The Lord Is Too Overbearing

Thompson and his party had been protecting Familia Hotel—Basil's family for six days. In other words, this was the last day they would stay in Raneil Barony.

The deal he had made with Basil only obligated his party to protect his family for six days, and whatever would happen to his family after six days wouldn't be their responsibility.

Judging by the current situation however, Thompson was sure that something would definitely happen the moment he and his party left Raneil Barony—he was anxious because of this.

Up till now, six Shadows had lost their lives. The clash was getting more intense in each passing day, and it doesn't show any sign of stopping anytime soon.

Thompson would even consider themselves lucky to be able to hold on this long, because the Middle Class Demons that grew up behind the Obelisk's Barrier they were fighting really had an exceptional power.

If it wasn't for the fact that they could coordinate well with the Shadows and the fact that Basil had really trained his Shadows well, they would have become natural fertilizer days ago.

"Mr. Chester! What happened to him?!"

"I don't know, sir. One of Basil's... Friends brought him here in that state."

"My son's friend? Is he here—Basil?!"

"Uhh... No, sir. He'll be here soon however—that's what the lady outside has said."

Thompson had just brought Chester inside after receiving said Mage from Ione, and he was immediately greeted by Danzel with worry. It also turned out that Danzel knew about Chester, so he heaved a sigh of relief at that.

He had slightly suspected Ione was just pretending to be someone who knew Basil, so he was glad it wasn't the case. With that said, he was amazed by Basil's ability to attract beauties.

Shaking his head at the thought, Thompson said, "Anyway, sir, can I entrust this man to you? I still need to assist my party out there."

"Oh, of course! You can leave him to me," Danzel responded instantly. "I will bring Mr. Chester to his room myself. You can go and assist your party."

Nodding his head in appreciation, Thompson handed Chester over to Danzel. He excused himself, then went outside the hotel to fight again.

He was immediately surprised the moment he opened the door, because it was so quiet outside as if no one was fighting.

"What the heck?" He was immediately dumbfounded upon looking at the surrounding. "Where are all the Monsters?"

Every one of the Demons he was sure had been alive before he had entered Familia Hotel was now lying on the ground, either with their heart pierced or head blown away.

He couldn't exactly tell what had just happened, however he knew who had possibly done it. Turning his head to a particular direction, he was immediately greeted by the person who he suspected to be the culprit of the Demons' death.

"You have missed the party, Mr. Knight. All of the Demons are dead now."

"... Did you kill them all—the Monsters?"

Quirking her eyebrow in wonder, Ione mused, "Is that what you call them here—Monsters? You lot really don't know anything about the truth, don't you?"

"Ah, are you perhaps religious?" Thompson asked carefully. "We are not followers of the Church, so we don't address Monsters that way."

Ione immediately scoffed coldly at the mention of her being a follower of the Church—the notion was too ridiculous for her not to.

She knew it was just a misunderstanding on Thompson's part, but she still couldn't help staring at him coldly for a few seconds before turning her gaze away.

Staring at the Mist as if she was staring at a far away place, she remained silent ever since. Thompson didn't know if he had accidentally offended her, but he didn't dare to bother thereafter.

"Yo, Thommy. What the heck is wrong with that lady?" Steven asked as he approached Thompson. "She has helped us greatly, but she has almost killed us with her Spells!"

"So, she really did this by herself..." Thompson sighed in amazement.

"Under a minute too—you have to note that," Steven added. "I heard she is Basil's friend. I am sure she wasn't amongst the students whom we have met here, so I am really curious of who she actually is." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"We shouldn't pry too much about Basil's life," Thompson warned. "We all know how crafty he is... I don't want to make an enemy of someone like him."

Upon recalling what had happened in the Death Howl and how Basil had led them to enter it the second time, Steven nodded his head seriously.

None of them knew what was Basil's motive for doing all of that, but from how he had made them dance on his palm, not once but twice, was enough reason for them to not make an enemy of him.

"Let's rest for a moment," Thompson said to his party members, who were coming at him. "We have only been sleeping 4 hours a day for the past 5 days, so let's use this chance to rest. I don't recommend you to sleep though."

All of the Knights of Hauler nodded their head silently at Thompson's warning. None of them also wanted to sleep; they knew they wouldn't be ready if things suddenly turned south, so they only wanted to sit down and relax their muscles.

