""Hiiiiii—!""
Seeing Baron Carfield get kicked by Sorren so hard that he coughed up blood, the nearby peasants let out cries of fear and despair.
At this moment, their faces twisted, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably as they looked at the baron on the ground, coughing blood, their eyes full of fear.
As simple commoners in a barony, when had they ever witnessed such a scene?
In their eyes, Baron Carfield was a formidable and absolute figure, someone they couldn't even dream of reaching. Normally, he acted all high and mighty, strutting around the territory as if he owned the place.
When had they ever seen him in such a pitiful state, coughing up blood on the ground?
With their limited knowledge and narrow worldview, the greatest figure they had ever seen in their lifetime was Baron Carfield.
Now, this baron, so lofty and grand in their eyes, was being kicked like trash and coughing up blood.
Needless to say, the shock this brought them was unimaginable.
"Even though you're just a lowly baron, you're still a lord, right?"
Sorren walked over to Baron Carfield, standing over him, his eyes bloodshot.
"If you're a lord, how can you not take care of your own territory and manage your own people?"
"You must've been spending your days lording over them, completely neglecting your responsibilities as a lord, huh?"
"Do you know that is unforgivable?"
Sorren's vicious words were met with Baron Carfield's terrified screams.
"No... No, Your Highness!"
Baron Carfield cried out in panic.
"I've done my duties as a lord! I pay my taxes every year on time, and I submit my reports every month without fail! I've never slacked off!"
"I'm loyal to the royal family! I support the Royal Faction, Your Highness!"
Baron Carfield thought he was being punished and abused by Sorren because some of the 'good deeds' he had done in his territory had been discovered.
It was true that he was a supporter of the Royal Faction, but that didn't mean he hadn't also been in contact with the Duke Faction. Sometimes, he even sold them information for a bit of wealth.
While it was true he paid his taxes every year, that was only about thirty percent of what he collected from the people since he pocketed the rest. Not only did he impose heavy taxes on his territory, but if any of his people couldn't pay, he would demote them to slaves, using them as cheap labor or selling them off outright.
As for the monthly territory management reports, those were written by the civil officials under his command and had nothing to do with him personally.
Nevertheless, none of these were things that Baron Carfield dared to admit, let alone speak of, so all he could do was babble nonsense.
Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that Sorren didn't care about any of those.
"You say you've been doing your duty as a lord? Heh... Hahahahaha—!!!"
Sorren laughed, but his laughter was full of fury.
"If you've been doing your duty, then why did you let that damn guy escape from your territory, you fucking bastard?!"
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Sorren began kicking Baron Carfield's body, one kick after another.
"If you hadn't let him escape, would I be suffering like this?!"
"If you weren't so incompetent, how could that guy have stayed hidden for so long?!"
"If you had recognized his talent and potential from the start, captured him, and trained him to be a loyal dog, would he have ever had the chance to flaunt himself in front of me?!"
"It's all your fault! Everything is your fault, you fucking bastard!"
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Sorren ruthlessly pinned all the blame on Baron Carfield, venting his frustration as he kicked harder and harder until Baron Carfield was bruised and bloodied, his whole body covered in splatters of blood.
"AGH—! UGH—!"
At first, Baron Carfield tried to hold on, crying and begging for mercy, but eventually, he could only scream in agony. Before long, he was completely unrecognizable, lying in a pool of blood, barely clinging to life, no longer able to even raise his hands to cover his head.
Still not satisfied, Sorren kicked him a few more times before finally turning to the three peasants.
"Spare us!"
"Please spare us!"
Having witnessed the torture from start to finish, the three were already terrified beyond reason. When Sorren turned to them, they immediately knelt and banged their heads on the floor, crying pitifully.
Sorren looked at the three with the same disdain as if he were looking at filth, but now that his anger had mostly subsided, so he didn't torture them.
"You're Riezel Brynhart's grandfather and parents, right?" Sorren asked coldly.
""Riezel?""
As soon as they heard the name, the three instantly froze in place.
Clearly, there was no way they didn't recognize the name.
It was a name that had once brought them great joy, only to turn to sorrow, then to anger and hatred.
Riezel's family, the Brynhart family, had always been an extremely poor family of peasants for three generations, living in the Barony of Carfield, surviving through farming, and living as lowly as slaves.
Both Riezel's grandfather and his father had dreamed of escaping poverty, of no longer being peasants, and of living a life of wealth and status.
