“You think you can do whatever you want?! This is something a mayor should be concerned about. But even he is furious at you for killing his men.”

  Varel and Brynjar called out loudly as they reprimanded the man in front of them.

  The crowd only grew uneasy seeing the escalation as some people began to retreat.

  The nobles that decided to visit Alfred for their gains also gave up as they tried to ride the carriages away.

  However, too many of them had the same idea, and the streets became filled with no way to turn around.

  “Don’t stay there like an idiot! Don’t you see we are in danger?” Furious shouts resounded as more of the chaos was brought upon the townsfolk.

  And the reason for all of that was obviously the new visitor, Headmaster.

  Considering the accusations the academics under him were facing, the general opinion of Alfred was turning negative.

  Even if he was innocent, the town was peaceful until his arrival, which was enough for the uneducated peasants to be scared and angry at him.

  When the two men who were seen as the most affluent within the town after the mayor held their own against Alfred, some of the people were starting to boo at the man.

  Nobles who already knew what was happening, or the ones that saw the opportunity, told their attendants to start to yell for the lost lives in the mountains.

  “Why did you command your evil lackeys to kill these people?!”

  “Justice for the innocent lives you took!”

  Their words, insinuating that he was the one who did it all, just made the seething crowd go crazy.

  At some point, someone who seemed to have lost his mind even took a rock into his arm as he threw it at the man with anger and disdain.

  He didn’t even expect to hit, but his luck this time was quite good—or maybe bad—as the rock hit Alfred straight into his head with force enough for him to turn his head aside.

  Blood flowed down his temple as he straightened his gaze once more, this time with a murderous glint in his eyes.

  The crowd fell silent for a moment before completely erupting.

  Meanwhile, Varel and Brynjar smiled to themselves.

  This was obviously what they aimed for, and they seemed to do it seamlessly.

  However, they were still cautious. If it was them in the Headmaster's place, they would already fly into a rage and quiet down the insolent people.

  But not Alfred. His gaze, while murderous, didn’t aim at anyone else except them.

  “Dragging the mayor into this? I guess that is normal. The current mayor was already a puppet of the Acolytes. Now I hear that Aziro passed away and he's already stuck to the thigh of you guys. He is truly shameless.”

  Alfred scoffed at their effort to ruin his reputation. Throughout his years, he strived for the best mainly for himself and not to just look good in front of others.

  When he helped someone, he also didn’t expect anything in return.

  He didn’t blame the people of the town, but he felt a little disappointed in his heart.

  But that would not stop him from protecting them from the disgusting men in front of them.

  “You are truly devious. At first, we thought that maybe your people were just doing it without your knowledge, but you actually accuse the mayor of colluding with those outsiders? Preposterous…”

  Brynjar’s words echoed through the place as he glared at Alfred with feigned anger.

  But those observant would notice the slight amusement flashing in his eyes.

  However, Alfred was still steadfast as he changed the grip on his halberd and held it tightly in both hands.

  The pole itself was longer than a regular human, and with the axe at the head, it was towering over normal people.

  The axe looked simple yet had a beauty to it as silver sheen was shining on it thanks to the light reflection.

  It was a practical weapon meant to fight and kill.

  Illyan, who watched this, was interested in the Headmaster's power. If he was strong and was also interested in inheritance…

  The risk would get much higher. But maybe the chance of getting it would also get higher if two sides fought each other while he and Aurelia stole it.

  As such schemes brewed in his mind, suddenly Alfred stood in a stance as his eyes seemed to flash a bit before a chilling sensation overwhelmed the entire plaza.

  The knees of several people next to Illyan buckled under their weight as they fell on the ground while their faces twisted in fear.

  Even Illyan felt a weakness as his skin got covered in goosebumps and unconsciously prepared to lunge at the danger with open eyes.

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  All of this sensation came from just one source.

  Headmaster Alfred.

  He stood there proudly as his body emitted an intense aura of bloodthirstiness.

  Meanwhile, Varel and Brynjar felt a shock wash over them when they took a few steps away.

  Some of their men also couldn't resist as they fell on their ass and crawled back in fear.

  Illyan glanced at Aurelia and noticed that she stood farther away where the people could withstand it somehow.

  ‘She predicted it.’ Nodding to himself, he also retreated a few steps, feigning a fear as he felt the sensation getting weaker with each step.

  ‘But this sensation… It is different from what I have ever seen.’

  If Illyan had to describe it, then the feeling was similar to that of killing intent except for the fact that it was debilitating and felt tangible.

  Normal killing intent was just that. Intent that only the ones with sharpest instinct could feel. But this one was felt even by the weak folks in the crowd.

  In fact, it was them who were affected the most.

  Illyan narrowed his eyes as he watched Alfred standing there at ease as the ones who bore the brunt of the pressure hardest trembled as their eyes flashed briefly with hesitation, fear and fury.

  “Y-you… Small enlightenment towards the knighthood is the reason you act so arrogant?” Brynjar feigned calmness as he unsheathed his saber and swirled it in his hands.

  “You think we are just a weaklings that won’t retaliate?” Varel on the other hand laughed as the veins were bulging on his neck from the pressure.

  He also unsheathed his serpent daggers as he got into stance.

  Illyan looked at the man talking with bravado and fell into deep thought.

  ‘I guess recovering lost limbs really isn’t that big a deal.’

  Illyan didn’t know whether to feel happy that his ability would not bring him too much attention or that it was not as good as he thought.

  Of course, that was just his passing thought as his ability still could grow.

