Regas Vol 3. Chapter 26

There was news that the lord’s wayward son would be returning soon. Neville, the soldier guarding the manor, wasn’t pleased about it. A small estate with only a few soldiers left—who would be happy that a worthless person, who always fought and caused trouble, was coming back?

However, the lord seed excited that his only son was returning. There were even rumors that he had received a high position in the emperor’s army and been greatly rewarded. It was suspicious—how a man who always bragged and neglected his training could achieve anything in war—but in any case, Neville had a headache just thinking about him.

He had lived here all his life. Everything he had was here. No matter how bad the current lord was or how worse the future one might be, there was nothing he could do.

Even now, Neville had been called by the lord since morning to prepare for a welcoming party. The lord believed his son would take care of everything, so he borrowed money and spent it. Neville, grumbling to himself, rode his horse toward the village entrance to buy the things the lord ordered—only to see a carriage he didn’t recognize.

“Who is it?”

A short man seated in the coachman's seat called out, “Is that the lord’s manor over there?”

Neville didn’t answer imdiately. He looked at the speaker—gentle-looking but pale and sickly. Next to him sat ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) a man in his 40s with a hardened, expressionless face. He wore shabby clothes but gave off the air of a soldier.

“Is it?” the short man asked again.

Neville nodded slightly and stepped aside. The carriage passed him, and he turned to watch it disappear.

The villagers are starving, and they're throwing a party...

Neville clicked his tongue and urged his horse forward.

Just as he expected, the lord welcod the guests. His son was among them. But despite having received notice of his son’s return, the expression on the lord’s face was filled with fear—not joy.

What he had received was not a letter, but the family ring—on a severed finger.

“Who the hell are you?! Hurry up and release my son!” the lord shouted.

His son was still being held by the man in his 40s, bleeding from the hand. But the man didn’t threaten or harm him further—he simply supported the staggering boy, preventing him from falling.

Aside from that man and a tall one in his 20s, the others who had arrived looked terrified. It was a bizarre sight—those supposed to be kidnappers acting more like prisoners.

“Surround those bastards!” the lord ordered.

The soldiers hesitated. Though they outnumbered the five strangers, none dared act. Wasn’t the lord’s son a hostage?

The three nervous mbers of the group exchanged glances. They could’ve delivered the son quietly and negotiated for the information they wanted. But Karas had unexpectedly cut off the boy’s finger to send a ssage.

“Do you all want to die?! Release my son right now!” the lord shouted again.

Karas, bored and silent until now, finally spoke.

“Is this all?”

Everyone blinked.

“Is this... all the soldiers you have?” Karas clarified. Then he added, “Call the rest. I’ll finish it all at once.”

Only then did Abel and the others realize why Karas had made such a noisy entrance: he simply didn’t want to waste ti hunting down soldiers one by one throughout the manor.

“What does that an?”

“He wants to kill us all at once?”

A few soldiers laughed uneasily—but not the lord. His pale son, still bleeding, looked at him with terrified eyes, silently pleading. But there was no ti for warnings.

Karas was already moving.

Swish.

His sword was drawn so fast no one saw it. It scraped along the cold stone floor, echoing through the manor.

His newly inhabited body was weak and sluggish, but it was improving. However, that didn’t make it any easier to get used to the stench of blood and piles of corpses. It was torture to adapt to slaughter.

Karas was stronger than anyone Abel had seen. So strong that his opponents felt like children before him. And because Karas lacked even a shred of sympathy or empathy, he truly seed like a villain—rciless and relentless.

“Is this all?” he asked again.

But this ti, no laughter followed. Those who had laughed before now lay dead on the blood-soaked floor. The remaining ones, mostly won and elderly, wept.

Beside the lord’s wife were three young girls clinging to her. The lord himself, wounded but alive, stared at Karas with horror in his eyes—the sa fear his son had shown monts ago.

He looked back toward his family on the first floor.

Run away!

He tried to convey the ssage with his eyes, but his wife and daughters were frozen in place, sitting on the floor in shock.

Only two soldiers remained. Everyone else had either died or was close to dying. Kin had calmly walked through the manor and gathered the last of the survivors. Neville was still out on an errand. The place was a slaughterhouse.

“Is this all?” Karas asked again.

The voice was calm, but it chilled the lord to the bone. He turned to look at his son—still trembling, unable to even think of escaping.

What on earth have you done?

“I... that’s all,” the lord stamred.

He looked back toward his wife and daughters and silently mouthed a warning.

Don’t say a word.

His wife, eting his gaze, instinctively held her breath. She realized she had to hide the daughter who hadn’t been discovered yet. She unconsciously turned to look behind her.

But soone noticed her movent.

“Kin,” Karas said.

Kin, standing behind him, looked up. “Yes, please speak.”

“There is soone left.”

The lord and his wife flinched.

“Ah, no! Th-these are all the people who ca down here!”

Karas looked at the lord’s wife. “Where are they?”

“What? W-what are you talking about...?”

“Kin.”

Though Karas only said his na, Kin understood. He bowed.

“I will search thoroughly.”

“No! There’s no one! We are all that’s left in the manor!” the lord’s wife scread.

Kin ignored her and moved toward the stairs.

But just as he did—another voice stopped him.

