THE LORD IS TOO OVERBEARING

Robert and Jake, who were looking at Basil keenly, couldn't help gulping upon noticing the look on his face. Even Deacon, who had a [Link] with Basil, couldn't help but falter upon sensing the insufferably solemn aura Basil was exuding.

Basil normally acted serious, but he never had once made someone feel uncomfortable due to his seriousness. Though he would always say some offensively funny remark about someone, as one might expect from he usually behaved, he never scared away anyone with his appearance alone.

Right now however, even though he had no intention of intimidating them, he was making them unconsciously afraid of him. They felt like they were looking at someone who had taken an uncountable lives—a living legend they should be afraid of.

"Am I not welcomed any longer?"

"Ah... No, it's just..." Robert shook his head quickly. "We are just surprised you managed to fight the Monsters hiding inside the forest by yourself."

"Did you feel any Mana fluctuation coming from me?"

"No. You used Qi, didn't you, Mr. Pacifer?"

Instead of responding to Robert's question, Basil turned his gaze to Jake. As if understanding what Basil's gaze meant, Jake quickly shook his head.

"No. You didn't use Qi either."

"That means..." Robert widened his eyes as he finally got what had happened. "Instead of facing them, you distracted their attention. For being able to hold them for that long ... Impressive."

Basil wisely ignored the look of admiration Robert was giving him as he had achieved his goal: making sure none of them were doubting him while simultaneously creating a misunderstanding of what he had actually done.

With this, when an investigation about Eugene's disappearance was conducted, he would have a strong alibi and some witnesses to back him up. He had dealt with the court once, and he didn't want to deal with them for the second time.

Furthermore this time, he wasn't just dealing with the court but also the Church that was just as powerful as the Human Emperor. Therefore, he needed to be careful in his every step, unless he wanted to lose his head before he reached his twenties.

"I am sorry for the late greeting, but welcome back, Master." Deacon lowered his head respectfully, but Basil merely waved his hand.

"I don't need formality between us. Just treat me the same way you treat me all this time."

Deacon's eyes lit up before nodding his head enthusiastically. "Then pardon me for my impudence, Master. Do you have anything that bothers you?" When this question was uttered, the area abruptly turned silent.

Whoosh!

The wind breeze was pleasantly cold, but Deacon, Robert, and Jake were sweating upon receiving Basil's incomprehensible gaze.

The other two had also wanted to ask the same question as Deacon's, but had stomped the urge since Basil didn't look like someone who would talk much about himself.

Therefore when Deacon asked about it, they couldn't help anticipating for the answer. Sadly for them, Basil didn't look like he was amused by the question.

"Why does it come to that?"

"Y-You are not looking at us, Master," Deacon answered while trying his best to calm himself down. "It seems to me that you are looking at something that is far away..."

Basil quirked his eyebrow in interest, and mused, "Is that so? I don't think that the way I look at the world has changed that much though..."

Humming to himself, he turned to Jake. "You look nasty the way you are." Basil's attempt to change the topic was very blatant, but none of them called him out on that.

Uncaring to the curious gaze of the people, Basil extended his hand, and conjured a sphere of water above Jake's head.

"Hold your breath."

Without waiting for Jake's response, he dropped the water sphere down, encapsulated Jake with it, then used it to clean any blood off Jake's body. Only when he deemed Jake was clean enough did he snap his finger.

Splash!

The water that had just encapsulated Jake fell to the ground, allowing the clean but wet Jake to breathe once again. Not stopping there though, Basil used Wind Magic and sent it to Jake so he could dry Jake.

"Oh! Thank you, Basil. I am clean now."

"You can thank me by avoiding dirtying yourself with something nasty."

Jake laughed loudly, and the others followed suit to show that they had forgotten about the talk earlier. Basil was aware of what they were doing, and he couldn't help shaking his head as he turned to Deacon.

"I am just worried about Iliana." This word caught the people's attention, and they turned silent once again. "I was thinking about her all the time I was distracting the Monsters, so I hope we can immediately regroup ourselves now."

Robert and Jake made an 'O' with their mouth as they nodded their head in understanding. They were painfully aware of the worry one had over one's lover in times of danger despite not having one themselves.

Of course, Deacon was different; although he nodded his head in understanding, it was for a different reason. He knew Basil was lying, and he understood that he should not pursue the matter any longer—he could feel it through their [Link].

Basil smirked faintly at Deacon, before jumping on top of him. Now that everything was done, it was time for him to return to the secret entrance of Death Howl Dungeon.