  ‘The tonic could not do something like this. At least not so quickly. It has to be something else. Maybe, Ezekiel’s work.’ Finding out the reason behind it, Illyan nodded in satisfaction as he turned his attention back towards the headmaster.

  The tension around was palpable as Alfred spoke up loudly.

  “Those uninvolved, please leave. I do not desire to hurt the innocent. My only desire is to cut out the rot of this town.”

  Silence ensued after his strong words.

  People watched in fear, feeling that even their breath was too loud.

  However, once one started to slowly drag his legs in the opposite direction of the headmaster, others followed.

  Soon, the plaza almost cleared up as normal people ran away while only few remained in the distance.

  Illyan was one of these but he was at the corner of the old house, prepared to dive in the path behind it to use the houses as shields if something happened and disappear in the maze-like alleys.

  Alfred couldn’t control their actions and could only sigh in frustration.

  “Foolish… There is nothing more I can do about this. Hopefully, they will retreat once we start.” He muttered to himself as he pointed the sharp tip at the end towards the two thugs.

  For a second, he turned his eyes towards Aurelia who stood there and showed signs of softening. There was indescribable affection in his eyes but most didn’t notice.

  However, Aurelia, who was the receptor of the gaze, felt the observation as she discreetly looked back and nodded with a small smile as she slowly retreated with other Brynjar’s men.

  Seeing the small girl he met several times when she was just a little girl retreat into safe distance, his eyes turned serious as he made a first step towards the men in front of him.

  His body muscles trembled as a dark yellow flame-like energy rose from him as if embracing him.

  Even his halberd got covered by it as the blade hummed.

  With one step, he crossed the distance between him and his enemies as he swung the halberd with full force.

  Clank

  Brynjar, who had barely any strength left after the surge of killing intent, deflected the strike with difficulty as he jumped aside to disperse the power behind the attack.

  Meanwhile, Varel was already farther as his serpent daggers would not be able to stop the advance of the heavy halberd.

  Unfortunately for him, he was still slower than the weapon itself as Alfred flicked his wrist with the help of the halberd rebounding from Brynjar’s saber and changed his grip to reach as far as possible to hack Varel into pieces.

  With alarm shining in his eyes, he deployed a wave of green aura from his body as he evaded in inhuman way.

  However, while his body evaded the blade, their auras barely touched as their clash repelled each other.

  This propelled Varel on the ground where he made several rolls to completely stop while the halberd was rebounding back into Alfred’s hands.

  Just then, when he was about to catch the halberd into a two-handed grip, danger arose in his mind’s eye as he murmured something under his breath.

  While still holding the halberd with one hand, he bent his upper body back as he reached his other hand towards the danger.

  The danger was a saber without an owner as Brynjar used his technique to send it flying towards Alfred.

  Something like this would be the end for most and with the impeccable timing he was confident that he would at least injure the headmaster.

  Unfortunately, they didn’t count in the fact that mastery of halberd wasn’t the only thing in his arsenal.

  Clank

  Just as the saber was about to hack at the hand’s palm, a sudden yellowish brown glow appeared on the hand as the saber bounced off.

  “What?!” Brynjar opened his eyes wide when he saw that and immediately retreated as the halberd finally fell into Alfred’s other hand and without hesitation, he swung it horizontally with momentum of his entire upper body turning with the halberd.

  The halberd, now embraced by the yellow aura, caused destruction all over the place as whatever got into its path got obliterated while the dust, gravel and dirt was thrown into air.

  However, that wasn’t what surprised these men.

  Instead, the glow on his left hand that extended up to his entire arm was what they focused on.

  Despite the sleeves of gambeson he wore, the glow was still discernible.

  But only on his uncovered palm could one see what was the source of the light.

  His palm was covered by all kinds of symbols intervening together as they shone brightly.

  Illyan watching this, saw the pulsing that was coming off these and immediately associated it with mana.

  Even Aurelia who was usually stoic, felt a surprise wash all over her heart.

  ‘Runes?’

  Seeing him block the magical blood saber with bare hand was already a surprise but when he suddenly spoke with an unknown language, Brynjar knew they messed up.

  Pointing the tattooed palm at Brynjar, Alfred finished a short but efficient incantation.

  ‘That’s too short.’ Even Illyan, who didn’t know much about magic, was aware that acolytes' biggest weakness was the time it took them to cast their spells.

  Of course, it depended heavily on the individual but it was still a glaring problem.

  Now, he could see Alfred finish one incantation in a few seconds.

  “[Dust Burst]” Alfred spoke coldly as the flying dust and other particles suddenly stirred.

  They started to move in the air and slowly gathered in front of his palm as they slowly coiled around each other, pushing themselves together until they condensed into one big chunk of earth.

  That wasn’t all however.

  Just as the spell finished, Illyan could feel the same sensation that he felt at the beginning of the fight as Alfred pushed his desire to kill these wretches right into his attack.

  Brynjar felt blood disappear from his face as he called back his saber to defend.

  Varel who hesitated, also attacked at Alfred’s free back but the big mouflon suddenly charged towards him with a furious roar and he could only dodge unless he wanted to be rammed into and die a horrible death.

  When the fight was about to reach its conclusion with just these few exchanges, an anxious but furious roar spread around.

  “What the heck are all of you doing?! Do you want innocent people to lose their lives? Stop it now! Headmaster Alfred, what is the meaning of this? Stop this madness! You two too! Please, think about the town’s people!”

  Mayor riding on horse yelled out in exasperation as he hurried towards them.