Chapter 42. Tears Are Invisible in the Rain

Pov: Edel

"We won't get anything more out of him. Take him back to his cell. Bring in the next one," Edel said in a tired voice.

Two of her colleagues picked up the unconscious man with his crippled limbs and carried him out of the room.

A few minutes later, they returned. More noise. It was starting to irritate her.

Edel let out a weary sigh. Criminals connected to noble houses were always the loudest. In other places, their words would have carried weight. But not here. Not anymore.

The door opened, and the loud voice of the man who burst in made Edel's head ache even more. Pain throbbed in her temples.

She wanted to finish this interrogation as soon as possible.

"I demand a meeting with your superior!" the man barked. "I work for a noble family! You have no right to treat me like this!"

He was forcibly seated on an iron chair. The cold metal made itself felt at once.

"Please, shut up," Edel said irritably, without even looking at him.

"How dare you speak to me like that?!" the man screeched, pointing a finger at Edel. "You... bitch!"

There was no reply.

Edel grabbed his hand and, with one sharp motion, broke the finger he was pointing at her with.

"Aaah!" the man screamed in pain, arching against the chair.

"I'll be asking the questions here," Edel said coldly. "You will answer only them. I don't have time for pointless talk. Understood?"

"Do you even know who I am, you bitch?!" the man shouted.

Edel stood up.

She walked over slowly, took his hand - the same one with the broken finger - and without any unnecessary movement broke another finger.

"Do you understand me?"

"You have no idea what's going to happen to you for this!" he yelled through the pain.

She broke the next finger.

Then another.

And another.

Until the curses turned into hoarse, ragged breathing and tears of pain.

"Y... yes..." he finally forced out.

"There we go," Edel said calmly. "You could have said that right away and saved both my time and yours."

"And your hands would have stayed... intact."

She glanced at his hand. "Intact" was already an exaggeration. Eight fingers were broken, and only a couple remained untouched.

Edel returned to her seat and sat down.

"Now we begin," she continued evenly. "You will answer the questions I ask. Honestly and to the point."

"If you lie..."

"If you try to avoid an answer..."

"Or if you refuse to answer..."

She smiled faintly.

"It will be much more painful than a broken finger."

"Agreed?"

"Y... yes..." the man replied in a trembling voice.

"Good," Edel nodded.

The interrogations were over. Now all that remained was to report to her superiors - briefly and clearly - what they had managed to learn.

She gathered all the documents, testimonies, and reports, put them in order, and handed them to her superior. Then she began a concise report, without unnecessary details, outlining the general situation and the key conclusions.

"We managed to detain six bandit groups, each numbering between fifty and seventy people. During the interrogations, it was revealed that all of them were recruited over the last two to three months in nearby regions. Mostly petty criminals - pickpockets, robbers, and hired thugs - deliberately gathered into a large criminal network."

"They almost always acted the same way. They chose small, remote villages, usually with populations between one hundred and three hundred people."

"Using various methods, they gained the villagers' trust, and then poisoned the entire village with paralytic toxins."

"While the people could not move, the bandits looted the houses, tied up the villagers, and transported them to a nearby location where carts with cages were already waiting. They planned to sell them as slaves."

"Slaves?" the superior frowned. "As far as I know, slavery is forbidden in our country. Only criminals may be used as slaves."

"Yes, you're right," Edel nodded. "And this is where everything becomes much more complicated."

"According to the information we obtained, several noble houses are involved. Using their influence, they prepared documents in advance confirming that all the captured villagers were criminal slaves."

She placed a folder on the table.

"In this folder are the documents we found. They were discovered when we seized the carts carrying the villagers. According to these papers, they were officially transporting criminal slaves."

Edel smirked, but there was far more anger in it than amusement.

"How interesting," the superior said, narrowing her eyes. "Did you verify the authenticity of these documents?"

"Yes, of course," Edel replied. "They are completely genuine. They bear the seals of at least two noble houses. That is enough to confirm their involvement."

She paused briefly and continued.

"If they had managed to leave our territory with these documents, they would not have had any problems. With such papers, they could have officially sold the villagers as criminal slaves."

Edel's voice remained calm, but clear tension could be heard in it.

"Yes... The new king became one of the reasons for the country's decay," the superior said tiredly. "Although all of this began even before him."

She fell silent for a moment, as if remembering the past.

"Once, this country was a symbol of freedom. Slavery was forbidden in any form. But that foolish king passed a law allowing criminals to be used as slaves. Not just sent to mines or hard labor, but treated as merchandise."

