Chapter 21: Punishments

Still, when the new batch of people finally arrived their appearance alone did nothing to set Klaton's mind at ease.

Around each of their collars were the Royal insignia of three swords coated in blood, stabbed into a dying ground.

The carriage they guarded didn't look special and looked completely normal like a storage carriage instead of one an elite would sit in.

The main reason why Klaton wasn't surprised to see Hazor move towards one of the men sitting on a horse, one that seemed to have the most authority.

"Lieutenant Braco!" he greeted with his right hand hovering over his chest and his head slightly bent.

His demeanor was enough to scare everyone there because Lieutenant Hozar was already a high rank. Any higher and he would become a general.

"There's no need for that Hozar! I'm only a rank above you," Braco laughed with a huge smile on his face as he majestically leaped off his horse.

The gold color of his collar, on his completely black uniform, told a different story.

"Honor must be given!" Hozar instantly responded.

Even if everyone there wasn't aware, he knew that although Braco was still a first rank, he would instantly become a general the moment the mission was over.

Braco hummed, looking around at all the villagers with a small smile still lingering by the side of his lips.

He like every noble Red, looked young even if his hair was starting to whiten at the roots. Enough to tell the Reds just how many years he must have lived.

"The humans?" Braco asked, fixing his eyes on Rye with a questioning look in his eye, as Hazor instantly stepped closer to respond.

"There's only one so far but the villagers could be lying," he reported but he had barely finished when the villagers instantly began to speak, all at the same time.

Hazor looked merciless, as every inch of his aura screamed bloodthirsty and cold, while Braco looked completely different, enough for them to pin all their hopes on him.

"She's the only one! We swear!"

"No one else has joined the village in years!"

"We wouldn't dare lie to you!"

"We didn't even know she was human until Lord Hazor began to speak. It's that family you need to ask, they could be harboring another!" Mallo the elder spoke up again.

He had seen the way Hazor killed without warning, and just in case he still felt like it, Mallo hoped that his attention would be focused on Krella instead.

"Hazor!" Braco turned to face him even as Hazor instantly began to explain everything that had happened.

Klaton on the other hand felt extremely uneasy, one that got much worse as he moved to get closer to Mino, while Hazor and Braco were distracted only to watch Mino distance himself from him.

Widening the distance as much as he could.

'What's going on? What's gotten into him?' Klaton was shocked to see Mino ignore him.

To make matters worse, with his great ears, he could hear low groans coming from the carriage.

'Humans? Why would such a high-ranking lieutenant drag humans all the way here?' Klaton wondered trying to make sense of the situation that was happening around him.

Hazor had just finished speaking when Braco nodded his head amicably and faced the villagers with such excited eyes that they couldn't wait to hear him speak.

Even Rye, who had raised her head to see what was happening, felt a little relieved to see the new superior had arrived.

'Maybe under him, I won't be treated so badly,'

"I'll now announce punishments accordingly," Braco began, a smile still plastered on his face as he spoke.

"For the human!" he began turning his gaze to Rye, who instantly nodded her head, glad that Hazor wasn't the one

Spea.

"You'll be given the slave collar, but unlike before where you would have lived with your master, you'll be sent to the barracks. One eye would be gouged out and you would join be used for entertainment purposes, along with your blood duty!"

The more Rye heard him speak, the more she felt like her entire world was crumbling down. Even when tears filled her eyes, she still couldn't consciously believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

The smile on his face no longer looked pleasant but instead looked extremely creepy.

"You would be given the F tag, to show your status. For disobeying your betters, you will be the lowest of slaves and be treated as such!"

Rye's entire body trembled in fear, looking into the distance and realizing that with such a huge amount of officials, there was no way she could run.

'Should-should I just kill—" Rye thought contemplating what she could do to escape the hell she found herself in, only to be distracted to hear the village's punishment.

"For the family that kept this human servant! You'll all be wiped out!"

Krella didn't make a sound as she clung to Jurio harder than before, almost like it was a fate they had already accepted.

"There's no way to a certain how many people have taken her blood but as punishment, half of the male population would also be wiped out!" He declared.

Mallo, who had been desperately hoping to avoid death was the first to react as he stumbled back in shock almost like he had been pushed.

Yet, no one paid any attention to him as they held their loved ones close to each other as they watched Braco continue to speak.

They expected more punishments only for everyone there to be shocked to see Braco, turn to look at one of the men that came with Hazor, something completely unexpected.

"Klaton right? I'll show you first before I declare your punishment!"

Klaton's eyes instantly began to subtly glow the second he heard his name being called. It was even more shocking to see all the soldiers instantly pull out their swords and face him ready to attack.

Instinctively his gaze flickered over to Mino, who stood behind Hazor with a cold look in his eyes.

'Impossible!' he could see the evidence in front of him, yet somehow in his heart he still found it hard to believe.