Chapter 155: An Unexpected Harvest

Madel’s curses echoed continuously in the basement of the house on the side near the moat that belonged to him. From the moment Madel had been woken up by a ladle of cold water and found himself tied in a cross shape to a wooden stake, the cursing never stopped. First on his list of insults was Zimo, the one who had betrayed him, followed by Dean, who was standing in the room, and Marquis Vauban.

“You bastards, you sons of bitches!”

“Some people will get revenge for me, just you wait and see!”

“Even if I die, I won’t let you off!”

…

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

Such cursing stopped abruptly when Dean took out a sharp small knife—Dean lightly ran his finger along the sharp blade, as if caressing a lover’s hand, and then turned his head to look at Madel.

Immediately, Madel’s face twitched, and even his pupils contracted violently.

“What are you doing?!”

Madel shouted again, his voice rising once more, but the trembling tone in his voice exposed the cowardice in the heart of this Spy.

Dean seemed not to hear the man’s shout at all. He walked up to him and carefully straightened his left index finger—Madel clenched his fist with all his strength, but compared to Dean’s Strength, he was clearly no match. Dean easily broke his fist open.

Then, there was a Flash of the knife.

Madel’s index finger separated from his palm.

Then came the middle finger, ring finger, and little finger.

Madel’s left hand, with only the thumb remaining, looked bare.

And Madel’s screams of agony did not cease, especially when Dean walked to the other side and gestured the small knife toward his right hand. The screams from Madel’s mouth gained a touch of panic, followed by continuous begging: “Whatever you want to know, I will tell you all… Please, let me go, let me go!”

Dean stopped his steps and looked coldly at Madel’s face, which was streaming with tears and snot. The hatred in his squinted eyes was so obvious—Dean could not let go of Goth’s betrayal, and those who played a key role in the betrayal were no exception.

You see, Goth’s spy network had always been in the hands of Prince Fendel.

And that Goth Prince, for Dean, was an enemy to be fought to the death.

Plop!

The knife flashed again.

The only thumb left on Madel’s left hand also separated from the palm and fell to the ground. The completely bare left hand trembled back and forth, and Madel’s whole body shook along with it. One could easily imagine that if he hadn’t been tied up, Madel would be rolling on the floor in pain at this moment.

And his wailing from his mouth was the best proof.

“Be quiet!”

However, as soon as Dean said these two words, the Spy stopped his wailing—not because it didn’t hurt anymore, but because fear made him endure the pain.

“You know, I know everything!”

Starting with these words, Dean said slowly, “The reason I didn’t kill you on the spot was to torture you properly—just like the attack you arranged for me!”

“The incident in Tier Territory was not arranged by me, it was a misunderstanding! That Tax Officer was not my man at all!”

Madel said repeatedly—it was clear that he had already received a detailed report about Dean’s ‘encounter’ in Tier Territory earlier.

“Do you think I will believe you?”

Dean, wearing the face of the coachman after using disguising, sneered—the face stabilized by glue and flour became eerie and hideous immediately under the pull of his smile, and the small knife in his hand aimed at Madel’s right hand again.

Feeling the coldness and sharpness on his right hand, Madel shuddered all over again.

“I can prove it! I can prove it!”

He shouted like that.

“Prove? How can such a thing be proved?”

Dean’s furrowed brows indicated his anger as if he were being fooled at this moment.

“I have a diary, and also… and also…”

“And what? Speak!”

“And there are letters exchanged with the Mother Hive, they can all prove that I have no bad intentions toward you!”

Under Dean’s shout of interrogation, Madel shivered and immediately confessed honestly.

“Where are they?”

Facing this unexpected harvest, Dean showed no surprise at all, remaining as cold as ever—in fact, Dean had originally planned to use torture to force Madel to reveal everything he knew, but it seemed now that Madel was even more afraid of death than he had imagined; after all, a Spy would never keep things like a diary or letters.

