Endless World: The Rise of Leonard Lawson

Mirelle's mood was completely soured and bittered upon hearing Leonard's explanation. As much as she wanted to call him heartless, he was merely adapting to the rules of Velastra.

She knew deep down that he did care about the others, regardless of their status and identity.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to make a payment and even throw in a warning threat.

Unfortunately, the circumstances prevented him from openly behaving in such a manner. He needed to keep up with his disguise as a calculated merchant.

In fact, what he just did could be considered a great risk already if it were to be resurfaced later on.

While Mirelle wondered how Leonard could explain his action, she was swiftly enlightened.

"The three women managed to stall the berserk slave here for you to kill, enabling us to have some clues about the incident. That alone is worth the 6 silver coins." Leonard made sure to raise his voice loud enough for the other lurkers to overhear him.

'Ah, so that's the excuse!' Mirelle exclaimed inwardly. She hurriedly clasped her hands and continued the play.

"Indeed, I wouldn't have been able to kill one of them and even spotted a few anomalies if it weren't for them." She clamored, echoing the three women's usefulness.

"Seems like that wealthy man is investigating those crazy slaves."

"No wonder he interfered and paid for their safety. It was an equivalent exchange in the end."

"Good thing we decisively opened the door to invite him in. Otherwise, we would have been doomed once the incident was resolved."

Within the secured buildings, those who were in charge or in control were relieved of their earlier actions. They also came to the conclusion themselves that Leonard could possibly be a person in charge of investigating the situation.

And in the same building where Leonard had paid for the women's safety fee, the elderly man's face visibly relaxed.

'Ah, so Sir could possibly interrogate the women about the situation later on.' Realization dawned upon him as he hurriedly signaled for a few employees nearby.

The employees arrived in front of the elderly man, their heads somewhat low, clearly depicting the structural class between them.

"The three women who have entered. Make sure their health is stable and have the chef cook some nourishing food. I reckoned Sir from earlier might return to ask them questions." The elderly man instructed.

"Yes!"

The employees readily nodded and took action.

The command sounded basic on the surface. But it was actually to inform them of the three women's significance and that they had to be treated with utmost care.

While they held their own selfish mindsets, Leonard's group had already begun checking up on the corpse.

"If you hadn't told me that you just killed him. Then I would have thought the corpse had been here for a while." Caroline commented.

She inspected the man's corpse with an intrigued expression. "This person didn't even have a magic circle, but managed to cause such destruction. It truly makes one curious what was going on with them."

Leonard remained silent in response to her commentary on the corpse.

'No magic circle, but capable of evoking deadly power and speed…' As he was pondering over the situation, he suddenly felt his brain aching slightly.

He knitted his brows and frowned at the pain. For some reason, he seemed to have some understanding of the situation, but also not at the same time.

His body staggered slightly, which was quickly noticed by the others.

"Are you alright, Sir?" Shirley, who had been attentive to Leonard from the beginning, approached him and asked in concern. She even extended her hand to hold his back to provide some support.

Leonard managed to stabilize himself with her support.

"I'm alright." He calmly said. His action and Shirley's concern soon caught the rest by surprise.

Caroline's eyes narrowed, seemingly suspicious of his anomaly.

'Was he exposed to the corpse's substance?' She had done some preliminary tests on his body, so she held some opinions regarding his reaction.

Her curiosity was cut short when another loud commotion echoed nearby.

"Seems like there's another battle ahead," Mirelle commented. "Do I rush ahead again this time, too?"

"No need," he shook his head. At this current rate of their movement, it will be a long time before they make any actual progress in the investigation.

Mirelle wanted to say something, but ultimately held back. She knew that there were too many places being hit at once. They couldn't possibly appear everywhere and rescue the people trapped outside.

Not to mention, such action was bound to be noticed by others, essentially blowing their covers.

They came outside under the pretext of investigating the sources of the slaves going berserk, and not some heroic rescue missions.

"Shirley, do you know where these slaves are often kept?" Leonard turned to her and asked. She was a local and should have some insider news on where the majority of the slaves were put.

Although there were some minorities of slave traders who kept the slaves in their own place, the majority usually chose to store them in verified, secure places.

Not only were these types of places convenient, but they also saved them the trouble of finding a proper accommodation for a large number of slaves.

Shirley hesitated briefly when asked about such a question.

Her memories darted to her past, in which she was also held captive in one of those accommodations.

"They're called Slave Coop, synonymous with the chicken coop where farmers kept their chickens to be fed and butchered when necessary." Caroline chimed in and answered on Shirley's behalf.

"..."

As eerie and immoral as the name sounded, the reality was that slaves were indeed no different than chickens that were being raised to be sold or butchered for sale.

"Pardon my question." Realizing his question was offensive, Leonard promptly apologized to Shirley in a roundabout way. He couldn't apologize directly because it would have been illogical.

They were technically his property now, and nobody would apologize to their own property. It simply didn't make any sense.

Don't think of Shirley as human, but as a building or a type of item.

That was just how the people of Velastra perceived them as such for who knows how long.