“D-Don’t go!”

Karas, who had shown indifference even while killing soldiers, turned his head at the sound of a neutral voice. Abel, who had pulled his hood deep over his head, pushed aside lmond and the butler who were trying to stop him and spoke to Kin again.

“Don’t... go.”

“You don’t have the right to order around.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Abel, who nodded and then lowered his head, turned his gaze to Karas. He calmly spoke in a pleading voice.

“Please, order him not to go.”

Everyone felt that Karas was subtly listening to Abel’s words, but they didn’t believe he would grant such a request. As expected, instead of nodding, Karas responded expressionlessly.

“Why?”

lmond and the butler looked at Karas, whose voice had turned cold—unlike earlier, when he seed bored. He claid to be lenient toward his companions, but that didn’t an he would allow soone to interrupt him for no reason. Just then, an unexpected answer ca.

“I, I will try to find them.”

Gulp. Abel swallowed his saliva and raised his trembling hand, pointing upward.

“I also... I want to be of help. If it’s about finding an empty place, I can do it too, so I will do it. There is also a need for soone to keep watch here.”

Abel pointed to Kin as the person to keep watch and took another step forward.

“I will go and find them.”

When Karas just stared without giving any response, he hastily added,

“Of course, lmond and the butler will co too. The three of us can find it faster. So, we... we will do it.”

“......”

“Commander-in-Chief.”

“Go.”

When permission was finally granted by Karas after a long silence, Abel hurriedly took lmond and the butler and went upstairs. Thanks to that, Kin, who had beco comfortable as he returned to his position, decided to forgive about one-tenth of the insult he had received from being called Commander Pig.

On the other hand, Karas stared at the stairs where Abel had disappeared with his half-open, cold eyes. At that mont, the lord’s question was heard.

“What exactly do you want from us?”

The one who answered his question was the fake who had maintained his silence until now.

“Father... ugh... please, please tell us that.”

“That?”

Surprised by the response, the lord asked, and the fake looked at his father with blurry eyes and a trembling, severed finger.

“Truyde’s secret.”

“What on earth are you talking about?!”

The lord shouted in confusion, but the fake urged his father instead.

“That’s all they want. Please tell us quickly. Father, you said so yourself. Our... our household served as knights of the duke’s family and gained this territory by helping with an important matter. Haah, please speak!”

The lord looked at his son, who had returned after several years, with astonished eyes and asked Karas,

“If I tell you that, will you spare us?”

“No.”

Karas looked down at the lord and slowly added,

“You will all die.”

“That’s ridiculous! If I’m going to die anyway, I won’t say anything!”

Startled, the son shouted, “Father!” But the lord stared at Karas as if determined.

“I don’t know why you want the duke’s secret, but I won’t say anything.”

“So you should speak.”

“What?”

“If you speak, I’ll kill you instantly. But if you don’t...”

Karas looked back at his trembling wife and daughters.

“I’ll gouge out your eyes, cut off your hands, and lock you all in the basent to die a slow and painful death.”

He turned his gaze back to the lord and explained as if recalling sothing.

“There were even those who lived for a week while being nibbled apart by a horde of rats. How long do you think your family can endure?”

Thud, thud, thud.

lmond and the butler hurriedly followed Abel, who was running through the corridor.

“Abel, what on earth are you thinking?”

lmond asked anxiously, but Abel was too preoccupied searching everywhere to answer.

“Quickly, search for anyone hiding here!”

“What? Are you really trying to find them and take them away?”

lmond hurriedly asked as he chased after Abel, who was now going up to the third floor after searching through the second. However, Abel, who was already out of breath from running, could only shake his head with a pale face.

“No. Hah... hah... I an, we are searching, but...”

Abel looked around the lavishly decorated room, which seed to be a woman’s bedroom, and turned his body after confirming that no one was there.

“We are searching... but so that they won’t be caught.”

Pause.

Abel, who was about to leave the room, stopped speaking and turned his head. lmond and the butler, who were following him with concern, wondered what was going on—but there was clearly no one hiding in the room.

“So that they won’t be caught? Abel, what are you trying to do?”

“Just a mont.”

After covering lmond’s mouth, Abel quietly entered the room and approached the bed with its curtains drawn. Then he stopped and stood still in front of the bed, not moving, like a statue. When lmond and the butler approached and asked what was going on, only then did Abel finally open his mouth.

“Does the Commander-in-Chief intend to kill them all?”

The two approaching people looked at each other in confusion. Karas hadn’t said a word, but everyone could tell. He was going to kill them all.

“Abel. The current situation may be uncomfortable for you, but the Commander-in-Chief also has his own circumstances and thoughts.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Abel nodded and reached his arm toward the bed. At his movent, their eyes followed him and turned toward a corner of the bed that was hidden behind the curtain. Then Abel’s voice, now growing smaller, was heard.

“To the Commander-in-Chief, who has beco accustod to war, killing is a natural course of action. I know that I have no right to stop him.”

His whispering voice sounded as if he were giving up on Karas.

lmond’s heart sank, but he had no ti to be sad.

Abel was holding a newborn baby in his arms, who had been sleeping under the blanket.

“But still, I want to save the child.”

His faintly smiling face looked as if he were on the verge of tears.