And the fact that he left them behind contrary to his usual behavior could only explain one thing—

He had imagined such encounters like today’s more than once, and left himself a special talisman: the most valuable thing on a Spy’s body, information!

“As long as you can… Ah!”

Faced with Dean’s question, Madel took a deep breath, preparing to act like he was in control before continuing the conversation.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, without finishing his words, came a scream of agony.

“Do you think you are qualified to make terms with me?”

Dean picked up Madel’s cut-off right thumb with the tip of the small knife, held it in front of the man’s face, and asked word by word, then, without waiting for a response, Dean pinched the man’s cheek and applied a little force, immediately forcing his mouth open.

Next, the small knife piercing the severed finger approached the man’s mouth.

“Y-You…”

Because his cheek was pinched, Madel’s words were indistinct, but the terror deep in his eyes was obvious.

“It’s just your own finger, it’s not that hard to swallow!”

Dean sneered, his already lowered voice becoming even deeper, bringing an lingering eerie feeling.

“N-No, I’ll speak! I’ll speak! Right here, right here!”

Madel seemed to burst out with huge strength from nowhere, directly ‘breaking free’ from Dean’s hand, and began to shout loudly.

“Here?”

Dean seemed surprised by this news and stopped his movements.

“Yes, right behind that brick in the center of the left wall!”

Seeing Dean stop his movements, Madel spoke eagerly; at this moment, he only wanted to divert the attention of this sick guy in front of him, he had no other thoughts.

As for his own fingers?

Madel seemed to discover for the first time that they were so terrifying.

“I will look for it. If you dare to lie to me, or if there is some false stuff on top…”

Dean did not finish, he just glanced at the five broken fingers on the ground with his eyes. Madel subconsciously followed Dean’s gaze and shuddered again.

According to what Madel said, Dean did not spend much effort to find the diary and a bundle of letters from the man—the diary was very thick, thick enough to serve as a pillow, and there were less than twenty letters; obviously, according to Madel’s time in Vauban County, the frequency of contact with Goth was not high, and sometimes it did not even happen once a year.

“Let me go, let me go…”

Seeing Dean coming with the diary and letters, Madel kept saying.

And Dean answered with a chop.

After simply treating the man’s wounds and confirming that he would not die from blood loss, Dean took the diary and letters and left the basement.

However, when locking the basement door, Dean set up some ‘warning lines’—a single hair.

For Zimo, who had performed ‘excellently’, Dean had absolute vigilance.

“My Lord!”

Zimo, who was staying in the house above ground, looked very respectful seeing Dean coming out of the basement—of course, Dean could be certain that the man was also like this when facing Madel earlier.

“These are mine, the rest are yours!”

Dean did not hesitate to take the most valuable bag of gems from Madel’s collection.

Based solely on the weight felt in his hand, Dean could estimate that the value of this bag of gems would not be less than five thousand Gold Pulton—unless it were the nobles of the County King family, otherwise, in anyone’s eyes, it would be considered a huge sum of money.

The remaining Gold Pulton, packed in a box, was much less, less than five hundred, less than one-tenth of the value of this bag of gems.

But Zimo did not show any dissatisfaction.

He pulled the money box to his side with an exceptionally respectful manner.

“Madel still has value, he can live for two more days, but except for me, no one is allowed to see him!”

When leaving, Dean gave such orders.

“Yes, My Lord!”

Zimo’s answer remained just as respectful.

After Dean cast a sideways glance at him, he disappeared quickly from the doorway.

And after Dean left, Zimo in the house also left the house, quietly returning to his residence, as if he had completely lost interest in Madel in the basement.

At least, on the surface, it looked like that.

…

Dean returned to his residence room in the Upper District, put that bag of gems together with the wealth obtained earlier, and then looked at the diary and letters belonging to Madel in his hand.

Of course, this was not Dean’s entire harvest for tonight—

The Grand Knight killed outside Vauban City contributed another 100 experience points to him.

[XP: 271]

This was Dean’s current total experience points, enough to upgrade his current Skill and basic skills.