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

Zolotonosha City had been thoroughly ravaged by the green skins, the entire West District was burnt to a crisp, with fires set by the green-skinned orc invaders, and some deliberately lit by the defending forces to prevent the stockpile from falling into enemy hands.


Varieties of flammable materials combined to set the West District ablaze, and by nightfall, the flames still painted the sky a fiery red.


However, there were benefits—at least there was no need for lighting along the East District coast after dark.


Durin had fought tooth and nail in the East District for most of the day; only as night fell did the reinforcement troops finally break through the green-skinned orcs' encirclement, with Goti, the old ox from the vanguard, and Tegus, the tiger cub, entering the urban area.


Chapter 177: I Await with Keen Interest