Beating Baum to a Pulp

After spearing the knight who wanted to "teach him a lesson" to death, Zhou Ming returned to the ox cart with murderous fury radiating from his body. He set the spear aside, put on his coat, found a comfortable spot, and lay down with his eyes half-closed.

As for the bag of coins that had brought him trouble, he scattered them across the grass nearby. Any of those noble knights who wanted them could bend down and pick them up themselves.

Every knight wore an angry expression, their fingers resting on the hilts of their swords. They wanted nothing more than to chop this arrogant young peasant into pieces!

But no one stepped forward. It was not that they did not want to, but that they were unwilling to make even bigger fools of themselves.

The knights had already lost all their dignity before this lowly peasant! Even if they killed him, they would become clowns and laughingstocks in others' eyes, further tarnishing the honor of knighthood.

The surrounding crowd gradually dispersed, and no one came looking for trouble with Zhou Ming. The rest of the journey passed without incident... As for the gold coins on the ground, they had long since been picked up by the peasant laborers.

After returning to Glan Territory.

Zhou Ming, who had returned from the battlefield relatively unscathed, saw his life regain a measure of peace.

Every day, he attended lessons with little Donny or went riding to relax. Even the peasant men and women working in the fields now looked at Zhou Ming with a hint of reverence.

Not every peasant could survive the battlefield and return home.

Not every peasant had the ability to save their lord from amid thousands of troops.

Nor could every peasant earn the Earl's favor and receive a reward of 200 gold coins—though it had actually been 100 gold coins, with the story growing in the retelling.

And not every peasant had the ability to kill a powerful knight...

There had simply been too many rumors about Zhou Ming lately. Even among the lower-class peasants throughout Rose Territory, stories of him spread by word of mouth. After being embellished, he had been turned into an extraordinary figure who could defeat ten knights and kill a heavily armored knight with a single spear—or rather, an "idol," a legend among peasants.

Zhou Ming merely laughed off these lower-class rumors. What worried him more recently was Baron Connor's health.

Baron Connor was probably not going to last much longer.

When a knight's warhorse, weighing nearly a ton together with its rider, brought down its hoof, the force it generated was close to a ton. No matter how strong Baron Connor's plate armor was, it could not withstand such tremendous crushing force.

The plate armor had caved in deeply. Six of Baron Connor's ribs had broken, and the shattered ribs had pierced his internal organs, causing massive internal bleeding. His once vigorous life force had weakened to the extreme in an instant.

After October arrived, the weather gradually turned colder, and Baron Connor's condition worsened by the day. A severe cold caused by infected wounds left him weaker with every passing day.

Baron Connor's eldest son, Edward, the future heir to the territory, had no choice but to suspend his plan to recruit knights. He dispatched numerous servants to seek out famous physicians and even personally went to Saint Marne Monastery to invite several highly respected priests. He also spent heavily on some "Holy Water," hoping to save his father's life, whose flame could be extinguished at any moment—as a knight possessing the virtue of "loyalty to his lord," this was all he could do for his father.

By mid-October, with the help of medicine from a renowned Traveling Physician skilled in pharmacology, Baron Connor's condition finally stabilized. At that time, Robert the Monk from Saint Marne Monastery also arrived. Bathed in the Lord's radiance, Baron Connor's suffering seemed to lessen considerably, and he could even chat and laugh with Robert the Monk while discussing theology.

Everyone in the castle breathed a sigh of relief. The Baron was safe for the time being. If anything else happened to him, this barony, which had already suffered grievous losses in the "500 Horses" war, would undergo another even more violent upheaval.

Seeing that the Baron's condition had stabilized and improved slightly, Zhou Ming also relaxed. He asked Head Butler Vick for two days off, intending to visit the home he had not returned to for some time.

Butler Vick agreed and even advanced him ten silver coins in wages, telling him to buy something to bring home.

After spending all the money he had on half a small jar of honey from a Traveling Merchant's stall in town, Zhou Ming had just reached his doorstep when he heard the sounds of fighting and struggling from inside.

