Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

Old Enrique had entered the city on the second day, and before he even reached the city gate, he saw the bodies of entire families, young and old, hanging on gibbets along the road.


"Those who dared to rebel were beheaded, the guilty were all hanged; I even specifically summoned a militia unit from Lublin, composed of serfs and bankrupt individuals from the Zhongnan region who had fled north. They will cooperate with the local police to manage the city. Those who dared to rob last night are now hanging on the streetlights, and those who dared to shelter them are up there, too."


Durin was explaining the city's situation to old Enrique while signaling for the carriage to stop for a moment.


Then he lifted the cover at the rear of the carriage, which was filled with various little orc children: "These kids are from Foresty Land; I have arranged for this convoy to be escorted to the Foresty Land, and I have already notified them."


Chapter 137: The Heart of Ailish, As Reflective as Rivers.