In Herbert's eyes, the other side's scheming had been downright crude. Every move reeked of arrogance, obvious to anyone with eyes.
Who was behind the plot? Did the princess even know? Had anyone in Albert's family been involved?
Herbert had no doubt that, as long as he returned to the Royal Capital, he could follow the clues and find answers to all those questions.
The other side apparently hadn't even considered it worth covering their tracks.
But... why go back?
Herbert was in no hurry at all to return, expose the culprits, and clear his name.
The things that had once meant everything to that naive young man no longer held any meaning for him.
He didn't care.
He'd come to a supernatural world with magic and gods. Was he really going to get hung up on some soap-opera family drama among the Kingdom's nobles?
That would be... pretty damn pathetic.
The revenge stories Chinese people loved best weren't nearly as complicated as the duels of honor in Western tales.
Train, get stronger, then go back and give everyone involved a resounding slap across the face. Problem solved.
It was that simple.
There was nothing in this world that a slap couldn't solve.
If one wasn't enough, make it two.
If that still wasn't enough, keep slapping until it was.
You were crude and halfhearted about it? Then I'll be even more brutal and arrogant.
With over a thousand years of history, the Misty Monastery was the oldest monastery on the entire Southern Continent, preserving a complete system of Holy Knight teachings.
Ordinarily, not just anyone qualified to set foot here, much less become one of its members.
Now that Herbert was here, there was no way he would let this precious opportunity slip away. He was determined to acquire those teachings.
"Still, that's all well and good, but actually getting those teachings... probably won't be so easy."
Perhaps they wanted the young noble to give up once he realized the difficulty, or perhaps someone was pulling strings behind the scenes. Either way, the monastery's leadership had assigned Herbert an extremely troublesome task-reforming prisoners.
The Misty Monastery held a unique position and did not imprison ordinary human heretics. Every prisoner deemed worthy of confinement here was an extremely dangerous powerhouse of another race!
Sea Monsters that had wiped out several ports, Dragons that had destroyed several towns, Fallen Elves that had slaughtered thousands, Demons that had incited slave uprisings, Devils that had plotted royal massacres... every last one was a rare talent.
For beings like these, ordinary torture meant nothing. Only the passage of long years could wear down their will, which was why the position of warden had remained vacant for so long before Herbert arrived.
Yesterday, the Archbishop had personally led Herbert on an initial inspection, giving him a preliminary impression of each prisoner.
Their temperaments varied. Most had chosen to ignore his arrival, while some were willing to talk but showed little interest, as though they were merely shooting the breeze to pass the time.
A few prisoners had also expressed their "enthusiasm" for the first warden they'd seen in ages, each pushing verbal abuse to its absolute limit.
Recalling yesterday's encounters, Herbert couldn't help sighing. Earning the teachings by reforming this bunch would probably take some serious work.
"Hey! Kid, you've been fucking sighing over there forever. Are you done yet?"
A mocking voice rang out behind him. The evil being inside the cage gleefully sneered at Herbert's weakness.
"It's only been one fucking day, and you're already scared? Want to run home crying to Mommy? Ahahahaha!"
"If you're scared, then hurry up and fuck off!"
To be fair, the woman's voice wasn't unpleasant. It was husky and magnetic, even, with a unique charm.
But the crude expletives she used like commas ruined that beauty, making the whole speech exceptionally grating.
Herbert curled his lip and looked back at the tall woman whose face was hidden beneath a wild tangle of red hair like dried grass. She looked like a homeless person who might randomly spawn on a street somewhere out West, but that was only her outward disguise.
Her true identity was an evil Dragon who had once destroyed four cities of ten thousand inhabitants each with her Dragon Breath, before the Archbishop of Mist personally subdued her!
[Rager], [Ashen Calamity], [Demonflame]-Valentina Demonflame
Seeing that Herbert hadn't been frightened away and even dared turn back to meet her gaze, Valentina seemed intrigued. She grinned and whistled at him.
"Kid, why don't you reconsider my earlier suggestion?"
"Let me out, and not only will I spare you, I'll help you get justice. How about it? Heh, kill every last one of them! All of them!"
Valentina's lava-red eyes lit up, a terrifying killing intent burning in her slit pupils that made the soul tremble.
She kept trying to beguile Herbert with provocative words, hoping to stir his anger and remind him of the humiliation he had suffered during those days.
"Kill everyone who deceived you, everyone who humiliated you!"
"After all, you don't want to spend forever in this sunless hole, do you?"
Throughout this, Herbert listened in silence, occasionally lowering his head in thought, seemingly moved.
Just as Valentina thought she had persuaded him, he suddenly spoke out of nowhere.
"Say, has it been a long time since you last ate anything?"
"Huh?"
The dragon lady froze for a moment, then quickly recovered, curling her lip in contempt as she sneered.
"What, trying to tempt me with food? Heh, you think I care about something like that?"
That's it?
That's what you're trying to tempt me with?
Who would ever fall for that temptation?
Just who do you take me for?
But Herbert actually smiled at that and said earnestly, "No, I just wanted to tell you I'm going to eat. A piping-hot meal."
"Huh??"
Then, without giving Valentina another chance to speak, Herbert picked up his lantern and strode straight toward the exit, muttering as he went.
"Steamed bear paws, steamed deer tails, roast duck, roast chicken, roast gosling..."
"Huh???"
Realizing she had been played, Valentina sprang up in fury and unleashed a torrent of abuse at Herbert's retreating back.
"You! What the fuck do you mean! Get the fuck back-"
The prison door suddenly materialized at a bend in the passage, and Herbert pushed it open and walked through.
Clang!
The massive door closed, instantly cutting off every sound and aura from within.
Herbert stumbled, let out a long breath, and shook his head with some difficulty.
The dragon lady's attitude didn't frighten him. He had seen plenty of that at work in the past, and it even carried a nostalgic sense of familiarity.
But the pressure she radiated was genuinely more than he could comfortably bear.
"Tsk... so this is a Dragon's dragon might? That's just ridiculous."
With the Archbishop's protection yesterday, Herbert hadn't felt a thing. Today was different, and the experience had been one hell of a thrill.
Even with Valentina's power sealed behind layer upon layer of restraints, the aura she exuded was still terrifying. Merely talking to her had left Herbert feeling suffocated.
He had needed quite some time to adjust before he could barely manage to speak. Any longer, and she probably would have seen through his act.
Herbert shook his head, feeling more keenly than ever that he had a long, hard road ahead.
Valentina had been placed closest to the entrance and posed the least threat of all the nonhuman prisoners. Who knew how terrifying the ones farther inside would be?
So how was he supposed to reform dangerous monsters like these?
Appeal to their feelings and reason with them?
Use authority to compel them and benefits to sway them?
Move them with a big stick and win them over with genuine affection?
Oof...
None of the methods he could think of seemed very reliable.
Before you continue