Open contempt sounded in her voice.

"Now, for the nobility and everyone with power, this has become a convenient tool. Power over the law allows them to turn anyone into a criminal slave. All it takes is the right documents."

She sighed heavily.

"I hope the next king will be better," she added quietly.

"There is one more thing," Edel said. "By the time we arrived, one of the bandit groups had already been completely destroyed. We managed to capture only their leader."

"And who managed to destroy an entire bandit group?" the superior asked.

"In the village the bandits attacked, there was a former adventurer," Edel replied. "According to our information, he was E-rank, but it seems he had been living in the village for several months."

She paused briefly and continued.

"When the bandits attacked, he destroyed all of them by himself. Only the leader managed to escape."

"An E-rank adventurer capable of destroying fifty bandits alone," the superior said thoughtfully. "It seems his true level is much higher than his rank suggests."

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"It would be a shame if he wasted his talent by remaining in a small village as an ordinary farmer. Offer him service in the territorial army under good conditions, with decent pay. Talented people are always needed."

"The captain we sent to guard the village already offered him service," Edel reported. "But he refused."

"He refused?" the superior repeated. "Well, that is his choice."

She thought for a moment and continued.

"Did you find out why he refused? Perhaps the conditions did not suit him. If it is about money, offer more."

"It is not about money," Edel said.

"Then what is it?" the superior asked.

"According to our information, several villagers died during the attack. One of them was a girl he was very close to. When our people spoke with him," Edel paused, "he was in a very bad state. Like a man who had lost all meaning in life."

The superior thought for a moment.

"Such tragedies leave deep scars in the heart," she said. "But with time, he will recover."

She paused briefly and added.

"Leave him a message. If he needs work, let him contact the city guard or the city administration."

"Understood," Edel replied. "I will pass this on to my people so they can inform him."

The superior nodded and changed her tone.

"Now about our prisoners. Are you certain that no one escaped?"

"Yes," Edel answered confidently. "We captured everyone. Both the bandits and those who planned to transport villagers as slaves."

"Good," the superior said calmly after a short pause. "Then get rid of all of them. Let them disappear without a trace."

"As you say," Edel replied with a short nod and left the office.

If it were up to her, she would have executed every one of them personally.

First by torturing them, making them feel what they had done to the villagers. How they turned people into slaves. How they killed some and sold others like merchandise.

But there were too many prisoners.

And when noble houses are involved, everything inevitably becomes a headache for the authorities.

In such cases, it is better to act quickly and quietly.

The sooner the problem is eliminated, the better.

And along with it, all the evidence.

POV: Alisar

A week passed.

A whole week since Emilia was no longer in this world.

I still think... what if she is not?

What if everything could have been different?

If I had stayed by her side instead of rushing off to deal with those scum, maybe everything would have been fine.

Or if I had killed the bandits faster and returned immediately.

No. I should never have left Emilia alone. Not even for a moment.

And if I had had a potion left when I first found her body...

Maybe I could have saved her.

Maybe the reason the potion did not work was because I wasted too much time running back to the house for supplies.

Why did I not have enough mana to create a potion right away?

If I had enough mana, maybe I could have saved her.

So many possibilities.

So many paths where Emilia remained alive.

But Emilia is gone.

And that cannot be changed.

Her parents were badly injured as well. They survived. They lost a lot of blood, but regained consciousness the next day after I gave them health potions.

I think it was much harder for them than for me. They had already lost their eldest son... and now their daughter.

Still, it is good that they survived. Otherwise, Emilia's younger brother and sister would have been left as orphans.

What am I even doing?

I am just sitting near the house. It has been raining for three days now.

Without stopping.

Sometimes thoughts creep into my head. Maybe I should just end it all.

I used to hear that pain fades with time. That the heart heals.

But it has already been eight days, and inside there is only emptiness.

I stood up and walked out into the rain. As soon as the cold drops touched my skin, it became a little easier. I never thought ordinary rain could dull the pain in my heart like this.

I looked toward the forest.

And once again remembered how Emilia used to call me. How we went together to check her traps, gather herbs and mushrooms.

And the tears came back.

Enough. Enough already.

A man should not cry like this.

Then again, it does not matter. There is no one here anyway. And it is raining. Crying in the rain is convenient.

I looked at my house, then toward Emilia's house.

Do I have the courage to stay in this village? To simply keep living here as an ordinary person?

I turned and looked toward the forest.

I decided to take a short walk.

I think that is a good idea.

Just a short walk through the forest.