They drank a lot of water to keep themselves hydrated, and also gulped down some pills of Crystal Clear that Basil had provided them to accelerate their recuperation.

"You have a surprisingly good Alchemist," Ione suddenly commented.

"Woah! Please, don't suddenly appear like that—we might mistake you as an enemy!"

As Ione had suddenly appeared amongst them, she really shocked them by her appearance. She didn't think she had done something wrong however; she just shrugged at Thompson's exclamation.

"It is not my fault all of you are cowards." Ione even had the audacity to scoff in ridicule. "Rather than talking about that, what about telling me about this?"

Ione sat down beside Thompson, and took the pill of Crystal Clear Sylvia was about to gulp down, irking the owner of the pill greatly.

"Hey, lady! I don't care how strong you are or who you are to Basil—you can't just take whatever he has giv—"

"[Paralyze]!"

Zap!

Sylvia couldn't manage to finish her sentence as Ione electrocuted her with Lightning Magic that made her immediately fall to the ground and convulse for a few seconds.

She groaned after her body stopped convulsing, and that was the only thing she could do. She couldn't talk, and when she tried to, all she could say was gibberish.

"Aw fwa'ng ill u, beuh!" (I'll fucking kill you, bitch!)

"Sylvia, just... Just don't talk," Effie said as she held her laugh back. "W-We might not be able to hold ourselves back, if you do."

"Uwah uwah te'in bweau?!" (What are you talking about?!)

​ "Pfft...! Just stop, Sylvia. None of us understands you!"

The eyes of every Knight of Hauler turned to Steven as soon as he laughed, and it instantly silenced him. His face immediately turned ugly, however, since he could see them also holding back their laughter.

Harrumphing in annoyance, he stopped laughing ever since. He realized it wasn't proper to laugh at a friend who was (somewhat) suffering, while he couldn't do anything to help her.

"Where did you get this Catalyst?"

"We don't know unfortunately," Thompson answered. "Basil just gave some Pills of it to us, and didn't tell us how or where he got them."

"Hmm... Interesting," Ione muttered. "This is personally concocted, so that means he is the one who made it ... Amazing."

Thompson and the others looked at Ione in wonder as she stared at the pill of Crystal Clear she was holding in admiration. They couldn't understand what made her so fascinated.

They got that Basil was amazing for being able to concoct a Catalyst by himself, but it wasn't that amazing for them. They had, after all, seen much more amazing things Basil could do, so they weren't as amazed as Ione.

"Can you tell me what kind of person Basil Pacifer is?"

"... If my memory serves me right, you should be—"

"His spouse."

"No no no—his friend," Thompson corrected.

"So?" Ione quirked her eyebrow. "Am I not allowed to know how others view him?"

"That is not what I mean, I just—"

"I just want to know things I might have missed about him, so you can tell me now."

"... Very well," Thompson said with a sigh. "I have to warn you in advance though, I am not as knowledgeable as his family about Basil, so you will only hear what I know about him."

Ione waved her hand as a gesture to tell Thompson to speak, and speak he did. She listened keenly to whatever Thompson said, but as she had expected, Thompson couldn't satiate her curiosity about Basil.

The more she heard about Basil from Thompson, the more she was curious about Basil. He was just so mysterious, she wondered how much about him people had actually gotten right.

She also asked the other Knights of Hauler about their impression of Basil, and it ended the same—she became even more curious about Basil.

Basil might be seen as a "unique" individual by them, but unlike them, she could see Basil was doing something. She didn't know what it was, but it was definitely something big—something that might align with her interest.

"Ah, he has a family here?"

"Yes, an adoptive family. I heard he had abandoned his Noble family and thrown away his status of Nobility, because he finds solace in them."

It wasn't until Ione had heard every Knight of Hauler's impression of Basil—except for Sylvia—did she remember about Basil's family. Basil, after all, was a Pacifer, so she had initially thought they also wouldn't know a thing about him.

Upon hearing how close Basil was actually with his adoptive family however, she immediately felt the need to inquire about Basil to his family.

"No wonder my ears are hot—you guys are talking about me."

Even before Ione stood up to meet Basil's family though, Basil himself suddenly announced his presence.

"Hoh? Why do all of you look surprised?"

Their heart jumped out of their chest the moment they felt Basil's overwhelming presence. Even Sylvia, who had been paralysed due to Ione's Spell, could abruptly stand up to look at Basil, who was smiling faintly at them.