What Exactly Did I Do to Make You Disrespect Me So Much?

Clang!

The sound of a metal sword hitting the ground rang out.

"I surrender."

The man in metal armor immediately dropped his sword and raised both hands high, facing Colin.

The gap between the two sides was enormous—not even close. They had looked like they had the numbers and were poised to crush their opponents.

But after only a few minutes of fighting, they had already lost half their people.

The "mage" had even been shot in the head on the spot, dead beyond any doubt.

They had suffered such heavy losses, while the other side had only a few Servants with minor injuries.

There was no way to win this fight.

Once he gave up, the others followed suit, dropping their weapons one after another, afraid that if they held on for even a second longer, Colin would mistake them for enemies and kill them.

And after seeing Shana in action, they gave up on running, too.

There was no escaping her.

"I thought you'd put up more of a fight."

Colin smiled. After Shana charged in, the fighting on their side had slowed down.

After all, Shana fought with such overwhelming, eye-catching brutality that, given the Survivors' overall progress so far, there were almost none who could match her.

Only someone summoned with a Special Talent Recruitment Card could stand against her.

Unfortunately, they had no one like that.

Colin gathered his thoughts, his expression turning cold. He carried the lantern over and said sternly, "Subdue them."

"Yes, Lord!"

At once, Number Two led the others forward and subdued all four remaining Lords who were still standing.

On Colin's orders, they were all forced into the same position, men and women alike: their hands pinned behind their backs, knees pressed firmly into their backs and the napes of their necks.

With their lungs compressed and less oxygen getting in, they had no strength left to resist.

Colin had learned the move from Lighthouse, and it worked perfectly on them.

Of course, unlike Lighthouse's more "liberal" methods, Colin still let them breathe.

"Move it. Hand over your Servants, then open your Inventory and let me take a look."

Colin walked over slowly and spoke without a trace of courtesy.

"Isn't that going too far? We've already surrendered. I can pay you compensation. Besides, we haven't harmed you or cost you anything. We didn't even find your mine, and I wasn't the one who supported what they did."

At that, one of the women lifted her head and hurriedly tried to distance herself from the blame.

In her mind, she hadn't done anything. She hadn't said those things or started any of this. She had surrendered without resisting, too. Paying compensation should be enough—at most, she might be detained for a while.

But the other man's words clearly meant he intended to take everything she owned.

Even her Parchment, one of a Lord's most important possessions!

That was unacceptable!

Hearing her, Colin narrowed his eyes. He didn't interrupt her, but an uncontrollable fury surged through him.

These people had come all the way here to take a share of the Niter Mine's profits. That alone was bad enough, but they had even wanted to kill him so they could claim his spoils.

If he hadn't been strong enough to defeat them, all of that could very well have happened!

Colin said nothing. He raised his axe and struck her with its flat side, leaving her dizzy and bleeding.

"Do you think you're the one who's been wronged?"

Colin crouched down, grabbed her by the hair, and pulled her head up. Looking at her face, half-covered in blood, he spoke without a hint of emotion:

"I understand. You think that even though you took part, you didn't do much, so you aren't responsible.

"But in my eyes, you're not innocent if you didn't even try to stop them. And you took part yourself—you weren't just watching from the sidelines. If Miss Shana had been a little weaker, if we hadn't stopped your attack, I probably wouldn't even have had the chance to surrender and kneel here. You'd be standing over my corpse, 'sharing' my spoils and mocking me for overestimating myself.

"But, as luck would have it, you lost. And now you're telling me, 'Friend, even though I just tried to kill your whole family, steal your property, and take everything you own, I didn't really mean any harm.'

"Ma'am, what exactly did I do to make you disrespect me so much?"

The woman parted her lips. She felt the chill in Colin's eyes, but in the end, she said nothing and relinquished all her permissions.

Her instincts told her this impressive-looking man wouldn't give her another chance to bargain.

Her life mattered more than anything in her Inventory!

Before long, Colin had taken everything they owned, including the fifteen Servants belonging to the five of them.

His group had suddenly grown to twenty-nine people!

Most importantly, he had obtained four Hurricane Lamps, a Synthesis Table, and the Parchments belonging to the others!

With these supplies, Colin would soon be able to put together a full company.

This was a truly massive haul!

As for the four of them, Colin had a simple reason for neither killing them nor letting them go: in a sense, every Survivor was a walking human warehouse.

Colin would give them a chance to atone—a chance to keep contributing to humanity and put their skills to use.

For example, by sending them to mine.

Humanity had been transported to a place like this, where order had collapsed. Colin had already resolved to help restore humanity's former glory.

So surely requisitioning a few Special Talents wasn't asking too much?

"I'm such a kind man, even today."

Colin muttered to himself. He glanced over the few Parchments in the Inventory, then suddenly thought of the headless corpse in the dense forest.

Where had her Parchment and Synthesis Table gone?

Without dwelling on it, Colin walked over to the man lying on the ground. He was probably the unluckiest of them all: he'd stepped right onto an Explosive Barrel and lost a leg in the blast.

"Please, don't kill me, brother! I, Mawen, was blind and offended you. Please don't hold it against me. You can have all my things—even my life. I'll serve you!"

Seeing Colin walk toward him with such a large group behind him, Mawen was terrified. Shana had knocked down his Servants along the way, and right now, they couldn't help him at all.

Though even if they hadn't been knocked down, they wouldn't have been any help.

"You're a quick learner."

Colin praised him with a smile. "If everyone had been like you, I wouldn't have lost my temper."

"Exactly! Those idiots dared to mess with you. Brother, you—"

Suddenly, he saw that after Colin took all his possessions and had someone drag away the Servants who had once belonged to him, he didn't seem to be taking Mawen along.

"B-Brother, what are you doing?"

When someone greeted him with a smile, Colin naturally wouldn't make things difficult for him. He returned his usual gentle smile and said:

"I want to see whether you'll die in the Gray Fog."