Unfortunately, not only did they never achieve that, but Riezel's grandfather had once been reduced to a slave after being unable to pay his taxes, becoming just another one of Baron Carfield's many slaves with no rights.
Baron Carfield's slaves did the most work but received the least pay, barely surviving. If they weren't starving every three days, they were certainly starving six or seven days out of nine.
Such a miserable life didn't change even after Riezel was born.
It wasn't until about a year ago that the Brynhart family discovered by chance that Riezel had incredibly strong magical energy and could possibly become a magician, which caused them to be overjoyed.
For people who had been peasants and even slaves their entire lives, a magician was as noble as it got.
They didn't know anything about combat-class, tactical-class, or strategic-class concepts, but in the Barony of Carfield, a magician was hired by Baron Carfield with the sole job of placing slavery contracts on those who couldn't pay their taxes.
Aside from that, the magician did nothing else, yet he held a position second only to Baron Carfield, admired and envied by everyone, living a life of luxury.
He could cast fireballs and blast apart massive boulders that even several strong men couldn't move.
He could summon gusts of wind, blowing away any number of slaves or guards who tried to surround him with ease.
All of these, to people in such a rural area, power like that could only be described as a miracle.
If their descendant could become someone like that, they would surely live a good life, no longer poor peasants.
In their excitement, they completely ignored the fact that Riezel was present when they made decisions about his future without consulting him.
Yes, they were planning to offer Riezel to Baron Carfield and have him work as a slave in exchange for wealth and fortune.
Knowing what fate awaited him, Riezel escaped without hesitation, shattering the Brynhart family's dreams.
As a result, over the past year, the Brynhart family had been filled with nothing but anger and hatred toward Riezel, believing that this ungrateful child had abandoned them, an act that defied all sense of decency.
Had they not feared being beaten to death by Baron Carfield's men for leaving the territory without permission, they would have chased after Riezel, dragged him back, and given him a good beating.
Until today, this was the first time they had heard Riezel's name again.
"D-Did that ungrateful brat offend you?"
Riezel's father stuttered, trembling as he asked fearfully.
"No! It has nothing to do with us!"
Riezel's mother cried, her voice filled with tears.
"Yes! He ran away from home a long time ago! It has nothing to do with us! If you want to settle the score, go find him! You can beat him to death for all I care! A heartless scum like him deserves it!"
Riezel's grandfather couldn't hold back, unleashing all the anger and hatred he had toward his own grandson.
Eventually, the three of them started shouting one after another, making it clear that they had nothing to do with Riezel and were unaware of anything he had done—whatever sins he committed were his alone, with no connection to them.
Watching the Brynhart family's pathetic, desperate behavior, Sorren actually smiled, but this time, his smile wasn't filled with anger but was full of amusement.
"Hahaha... I see, I see..." Sorren laughed, then sighed. "No wonder... so, that guy grew up in a family like this, huh? Now I understand why he hid his strength and trained in secret... If you'd found out about his abilities too early, you'd have turned him into your money-making tool and sent him off to this useless baron, yeah?"
He felt like he had uncovered a piece of the mystery behind Riezel's life.
However, that wasn't important for now.
"By the way, you guys probably don't know about his current situation, right?"
Sorren sneered at Riezel's parents and grandfather.
"He is now the seventh Sword Saint of Jinas and also a Tactical-Class Magician."
"Heh, just so you know, his status and power are among the highest in the kingdom now."
Upon hearing this, the Brynhart family was stunned.
"But of course, that's not the important part..."
Sorren continued, shifting his tone.
"What's important is that your son, your grandson, has made something of himself. So, as his family, it's only natural for you to go see him, right?"
"You want to live? Easy."
"Just complete a simple job."
Sorren placed a bottle that looked like a potion in front of the Brynhart family.
"As long as you succeed in making him drink this potion, not only will I spare your lives, but I will also make sure you get the wealth and fortune you've always dreamed of."
"So? Can you do it?"
As soon as Sorren's question landed, the Brynhart family exchanged glances, their faces lighting up with joy.
"Yes!"
"We can do it!"
"We swear to complete the job!"
Without a second's hesitation, they shouted in excitement, their minds fixated on one thing—they would finally get the wealth they had always dreamed of.
As for what the potion was or what would happen to Riezel after drinking it, that wasn't something they cared to know.
"Good."
Hearing their answers, the sneer on Sorren's face deepened.
He could hardly wait to see, to see the despair on Riezel's face after drinking the potion he had prepared and realizing that he had been betrayed by his own family.
However, Sorren had no idea that, outside, a figure targeting him was slowly approaching.