"Little beauty, your brother isn't home today. Just give yourself to me!"

Fatty Bob's face was flushed with excitement, his eyes filled with burning lust. He took off his upper vest, ready to make this beauty he had long dreamed of completely his own!

In truth, Baum had come to Alice's home today to tell her that she was to go to the castle and become Young Master Edward's maid. But this little beauty had shaken her head and refused, saying she needed to ask her brother first.

Baum had promised her all sorts of benefits of being a maid and warned her of the consequences of offending Young Master Edward. Yet the beauty would not yield to either persuasion or threats. She insisted on getting her brother's approval before she would go to the castle to serve.

Baum panicked. He grabbed the beauty's hand and tried to drag her toward the castle. Alice could only struggle desperately and cry out with all her strength. During the struggle, her clothes were even torn, revealing a glimpse of white skin.

At the sight of this, Fatty Baum completely forgot why he had come. His mind, swiftly consumed by lust, had only one voice left: Take her, take her, take her...

"Alice, you belong to me, Baum! Today, I will have you!"

Having stripped his upper body bare, Fatty Baum pounced like a starving dog on food. He desperately tore at Alice's clothes and carried her toward the bedroom.

"Let me go, let me go! Help! Can someone save me?!"

Alice kicked and flailed wildly, crying out with all her strength and screaming for someone to stop this beast.

"Beauty, stop screaming, stop! Give yourself to me! As long as you do, you can become a knight's wife in the future. Young Master Edward has already promised that he'll send me to the Royal Knight Academy after a while, so I can become a true knight. Give yourself to me, and I guarantee you'll eat well and live well for the rest of your life without a worry!"

Fatty Baum pinned down Alice's hands and feet with force, speaking words of temptation. Though his claim that he would marry her was a lie, everything else was true.

"No, I don't want to!"

With her mouth covered, Alice could only mumble her refusal as one hand struck at him desperately.

"You'll take it whether you want to or not!"

Baum flew into a rage. With a ripping sound, he tore Alice's dress completely open. Seeing the two pale, rounded mounds before him, he cried out in delight and was about to pounce.

Bang!

A thunderous crash came from the front door, and a figure charged inside, rushing into the room at lightning speed.

"Ryan, why are you..." Startled, Fatty Baum sat up and stared at the newcomer in shock.

"You bastard, go die!"

The moment Zhou Ming saw the scene in the room, his rage exploded. He delivered a flying kick, sending Baum's ball-like body sprawling face-first across the floor.

"Ryan, do you want to offend Young Master Edward? Do you still want to stay in Glan Territory—" Baum's threats were answered by a brutal, merciless beating from Zhou Ming.

By the end, Zhou Ming had even dragged over a sturdy wooden chair. With bloodshot eyes, he smashed it down on Baum again and again, wanting only to crush this hated enemy into a pile of shit, to beat him into a bloody pulp.

"Ah! Stop hitting me! Stop!"

"Ryan, ah! I was wrong, ah! Please stop hitting me, ah! I really was wrong!"

"Wrong... wrong... wro..." By the end, Baum's face was so bruised and swollen that he was no longer recognizable, and he could only plead weakly.

"Brother, stop! Don't hit him anymore! If you keep going, you'll kill him! Brother, stop!"

Alice, clutching her clothes over her chest, grabbed Zhou Ming and desperately tried to persuade him. If her brother really beat Young Master Edward's attendant Baum to death, Young Master Edward would definitely not spare him.

After beating him for more than ten minutes, Zhou Ming finally put down the chair that had only one leg left. But still not fully venting his anger, he thought that since things had already come to this and he had offended Edward anyway, he might as well release the fury in his heart even more thoroughly.

"Baum, let me give you a lesson you'll never forget."

Zhou Ming used his foot to flip the fat Baum over, spread apart his legs, and stomped down hard on the spot between them!

"AHHH!!!"

The entire Rose Town could hear that scream.