"You two must have been tired. Deacon will give you a special chance to ride on him today."

"Oh! That's something we can't pass!"

"Uh, ah, no. I am fine."

While Jake was looking at Deacon with shining eyes, showing how badly he wanted to ride on Deacon, Robert was shaking his head in refusal.

Robert knew that Deacon was a highly intelligent Magic Beast, but he was still traumatized by his childhood experience with a particular Magical Beast.

"Eh? Why are you refusing this chance, Robert? Come on, it's fine."

"Oh, no. I'll be fine with my Transportation Artefact. I still—AHHH!"

Robert couldn't finish his excuse, as Jake had already gotten him in his hands, and jumped onto Deacon by the time he realized it.

"Let's go!"

"No, I'm afraid of riding a Magical Beast!"

"Trust me, you will like it!"

Robert was about to rebuke Jake, but he soon noticed he couldn't even let his voice out. Much to his bewilderment, someone had cast a silencing spell on him, and he was sure it must be Basil.

Shrugging lightly, Basil instructed Deacon to move through their [Link]. As soon as Deacon dashed forward, Jake laughed his heart out while holding the shoulders of the silently hysterical Robert.

Basil slightly smiled at the two people behind him, and sighed the moment he recalled what Deacon said to him. 'I didn't feel anything when I finished Eugene off, and it bears me no sense of achievement at all. Am I really looking too far?'

At that moment, Basil Pacifer realized that he had already had his revenge on Eugene in his past life. This life's Eugene he had killed still hadn't done anything to him, and killing him didn't give him anything—he was aware of it.

His rage on Eugene wasn't actually because of the murder of Iliana, but the time Eugene had taken away from him by making him focus on his revenge for years.

Basil didn't like that thought since it felt like he was disregarding Iliana, so he tricked his mind into believing that he still held the grudge against Eugene for taking Iliana away from him.

When he realized about this, he couldn't help but shaking his head bitterly. 'For what actually did I kill him? For what actually am I getting stronger? For what actually am I planning everything this far?'

He knew of the answer already but he still couldn't help feeling bitter. 'Yes, it's for the future—the future I want to make ... A selfish desire.'

Years of battles and sufferings could do many things to someone. Basil, who had always thought that as something natural, was now aware of how different he was compared to the others, and how he actually saw them.

'Sometimes, I am afraid of what I have become. However, what would one be if one couldn't accept oneself?' Basil shook his head.

The light on his eyes sank coldly in the next moment as he thought about his future actions once again.

...

The group of civilians that were escorted by the group of Mages and Knights had been running for another 30 minutes, after breaking through the rank of the Demons when they were sandwiched from two sides 50 minutes ago.

It wouldn't be possible for them to break through the rank if it hadn't been for Iliana and the splendid cooperation she had with the other two Mages, Cray and Jocelyn. Everyone was thankful for them, but they couldn't hold their stress for long.

"Ah, we are going to die!"

"Oh, our mighty Great Gods, bless our souls and pardon our sin!"

"Darn it! Are we going to die here today?!"

"Hey, incompetent Mages! Do something about the situation!"

Everyone was agitated—they were too driven by emotion to watch what they did and what they said. It wasn't the first time the civilians had said something that wasn't very pleasant to the ears of the Mages and the Knights, but they had always ignored it.

The Mages and Knights, at this point, were busy defending themselves, since they had found that they weren't only chased by the Low Class Demons from the outside, but also the Demons that inhabited Death Howl.

Of course, that doesn't mean all of them could just accept being treated like that by the civilians.

"Look at this bastard. Why don't you fight them yourself?" Iliana turned around then looked at the middle-aged man who had just insulted her and the other Mages coldly. "Oh, let me do it for you."

"W-What are you doing?!"

Snorting coldly, Iliana picked the middle-aged man, then threw him at the crowd of the Demons. His loud scream was immediately reverberated throughout the tunnel as the Demons that got him tore him to pieces.

"Iliana!"

"Holy cow! That's bold! Hahaha!"

While the reaction from the civilians was that of shock and disbelief, the reaction the Mages and Knights gave her was that of surprise. Other than that, they said nothing; like her, they, too, were exhausted from the long and stressful fight.

Looking at the panicked civilians and the horde of the Demons, Iliana gritted her teeth. 'Is this what you want me to see, Basil? Too bad, I am not as naive as you think.'

Needless to say, Iliana was pissed at Basil.