Chapter 84: Arrest
Through his conversation with Simone, Duane learned how the man had come to discover Daniels’s conduct.
It had actually been an accident.
After a banquet, Simone had been taking a stroll and unintentionally wandered near the rear of Daniel’s Castle. When he heard someone screaming in agony, he crept closer to investigate.
He snuck into the secluded basement and saw an unknown number of captives.
They were less like people and more like livestock.
Men and women alike, they were nearly naked. Some were mating, some were crying, and others were being abused by their keepers.
But what shocked Simone the most was a room where living people were being dismembered, their organs removed and steeped in some unknown liquid.
The horrific scene was a vision of hell.
That very night, he confronted Daniels. Daniels claimed that the prisoners were all heinous murderers and that he, needing to conduct experiments to save lives, had no other choice.
At the time, Vera had not yet recovered from her illness, and Daniels had always appeared benevolent, so Simone believed him.
But as time went on, he felt more and more that something was amiss. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to oppose the man who had saved his daughter’s life, especially in the face of Daniels’s desperate pleas.
In the end, Simone could only avoid the topic. He just hoped to take Vera and leave as soon as his ten-year commitment to protect Daniels was fulfilled.
From this perspective, Simone was selfish. All he cared about was his daughter.
Then again, even if Simone had a complete falling out with Daniels, not only would he be unable to change anything, but he would also be putting his daughter in danger.
Fortunately, Simone hadn’t colluded with Daniels or actively aided his evil. Otherwise, Duane would have found such a person utterly repulsive.
After they spoke for a while, Simone’s weathered, indifferent expression returned, and he went back to the main hall.
When the kitchen had the luncheon feast ready, Duane followed him out.
Kalina couldn’t help but laugh when she saw him. "Baron, wasn’t I right?"
Duane walked toward the head of the table, a helpless look on his face. "You were right. It seems the bond between the Holy Hand Association and Simone is too strong. I couldn’t persuade him."
He sat down and looked directly at Kalina. "But didn’t Simone follow my orders and fight for me today? Heh, it makes no difference whether he chooses to follow me or not."
"That’s true. Everyone on Black Forest Island is your subject."
Gaius watched the smooth-talking woman with a sneer, laughing coldly to himself. ’Let’s see if you’re still this relaxed in a little while,’ he thought.
The guests took their seats.
The core members—the Extraordinary Professionals—sat in the main hall.
The other, ordinary guests had their tables set up in the courtyard outside the hall, where they would enjoy the feast.
This should have been a normal arrangement, but it wasn’t hard for an observant person to notice.
Thanks to Ralph’s deliberate seating arrangement, the members of the Holy Hand Association were now surrounded by Duane’s Guards and people from the Broken Wave Gang.
At the same time, a squad and the Militia were stationed outside the courtyard.
It seemed that not a single member of the Holy Hand Association would escape today’s feast.
Soon, the delicacies were served. Following Duane’s lead, everyone joyfully ate and drank. It was indistinguishable from a genuine victory celebration.
Halfway through the feast, Duane toyed with his wineglass, staring at the red wine within. Then, his dark gaze shifted to the Female Mage, whose cheeks were flushed from the drinks.
"Kalina," he called.
The Female Mage looked over. "Baron, is there something you need?"
Duane chuckled, but the smiles on the faces of Kaelon, Raymond, Gaius, and the others vanished.
"When Daniels sent over the Sauce Meat Fruit a couple of days ago, I was wondering if I could get him to mass-produce it for me. It would make a great specialty product for Black Forest Island, something to sell abroad."
Kalina explained with a smile, "I’m afraid that would be rather difficult. After all, making Sauce Meat Fruit is a very troublesome process, and the ingredients are quite rare. I hope you can understand."
"Yes, the ingredients are quite rare."
Duane set his glass down on the table. The smile on his face turned cruel, and his voice grew colder.
"Using the flesh and organs of living people as ingredients... that would naturally make them rare, wouldn’t you say?"
The expression on Kalina’s face froze, her eyes flying wide in disbelief.
"Wh-what are you saying?"
In that instant, boundless fear flooded her heart, and the pleasant buzz from the wine vanished completely.
"Heh. What, you helped Daniels commit such a demonic act, and now you’re going to feign ignorance in front of me?"
"No, Baron!"
Kalina stared at Duane in shock. She didn’t understand how the festive atmosphere could have turned so sour in an instant.
She glanced at Raymond, Kaelon, and Gaius, before her gaze finally landed on Simone, who was right beside her.
"It was you. You told him, didn’t you?"
Simone said nothing, but Duane did.
"It was Bard of the Broken Wave Gang who told me," Duane said. "Heh, Simone is certainly tight-lipped. But that’s fine. It means that in the Holy Hand Association, every last one of you is guilty. There are no innocents!"
Kalina realized she had misunderstood Simone, but she had no time to dwell on it.
She keenly sensed that the Baron was about to move against the Holy Hand Association, in league with the Broken Wave Gang.
"No, Baron! This is slander from Bard! He’s trying to use you against us!"
Kalina’s tone was shrill, the words tumbling out of her mouth.
"Ever since you arrived on the island, it’s been the Broken Wave Gang that’s caused you trouble! We in the Holy Hand Association have always shown you respect and honored you as our lord!"
Simone also rose to his feet. "Baron, I agree. There must be some misunderstanding."
SLAM!
Duane slammed his hand on the table. "You don’t need to explain, and I have no interest in hearing it! Now!"
WHOOM—
A surge of Fighting Qi erupted into a gale, overturning the surrounding chairs.
There were five members of the Holy Hand Association seated in the hall. Aside from Simone, the others were completely stunned.
But they knew they were surrounded, and that not fighting back meant certain death.
And so, Kalina began to prepare her Fireball Technique while the others drew their longswords.
But what chance did they have? One was Middle Level, and the other two were Basic Level. What could they possibly do?
SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Within seconds, the Middle Level Warrior, Harry, was struck to the ground by Gaius, completely incapacitated. The other two were seized by Raymond.
As for Simone, after crossing swords with Kaelon, he was sent flying by a blow of immense force. Before he could even get back up, Kaelon’s longsword was at his throat.
"Seize every member of the Holy Hand Association!"
Duane roared, and the men outside the hall sprang into action.
Nearly forty men launched a surprise attack. The fourteen members of the Holy Hand Association were caught completely off guard and quickly subdued.
"My lord, what about her?"
Raymond already had Kalina under control.
She was a Level 2 Mage with a delicate frame. He had only needed to kick her once, and she was already spitting blood.
Raymond clearly felt no need to be gentle with the fairer sex.
"Baron, you... you can’t do this!"
Kalina pleaded in a panic, "I’ll give you anything you want! Anything..."
Duane couldn’t be bothered to listen to her. As Daniels’s assistant, this woman could not be allowed to live.
"Bind them all and lock them in that warehouse!"
Hearing this, Hardy of the Broken Wave Gang couldn’t help but smirk.
He himself had been locked up in there for more than ten days. Hearing that others were about to suffer the same fate, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of schadenfreude.