This was an unremarkable little manor on the west bank of the Aiva River. Looking east from here, the Tedel Mountains were still faintly visible.
It was nearly noon, yet the manor and its surroundings remained eerily silent.
Suddenly, a strange sound shattered the unnatural quiet and woke Donald and Wesley from their sleep.
The female Knight, bound all over with ropes, kept twisting her body and making muffled, groaning noises.
Not far in front of her stood a wooden stake, impaled through it the naked corpse of a girl. The sharpened stake had been thrust up through her lower body and out through the back of her neck. Her face had begun to rot, and it was turned toward Corey. The faintly visible, twisted grimace recorded the inhuman treatment the dead girl had suffered.
Wesley rushed over and slapped Corey hard across the face. She seemed to have forgotten to defend herself with Battle Qi, and half her face immediately swelled. Even the gag in her mouth was knocked to the ground.
"So you're afraid, too? Isn't this what your people did?!" Wesley still wasn't satisfied. He kicked the kneeling Knight hard, knocking her onto the ground.
Donald's tightly clenched fists trembled uncontrollably.
The girl looked only fifteen or sixteen, the same age as Kelly.
After Donald and Wesley escaped the night before, they had run all the way here. By the time they spotted this secluded manor, they were utterly exhausted, so they had fallen asleep in a corner. Neither of them had expected to wake up to such a scene.
Curled into a ball on the ground, Corey tried in vain to explain. "No... Our army... wouldn't... It wouldn't do this..." Her voice grew fainter and less convincing with every word.
Wesley kicked her a few more