's estate had already spread throughout Clockstone City, and they were certainly aware of it.

Their willingness to join the recruitment under such circumstances indicated they had steeled themselves for the risks.

"I have only one question," a burly man said in a deep voice. "Is the reward of one thousand gold coins real?"

The secretary looked at him and nodded. "Of course, it's real. The one thousand gold coins will be divided among you based on your strength. If anyone unfortunately dies in the estate, we will deliver the money to their designated family members."

Hearing this, the knights displayed expressions of delight.

Splitting one thousand gold coins among twenty-plus people meant even the weakest among them would receive at least twenty or thirty coins, nearly equivalent to three or four years' worth of income!

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out.

"If I'm the only one who participates, does that mean I get to keep all one thousand gold coins for myself?"

The atmosphere in the hall instantly froze.

Everyone turned to see that the speaker was the masked individual who had stood out.

"Tsk, what a bold claim."

"Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"Want to hog all the gold coins for yourself? Hey, I wonder if you have the strength to back that up?"

"It's been a while since I've seen someone so arrogant."

A multitude of scrutinizing and hostile gazes converged on the masked man.

In this line of work as mercenaries and wandering knights, who wasn't difficult to deal with?

Seeing someone even bolder than themselves, many felt offended.

"Kid, if you want to take all the bounty, you'll have to get past me first."

A stocky man stepped forward, slapping the heavy iron axe on his back, glaring at the masked man.

"Since you're so cocky, let's have a duel. Whoever loses kneels and barks like a dog, then withdraws. Are you up for it?"

Some recognized the burly man as a well-known wandering knight with considerable strength—already a senior knight—which only added to the malicious delight in the gazes directed at the masked man.

"This proposal sounds good!"

"Ha ha, let's fight!"

"Whoever backs down is a coward!"

"Kid, hurry up and accept; you're not afraid, are you?"

The knights cheered and egged him on.

The Silvermoon Viscount watched the scene with cold eyes, not intervening.

To be honest, he was a bit curious about the masked man's background.

Anyone who dared to speak like that in this situation was either a fool or extremely confident in their abilities.

His gut told him the masked man was likely the latter.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the masked man—Sunan—simply nodded calmly.

"Good proposal. Let's do it."

He lifted his head to meet the burly man's gaze, a strange light flickering in his masked eyes.

"Now, you can kneel and bark like a dog."

The grin on the burly man's face vanished in an instant, his features turning vacant.

In the astonished gazes of the crowd, the burly man slowly knelt on the ground, opening his mouth.

"Woof!"

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