The Dreamer's POV

[01 Months: 10 Days: 12 Hours]

There was only one reason I hadn't yet killed the man before me, and that was information.

After learning all that former soldiers from the Royal Capital could do, and studying how their Imperial Martial Arts functioned, I had gleaned all the combat-related information I could from the targets.

The next thing I required was contextual information.

'Why did they rebel against the Kingdom… and why did they come to the Lyma Region?'

To satisfy my curiousity, I had spared their leader since he was the one most likely to hold the most amount of information.

'Let's finish this.'

~WHOOOOOSSHHH!~

Swiftly pushing my legs, I closed the distance between me an the terrorist leader in no time.

"Keuk!" I noticed he tried to react to my sudden appearance in front of him, but before he could even try anything, I grabbed him by the throat and used lightning to completely render his body immobile.

"GAAAHHHH!" He screamed, but all of that was inconsequential to me.

I held back enough so he wouldn't pass out from the pain, but that didn't mean he wouldn't suffer a little. Hopefully, he had enough information to satisfy me.

If he did, I would be generous enough to grant him a painless death.

'I'm not heartless…'

Drawing my face closer to his, I activated <Truthful Glare>, delving deep into his mind the moment our eyes connected.

His body instantly devolved on a partly vegetative state, and his face grew blank.

It would probably take some time for me to fully collect the useful information this man had to offer. Of course, it would all be worth it.

"Haa…" I heaved out a heavy sigh and prepared myself.

"Let's begin with the important questions. Who are you people, and what do you want?"

******

[01 Months: 10 Days: 13 Hours]

It didn't take as long as I expected; perhaps because I had gotten used to interrogations, so I knew the right kind of questions to ask.

By the time I was done with the man, I had gotten a fair amount of information from him.

'It's just as I suspected. Something is going on behind the scenes…' A smile crept on my face as I considered what I learned.

This man and his subordinates were indeed rebels who were previously Royal Guards. However, after being approached by a shady man—who eventually became the middleman that linked them to their sponsor—they began to undertake illegal activities for said sponsor.

From sabotage, to assasinations, to raids… they did all kinds of dirty work for their sponsor, a man they had never laid eyes on before.

However, even if they hadn't laid eyes on the sponsor before… they had a good idea whom they were working for.

The Gloria Family!

The Southern Kingdom had five Great Families that had the Noble Title of Duke. The Lyma Family was one of said families, and they were said to have the most money and land out of all the five families… the latter only rivaled by the Gloria Family.

In essence, the Gloria Family was the rival household to the Lyma Family.

'More land means more money, considering the taxes and assets that can come about from possessing the most property. The Gloria can only compete with the Lyma Family because their smaller lands have natural resources and luxury minerals.'

Everyone who knew a little about the politics of the Southern Kingdom would know about the long-lasting rivalry betweem the Lyma and Gloria households.

'If their sponsor is from the Gloria Family, it makes sense that they'll order their pawns to hide out in the Lyma Family in order to further weaken us.'

Since the Lyma Region was in its current state, the Gloria Family now had the perfect opportunity to bury their rival once and for all.

'I won't let that happen, of course, but there's another problem that I now have to consider.'

This situation with the Gloria Family didn't exist in isolation.

"The Dungeon City of the Lyma Region is close to the borders of the Gloria Region. The current scuffle there should be their way of further destabilizing us." I knew that much already, just by connecting a few dots.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The true challenge was the way everything coincided with the visit of Theo's grandmother.

'It's almost as if we're too occupied to do anything about the problems arising.'

If I hadn't come to Terance to see Bernard, I would have been unaware of this festering problem until it was too late. This was probably the intention of the mastermind from the very start.

'But now that I'm already this far ahead of the curve, maybe I can use this to my advantage.'

A grin formed on my face as I stared at the man I still held tightly.

His task was done, and he indeed gave me sufficient information, so I had no reason not to fulfil my internal pact.

I snapped his neck with my bare hand, instantly killing him, while looking at the rest of the dead bodies of his immeidate aids.

The total number of people I had killed tonight—including the first batch, of course—was sixty-six.

Not a bad number, if I had to say.

'I only need about ten of them, so… I'll feed the additional essences to the ones I require so they're stronger.'

I would have preferred having more minions, but I currently only had space for 11 others, and I had to leave one slot free in case any unforeseen situation arose.

As a result, ten was my limit.

Once that was settled in my mind, there was only one thing left to do.

"<Demonification>"

Instantly, shadowy tendrils appeared from the depths of darkness. They flashed with the malevolent hue of black and red, lashing around the battlefield an consuming everything in sight.

The essences of the fallen were consumed, and just as I willed it, they were merged into ten distinct properties.

The leader, and nine other subordinates.

"Perfect." I smiled, watching their bodies manifested before me, and they knelt in my presence.

"Now that's more like it."

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[A/N]

Sorry for the poor pacing. It's a fault on my part, but I promise to do better as the story