One Week or Face Sculpting

Sir Davis Tevalin truly was a knight, a battle-hardened warrior.

There was nothing wrong with his tactics or combat skills. As an armored knight, he truly could crush commoners at will.

As a devout follower of the Holy Light, he had absolutely upheld a knight's honor and preserved a knight's pride.

In battles between knights, he truly had won far more often than he lost...

But that did not mean he possessed a strong mind.

He had certainly seen people disemboweled over a disagreement, but back then, he had been the knight slaughtering farmers. When faced with someone so unconcerned with the rules, someone who dared lay hands on a noble, he was frightened too.

"Looks like you don't intend to cooperate."

Sir Davis Tevalin's eyes flickered, as though he still held out hope for those supposedly customary rules. What greeted him instead was a farewell to the big toe on his left foot.

"Ah... mmph~ ngh!"

Before his cry of pain could escape, Ergons covered his mouth with a rough iron gauntlet.

"You once tried to take my life, and you carried out that attempt.

My unlucky old man died in a Private War, where nobles rarely died in battle. He did not even have the chance to surrender and pay a ransom for himself.

Do you think I can still abide by those so-called wartime rules for nobles?"

Sir Davis Tevalin's beastlike roars were trapped in his throat. He struggled to breathe, trying to ease the pain, yet it still hurt so badly he nearly fainted.

Before he could pass out, another slash came down, severing the big toe from his other foot as well.

"Mmph~ mmph!! Ngh mmph~ huff~ huff!"

He tried to ease the pain with rapid breaths, but the flood of oxygen to his brain only made him feel the agony of his severed toes more clearly.

Ergons thought to himself, Previous owner, though this man who carried out the plot may not represent all your enemies, rest assured. Since I inherited this body of yours, I will at least help you find everyone who took part in harming you and your father, and make every last one of them die after suffering untold torture.

Another slash, clearly delivered purely for the sake of torture, cut off the remaining four toes on Sir Davis Tevalin's right foot.

Only when Sir Davis Tevalin had been numbed into sluggishness by pain beyond his limits did he stop.

"One, two, three... six. Six toes in total. Counting the first time, you now have five chances left to refuse cooperation. Still, I hope you think carefully about what attitude you should take in our next conversation."

Sir Davis Tevalin wore only a pair of drawers. Bound hand and foot, he struggled so hard that blood pooled beneath him. He was truly panicking.

As shit and piss spilled from him, he looked at Ergons Tevalin like an innocent maiden staring at a demon.

What else could he possibly care about? The five chances immediately became a promise to tell everything he knew and hold nothing back.

Only through his account did Ergons learn that this distant cousin of his, Sir Davis Tevalin, was actually just a minor figure in the whole affair.

He did not know everything, but through his account, the overall outline of the matter had become fairly clear.

Some important figure in the County of Tervain had indeed colluded with an important figure within the county. Even the current Baron of Tevalinburg, the head of Ergons Tevalin's main branch, had merely played the role of a pawn leading the charge for others.

According to their original plan, in about a week, the County of Tervain's advance troops would begin infiltrating the villages and farms around Tevalinburg.

They truly did not have much time left.

"As for killing your father, Old Sir Tervain, I did not do that. The Baron said that everything around Tevalinburg had to be under absolute control."

Sir Davis Tevalin had initially spoken with great fervor, but when he mentioned Old Sir Tervain's death, fear returned to him.

However, he seemed to have found his own value, and light returned to his eyes. "I am still useful. Tevalinburg will never allow any place within its territory to remain under the control of someone who is not a trusted subordinate. After all, this is an important rear base for cooperation with the County of Tervain. Only if Tevalinburg is completely stable can the County of Tervain continue its infiltration without anyone noticing.

"And I can serve as the visible lord to ward off Tevalinburg's suspicions. In reality, Tervain Village will still be under your control."

Under ordinary circumstances, that idea really would have been feasible. Keeping Sir Davis Tevalin under control for long was nearly impossible, but using him in the short term to deal with pressure from Tevalinburg would definitely have been useful.

But Ergons truly had no such intention. He carefully studied Sir Davis Tevalin's face, more mature than his own yet somewhat similar as well.

"Thank you for the suggestion, but it does not matter."

Sir Davis Tevalin never imagined his proposal would be rejected. He hurriedly explained, "Wouldn't it be better to let everything transition smoothly? If the Baron learns of my death, you will face a direct attack."

Sir Davis Tevalin could not understand, because Ergons had already entered the character panel. A feature from the game revealed itself before him.

Face Sculpting!

After entering the game, players could choose their character's appearance, adjusting every detail until they became completely different.

And since Ergons Tevalin and Davis Tevalin were distant relatives from the same clan, not even five generations apart, using Face Sculpting to match him was not difficult at all!

Sir Davis Tevalin watched this astonishing transformation with his own eyes as subtle changes continuously appeared on Ergons Tevalin's face.

Those changes seemed to be adjusted again and again with Sir Davis Tevalin as the reference.

Until his entire face was nearly indistinguishable from Davis's. At a glance, the two seemed to differ only in age.

However, Sir Davis Tevalin, though already past thirty, looked quite young to begin with. The difference between him and Ergons Tevalin lay only in their demeanor and bearing.

"I can imitate the difference in temperament through practice. But you still have one chance to live. Tell me about your relationships and connections. This is your final chance to prove your worth. If you cannot satisfy me, you die now."

"You... you're not human?"

Sir Davis had already fallen into panic. In his understanding, only monsters lurking where the Holy Light could not reach could transform into people and disguise themselves as humans.

As far as he was concerned, Ergons had truly been poisoned to death by him. This thing that could transform into his likeness had to be some unknown monster.

And now, that monster wanted to steal his identity.

Seeing Sir Davis Tevalin's lack of cooperation, Ergons sighed in disappointment. Then he suddenly drew his sword and cut off Sir Davis Tevalin's head with a single strike!

Sir Davis Tevalin did not even have time to make a surprised expression. Thick deathly stillness froze upon the head Adamson picked up.

"Adamson, set a fire and burn this body until it is somewhat ruined, but leave the head with a front view that is hard to identify clearly."

Honestly, upon hearing his young master's order, even Adamson, that rather simple-minded big fellow, felt a chill run down his spine. If they had not already completely submitted to the radiance of Ergons Tevalin, the Blessed One...

Those six militiamen probably would have lost morale and sanity alike.

In the end, Adamson still followed his young master's instructions and forged the scene. Then he gathered up the corpse of the "heroically slain" "Ergons Tevalin" and headed back to Tervain Village.

Along the way, he made things clear to the six diehard followers: once they returned to Tervain Village, they could not reveal anything about the Blessed One to anyone, much less disclose that he had disguised himself as Sir Davis Tevalin.