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

Ulyula looked at the young people drawn from the manors and fell into deep thought.


These manors were comprised of slaves from various places, with complex backgrounds ranging from the serfs of the Northern Kingdom across generations to descendants of gamblers from Sicily who had lost everything. They all shared one idea—to hell with slavery.


After their escape, upon entering the manor owned by Lord Durin, their descendants began to fervently support Mr. Durin.


At the beginning of the year, almost all the young people from these manors had enlisted.


The Great Wilderness was already highly militarized. The Church of the Original Creator even supplied the manors with free military equipment, so these young people knew how to shoot, and some had even experienced bloodshed—fighting Beastman Pirates, displaying psychological resilience even stronger than that of the Tri-Saint Society's rookies.


Chapter 145: Advancement