Silencing

Seemingly frightened by Gask's burning gaze, the little girl quietly shifted backward and hid behind the middle-aged man.

The little girl's movement briefly pulled Gask out of his fantasies about the future.

"Nitrang."

"This servant is here."

Upon hearing Gask's voice, the kneeling middle-aged man lowered his head even closer to the ground.

"Go find Butler Lauren directly. I've already given the order—Butler Lauren will give you everything you want."

"Yes, thank you, Lord Gask!"

Overjoyed, Nitrang rose from the floor and left the study with light steps, hurrying toward the reception hall of the City Lord's Manor.

After closing the study door, Gask slowly approached the little girl. The flames in his eyes seemed ready to burn her to ashes.

"I truly am blessed by the heavens!"

According to those people from the Temple of Light, the enhancement gained from sacrificing a pure soul to the Overgod depended both on the quality of the soul at the time of sacrifice and on the sacrificer's own aptitude.

But regardless, any peak Rank 9 powerhouse who completed the sacrifice had a one hundred percent chance of breaking through to the Saint Domain.

Now, he already held a ticket to the Saint Domain in his hand.

He only needed to go to the Temple of Light, betray the Frost Snow Empire, and offer Gemur City as his tribute for advancement.

Once he completed the sacrifice, he would at the very least be able to gather a knight order and become its Knight Commander.

But...

As soon as his thoughts reached that point, Gask's expression cleared.

If he really did that, Locke would probably come and kill him on the very day he entered the Saint Domain, wouldn't he?

"No rush, no rush..."

"I can still wait..."

Gask murmured under his breath.

In his current condition, he could maintain his peak state for at least another ten to twenty years.

Looking at the little girl kneeling before him, Gask took a deep breath and suppressed the excitement in his heart.

"After all these years, I've only found one suitable person here. It's clear that humans with pure souls are indeed extremely rare."

"The other four brothers probably haven't found anyone else yet."

"In that case, the one I found shouldn't be exposed yet."

"After all, given Lord Cole's personality, if he learned that I had already found someone suitable for sacrifice, he would definitely be unable to wait to complete the ritual."

"However, Lord Cole is only a Rank 8 Warrior right now. Conservatively speaking, he needs to find at least two sacrifices before he can break through to the Saint Domain."

"In other words, I need to find at least two more sacrifices before I have a chance to reach the Saint Domain."

Thoughts raced through Gask's mind as he weighed the current pros and cons.

"But my peak period isn't long. If my strength begins to decline, then even one sacrifice might not be enough for me to break through to the Saint Domain."

"In that case..."

At that thought, Gask abruptly rose to his feet and rushed out of the study.

In the reception hall, Butler Lauren handed a package to Nitrang. "Nitrang, this is the reward Lord Gask promised you. Count it carefully, so you don't leave this place and claim that the payment was insufficient, tarnishing the viscount's reputation."

"Hahaha, Butler Lauren must be joking. How could Lord Gask's reward possibly be insufficient?"

Nitrang accepted the heavy package with a deferential nod and bow. He cursed inwardly, but had no choice but to flatter Butler Lauren aloud.

Too light!

According to the agreement between Nitrang and the Viscount's Manor, as long as their merchant association found someone who could make the pearl shine and brought them to the manor, they would receive a reward of one hundred thousand gold coins.

One hundred thousand gold coins was no small sum even for Nitrang's merchant association.

The profit they earned from a year of trade was only around three thousand gold coins.

After deducting the losses along the way, they might have two thousand gold coins left.

One hundred thousand gold coins would take Nitrang's merchant association twenty years to earn.

It was precisely because of such temptation that many merchant associations had accepted this task from the Viscount's Manor.

After all, it was merely something they could do along the way.

Who knew? Maybe one day they would get lucky and come across one.

Nitrang was one such lucky man.

When he found that little girl, Nitrang had bought her for one gold coin. If the Viscount's Manor honored its word, he would make a net profit of ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine gold coins.

The remaining nine gold coins counted as the cost of escorting her during this period.

However...

Weighing the bag in his hand, Nitrang hurriedly narrowed his eyes, concealing his true thoughts.

A single gold coin weighed 0.25 grams.

One hundred thousand gold coins weighed 250 pounds.

And the bag in his hands weighed no more than fifty pounds.

In other words, of the hundred thousand gold coins Viscount Gask had mentioned, fewer than twenty thousand might actually have reached his hands.

Although twenty thousand gold coins was no small sum, it was nowhere near a hundred thousand.

But the other side was clearly taking advantage of him. What could he do about it?

Say there wasn't enough?

Who knew whether he would even be able to leave the City Lord's Manor in one piece afterward?

Butler Lauren was very satisfied with Nitrang's tact.

"Now that you've counted them, hurry up and leave."

"Remember, if you find anything else next time, come directly to me."

"Of course, of course."

Nitrang nodded and bowed, slung the bundle over his back, then turned and headed out of the reception hall.

Wanting to leave the City Lord's Manor as quickly as possible, Nitrang walked rather fast.

Bang!

Unfortunately, Nitrang's luck seemed to be poor.

Just as he was about to step out the door, a burly figure appeared in front of him. Nitrang crashed straight into him, but the burly figure outside did not budge at all. Instead, Nitrang was sent stumbling back by the rebound and fell hard to the ground.

Clatter...

The bag of gold coins on Nitrang's back burst open as he fell, and gold coins rolled out one after another, scattering across the floor.

Nitrang raised his head, wanting to see who had knocked him down. But when he saw clearly, his expression changed drastically. He immediately dropped to both knees and kowtowed to the newcomer.

"I'm terribly sorry, Lord Gask. I failed to notice your arrival and offended you. Please, for the sake of the task I completed for you, spare this lowly one's life."

In Gemur City, who didn't know that Viscount Gask was the king of all Gemur?

Some of Viscount Gask's taboos had long been well known.

After all, ordinary people had tested them one by one with their lives.

Nitrang remembered that among those taboos was one: he hated it when others bumped into him from the front.